Please read portions of II Kings for Tuesday after spring break. Look especially at the stories of Elijah, Josiah, and Hezekiah. Does it seems to you that any of the stories in II Kings have the makings of good tragedy? Or is the II Kings account better viewed as history, biography, or prophecy rather than as tragedy? Cite below any passages/verses you think particularly support your view.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
II Kings
Please read portions of II Kings for Tuesday after spring break. Look especially at the stories of Elijah, Josiah, and Hezekiah. Does it seems to you that any of the stories in II Kings have the makings of good tragedy? Or is the II Kings account better viewed as history, biography, or prophecy rather than as tragedy? Cite below any passages/verses you think particularly support your view.
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I think that Kings II is a Historical account. In chapter 18 Hezekiah is paying the king of Assyria. This is an account of the failure of one nation,and an attempt to stop it. Much of the rest speaks of the rivalry between Assyria and Israel or Judah. There are many such stories in history. It would seem that Hezekiah was a leader of the people. Which would further the idea of this being a Historical account. In Chapter 20, the author even speaks of his death. Most important people have a small section about their death. At the end of this chapter they even write about the new leader.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that the whole of kings makes for an extremely good tragedy and that there are but a few spots of light in these two books. This is even more true to me in Kings II. The break up of Israel throughout the two books is the ultimate tragedy, that of the people of Israel. There are a small few who try to lead in such a way that is not evil but good. The best story I think that shows this is the story of Josiah and his attempt to reunite the people of Israel and does for a small time even getting the people to celebrate passover which had not been celebrated for centuries. Josiah is one king who did not use his power for evil but the rest of the kings did just that, and eventually the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians and the Southern kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians both of which are historically recorded making this also at parts a good history too. Mainly though the idea behind these two books is the ultimate split and down fall of the people and nation of Israel.
ReplyDeleteKings II 23:21 And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant." For no such passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah; but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.
I think the story of Hezekiah could be a good way to show how Kings is a tragedy of the Jewish people. Hezekiah was a king in the southern kingdom and he followed God's commands. During his reign, Judah was able to regain a degree of freedom, and was even able to stand up to the Assyrian empire, which had just destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. God's grace was shown even more in his miraculous healing of Hezekiah and the sign of the shadow moving to show his power. Things were going good for Judah, until Hezekiah met with the Babylonians. At this time Hezekiah let his pride get the better of him and he boasted to the Babylonians how great his kingdom was. As a result God said that these Babylonians would eventually take everything from the Jews. I find what Hezekiah thought when he heard this news to be the most tragic element of the story. Here is this great king, who brought his kingdom out from the bottom, who had the blessings of God all his life, and when he hears that all he worked for will be destroyed, does he get distressed? No. All he worries about is whether or not it would happen in his life time. I feel that this philosophy of his shows even more in the fact that despite Hezekiah being one of the most faithful kings Judah had seen, his son did not follow in his footsteps. Instead he turned away from God. This, to me, shows just how tragic the story of the Jews really is.
ReplyDeleteJohn Rawerts
I believe like most of the bible, this is again more of a history. It basically just tells the life story of Elijah, Josiah, and Hezekiah. It really just talks about the transitioning of life from one leader to another, and the split of Israel and what not. I can see some tragic elements but overall more of a history.
ReplyDeleteR. Casey Oberle
I would call it a tragic history. Since the old testiment is all about the history of the Irealites, it make sense. However II Kings does show that alot of what the people or rulers do it is quiet tragic in itself.
ReplyDeleteTake II Kings 20:16-18, "Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD: 'Behold the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who shall be born to you, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'"
Here God tells Hezekiah that because of everything that has happened you will eventually be ruled by another people, the Babylonians. Eventhough Hezekiah never saw the Babylonians rule, In II Kings 24:10 it tells of Jerusalem capture by Nebuchadnezzar. 10,000 men and that wasn't including men and women.
There are many others that follow this same line but Hezekiah was warned and he didn't do anything. My question is what king gets a prophecy like that and says "why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?"
I think looking at the story of Elijah, it seems much less of a tragedy compared to other great men of God. So pertaining to him, it seems more biographical... I know there is more about him in 1 Kings, but I just love reading about his life! There was tragedy, just because of Israel's continued idolatry, but Elijah seemed pretty faithful. The story of him calling down fire for the burnt offering? How is that not an exciting story! And then he was taken directly up to heaven? It just sounds like the end to a life faithful to God that Kings tries to document for us. An intense man of God, he's worth having a biographical account for!
