1: Adam, Seth, Enosh;
4: Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Chronicles begins on the first genealogies, to remind the Jews after the exile and to insure a continuous history with meaning. These books are full of such genealogies, omitted here. But the focus is on the house of David, with its eternal promise of a Messiah (anointed king).
13: Saul died for his unfaithfulness; he was unfaithful to the LORD,
Saul is dismissed in Chronicles, concerned mainly with the House of David. There is no battle for the kingdom here. David gets the crown easily, from God.
14: Therefore the LORD slew him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.
1: Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron, and said, "Behold, we are your bone and flesh.
Note the idealized unity here, which Kings contradicts. In Kings we get constant tribal feuds, omitted here. The phrase, "all Israel" suggests a unity of the northern and southern kingdoms that is proved false by Kings (a more truthful record).
38: . . . . [A]ll the rest of Israel were of a single mind to make David king.
Again, note the clause, "all the rest of Israel were of a single mind," as if to create an ideal unity of mind in choosing David as king (not so, says Kings).
1: In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, Joab led the army. But David remained at Jerusalem.
In Kings this is the point where David lusts after Bathsheba; here this is omitted. The writer of Chronicles idealizes David.
5: And there was again war with the Philistines; and Elha'nan the son of Ja'ir slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
Note, the writer corrects the "mistake" of 2 Samuel 21:19, where it is said that Elhanan slew Goliath, contradicting 1 Samuel 17:49 where it is said David slew Goliath. Consistency is reached here by saying that Elhanan slew the "brother" of Goliath.
1: Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel.
In 2 Samuel 24:1, God tempts David. This was unacceptable to the Chronicler, who makes Satan tempt David. But this introduces a "dualism" into Hebrew thought; namely, that there are two equal powers in the world: God and Satan. Soon "Satan" becomes God's adversary, especially in the New Testament, where Satan offers Jesus the world (since it belongs to Satan).
23: Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king; he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.
Note again the reference to "all Israel" and "all the leaders and sons of David" (v. 24). This omits the family battles for the crown and Solomon's bloodbath, killing his own family and David's enemies.
24: All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.
28: Then David died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor; and Solomon his son reigned in his stead.
Compare the simple report of David's death in 1 Kings 2:10: "Then David rested with his fathers."
3: And Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for the tent of meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness, was there.
Compare with 1 Kings 3:4: "The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place. . . ." Here Solomon prays before the "tent of meeting" (the tabernacle). The writer changed details to make Solomon look as good as possible. Compare with 1 Kings 3:3: "Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places." "High places" are forbidden places of worship.
20: Then the Spirit of God took possession of Zechari'ah [prophet]; and he said, "Thus says God, `Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.'"
21: But they conspired against him, and by command of the king [of Judah, Jo'ash] they stoned him in the court of the house of the LORD.
22: And when he was dying, he said, "May the LORD avenge!"
23: At the end of the year the army of the Syrians came up against Jo'ash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent their spoil to the king of Damascus.
24: Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, the LORD delivered into their hand a very great army, because they had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers.
Zechariah's curse was fulfilled. Jesus refers to the murder of Zechariah in Matthew 23:35 but confuses this Zechariah with the minor prophet ("son of Bechariah").
1: Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign; he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: he did evil in the sight of the LORD:
2: For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made molten images for Baalim [gods of Ba'al].
3: Moreover, he sacrificed his sons in the fire, after the practice of the heathen.
5: So the LORD delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.
8: And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
9: But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was angered by Judah, he delivered them into your hand, and you have killed them in a rage that reaches up unto heaven.
10: And now you plan to keep them as slaves: but are there not with you also sins against God?
11: Now free these captives: for the anger of the LORD is upon you.
14: So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and the people.
15: And the men took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and gave them to eat and drink, and anointed them, and carried the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.
9: Manas'seh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so they did more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.
11: Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manas'seh with hooks and bound him with fetters of bronze and brought him to Babylon.
12: And he humbled himself before the God of his fathers.
13: He prayed to him, and God heard his prayer and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manas'seh knew that the LORD was God.
In 2 Kings 21,Manasseh is completely evil. But the Chronicler was puzzled by the king's successful reign (55 years!). So he assumes the king's repentance. Verse 13 inspired the apocryphal Prayer of Manasseh, supposedly Manasseh's words of repentance, quoted in my commentary on 2 Kings.
Though Josiah is praised in Kings and Chronicles, the Chronicler must "explain" why Josiah died young, so gives a reason:
20: Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Car'chemish and Josi'ah went against him.
