Week 25
2 Kings 1-25
Is your head spinning? Because my head is SPINNING!! So many names and I don’t think I can spell or pronounce 75% of them- which for me makes it a little harder for my brain to grasp. But how interesting!! We go from no kings to learning about LOTS of kings- and not only does Israel get a king but Judah gets a separate king!! It’s fascinating to me how we see them switch back and forth between doing what’s right and doing evil, until they actually become so far from God that the whole book of law gets completely forgotten about and lost. And, really- don’t we see this same phenomenon in our world? We stray a little, so our kids hear less about God and then in turn they stray a lot. My husband works in finance and talks about this some in his world- one generation works really hard to earn money and possibly accumulate wealth, the next generation works but maybe not as hard because now they have a comfort cushion, so by the 3rd generation that wealth has been blown through and they are left having to work hard again.
The other thing that I found super interesting is how the whole Israelite nation is judged based on the current king. We’re not really hearing about any specific Israelite individuals- just that they are apparently following & are super swayed by the beliefs of the king- the king is Godly, the people are Godly; the king does evil and worships other gods and makes sinful sacrifices, the people follow his lead.
But the other thing that really jumped out at me here, was Elijah & Elisha. I know the New Testament mentions Elijah but I had no idea that there were people predating Jesus that performed that many miracles! And how interesting that their miracles were so similar to the ones Jesus would perform 900ish years later- raising people from the dead, foretelling the future, ETC. and what about them parting the waters- both Elijah & Elisha parted the Jordan!!
Sorry all- but this is just truly too much to try to cover so some of these cliff notes are going to have to just be found in the notes graphics above. But what were your takeaways? Learn something new?? Any ah-ha moments??