First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

To the good kings of Judah (there are no good kings of Israel)

listed in I Kings (Sc.) a case could be made for possibly adding

Y'ho'ash (Joash) (835-796 B.C.E.), Amatz'yahu (Amaziah) (796-767

B.C.E.), Azarya (Azariah) (Uzziah) (792-740 B.C.E.) and Jotham

(750-735 B.C.E.). However it must be said of Joash that he

foresook the L-rd and served idols after the death of the kohen

Jehoiada (II Chron. 24:15-18); it must be said of Amaziah that he

backslid into the worship of Edomite idols (II Chr. 25:14-16); of

Azariah (during whose reign Isaiah, Hosea, and Amos began their

preaching ministries), that he tried to usurp the kohenhood and

was punished with leprosy (II Chr. 27:20); of Jotham, during

whose reign Micah was preaching, that he failed to cleanse the

Beis Hamikdash of its pagan influence which caused many to

continue their evil ways (II Chr. 27;2,6).

Fire comes down from heaven as at Mount Carmel to protect Elijah

in II Kings 1, and finally Ahaziah of Israel is told that he will

die and G-d's word is fulfilled (1:17). This means we are at the

year 852 and we will go all the way to 586 B.C.E. in this book.

The battle of Qarqar (853 B.C.E.) is not recorded in the Bible.

If it were, this might be the place for it. It was fought in

Syria and it held beck the Assyrian advance into the territories

of Syria, Israel, and Judah for a time.

The expression "company of prophets" (bnei hanevi'im) found

starting in 2:3 means "members of the prophetic order." These

were a confraternity of maggidim gifted with miraculous powers

and with the gift enabling them to prophecy. We hear of them in

Bethel and in Jericho.

That Elijah is Moses or even Joshua redivivus is shown by his

parting the Jordan River (II Kings 2). His rapture is also

described (II Kings 2) and Mal. 4:5-6 looks for just such a

prophet of repentance at the time of the Moshiach or the end of

days. Notice the Hebrew verse at the end of this section,

II Kings 2:10. Notice that Elijah's rapture, when it occurs, is

secret as far as the world is concerned, and, from Elijah's point

of view, according to II Kings 2:10, it is questionable as to

whether Elisha himself will see it. Also, see Heb. 11:5 which

says (quoting the Septuagint). As far as the people were

concerned it was a secret rapture like Enoch's because "he was

not found." Only Elisha saw him go up.

Elisha, having received a "double share of the Elijah's spirit,"

also parts the Jordan, purifies a poisonous spring of water

(2:22), curses small boys who jeer at maggidim with an attack by

mauling she-bears (2:23-25), prophesies the defeat of Moab and

calls forth water for a thirsty army which looked like blood to

their Moabite enemies (3:1-27), does multiplication miracles with

a jar of oil belonging to a destitute prophet's wife (4:1-7) and

twenty loaves of bread (4:42), cures infertility (4:8-17) and

raises the dead (4:18-37), neutralizes poison in some food

(4:38-41), cures leprosy (5:1-19), renders a judgment miracle

against Gehazi (5:19-27), retrieves a floating axe head from the

Jordan River (6:1-7), hears "in the Spirit" the military plans of

the king of Syria but is protected by horses and chariots of fire

(6:8-17), blinds these enemy soldiers of Syria (6:18-19), feeds

his enemies (6:20-23), foretells famine relief (6:24-7:20),

directs the Shunammite woman on how to survive a seven-year

famine in absentia (8:1-6), and prophecies the overthrow of the

Syrian king Ben-hadad by Hazael (8:7-15). In

9:4 we read about a "young prophet" who, at the command of

Elisha, anoints Jehu king of Israel and prophesies that he will

be the nemesis of G-d against Ahab and Jezebel, after which Jehu

kills Jezebel's son Joram (852-841 B.C.E.) king of Israel and

Ahaziah (841) king of Judah. Then Jehu killed Jezebel (9:30-37)

in Jezreel. (The wicked daughter of Ahab usurps the throne of

David and tries to slaughter her way to power as the queen of

Judah after this--her name, Athaliah queen of Judah, and she

rules Judah from 841-835 B.C.E. until little seven year old

Jehoash is restored to the throne by the godly kohen Jehoiada.)

The slaughter of wicked Ahab's dynastic heirs along with

adherents of Baal worship continues in ch. 10.

Jehoash of Judah repairs the Beis Hamikdash in II Kings 12, a

task that every Brit Chadasha kehillah has to do from time to

time. King Joash of Israel visited Elisha on his deathbed

(13:14) and received prophecies about coming wars with Syria.

When Elisha dies, a corpse resurrects after touching the bones in

Elisha's grave.

II Kings 15 gives us the gruesome story of how the various kings

of Israel kill each other off as the throne of Jeroboam moves

toward self-destruotion.

Notice the duplicated material (II Kings 18:13-20:19 = Isa.

36:1-39:8) not only in Isaiah but also in Jeremiah (II Kings

24:18-25:21 = Jer. 52:1-27).

In 734 B.C.E. the Assyrian threat has reemerged, Syria and Israel

are threatening King Ahaz (735-715 B.C.E.) of Judah for not

joining their alliance against Assyria. Ahaz trusts ruthless

King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria more than either G-d or the

prophet Isaiah and calls in Assyria's aid against these two

Northern enemies of Judah. The Assyrians attack (Shalmaneser V

and Sargon II begin and end this campaign) and Israel is defeated

and destroyed in 722 B.C.E. as Amos (760-750 B.C.E.) predicted

(Amos 5:2). But trouble is in store for Judah, as Isaiah warned.

