2 Chronicles 26-36: Kings, Bubbles, Apostasy!

The final Chronicles post! After this it's onto Ezra and Nehemiah! If you haven't been following the Chronicles blogs, you might be interested in checking out previous posts, linked below.

1 Chronicles 1-9 [Infographic]
Comparative Literature: 1 Chronicles 10-26 as a Retelling of 2 Samuel
2 Chronicles 2-9: A Political Detail
2 Chronicles 10-16: Dialectical Tensions in Judah I
2 Chronicles 17-25: Dialectical Tensions in Judah II

As today's post is rather long and deals with a diverse range of topics, I have divided it into sections:

Truth in Chronicles
Bubble Kings
Kings Uzziah and Jotham
Ahaz the Wicked King
Hezekiah the Faithful King
Intermediary Kings
The Mostly Faithful King Josiah
The Final Kings of Chronicles
The Fall of Jerusalem and Aftermath

Truth in Chronicles
Truth in the Bible can be a tricky thing to define. It can be said that there are different levels or types of truth in biblical literature. Truth does not always necessarily mean fact. In the bible, it takes on a more literary form than what we know today, something like a "universal truth." Below are a few terms that are useful in describing Biblical "truth."

Historicized Fiction Functions like the genre of storytelling we know today as historical fiction. Fictional events occur and fictional characters interact against the backdrop of a historical time period. The tale of Abraham serves as one example. Besides the biblical text (and noncanonical biblical texts), there is no evidence that Abraham was a historical person; he is very likely a fictional person - an archetype of a righteous man, the patriarch of a people. The intention of the biblical author is to tell a certain story. If we run with this idea, Abraham must be a fictional character set in historical times.

Fictionalized History presents historically verifiable figures whose actions, circumstances, possessions, etc. may have been fictionalized in order to make a point. In fact, a fair amount of the information found in the Chronicler's description of the kings of Judah is attested to by nonbiblical works. It is fairly certain, however, that some of these historical events have been exaggerated or otherwise fictionalized, often in an attempt to prove God's greatness.

Throughout the Book of Kings and Chronicles, the authors emphasize God's ability to shape history, based on the actions of the kings and people of Judah. When God's people is faithful, kings literally clean up the Temple and figuratively clean up worship practices. They win their battles with God's assistance. When God's people is unfaithful, and wicked kings defile the Temple with devotion to idols, the king and people alike are punished with invasions from foreign lands.

The above example is in fact a form of fictionalized history. This is not to say that God is ficitonal. Rather, the biblical author ascribes action to a character/force beyond human comprehension, The captivity in Babylon is a historical reality. The biblical author fictionalizes the reality by attributing it to some outside influence that cannot be proven by physical means.

The biblical author would probably not understand or care for the difference between historicized fiction and fictionalized history. For him, the stories would have simply been true. They are true by virtue of the author's meaning of truth, one that differs from our modern definition of scientific, factual truth.

The truth of the bible is true in the same way as the stories in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. What matters not is the historical reality, but the universal message behind the story.

Dialectical Tensions overlap with Fictionalized History. The constant differential between God's will and human action: These are the pressures that give shape and structure to the biblical narrative.

Bubble Kings
For anyone that follows the economy, or are really sore about it, it might help to take a look at the cycle of kings presented in the Books of Kings and Chronicles in terms of bubbles (and while you're at it, read anything and everything by Matt Taibbi). Market bubbles, dialectical tension bubbles...Whatever. The point is that there is imbalance until the bubble pops.

Strict regulation [adherence to God's word] means things go pretty well, though there isn't much room to - you know - stretch out and test the limits. As regulations are chiseled away [i.e. kings fall from God's will] by human nature manifested by greed [and apostasy], things go well for a while, or at least people think they do. In reality, a bubble is forming, a pressure differential that arises from what is promised and what in reality exists [In the case of the economic crisis, money. In the case of the bible, adherence to God's word]. Just as in nature, the bubble cannot sustain itself, and it bursts. The bank goes under. Judah is invaded.

Here's where the metaphor gets really sick and twisted. For some reason these bubbles continue. For some reason they are allowed to happen. In the Bible, God allows for a certain degree of human freedom before he himself teaches his own people a lesson. Old generations are replaced, and the cycle generally finds a good king to lead again. In case of the financial crisis, the U.S. government allows for a certain degree of freedom before the whole thing comes crashing down on its own accord. And then it bails out the people who perpetrated the crime.

Allow me to take my metaphor too far: the state of safety is adherence to God. [And you can draw your own conclusions about the parallel metaphor.]

But I progress.

