CHAPTER 18
Now we get a new king in Judah – Hezekiah. He’s the best king by far. He does everything right. The previous good kings simply did right by
the Lord and followed most of his practices, but still let the altars in the
high places stand and people do sacrifices there. Well guess what? Hezekiah
even puts a stop to that. He’s the best
king so far.
The Bible writer is a big believer in the centralized
practice of religion and a big believer that only the Temple should have
sacrifices. So that’s why the high
places are always wrong.
Oh, and we’re given one other shocking detail. Hezekiah also destroys a bronze serpent made
by Moses. Wait – what? He did what? Why would a king do that?
Why would an apparently great king do that? Well, the next sentence says
people were burning incense to it, so that’s the explanation, but there is more
to it than that. The priests of Judea
are associated with Aaron; they see themselves as his descendents. The priests of Israel saw themselves as
Moses’ children. So there is some
rivalry like that going on. The
southern priests are less invested in a Moses-related relic.
Also, we’re told (again) in the middle of this chapter that
Israel fell, right in the middle of Hezekiah’s reign. Well, that helps explain the big desire for reform. Nothing like the loss of a longstanding
kingdom to really put the fear of God into a closely related kingdom.
I should note that Richard Elliot Friedman argued in his
book “Who Wrote the Bible” that many scholars believe that the P source, the
author of about half of the Torah (and also the two books of Chronicles) was a
priest active in the time of Hezekiah.
I forget if that’s just Friedman’s belief or the prevailing attitude of
Biblical scholars). It makes
sense. He’s the big reformer and the
priests love him. Hezekiah promotes
centralized religious services and the priority of the Aaron priests, as does
the P source. So why not write a history
of the people that reflects that theology?
The chapter ends on a bleaker note, though. The Assyrians are coming and want
Jerusalem. They basically ask Hezekiah
to kneel before Zod, but he trying to avoid it. The Assyrian captains point out that if he refuses, Jerusalem
will be under siege and “those sitting on the wall, who, with you, will have to
eat their own excrement and drink their urine.” Some detail! Keep in mind
that Jerusalem will be under a heavy siege.
Assuming that this really was written during Hezekiah’s reign, the
author survived the siege and those details he gives here aren’t just words to
gross us out, but something that actually happened.
The chapter ends with a big showdown coming between Assyria
and Judea. It’ll be a real
make-or-break moment in the history of world religions.
CHAPTER 19
OK, this is a famous one.
Here a new character takes the stage – Isaiah, the prophet who later
gets his own (long) Bible book. The
leaders of Judah are horrified by the situation of the Assyrians. They don’t think they can beat the
Assyrians, but don’t want to lose their kingdom either. So the leaders are tearing their garments
and in sackcloth. The Assyrians are
pretty damn cocky about things. They
note all the other people they’ve beaten and all of their gods couldn’t stand
up to them – what makes the god of the Israelites any better? Bah!
Enter Isaiah. He
tells them the good news – stand by God and all will be good. This is literally an answer to their
prayers, as Hezekiah prayed to God for guidance. Isaiah gives them assurance and then that night the Angel of the
Lord takes off and slays 185,000 Assyrians.
The survivors hightail it out of there.
Hurrah!
This is a big moment, no doubt. Years ago I read a book called “What If?” – a series of
alternative histories discussing how the world would be if some battles went
the other way. The author looking at
this chapter made a provocative point – if this battle goes the other way,
monotheism might’ve been strangled in its cradle. Y’know, that’s a really good point.
Also, this is a great moment in the history of trying to
date the Bible. This is the first
clearly confirmable event. We have no
Egyptian records of the 10 plagues or the Red Sea parting. We have no records of Joshua stopping the
sun. But we do have the Assyrian
military record of this campaign. It
happened in 701 BC, which serves as a stating point for everyone trying to date
all previous Biblical events.
The record is the military commander’s official report to
the emperor on what happened. Some main
points are agreed on. Jerusalem was
under siege but did not fall. However,
there are no 185,000 deaths in one night.
He missed that. You’d think he’d at least have to explain their deaths
to the king, right? Apparently, it
didn’t happen. But what’s interesting
is his language. He says he had the
leaders of Judah trapped like a bird in a cage. It’s a nice bit of bragging line, but covers up the fact that you
don’t put a city under siege to trap it but to take it – and he didn’t take it. He did raid the countryside, but never did take
it.
CHAPTER 20
This is a beautiful chapter. It’s really wonderful, and has a bit extra meaning to me because
someone I knew quoted it.
