Second Book of Kings 11-25, First Book of Chronicles 1-10

We pick right back up with the succession of unfortunate Jewish kings.  There's an incidental reference to God sending Israel a savior of some kind.  The dying Elisha performs an act out of later Arthurian legend, signaling a destination of some sort with an arrow through a window.  His bones are also the first recorded Judeo-Christian relics to serve as the catalyst for a miracle.

Jonah is referenced.  Nineveh, separately, is also referenced.

The temple is desecrated.  There is a consistency now in the fact that pagans built their altars on high ground.  Hebrews generally behaving badly, acting a lot like the ones who came out of Egypt, and even create themselves some molten calves.  Second Kings makes it a point to say that they're reverting to former ways.  Only Judah remains a bastion of the faith.

Babylon looms heavily.

The phrase "you are now relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff," making it clear where that nation now stands.  The Aramaic language is specifically referenced.

A lot of this makes me think that this is the period where the Jewish faith began to be reconciled into one tradition, and this is before we Josiah, much less First Chronicles, which I contend may have actually been written first, making both books of Kings another act of prequel, like Genesis and the books of Moses.  But we'll get to that.

Isaiah enters the picture!  He's extremely instrumental in leading a religious revival under Hezekiah.  He also introduces the doctrine of God having a plan rather than humanity goofing up, which supports my predestination theory from earlier, in that Adam and Eve were always meant to fall.  No matter how often humanity fails God, he's always leading them in a specific direction, starting with Abraham.  You might also say that some of this was shaped in a certain direction by later extrapolation of the historic record.

The angel of the Lord smites the Assyrians.

Hezekiah seems to tempt the Babylonians in much the way Egypt and the Philistines were previously induced to consider the spoils of the Hebrew faith.  Isaiah prophesies the exile.  Manasseh succeeds Hezekiah, is so bad that God swears holy vengeance against his people no matter what, and "no matter what" happens to mean Josiah, who enacts a greater religious revival than Hezekiah.  He reigns in Jerusalem for 31 years.  He discovers the book of the law, which is presumably the ark, and by this may have helped solidify Jewish faith to that point.  He is given an all but cursory appearance nonetheless.  He dies in battle at Megiddo, another reason to associate it with apocalypse.

Jeremiah is referenced!

Then, unfortunately, Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of the Babylonians.  He has already taken dominion over the Egyptians, but that only stands to reason at this point.  Jerusalem is besieged.  The Hebrews become, actually, amicable citizens of Babylon, not like the bondage in Egypt anyway.  Second Kings ends.

First Chronicles begins with a real chronicle, all right, a thick tangle of genealogy that does a more thorough job than any biblical precedent before it.  Caleb seems to be more significant in this record than Moses, who receives a cursory reference, but at least his descent from Levi is finally completed, unlike in Exodus.  This makes it seem like Moses was originally part of a separate tradition, and perhaps indeed he was.

Then the repeats begin.  The Philistines start our story here, and Saul's war against them and his suicide.  No real distinction is made about where he stands in the tradition except that he was, like most of the kings in the books of Kings, someone who didn't do right by God.

First Book of Kings 12-22, Second Book of Kings 1-10

Solomon's son Rehoboam succeeds him.  It's the first of many names you'll have probably never heard of or at least won't remember if you have.  There are some big names ahead, but also a lot of incredibly small ones.  Mostly the degenerative nature of the Hebrew monarchy on display for the foreseeable future...

The poor dude starts out poorly by forsaking the wisdom of his elders in favor of his frat buddies, basically.  People somehow feel betrayed by this attitude.  "...Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day," thanks to poor examples like this.  Although to be fair, both David and Solomon screwed up pretty good, too, even if they actually did a bunch of positive things as well.

The splintering crown leads way to the reign of Jeroboam.  War is averted, momentarily.  Jeroboam is crazy enough to drive his people away from God in an effort to divert them from Rehoboam.    It makes no sense.  But that's also part of God's own doing, the curse he leveled against Israel thanks to once too often straying from the chosen path.  Jeroboam also breaks the Mosaic tradition of strictly Levite priests.

On the other hand, Josiah is prophesied, although he doesn't show up as of Second Kings 10.  That's someone to look forward to!

And there's Jesus, whom Josiah might be said to evoke.  The prophet who sees Josiah in the future returns home from a different way than he came, like the three wise men from the nativity story of the New Testament.

I'd name the prophet, but he isn't named in First Kings, and neither is another prophet who shows up, which doesn't help the narrative at this point be terribly memorable.  It might be symbolic, however, of their combined ineffectiveness, a little like my good friend Balaam.

The whole point of Jeroboam seems to be that God didn't forsake David so much as apparently every other member of the chosen people.  He's shrunk his commitment back to its origins, but instead of promising many descendants, only one in the future who will fulfill the abortive promise of David's destiny.  And, by the way, when someone like David, or Solomon, wins everyone does.  And that's kind of what Jesus does, isn't it?  It's the whole reason the New Testament seems like an extension and also drastic revision of the Old Testament.

The later books of Chronicles is referenced for the first time.  The first time of many.  I noted nine more instances between both books of Kings.  Clearly they were written in quick succession, or more cleverly edited together than previous books of the Bible.

Jeroboam reigned 22 years.  After a while, I stopped keeping a record of reigns and overlaps of reigns.  There was just no point.  Maybe as a chart it would have looked good, but honestly?  You don't know these names because by themselves they just aren't important.