Kings Uzziah and Jotham

Uzziah

As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
(2 Chronicles 26.5)

So the Chronicler says of King Uzziah. He is supported by God and therefore victorious in war. he build cities, but like Rehoboam before him, he grows proud once he becomes strong, ultimately to his own destruction. He attempts to offer incense to the Lord without the priests, and for this he suffers leprosy. But the kingdom of Uzziah is never directly punished for the king's pride.

Jotham
Jotham likewise is a righteous king - more righteous even than his father. He builds cities and succeeds in war.

Ahaz the Wicked King
Ahaz is so wicked - walking in the ways of the kings of Israel (whom the Chronicler believes to be unified against the Lord), casting idols, having his sons pass through fire - that the apostasy bubble bursts and Judah collapses beneath him under attacks by Aram, then Israel, then the Edomites. These attacks are all divinely sanctioned - and deadly. The attack by Israel results in the death of 120,000 valiant warriors of Judah.

Hezekiah the Faithful King
Hezekiah brings goodness, back to Judah, and so the dialectical tensions pull Judah back to God. Hezekiah delivers Judah from its evil ways and initiates sweeping reforms to clean up Judah literally and figuratively. Such action is only possible by a good leader; wicked leaders are not associated with building and cleaning projects. Under him the Temple is cleansed, pagan shrines are destroyed, worship of God is restored, and the roles of priests and Levites are reestablished.

All this is celebrated with a great passover that lasts seven days and includes the sacrifice of over 2,000 bulls and 17,000 sheep. Writes the Chronicler:

There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon son of King David of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.
(2 Chronicles 30.26)

And, furthermore, we find a statement affirming the reward/punishment cycle of dialectical tensions:

And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God, and in accordance with the law and the commandments, to seek his God, he did with all his heart; and he prospered.
(2 Chronicles 31.21)

The true test of piety comes when King Sennacherib of Assyria invades Judah. Previously this is where kings (e.g. King Rehoboam) have turned their backs on God and put their faith in human works instead. But Hezekiah remains pious. The Lord in turns protects Judah from the invasion.

The king’s pride results in only one instance of wrath. In a strange scene, Hezekiah becomes sick to the point of death, prays to the Lord, and refuses to accept the Lord’s sign. In the bible’s laconic style, little information about the sign or the illness is given. All we know is that Hezekiah refuses the Lord’s sign out of pride. However, he humbles himself, and all of Jerusalem with him, and the wrath of the Lord does not fall upon Judah.

Intermediary Kings
Manasseh is a wicked king of Judah, though he repents in his latter days. After he misleads Judah and pays no heed to the Lord, he is taken away by the King of Assyria in manacles and fetters. But, as per the flexible dialectical tensions, he is restored to his kingship at Jerusalem when he prays and repents:

Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was indeed God.
(2 Chronicles 33.13)

Unfortunately, the people of Judah still sacrifice at the high places to the Lord. Worship is conducted in an improper place...

The Mostly Faithful King Josiah
King Josiah finds the correct outlet for worship of the Lord. His reign begins at the tender age of eight, and despite this he is one of the greatest kings. Josiah demolishes all signifiers of apostasy and centers worship again in Jerusalem.  He even purges the house of the Lord, during which time the book of the law of Moses is discovered.

The message is dire, as delivered by the prophet Huldah. However, Josiah experiences a quasi-Davidic moment as he discovers that he personally will not be punished for the sins of Israel:

Thus says the Lord: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched. But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. I will gather you to your ancestors and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.
(2 Chronicles 34.2-28)

Afterward, adherence to the covenant of the Lord is resumed under King Josiah:

All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord the god of their ancestors
(2 Chronicles 34.33)

Josiah, in fact,  celebrates a passover even greater than that of King Hezekiah:

No passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; none of the kings of Israel had kept such a passover as was kept by Josiah, by the priests and the Levites, by all Judah and Israel who were present, and by the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
(2 Chronicles 35.18)

But even the righteous Josiah is undone with a test to his devotion to the Lord. King Josiah enters battle with Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, who warns him, through the words of the Lord:

“What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, so that he will not destroy you.”
(2 Chronicles 35.21)

Josiah is ultimately killed by the Egyptian army. But even in his prideful death, he is mourned by his followers.

The Final Kings of Chronicles

2 Chronicles ends with a string of kings:

• Jehoahaz - About whom we learn nothing of greatness or evil. He is deposed by the Egyptian king, and his brother Eliakim is made king; his name is changed to Jehoiakim.
• Jehoiakim - Who is evil, and who is carried off to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.
• Jehoiachin - Who is evil. He is deposed by Nebuchadnezzar and taken to Babylon.
• Zedekiah - Who is evil. He, the people, and the priests are all unfaithful, and pollute the house of the Lord. He is the last King of Judah.