No, it was no one I ever met, but someone I got to know
online: John Brattain. John was a
devout Christian and big baseball fan that spread his humor and warmth for
years on the Baseball Think Factory website and (like myself) wrote regular
articles at The Hardball Times.
He also had serious health problem. I don’t know the exact nature of his health
problems, but he had some serious health issues in his 20s (he might’ve
suffered a stroke; something like that), but survived. However, in his early 40s, his health took a
turn for a worse and he died during heart surgery a few years ago.
As his health was failing and he spent time in and out of
the hospital, John Brattain quoted a bit from Chapter 20 of Kings II in an
email on the Hardball Times listserve.
King Hezekiah, the great reformer king, is dying. Isaiah has already told him that he won’t
recover. Hezekiah prays to God,
“remember how faithfully and wholeheartedly I conducted myself in your
presence, doing what was good in your sight!” and then he broke down
weeping. Then God offers his reply (via
Isaiah, of course) – presented in verse form:
I have heard your prayer;
I have seen y our tears
Now I am healing you
On the third day you shall go up
To the house of the Lord
I will add to your life fifteen years
That’s the part John Brattain quoted. He was in his 40s with two daughters in
their late teens and he was dying. But
instead of becoming bitter, he thought back to how he nearly died before. He felt the years since his first medical
meltdown had been a gift from the Lord – the same way God gave Hezekiah a gift
of these 15 years.
That’s beautiful and touching – both John’s attitude and the
Bible verse itself. And it’s one of the
greatest defenses of religion I can think of.
It gives someone dying young solace, a reason for hope, and a sense of
perspective. Yeah, as a non-believer I
can be good a being rational in all my interpretations of the Bible as
everything else, but that won’t provide many moments of grace like this one.
Even if you ignore John’s story, this story here is just a
touching thing of beauty. Too often in
the Old Testament God comes off like a nasty piece of work. But this is the sort of God you want to
believe in; a caring and kind God – one who actually answers the prayer of the
good man facing tough times.
Oh, and the rise in three days thing serves as nice
foreshadowing for Christians. Wouldn’t
you know it? Isaiah shows up and we get Christ foreshadowing.
Oh, and the chapter goes on from there, too. When Hezekiah hears that God has given him
extra time, he asks Isaiah for a sign from God to prove it. And he gets one, as Isaiah makes his shadow
move 10 paces backwards. No, it’s not
much of a miracle but guess what? It’s
the last actual miracle in the Old Testament; well not including Biblical
fan-fic like Jonah or Daniel. This is
the last time the main narrative has a miracle.
CHAPTER 21
Well, Hezekiah’s extra 15 years have ended and now his son
Manasseh is king. He’s an evil
king. Actually, he’s the first one of
those since Queen Athaliah killed almost all of her nephews and reigned for six
years. But that was (by my reckoning)
180 years before Manasseh. So that was
quite a nice stretch of good kings Judah had.
It seems strange that their unbroken 180 years of quality kings would
end right after the most righteous king of all. Did Hezekiah fall down in raising his spawn? Is this some sort of post-adolescent
rebellion? Check that – he’s 12 years old when he’s king – make that adolescent
rebellion?
Whatever the cause, he is the worst king that Judah ever
had. He even sets up altars to Baal,
something previously only seen in the (now gone) northern kingdom of Israel –
and even there only way back in the time of Ahab. He brings back soothsaying, divination, consulting of ghosts, and
even the immolation of children. What a
worthless shit! In fact, the Bible
flatly states, “Manasseh misled [the Jews] into doing even greater evil than
the nations the Lord had destroyed at the coming of the Israelites.” Oh, so we’re doing worse than the pre-Joshua
people.
And this is why the people of Judah are doomed. God decides he will punish them, just as he
had punished the northern kingdom. If
they were totally turn away from him, they he’ll totally turn away from
them.
Manasseh dies but his son Amon is a chip off the old
block. He also abandons the Lord. But there is a curious end here. We’re told that the officials plotted
against Amon and killed him in the palace, but then “the people of the land
then slew all who had plotted against King Amon, and the people of the land
made his son Josiah king instead.”
Hmmm. Folks, we’re
far enough forward in time that the author of the Bible should have a good idea
what happened. The best scholarly
opinion is that the historical books of the Bible (including Kings II) were
written during the reign of Josiah, and that previous part made Josiah
king). We should be told some more
detail on what happened. Instead, we
just get some cryptic lines about how “officials” killed the king and how “the
people” slew the officials. Can we get
some names? All previous cases of royal
deaths have given us more attention, but the one the Biblical author actually
lived through gets short shrift.