21: But [Neco] sent envoys to him, saying, "What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to make haste. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you."
22: Nevertheless Josi'ah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but joined battle in the plain of Megid'do.
23: And the archers shot King Josi'ah.
The Chronicler "explains" Josiah's death by saying his battle against Neco was against "the mouth of God." There is no mention of this in 2 Kings 29ff.
20: [The king of Babylon] took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword,
21: to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.
Note the ironic reference: since the people observed no sabbaths, God forces them to observe the 70 sabbaths they missed! This refers to Jeremiah's prophecy (the book of Jeremiah) of "seventy years" (that is, from the Babylonian Captivity in 586 to the dedication of the Second Temple (516-515 BCE).
22: Now the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so he proclaimed in all his kingdom:
23: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, `The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up.'"
Cyrus is under God's control (he's called Messiah in Isaiah). Chronicles ends the Hebrew Bible (Malachi ends the Old Testament in the Christian arrangement). Thus the Hebrew Bible ends on hope, based on rebuilding the Temple. Since Christians found their hope in Jesus, not the temple, they arranged the Old Testament differently; Malachi speaks of a "curse," which suited the Christian need for a redeemer. Now begins the post-exile, seen as ordained by God, through Cyrus:
1: In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
2: "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3: Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel -- he is the God who is in Jerusalem."
Note how Cyrus is the Messiah, God's servant. Also, God is still defined by place (Jerusalem), as if each place had a god.
5: Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, every one whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
7: Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD which Nebuchadnez'zar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.
2: Then arose Jeshua [high priest]with his fellow priests, and Zerub'babel [governor] with his kinsmen; they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses man of God.
1: Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel,
2: they approached Zerub'babel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, "Let us build with you; for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of the king of Assyria who brought us here."
But the Samaritan religion was syncretistic, a blend of many religions:
3: But Zerub'babel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said to them, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."
1: The officials approached me and said, "The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations.
2: For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons; so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands."
3: When I heard this, I tore my clothes, and pulled hair from my head and beard.
5: At the evening sacrifice I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God,
6: saying: "O my God, our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
7: And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as at this day."
This concerns intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews.
44: All who had married foreign women put them away with their children.
Some scholars claim the book of Ruth was written in answer to this policy, seen as "inhumane."
1: When wine was before King Ar-ta-xerx'es, I [Nehemiah] took up the wine and gave it to the king.
2: And the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart."
3: I said to the king, "Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres [tombs], lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"
5: And I said to the king, "If it pleases you, send me to Judah, that I may rebuild it."
6: So it pleased the king to send me.
15: Then I went up in the night and inspected the wall and returned.
17: Then I said, "You see how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer disgrace."
19: But when Sanbal'lat the Hor'onite and Tobi'ah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked us and despised us and said, "Are you rebelling against the king?"
7: But when they heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward,
8: they plotted against Jerusalem to cause confusion.
16: From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.
Nehemiah is a useful text to inspire completion of difficult tasks. Here nothing could stop Nehemiah rebuilding the wall. In this he resembles Joshua who, as the spiritual says, "never stopped his work until his work was done."
7: I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. "You are exacting interest, each from his brother." And I held a great assembly against them,
8: and said, "We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brethren who have been sold to the nations; but you sell your brethren so they may be sold to us!" They could not find a word to say.
9: So I said, "This is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?
This is a theme of social oppression that will occupy the later prophets (Amos was outspoken about this). Hebrew law was based on a kind of socialism, preventing class differences, including laws for a Jubilee year returning land to its original owners, etc.
11: Return their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the hundredth of money, grain, wine, and oil which you have been exacting of them."
12: They said, "We will do as you say."
13: I shook out my lap and said, "So may God shake out every man from his house and from his labor who does not perform this promise." All the assembly said "Amen" and praised the LORD. And the people did as they had promised.
"Amen" means "certainly," as in the Gospel refrain, "Certainly, Lord."
15: So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
16: And the nations round about us were afraid and fell in their own esteem; for they saw this work was accomplished with the help of our God.
5: And Ezra opened the book [of Moses] in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people [standing on a pulpit]; and when he opened it the people stood.
6: And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God; and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands; and they worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
8: And they read from the book and gave the sense, so the people understood the reading.
By this time, many Jews did not understand Hebrew, so the text had to be translated and "explained."
2: And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and those of their fathers.
6: And Ezra said: "Thou art the LORD, thou alone.
26: "Nevertheless [your people] were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to thee.
