Week 23, June1–7: 2 Kings 10–25; Isaiah 1–6

• Sun      Jun 1   2 Kings 10–12
• Mon     Jun 2   2 Kings 13–15
• Tue      Jun 3   2 Kings 16–18
• Wed     Jun 4   2 Kings 19–21
• Thu      Jun 5   2 Kings 22–25
• Fri        Jun 6   Isa. 1–3
• Sat       Jun 7   Isa. 4–6

As 2 Kings comes to a close, so does the story of Israel and Judah’s history in the Promised Land, at least for a time. We have seen battles and changing dynasties, and kings have come and gone, with Elijah, Elisha and the other prophets of the Lord confronting them in their sin along the way. Last week we mentioned that most of Judah’s kings were sinful and all the kings of Israel were wicked. Their sin and the sin of the people leads to the tragic consequences we come to in this week’s reading at the end of 2 Kings. Chapter 17 recounts the final defeat and fall of the northern kingdom, Israel, at the hands of the Assyrians, and then we read of Judah’s exile into Babylon.

The account of Israel’s exile itself is quite brief (2 Kgs. 17:6), but the author offers an explanation of the reasons for the exile that is lengthy by comparison (vv. 7–23). He says these tragic events all happened “because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God” (v. 7). Ever since they first entered the land, from the time of Joshua all the way until the last king, Hoshea, is captured and carried away into Assyria, the Israelites have gone after other gods and acted like the wicked nations God had promised to drive out of the Land before them. God sent prophets to call his people back to himself and his ways, and there were short times of repentance. Nevertheless, as a whole the kings and the people rejected the prophets and continued stubbornly in their ways, not believing in the Lord and despising his good laws and the covenant he made with their fathers.

Not long after Israel’s exile into Assyria, a similar thing happens in Judah. Before recounting the events of Judah’s exile in more detail, the author gives a summary statement near the end of chapter 24. “For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence” (2 Kgs. 24:20). The Babylonian army besieges Jerusalem then breaks in and destroys the city David established. Most tragically, the temple is burned to the ground. This is the place God chose as his dwelling place. Judah’s king at the time, Zedekiah, is blinded and taken captive to Babylon, along with all the other people except a few to stay and tend the land.

With the Pentateuch in mind, we probably saw this coming as we read along through these books of Israel and Judah’s history. Even still it is sad to read. It seems so obvious that they should have just walked in the ways of the Lord and followed after the God who delivered them from Egypt, blessed them and made them a nation, gave them the Land he had promised to Abraham, and remained faithful all along the way. But they just kept sinning and they consistently rebelled against the Lord and broke their end of the covenant with him. This highlights the need for a new covenant. God’s people need a new heart and a new king.

At the very end of 2 Kings we do see a glimmer of hope. The book ends with a somewhat mysterious little paragraph about Jehoiachin, one of Judah’s last kings, who was taken into exile in Babylon. Sometime after the exile, when a new king arises in Babylon, Jehoiachin is treated graciously. He is freed from prison and given a seat of honor and a place at the king’s table (2 Kgs 25:27–30). This is the descendant of David, the heir of his royal line. God has preserved David’s seed, his offspring, and the author wants to leave the readers with the reminder that God has not forgotten his promises to David about a son who will come and reign on an eternal throne.

In our English Bibles, 1–2 Chronicles comes right after 1–2 Kings. However, in the canonical order of the Hebrew Bible, the book immediately following Kings is Isaiah. This is the first time our reading plan encounters a major departure from the canonical order of our English Bibles.

The Hebrew Bible is divided into three major sections. The terms for these three sections are Torah, Nebi’im, and Ketubim (the “b” in Nebi’im and Ketubim is pronounced like a “v”). Torah means “instruction” or “teaching” or “law” and it refers to the Pentateuch, Genesis–Deuteronomy. (Note again that the Torah—sometimes referred to as “the Law”—includes many laws but it is mostly narrative and the teaching that accompanies that story of God’s creation and calling of Abraham to the time his people are about to enter the Promise Land.)

Nebi’im means “prophets,” and this section has two parts. The first part is referred to as the Former Prophets and it covers the historical books we have been reading for the past several weeks: Joshua, Judges, 1–2 Samuel, and 1–2 Kings. (The only variation from our English Bibles in this section is the omission of Ruth. Ruth is in the Ketubim/Writings section of the Hebrew Bible, and we will discuss that more when we get there.) This is followed by the Latter Prophets, which is made up of the books we typically think of as the prophetic books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets (Hosea–Malachi).

The third section of the three-part Hebrew canon is the Ketubim, which means “writings”. This section consists of the rest of the books, with Psalms as the main book at the beginning and 1–2 Chronicles ending the section and concluding the Hebrew canon. The order of books in this third section differs significantly from the order of our English Bibles.

Jewish people and other Hebrew Bible readers often use the term Tanak to refer to what we call the Old Testament. This is because… well first of all it’s because Jewish people don’t see their Bible as part one of the whole canon, like we do as Christians. They do not have a New Testament, so referring to their Bible as the Old Testament would not make sense. And the reason it is called the Tanak is based on the acronym for the three sections. T(orah) + N(ebi’im) + K(etubim) = TaNaK.

Here is a table of the sections and books

There are a number of things we could consider about the order of book, but we will just mention a couple things briefly for now. First, there is good evidence both in the NT and outside the Bible that this three-part Hebrew Bible was probably what Jesus and the Apostles were familiar with and read from. In Luke 24:44 Jesus says “that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (“The Psalms” here is likely just another way of referring to the Ketubim/Writings. In other places in the NT.

The order of books in our English Bibles is based on the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (called the Septuagint), which is ordered in a sequence that is more roughly chronological than the Hebrew Bible order. There is nothing wrong with the Greek or English order, nor is there necessarily something superior about the Hebrew Bible order. It is just worth considering that, if there is any significance in the way the books of the Bible are arranged, then it would be good to take note of the differences and reflect a little on the implications. This year’s read thru follows the Tanak order so we can get a sense of the difference and think about any fresh observations or insights we might see as we read.

In the Hebrew Bible, Isaiah follows right after the historical account of Israel’s time in the Land, the split of the kingdom, and the decline and eventual exile of both Israel and Judah. By following this reading sequence, we come to the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets with the historical narrative leading up to exile still fresh in our minds. The prophets give important theological explanations for Israel and Judah’s fall. Their forthtelling proclamations of God’s judgement against his people’s sin, their calls for repentance, and their foretelling predictions of coming restoration all resound with a heightened sense of clarity and immediacy when we read them right after the historical accounts of 1–2 Kings.

We will be in these books of the Latter Prophets for the next several weeks, with some reading in the Psalms and some NT reading mixed in too. Next week we will touch on a couple general principles for reading biblical prophetic books, but for now be thinking of the connections between what the prophets are declaring in their writings and what we have been reading in these largely negative accounts of the kings of Israel and Judah. Themes of judgement and exile are prominent here, but the themes of hope in future restoration come through as well. In fact, against the dark backdrop of sin and its consequences, we see more clearly the anticipation of a future when God’s Messiah will come and his people will return to him.