Really, Bible? Really? What’s going on here?
CHAPTER 22
Now, for the main event: the reign of Josiah.
Ultimately, he ends up being an also-ran; a footnote. But whoever wrote the Bible clearly thinks
that Josiah is the biggest thing ever.
This is supposed to be a world-changing event. Josiah is the confirmation of the law set down by Moses. He’s paralleled to Moses a few times, including
here at the outset when we’re told that Josiah “did what was right in the
Lord’s sight, walking in the way of David his father, not turning right of
left.” If I recall correctly, Moses was
also said to not turn right of left.
Hell, this is a king whose reign was foretold – by name,
mind you – in Chapter 13 of Kings I.
Much of the Josiah show happens in Chapter 23, but a big one happens
here: they find a lost book of Moses’ law.
Early in the Chapter, the high priest Hilkiah gives Josiah a
lost book of Moses’ law that they just found.
And they read it off, and the king tears his garments, because the
children of Israel have done such a bad job living up to it. He’s determined to make amends for that.
I still remember reading this in my previous go-throughs
with the Bible, and it always set off my bullshit detector. Wait – a lost book of the Bible? They just now found it? What’s going on? Well, scholarly opinion is pretty universal that’s this lost book
is Deuteronomy. In fact, it’s been called
the pious fraud as a result. It’s a
book calling for a series of practices that Josiah will carry out. It’s the
right book being found at the right time.
Also, all analysis, from linguist to basic stylistic, indicates that
Deuteronomy was written by a different hand as the other books of the
Torah.
Oh, and Hilkiah, the high priest who “finds” the book? He might be the father of the prophet
Jeremiah. At the very least it’s the
same name, and they were from similar social circles. It’s one of the things that helps Richard Elliot Friedman argue
that Jeremiah wrote Deuteronomy and compiled the historical books of the Bible,
too.
Josiah will do it right, but the end of the book indicates
that it’s too late. God has already
made up his mind and will destroy the land.
That’s horrible. They’re finally
going to do it right and pure, and now they’ll be destroyed?
The end section is put in later. Much of the historical books were clearly written before the
Babylonian Captivity, most obviously where it says “and exists to the present
day” about things destroyed during the conquest. And the big build up that Josiah gets also wouldn’t make any
sense – unless it was written during the full bloom of Josiah’s promise. But then these histories were written culminating
in Josiah’s triumph of the proper religion – but it all falls to naught. The
author (Jeremiah?) went back and put some spin on the writings to explain what
happened. So you get spin like this.
There are other parts of the narrative clearly foretelling
the eventual sad fate of the children of Israel. Moses warns of it at the end of his big speech in Deuteronomy,
Solomon is warned of it when he is king, and it happens in other places as
well. Normally it fits the narrative
very well – do well, or else God will let you falter. But here it completely falls flat and makes God come off
horribly. It’s one thing to say fly
right or crash, but here we’re told that even though a king is trying to make
the people fly righter than ever before, it won’t make any difference. God will
have his punishment instead. That’s
horrible. If he was angry at them
earlier, he should’ve destroyed them then.
This just seems petty.
CHAPTER 23
Here Josiah destroys all the high places where sacrifices
occur. It’s mostly a litany of places
destroyed and improper actions stamped out.
Some of these places engaged in child immolation. There are even references to cult
prostitutes.
Oh, and we go back to Chapter 13 of Kings I. There, an unnamed Man of God prophesized that
a king – Josiah by name – would destroy all the high alters. Well here they come across a body buried and
the king is told it’s the guy who foretold what Josiah would do. So his remains are left undisturbed.
Josiah celebrates a Passover unlike anything the people had
seen ever under the kings or judges. It
must be the purest one since the time of Moses, or at least Joshua. This is the culmination. This is the perfection. In fact, the Bible says of Josiah, “Before
him there had been no king who turned to the Lord as he did, with his whole
heart, his whole being, and his whole strength, in accord with the entire Law
of Moses; nor did any king like him arise after him.” This directly parallels what was said of Moses at the end of
Deuteronomy – a book perhaps written by the same hand.
But God is still furious with the Israeli? This is terrible writing. The author makes God out to be a vengeful
jerk. They’re finally doing things
perfectly in accordance with his teachings but instead of celebrating their
late learning, God “did not turn from his fiercely burning anger against Judah,
because of all the provocations that Manasseh had given.”