30: Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
33: Yet you have been just in all that has come upon us, for we have acted wickedly;
36: Behold, we are slaves in the land thou gavest to our fathers.
37: And its rich yield goes to the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins; they have power also over our bodies, and we are in great distress."
38: Because of all this we make a covenant and write it, and our princes, our Levites, and our priests set their seal to it.
The people rededicate themselves to God's covenant.
30: We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons;
31: and if the peoples of the land bring in wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the sabbath or on a holy day; and we will forego the crops of the seventh year and every debt.
1: Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem; and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine tenths remained in the other towns.
2: And the people blessed all who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.
This action will be repeated during the Zionist repopulation of Israel in the early part of the 20th century.
19: When it began to be dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I ordered the doors should be shut and not opened until after the sabbath.
23: In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab;
24: and half their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but the language of each people.
25: And I cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair; and I made them take oath in the name of God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
30: Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work;
31: Remember me, O my God, for good.
1: After these things King Ahasu-e'rus promoted Haman the Ag'agite, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.
2: And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down to Haman. But Mor'decai did not bow.
5: Haman was filled with fury.
This is where the Feast of Purim ("lots") gets its name; it was adopted from a Persian feast and given special meaning for Jews. Purim is celebrated today as a joyful feast, when the Jews saved themselves. On the evening and morning of this feast, the "megillah" (scroll) of Esther is read.
8: Then Haman said to King Ahasu-e'rus, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so it is not for the king's profit to tolerate them.
9: If it please the king, let it be decreed they be destroyed."
13: Letters were sent to all the king's provinces, to destroy all Jews in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to seize their goods.
Note the satiric voice against Persian laws. Although laws are passed and there is a great system of advertising those laws, the laws are ridiculous and unjust (as we saw in other parts of the story); so the book of Esther may be a satire on unjust laws compared to God's law.
There is no mention of God, but there is fasting before Esther does her deed.
15: Then Esther told them to reply to Mor'decai,
16: "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days. I and my maids will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."
1: On that night the king could not sleep; and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.
2: And it was found written how Mor'decai had told about the king's eunuchs who had sought to lay hands upon the king.
6: Haman came in, and the king said to him, "What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?" And Haman thought, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?"
7: So Haman said to the king,
8: "Let royal robes be brought, and the horse which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set;
9: and let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble princes; let him array the man whom the king delights to honor, and let him conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: `Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.'"
The king is thinking of Mordecai, but Haman thinks he means himself! Haman's advice glorifies Haman's enemy, Mordecai. More irony! This is a lot like Hannah's prayer, later adopted as the Virgin Mary's Magnificat (in LUKE); that is, a prayer of reversals.
10: Then the king said to Haman, "Make haste, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mor'decai the Jew who sits at the king's gate. Leave out nothing you have mentioned."
Note the king's ironic words: "Leave out nothing you have mentioned."
1: On that day King Ahasu-e'rus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mor'decai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her;
2: and the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mor'decai. And Esther set Mor'decai over the house of Haman.
3: Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet and begged with tears to stop the Haman's plot against the Jews.
5: And she said, "If it please the king, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the lands of the king.
6: For how can I endure to see the ruin of my people?"
7: Then King Ahasu-e'rus said to Queen Esther and to Mor'decai the Jew,
8: "You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked."
Since a Persian law can not be undone, the solution was to give the Jews the right to fight back, which is done:
17: And there was joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many declared themselves Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
People are so afraid of the revenge of the Jews on the 13th day of Adar, that they pretend they themselves are Jews.
13: And Esther said, "If it please the king, let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows."
14: So the king commanded this to be done; and Haman's ten sons were hanged.
26: Therefore they called the feast Purim, after the term Pur.
8: Mordecai prayed to the Lord. He said:
9: "O Lord,
12: You know all things; you know, O Lord, that it was not in insolence or pride or for any love of glory that I did this, and refused to bow down to this proud Haman.
14: But I did this to set the glory of man above the glory of God, and I will not bow down to any one but to thee, who art my Lord; and I will not do this in pride.
Note a more theological point of view (pride, devotion to God, etc.)
15: And now, O Lord God and King, God of Abraham, spare thy people.
16: Do not neglect thy portion, which thou didst redeem for thyself out of the land of Egypt."
1: And Esther the queen, seized with deathly anxiety, fled to the Lord;
2: she took off her splendid apparel and put on the garments of distress and mourning, and instead of costly perfumes she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body, and every part that she loved to adorn she covered with her tangled hair.