Nadab succeeds him!  See what I mean?  Who's Nadab?  Rehoboam was 41 when he began his reign, which lasted 17 years.  People misbehaved.  He didn't exactly stop them.  Although the Egyptians are big winners.  They're suddenly very relevant again, which was something that began under Solomon.  They replace the Philistines, and of course you know all about them.  They raid Jerusalem.  War between the camps of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and maybe a few citizens lose track of whose side they're on because of the extreme similarity of their names...

Then Rehoboam died.  Abijah succeeded him.  Reigned 3 years, 18 years into Jeroboam's competing reign.  He was morally compromised.  They all were.  It's great that Christians later had so many wonderful saints, because it was incredibly hard for all these biblical figures to be anything like that pure.  War between the camps of Abijah and Jeroboam.  Abijah succeeded by Asa, 20th year of Jeroboam's reign.  He lasts 41 years.  Doesn't leave any real impact.  He feuds with Baasha, Jeroboam's successor..  Then comes Jehoshaphat, a name you'll probably know.  Nadab was betrayed by Baasha, with Philistine connections (they had to show again).  That signals the end of the house of Jeroboam.  Honestly, this is like Game of Thrones...

Baasha reigned for 24 years.  He thoroughly rejected Jeroboam, but was just as bad.  Elah, the son of Baasha, comes next.  If the name sounds familiar, it's Philistine in origin, and was previously featured as the valley in which David defeated Goliath.  Zimri betrays him, ends the house of Baasha.  Israel further splinters.  New kings in new kingdoms include Tibni and Omri, although he was worse than anyone else.  But, Ahab succeeds him!

No, not the Herman Melville character, the biblical Ahab, as in Ahab and Jezebel.  How does Jezebel become an epitaph?  By being probably the worst woman in the whole Bible, Iago-like in her manipulations.  But who's that to try and save the day?  Elijah!  He kind of redeems Ahab, and that's just the start of his adventures!  He's a Christ figure, which only figures, because apparently thought Jesus was either Moses or Elijah returned to earth.

Classic episode that sees Elijah completely discredit the prophets of Baal follows, sort of like Moses and the Pharaoh's sorcerers.  It's also the first time God has been actively demonstrative since Moses, too.  Elijah undergoes a trial in the desert, like Jesus, lasts for the same prophetic 40 days.  There's also the episode where God is manifested in the most modest way possible, which evokes the way his relationship to mankind has evolved since the early books in the Old Testament.  Elisha appears, predating the apostles of the gospels but basically exactly like them.

Syria becomes the new Egypt, which was the new Philistines (who themselves remain mostly a biblical people to this day).  Israel prevails under Elijah's guidance.  The splintered nations grow less pathetic now that they have a strong figure at the center again.  Elijah, however, is the first prime figure who is not himself a prime mover.  The Syrians recognize God's strength, and so make peace.

Ahab becomes moody after a series of small sleights.  Jezebel is Jezebel.  Elijah chastises Ahab for letting Jezebel be Jezebel.  Ahab and Jezebel are basically Adam and Eve figures.  Jehoshaphat realizes Israel is stronger when united against Syria.  Prophets bicker.  Ahab dies in the Syrian wars that are somehow continuing (darn Jehoshaphat).  Ahaziah succeeds him, is less redeemable than Ahab.  Jehoram succeeds Jehoshaphat.  First Book of Kings ends.

Second Book of Kings begins much the way the last one ended.  Elijah is busy trying to get people not to worship gods before God.  Ahaziah presses the issue, tests both God and Elijah, and ends up smited for his effort.  Elijah parts waters (like Moses), the famed chariot of fire appears, and then he ascends to heaven, the way Christians find very evocative for the New Testament.

Elisha fixes the water in Jericho, which remains that way "to this day."  He was apparently bald, by the way, tormented for it like the "wisp of tow" taunt in The Brothers Karamazov.

Jehoram rejects Baal, but that doesn't mean he's a good king.  Elisha performs more wonders.  There's more warfare.  All this warfare is looking increasingly bleak for the future of Israel.  Elisha performs his classic oil miracle.  Looks like a Christ figure himself.  He even brings a child back to life.  If Jesus had had another Jesus after him, Christianity would look a lot different today.  He multiplies a little bit of food to feed many people.  He cures a leper, Naaman, who at first scoffs at Elisha's proscribed of treatment.  Naaman is a great warrior, so he hadn't exactly been treated as roughly as other lepers.  Elisha helps the Hebrew army avoids Syrian traps.  God helps him foil Syrian assassins.

Things on the whole, otherwise, remain pretty messy.  It's worth noting that Samaria is relevant in this era.  Jesus later has one of his classic parables concerning the "good Samaritan."  Elisha's prophecies, which was earlier indicated in the Bible as the only way to judge the worth of a prophet, always come true.  Philistines.  Elisha prophesies Hazael's reign in Syria and war with Israel.  Joram reigns, is no better than anyone else.  Then Ahaziah.  Wars.  Elisha has Jehu anointed.  Jehu immediately begins consolidating power.  Ends the house of Ahab.  Joram murdered.  Ahaziah murdered.  Jezebel murdered!  He also evokes Samson when he tricks followers of Baal into gathering in one space, and then killing them all.  He doesn't spare the earthly smiting one bit.  Killing, again, seems to be justifiable if you do it in the name of religion.  And so the Inquisition.  Jehu, for all this holy crusading, is not hugely more perfect than anyone, just a human purge machine, trying to clear the Hebrew cobwebs.  His reign lasts 28 years.  Jehoahaz succeeds him.  Second Kings continues...