Here is how Jeremiah (or whoever wrote this) should’ve
handled it. God takes pause at seeing
the children of Israel turn to him. But
he wants to make sure they can maintain it without Josiah – make sure its
really the community turning to him, not just the king. So let’s see if the program can keep going
without Josiah. And then it doesn’t, God’s fury is redoubled because not only
have the Israelites turned from him, but also turned from the recent glorious
example of how to worship him (and with the newly found book offering guidance,
too!) So then God decides to go back to
Plan B - destroying Judah.
Now that would work better in terms of narrative and in
terms of God’s mercy. Instead, we’re
told that God is holding a grudge. Just
a complete face plant by the Bible writer, who normally is really good at
handling things well to explain his theological slant on the history of the
Hebrew.
Because Josiah dies in this chapter. He fights the Egyptians in a battle, and
dies at Megiddo. His 23-year-old son
Jehoahaz becomes king, and does evil before the Lord. Again – why are the sons of the best reformers the worst kings? I
don’t know. Maybe he felt his dad was
too under the thumb of the priests.
Maybe not being under the thumb of ht priests is interpreted as evil
here.
Or maybe it’s just power politics. After all, a foreign ruler just killed his dad, so he needs to be
careful. And one way to be careful is
too appeal to the foreign gods. (If
Josiah’s God was so great, why did he let him die with his work undone?)
Jehoahaz only rules three months, and then is taken prisoner
by the Egyptians. (Yeah, he was under
foreign pressure, which I guess is why he acted in ways the priests didn’t
like). The pharaoh then makes
Jehoahaz’s brother Jehoiakim king.
Interestingly, it looks like Jehoiakim is the older brother – he’s 25,
and the 23-year-old ruled just three months.
Anyhow, Jehoiakim rules 11 years, but does evil before the Lord.
The reform program of Josiah is in ruins.
CHAPTER 24
The first sentence of this chapter mentions Nebuchadnezzar,
so we’re in the final countdown until Babylon takes over. The Babylonians are the rising power, taking
out all Egyptian lands in the area, leaving them with just Egypt. Without a rival big power to play off
Babylon, small states like Judea are in big trouble.
The final conquest of Judah plays out. Jerusalem surrenders and the king is taken
captive, along with all the treasures and many leaders of society. The Babylonian Captivity has begun.
A new king rules, apparently as a vassal of Babylon. We’re told that he’s evil, but he also
rebels against Babylon. (Those two things aren’t necessarily opposed to each
other for the Bible writer. I believe
that Jeremiah thought that the conquest by Babylon of Judah was justified
because it was a punishment from God on his people; and since it came from God,
don’t rebel against it. That’s getting
ahead of things, but I believe that’s how it’ll play out when I get to
Jeremiah).
CHAPTER 25
The rebellion fails and with horrible consequences. If the people of Judah can’t handle a fairly
lenient conquest, they’ll get the hard one.
The Temple of Solomon is destroyed.
The king’s palace is destroyed.
All the holy places are destroyed.
All the riches are taken.
A new governor is appointed, but killed. After that, many flee into Egypt. The old king of Judah is held captive in
Babylon is eventually freed from jail and allowed to eat at the emperor’s
table, essentially a well-treated hostage for the rest of his days.
Thus ends this book, on a bleak note. Then again, when reality ends with a
conquest, the story will end bleakly.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
This isn’t the worst book I’ve read in the Bible so far, but
it is the most disappointing book.
Joshua was worse with its celebration of genocide, but at least I knew
that was coming in advance. Leviticus
was a snooze, but I was prepared for that.
But this is just hard to follow at times. It’s clear that the writer had just a
sketchy knowledge of what happened in the ear of two kingdoms, and so that hurt
the overall quality of the narrative.
There are many kings listed, but there is so little said about most that
it’s hard to really care about them.
It’s the litany-of-dead-kings school of history at it worst.
Also, early Kings II has a weird mixture of mythic and
historic information. Much of the Old
Testament is mythic and much of it is historical, but you rarely get both
side-by-side. But you get it here,
especially early on with Elisha. But
the mythic stuff works best when it’s by itself. By putting along side mundane historical matters, it makes the
mythic stuff seem harder to believe.
And the miracles make the normal history stuff seem unimportant. The combination brings out the worst of both
parties.
That said, there are some truly wonderful moments in Kings
II. The best is Chapter 20 with King
Hezekiah’s prayer and God’s response.
The information on the unfulfilled promise of Josiah is also interesting
(though the writer messes up how he handles the Lord there). Jehu also has his moments as all-time
badass.
My main aftertaste from this book is a disappointing flavor,
alas.
Click here for the next entry, which begins Chronicles I.
Click here for the next entry, which begins Chronicles I.
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