The additions reverse the Hebrew text: instead of dressing herself in beauty, Esther dresses herself humbly and prays to God:
15: "Thou hast knowledge of all things; and thou knowest I hate the splendor of the wicked and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised and of any alien.
The Apocrypha reverses the point of the canonical tale; namely, that Jews can adapt to a foreign culture. Here the message is that foreign culture is evil and accepted only from necessity.
18: Thy servant has had no joy since the day that I was brought here until now, except in thee, O Lord God of Abraham.
8: Then God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness.
Note (above, v. 8) that these additions more than make up for the lack of God's name in the original Hebrew text; here God is the source of the Jews' changed forture.
Finally the reason for calling the Feast of Purim "Purim" has a different (more theological) meaning: "lot" here means Israel as God's chosen lot.
7: For this purpose God made two lots, one for the people of God and one for the nations.
9: And God remembered his people.
10: So they will observe these days in the month of Adar, on the fourteenth and fifteenth of that month, with joy before God, forever among his people Israel."
1: After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel.
2: Now Ahazi'ah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Sama'ria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, "Go, inquire of Ba'al-ze'bub, the god of Ekron [that is, the Philistines], whether I shall recover from this sickness."
3: But the angel of the LORD said to Eli'jah the Tishbite, "Arise, go to the messengers of the king of Sama'ria, and say to them, `Is there no God in Israel that you wish to inquire of Ba'al-ze'bub, the god of Ekron?'
4: Therefore thus says the LORD, `You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone, but shall surely die.'"
When the king asks what kind of man this was, Elijah is described the following way:
8: They answered him, "He wore a garment of haircloth, with a girdle of leather about his loins." And he said, "It is Eli'jah the Tishbite."
John the Baptist is later described this way.
17: So he died according to the word of the LORD which Eli'jah had spoken. Jeho'ram, his brother, became king in his stead in the second year of Jeho'ram the son of Jehosh'aphat, king of Judah, because Ahazi'ah had no son.
16: In the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jeho'ram the son of Jehosh'aphat, king of Judah, began to reign.
18: And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD.
19: Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant.
20: In his days Edom revolted from the rule of Judah, and set up a king of their own.
It's implied that Edom revolted (v. 20) because Jehoram did "evil in the sight of the LORD." (Edom is south of Judah, a common enemy; the story of Jacob and Esau [Edom] explained the conflict between these rivals.)
1: Then Eli'sha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, "Gird up your loins, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
2: And when you arrive, look there for Jehu and bid him rise from among his fellows, and lead him to an inner room.
The prophet party (led by Elisha) has decided to take over, to reclaim the nation for Jehovah (the traditional religion), by killing the kings of both kingdoms. Anointing confirms Jehu as king.
3: Then pour the oil on his head, and say, `Thus says the LORD, I anoint you king over Israel.'"
16: Then Jehu mounted his chariot, and went to Jezreel, for [Israel's King] Joram lay there. And Ahazi'ah king of Judah had come down to visit Joram.
22: And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, "Is it peace, Jehu?" He answered, "What peace can there be, so long as the harlotries and the sorceries of your mother Jez'ebel are so many?"
"Peace" without "law" is no peace. Jehu kills both kings.
30: When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jez'ebel heard of it. She painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out of the window.
31: As Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?"
Jezebel calls Jehu a "Zimri," because Zimri had assassinated (killed) a king, just like Jehu has.
32: And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" Two or three eunuchs [unsexed men] looked out at him.
33: He said, "Throw her down." They threw her down. Her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her.
35: When they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.
36: When they came back and told him, he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant Eli'jah the Tishbite, `In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jez'ebel;
37: and the corpse of Jez'ebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jez'ebel.'"
31: But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD the God of Israel with all his heart.
36: The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Sama'ria was twenty-eight years.
6: In the ninth year of Hoshe'a the king of Assyria captured Sama'ria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria.
This is 722 BCE: the fall of the northern kingdom; note the "theodicy" in v. 7:
7: And this was because Israel had sinned against the LORD.
24: And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, etc. and they took possession of Sama'ria, and dwelt in its cities.
34: To this day they do according to the former manner.
This is an attack on Samaria, because "they do" according to non-Jews. So Samaritans were scorned by Judahite Jews (from Judah). Samaria had by post-Exilic times developed a syncretistic religion, influenced by many immigrants (see v. 33 above), no longer recognizably a Jewish religion, at least according to Judah's priests.
2: Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.
3: He did right in the eyes of the LORD, like David his father had done.