ReplyDeleteII Kings 22- 23: About Josiah, is seen as tragedy to me because of what he did by going to the temples and cleaning them out from Baal and Asherah Gods, and enforcing God's Law that was presented by Moses and by using the Book of the Covenant which he found in temple; and got rid of everything except for the one individual's tomb who is doing the same thing Josiah is doing, and in doing this changing the peoples beliefs he dies in a battle against Neco; so is a tragedy because it the covenant rises and is known again to the people by Josiah but he dies after presenting it and having people follow.
ReplyDelete2 Kings seems to be the story of a tragedy, especially the time of King Josiah. God has said he will have Jerusalem destroyed because the people of Judah have worshiped other gods. Josiah tries to renew the covenant, destroys the temples and shrines of other gods, and has the people celebrate Passover which had not been done since "the days of the judges who led Israel". Despite Josiah's efforts, God's anger remains and he says in 2 Kings 23:27 "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.'" Quite a tragedy!
ReplyDeleteI think that yet again it contains elements of all of the above. I think II Kings is quite a bit of biographical information though that puts a personal touch from these individual's lives into the history. I really like the verses that say, "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (II Kings 6:16-17)These verses allow us to know what was there, but not everyone could see it. That makes this much more than simply history or any one of the above categories.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Hezekiah's story is a great example of a tragedy. Hezekiah does all these really great things but then everything ends up falling apart.
ReplyDelete2 Kings 20:16-19 "Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Listen to this message from the Lord:The time is coming when everything you have-all the treasures stored up by your ancestors-will be carried off to babylon. nothing will be left, says the Lord. Some of your own descedndants will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs wo will serves in the palace of Babylon's king. Then Hezekiah said to isaiah, 'This message you have given me from the Lord is good' But the king was thinking, 'At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.'"
When it was revealed that Hezekiah's achievements would not last, the only thing he could think was that he was happy he wouldn't have to deal with it. I think this makes this story a tragedy.
When looking at the story of Elijah I think it is portrayed as biography in II Kings. His life isn’t a tragedy because he rose unto heaven (also not very many people are aware that it is their time to go when they leave Earth, so it’s kind of awesome that he was prepared)! I also think it’s funny and cool how he tells Elisha in II Kings 2:9 to Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. It’s like a twist and more happier version of the cliché “are there any last words you would like to say?” that a killer asks before he kills someone; he instead asks if he needs anything before he leaves. Therefore his story is not tragic at all, so it’s definitely a biography because it’s telling about what personally happened to him. Although that also makes it history because it’s a story of what happened to someone in the past.
ReplyDeleteI think that the first half of II Kings is primarily prophecy. For a time, you see Elisha performing these acts that couldn't be considered anything less than miracles, anywhere from having the axehead floating out of the river in chapter 6, to healing Naaman's leprosy in chapter 5, and even bringing the Shunammite's son back to life in chapter 4.
ReplyDeleteMoving on to the second part of II Kings, it's very similar to what we see in I Kings. We get history. It starts telling us who becomes king, in what year, who their parents are, how many years they ruled and if they disobeyed or obeyed God's commandments - mostly disobeying them. This aspect is so blatantly history, but another way to look at it is a tragedy.
Again, like I Kings, we get the acts of these kings being compared to the evils that Jeroboam had done while in rule. There are highlights within the lines every so often. Such examples include when Jehu completely dismantles Israel's and Judah's thrones, becomes king and kills off a massive amount of Baal ministers. Later on we get Hezekiah, whose faithfulness in the Lord helped get them delivered out of defeat from the Assyrians(chapter 19). In chapters 22-23, we have Josiah. He started off young, but wise. He had the temples restored in structure and their intended purpose, he adhered to God's once-lost laws, he renewed the covenant, he reestablished the Passover, and he had all the other shrines to other gods destroyed that previous kings had left.
The tragedy I find is this. Even after trying to turn everything around for the better, God's anger still burned against the children of Isreal because of all the evil they had done in His eyes. In chapter 17 it details all the things wrong they had done, and it seems if it weren't for all of this, their nations would have remained intact. They would have stood up against the Assyrian forces. Instead, God rejects them and let's them get taken.
And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. (23:27)
I think, as with most of these books, there is a side of the story of Hezekiah that contains some elements of tragedy. Thoughout his reign, he listens to God through the prophet Isaiah, and for the most part does what he says. God helps Hezekiah out in a number of situations. But when it all came down to it, and Hezekiah got a little cocky to the Babylonians with the things he had in his palace, God told him that all of his things, including his own flesh and blood will be taken by the Babylonians.
ReplyDeleteThroughout Hekekiahs life he obeyed God and God helped him out, until the end of his life where God says that everything that he has will be taken away. That seems pretty tragic to me.
I believe that II Kings is viewed more as a history than a tragedy. II Kings goes through the life of hezekiah, josiah, elisha and gives it more as a history of there failings and successions than as a tragedy
ReplyDeletejason s