The Fall of Jerusalem and Aftermath
Ultimately, God decides to cleanse the land of ungrateful people. The Lord raises the king of the Chaldeans against God's people, and there is no mercy in the slaughter of men and women of Judah and destruction of Jerusalem. Survivors are deported to Babylon. The land gets a rest from God's people for a while:

All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
(2 Chronicles 36.21)

Chronicles ends with a glimmer of hope, however, as King Cyrus of Persia allows the exiles to return to Judah and rebuild the temple. In fact, this is the edict of God, according to Cyrus (according to the Chronicler!):

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.
(2 Chronicles 36.23)

So ends Chronicles. And so begins a new chapter in the history of God's chosen people.

2 Chronicles 10-16: Dialectical Tensions in Judah I

After the tales of David and Solomon, the Chronicler begins his account of the succession of Kings of Judah. As discussed in the post on Chronicles' account of King David and last week's post on King Solomon's reign, the Chronicler has a very particular worldview in his rewriting of the tale of the rulers of Israel and Judah described in the Book of Kings. In fact, the Chronicler leaves out the kings of Israel entirely, emphasizing that only Judah remained faithful to God during this era. In the eyes of the Chronicler, the Davidic line was the only legitimate one, so only the Southern Kingdom, centered in worship around Jerusalem, needed to be recorded.

The Chronicler is notable for his emphasizing another point: divine retribution is dealt to kings for their evil actions in their own lifetimes. Kings that are faithful to the Lord are blessed with either peace or victory in war. The reigns of the greatest kings of Judah are associated with building projects. The resulting effect is that the people of Judah are destroyed when their king is wicked, but they build great things when their leader is good.

Chronicles therefore serves as an excellent example of dialectical tensions, the tensions between God's will that humankind obey him and humankind's penchant for not obeying the law of God. These forces give shape to biblical narrative, and move the story forward through cycles of devotion and apostasy.

Dialectical tensions are perhaps best expressed in Azariah's words to King Asa of Judah:

Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law; but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them.
(2 Chronicles 15.2-4)

Today's post explains the notable characteristics that the Chronicler emphasizes about the first three kings of Judah.

Rehoboam
Solomon's son gets off to a rocky start by ostracizing all of Israel except for Judah. He does it in a rather tactless style - promising to add to the workload of a tired people, and to enact stronger discipline among his followers. The story seems to suggest that had he listened to the elders instead of his entourage, Israel and Judah would have remained united.

Rehoboam makes a mistake that will trip up a few kings after him. While he is politically weak, he obeys the Lord. But when he becomes established and politically strong, he abandons the law of the Lord, and the people follow suit. Therefore, "because they had been unfaithful to the Lord," Judah is overrun by King Shishak if Egypt. (2 Chronicles 12.2) The prophet Shemaiah puts it nicely: "Thus says the Lord: You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to Shishak." (2 Chronicles 12.5). The people acknowledge this, humble themselves, and the Lord relents somewhat. The people will not be destroyed, but they will serve Shishak as punishment. In the words of the Lord: "Nevertheless they shall be his servants, so that they may know the difference between serving me and serving the kingdoms of other lands." (2 Chronicles 8) This is an interesting way to put it; when Israel desired a monarch, the Lord emphasized that they would be sacrificing the best qualities of a divine ruler for an earthly one. Now Judah must serve a foreign earthly ruler in addition to the one that was chosen - it must pay tribute to the Egyptian King.

But because Rehoboam humbles himself, he only loses earthly treasures, and Judah is not completely destroyed.

Abijah
Abijah has the task of facing off against Jeroboam, the King of Israel. Luckily, he is faithful to the Lord and so Israel emerges triumphant: "Thus the Israelites were subdued at that time, and the people of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors." (2 Chronicles 13.18)

Asa
This king's reign goes well for most of his life. Judah enjoys ten years of peace during his reign, as he does what is right in the sight of the Lord. He destroys the vestiges of idol worship and spruces up Judah:

Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, hewed down the sacred poles, and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to keep the law and the commandment. He also removed from all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. He built fortified cities in Judah while the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace. He said to Judah, “Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars; the land is still ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand troops from Benjamin who carried shields and drew bows; all these were mighty warriors.
(2 Chronicles 14.2-8)

 Note that Asa has peace because the Lord bestows it upon him. Righteous actions by Kings are rewarded. Unrighteous actions are punished.

It might seem strange to have such a great army during a time of peace, but the narrative includes it because it demonstrates very effectively the power that Judah has. Asa and his army defeat an Ethiopian army comprised of a million men and three hundred chariots.