In 701 B.C.E. Sennacherib's Assyrian army surrounds Jerusalem and

a great tragedy would have ensued had not G-d intervened (see

II Kings 18:13-19:37). Then, the king of Judah reigning during

this time, Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.E.) son of Ahaz became ill,

almost died, was healed and received 15 years additional life

with the "sign" of Ahaz's "sundial" having its shadow reversed as

G-d "backs up the clock," as it were (20:1-11). However, at that

time Hezekiah imprudently showed his royal treasures to a

visiting Babylonian delegation, opens the door for the Babylonian

Exile a little over a hundred years later. Hezekiah's worst

legacy was his wicked son Manasseh, the worst king Judah ever

knew: a single-handed cause of the punishment of the Exile

(21:1-18).

In II Kings 22:1-23:30, Josiah (640-609 B.C.E.) king of Judah

becomes acquainted with a lost book of the law of Moses and such

fear falls on him that he removes a foreign and idolatrous cult

from the Beis Hamikdash (622 B.C.E.) during a unique time in the

history of the Jewish people, when Jeremiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah

were preaching in Jerusalem. Its important to study all these

last five chapters of II Kings to get the historical background

necessary to read the book of the prophet Jeremiah.

Notice that when the Word of G-d is rediscovered, revival follows

(II Kings 22).

But the Kingdom of Judah was doomed. In 605 B.C.E.

Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon carried off into Exile many including

Daniel; in 597 B.C.E. Ezekiel was among the deportees, and in 586

the final destruction of Judah's kingdom was complete. Except

for the brief 100 year (167-63 B.C.E.) Maccabean period there was

never again a kingdom of Judah. The Northern tribes and the

tribe of Judah both broke faith with G-d and consequently both

their kingdoms perished (see II Kings 17:7-18 and II Kings

17:19-20;24:1-4). This is a major theme of II Kings. A few

kings to think about. Omri established Samaria as his new

capital and the site of his palace. He also promoted cultural

relations with Phoenicia, sealed by the marriage of his son Ahab

(Ach'av) to Jezebel. Jezebel was responsible for corrupting the

Northern Kingdom and his daughter Athaliah greatly hurt the

Kingdom of Judah. Ahab's son Jehoram and Jezebel were killed by

Jehu (Yehu) (ending the dynasty of Omri). Jehoshaphat

(Y'hosphafat) king of Judah reigned during this time. He was the

son of a G-d-fearing king of Judah, the energetic and religious

Asa. It was Jehashaphat who sent the princes, Levites, and

kohanim out to the people to teach the Law of Moses. The

unfortunate marriage of his son Jehoram (Yehoram) (both

Jehoshaphat and Ahab had sons by the same name) to Ahab's

daughter Athaliah was a result of the peace-making efforts

between his kingdom and Ahab's, but much grief came of it,

including a futile commercial navy venture with Ahab's Ahaziah.

Jehoram (848-841 B.C.E.) son of Jehoshaphat paid for his

murderous apostasy (he killed several of his brothers) in the way

Judah's enemies were strengthened in the time of his reign

(especially the Edomites, Philistines, and Arabs). He died of a

horrible disease of the bowels. About a hundred and ten years

later the Northern Kingdom is in its death throes ready to be

destroyed by the Assyrian Empire (722 B.C.E.) and Ahaz is king of

Judah (732-715 B.C.E.). He is the father of Hezekiah and the son

of Jotham; he is also the grandson of the leprous king of Judah

Azariah (Uzziah) and the great-grandson of King Amaziah (796-767

B.C.E.). Ahaz descended from Ahaziah (853-852 B.C.E.) through

Joash. Ahaziah was killed at Jezreel by Jehu (see Hosea 1).

Unlike these more godly individuals, Ahaz sold out to the

Assyrians in order to buy assistance from the military threat of

the evil Pekah king of Israel and Rezin of Damascus. This cost

Ahaz his military and religious independence, obliging him to

import from the Assyrians their pagan religious practices

(worship of stars and sun, child sacrifice, occult consultation

with wizards and necromancers, etc.) His son Hezekiah tried to

counter all this by a reform movement that included repair of the

Beis Hamikdash, destruction of idols, a Pesach celebration

involving people from the Northern Kingdom, organizing the

kohanim and Levites for regular religious services, reinstituting

the tithe, preparing for Assyrian siege by building a water

tunnel and many other godly acts. 701 B.C.E. was the year

Sennecherib held Hezekiah captive behind his Jerusalem walls

"like a bird in a cage." This also may have been the year

Hezekiah almost died but was given a healing and a

life-extension. You should know something about each king so you

could identify them by name if given information about them on a

test. For example, which king lived an extra 15 years and gave

the Babylonians a tour that Judah would live to regret?

Notice the foreglimpse of the Incarnation in I Kings 3:28, where

it says that the Wisdom of G-d was inside the King of Israel. We

should not be that surprised that the ultimate Beis Hamikdash and

the Moshiach are one and the same, since they are both called by

"My Name" (see I Kings 8:43 and Isa. 9:6; Jer. 23:5-6).

II KINGS 2:10

He (Elijah) answered, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you

see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if

not, it will not."