In this second part of the book called ‘Kings’ we read about the history of the kings and kingdoms of Israel. We will read about a series of failed kingdoms, and how that eventually led to the Babylonian exile.

For a broader view of this book of the Bible, we encourage you to watch this video:

Bible Journaling Tip: In the sixty-six books of the library that we call Bible, we can start feeling overwhelmed. When you Bible journal, it will be really helpful to focus on one book at a time. In your journal, you can make a “book cover” and then you will know that all your notes that follow for the next few days / weeks / months will be on this one specific book. I recently heard that Floyd McClung regularly spent one year on one book of the Bible - that is how deep we can dive into the text. With JournalOwl Bible Journeys, you can sequentially work yourself through each chapter of each Book of the Bible - which guides you to fully analyze, comprehend, and understand - before moving into the next chapter.

LOOK UP:
(information)  -  encounter God through the Scripture 

Author:

The author is not identified, but traditionally Jeremiah has been believed to have written 1 and 2 Kings (as one book). We see a lot of words like “when”, “so”, or “then” at the beginning of sentences which also indicates that this should be read as a continuous story. 

Audience:

The nation of Israel was the intended audience of this book, which would serve as a reminder of all that God had done for them. Even though this part of their history is painful and would not be their favorite times to reflect on, it was deemed as important enough to write down, and important enough to be included in Bibles until today. Pray and ask God to help you see the significance of this book. Why is this book here?

History:

Starting to read 2 Kings is like starting a novel in the middle. This second part of the book of Kings picks up where the previous had an open ending where the kingdom of Israel splits into two rival groups, and God responds by sending the prophets to help the people back to peace. Similarly, it would be impossible to understand the destruction of Jerusalem and the severity of the Babylonian exile without reading 1 Kings. 

Genre:

This is a historical account of the history of the kings of Israel. It also shows us how the people of Israel ignored the prophets God sent to help them, and what that led to. In the middle of stories of war and destruction, we find beautiful prayers and prophecies. See if you can find all the pieces of hope in this book and mark them in a color that symbolizes that for you.

LOOK IN:
(revelation)  -  contemplate / reflect on our own lives

Key verse:

Inspiration:

In the middle of countless stories of kings being destructed and kingdoms falling, we find these two sentences that point us back to the big narrative between God and the Israelites. Do you trust that despite impossible circumstances, God will keep his promises?

LOOK OUT:
(transformation)  -  respond with creative worship action  

Drawing prompt:

All the accounts in 2 Kings seem so depressing and as if God had completely given up on the Israelites. Did he decide to not be faithful to the promises that he made Abraham and David? But in the very last few sentences we find a glimmer of hope: This postscript is about 40 years after the devastation of Israel that we just read about and it paints a simple but beautiful picture of hope. For your drawing prompt, make a little doodle sketch of that encounter that we read about in 2 Kings 25:27-30. If you are reading this Book of the Bible with JournalOwl's modern interactive eReader, we provide you the option to thread your scanned images to scripture, or hand draw them electronically. 

Bible Journey with JournalOwl:

Here are some questions / prompts provided by the JournalOwl community. 

• Who heard Elisha’s prophecy and found it incredible? (II Kings 7:2)
• How did the news of the abandoned enemy camp reach the king? (II Kings 7:10-11)

Follow this link to dive into this book with an online Bible Study group.

Writing prompt:

The book of 2 Kings is the opposite of a book like Genesis or Ruth which only has a handful of characters. This compilation of life stories can feel very overwhelming to keep up with. As a journal prompt, write down the names of a few of the characters and then write next to their name what they did / what we are told about them. You can also compare this with God in the story, and yourself today.

Prayer:

God, I want to thank you for the book of 2 Kings. Help me to understand how all of these stories fit into the big love story between you and your people. Let my response to this text be worship unto you!