4: He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Ashe'rah.
1: Manas'seh was twelve years old when he began to reign; he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2: He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
Manasseh must have done something right, since he reigned for 55 years! But the D writer doesn't see it that way, since Manasseh opposed the Jerusalem party (centralized worship, strict monotheism). He submitted to Assyria, but blended religions. Manasseh is condemned and is actually said to be the cause of Judah's fall! A bogus Prayer of Manaesseh was written to "explain" why Manasseh reigned for so long. The prayer is based on the fact, reported in 2 Chronicles, that Manasseh was captive in Assyria for a few years. This is the short Prayer:
The writer of 2 Chronicles mentioned this prayer to explain why Manasseh had a long rein. But the D writer of Kings dismisses Manasseh completely and predicts doom for Judah (the "measuring line of Samaria" means the same judgment, doom, as Samaria, which fell in 722):
10: And the LORD said by his servants the prophets,
11: "Because Manas'seh king of Judah has committed these abominations,
13: I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Sama'ria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
14: And I will cast off the remnant of my heritage, and give them into the hand of their enemies."
18: And Manas'seh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza.
1: Josi'ah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
Because Josiah ruled so young, it's likely the priests shaped his rule to their ways.
2: And he did right in the eyes of the LORD.
8: And Hilki'ah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD."
11: And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes.
Chronicles tells another story, showing that Josiah started reforms before the book was found. Here the book is found first, followed by reforms. The book is the Book of the Law, considered to be all or part of Deuteronomy. Whether it was "found" or planted to seem like it came from Moses, is another matter.
3: And the king made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book; and all the people joined in the covenant.
Note the Deuteronomist phrase, also in the Shema, "with all his heart and all his soul." Now Josiah starts another purge of foreign idols:
4: And the king commanded to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Ba'al, for Ashe'rah, and the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel.
5: And he deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places at the cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Ba'al, to the sun, and the moon, and the host of the heavens.
The student can see that Judah's religion was no longer pure but a syncretisic mix of many gods. This syncretism continues in modern Christianity (Christmas trees, candy canes, angels, Santa Claus, even December 25, the day of the sun god, Sol Invictus).
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."
22: 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;
23: but in the eighteenth year of King Josi'ah this passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.
25: Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.
26: Still the LORD did not turn from his wrath, because of Manas'seh.
Though Josiah is given high approval ratings, the D writer explains why Judah fell and puts the blame on Manasseh's idolatry!
27: And the LORD said, "I will remove Judah out of my sight, as I removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem."
Note: the Lord defeated Israel and will defeat Judah, not foreign nations.
31: Jeho'ahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
32: And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all his fathers had done.
Egypt was gaining strength and had enough influence to depose Judah's king and replace him with one of her own choosing. Egypt now receives "tribute" money:
33: And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid upon the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
34: And Pharaoh Neco made Eli'akim the son of Josi'ah king in the place of Josi'ah his father, and changed his name to Jehoi'akim.
35: And Jehoi'akim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh.
1: In his days Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoi'akim became his servant three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.
2: And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chalde'ans [Babylonians], and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which he spoke by his servants the prophets.
3: Surely this happened because of the sins of Manas'seh,
1: And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon came with his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it.
4: Then a breach was made in the city; the king with all the men of war fled by night.
5: But the army of the Chalde'ans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and his army was scattered.
7: They slew Zedeki'ah's sons before his eyes, and put out his eyes and bound him in chains, and took him to Babylon.
8: In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, Nebu'zarad'an, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9: And he burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down
10: and the walls around Jerusalem.
11: And the rest of the people Nebu'zarad'an carried into exile.
God's Temple is destroyed. The captivity of the Jewish people is called the Babylonian Captivity and lasted 50 years, before the Persian king Cyrus defeated Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple, under Persia's toleration of foreign gods.
12: But some of the poorest were left to be vinedressers and plowmen.
22: And over the people who remained he appointed Gedali'ah the son of Ahi'kam, son of Shaphan, governor.
24: And Gedali'ah said, "Do not be afraid because of the Chalde'an officials; and serve the king of Babylon."
Gedaliah is assassinated because he's only a puppet ruler.
26: Then the people, small and great, and the captains of the forces arose, and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chalde'ans.
27: And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoi'achin king of Judah, Evil-mero'dach king of Babylon graciously freed Jehoi'achin king of Judah from prison.
29: And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table.
The Deuteronomist History ends on a hopeful note, with the liberation of King Jehoiachin.