Asa goes on to be a great reformer, going so far as to remove his mother Maacah from her post as queen mother because she makes an idol of Asherah. But this great king ends up making a big mistake. When King Baasha of Israel threatens to attack Judah, Asa pays off King Ben-hadad of Aram to break his covenant with Israel and attack them, so that Asa might have peace. For relying on a human instead of God, he is punished with disease in his feet. Again he seeks human aid above the Lord, relying on physicians instead of God. For this he dies. Yet his funeral is well attended - for the evil he caused at the end of his life, he was a good king for most of it.

Our discussion continues next week with further exploration of dialectical tensions and the implications for the author and reader.

2 Kings: Two Prophets and a Digression

Elijah's Ascent to Heaven [and a long digression into Enoch]
Though the following passage only briefly touches on Elijah, I could not pass up the exploration of noncanonical biblical literature.

Elijah
The prophet Elijah does not die in the bible. Rather, he ascends into heaven in a whirlwind and chariot of fire. The reason for this, and what happens to Elijah after his ascent, is unclear. Indeed, it seems strange that the bible would relate a story about a person and not elaborate on such an astounding event. These ambiguities sparked a great deal of speculation in later literature, some of which even anticipates Elijah's return to earth. In canonical biblical literature, Malachi 4.5-6 mentions that the prophet will be sent "before the great and terrible day of the Lord." In this tale Elijah will reunite families before the day of the Lord. This restoration of the family would have been important as per Mosaic law, in which the sins of parents could ostracize later generations.

Enoch
One other man in the bible ascends to heaven: Enoch, an ancestor of Noah. There is much extrabiblical literature about Enoch, including the pseudepigraphic Book of Enoch and Book of Jubilees. All we know from the Genesis account is related in a mere seven verses in Genesis 5, only four of which relate to Enoch in particular. The verses in question appear in a passage that recounts the ten generations from Adam to Noah. With the exception of Enoch and Noah (about whom the narrative is primarily concerned), each section follows the same formula:

When A had lived X years, he became the father of B . A lived after the birth of B Y years, and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of A were Z years [=X+Y]; and he died."

Enoch's passage is unique in a number of ways. Of the ten generations spanning Adam to Noah, Enoch occupies the seventh. The number seven is symbolic in the Hebrew bible as suggesting completeness or perfection. Furthermore, the length of Enoch's life is 365 years. This number also suggests completeness - a complete year, to be exact. In addition, it is mentioned twice in the text that Enoch "walked with God." This by itself should not be taken literally; the phrase simply means that Enoch was a righteous man. His great grandson Noah was another man who "walked with God." However, the second appearance of this phrase is linked with very special descriptor that demonstrates Enoch's special status:

Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.
(Gen. 5.24).

Unlike the other men listed, Enoch is not specifically said to die. Where and why God took him is a matter of speculation, as it is for Elijah later on.
In later non-canonical literature, Enoch's story is developed and the symbols of completeness associated with him are expanded upon. Enoch becomes a secretary of God, and the first ever writer. In Jubilees he pens a book that records all events of the history and future as it travels through cycles of Jubilees, which measure time in 49-year cycles: 7 "weeks" of years.
Click the above links to read the source texts, or check out the Wikipedia pages on Jubilees and 1 Enoch to learn more about the texts themselves.

Elisha's Miracles

Elisha is Elijah's protege, and seems to serve as a reference for later tales about Jesus. Those who have read Christian scripture might notice some parallels. In fact, these charismatic powers are common to many biblical characters, including Moses. All references are to 2 Kings:

• Parts water (2.14)
• Purifies undrinkable water that is even unsuitable for crops [by putting salt in it, no less!] (2.19)
• Curses 42 boys so they are mauled by bears (2.23)
• Magically multiplies oil for a widow so she can pay her debts (4.1)
• Revives a Shunammite woman's son from death (4.8)
• Purifies a pot of stew made with poisonous wild vines and gourds (4.38)
• Feeds 100 men with 20 loaves of barley and some grain, and even has some left over (4.42)
• Cures Naaman, mighty warrior and commander of the Aramean army, of his leprosy (5.1)
• Afflicts his servant Gehazi with Naaman's leprosy (5.19)
• Pulls an ax head from the Jordan with a floating stick that has apparent magnetic powers (6.1)

1 Kings 13-21: Prophet and the Loss Part I

All of God's fears of apostasy and exogamy are realized after the death of David with the new kings of Israel and Judah. These monarchs disobey God's commands by worshiping other deities and marrying outside of the Israelites. To counter these men and warn them of their wrongdoing, God sends prophets, vessels of his word, to speak out against the kings, inform them of their wrongdoings, and make an attempt at social change. The era of prophets ushered in with Samuel comes into full force in Kings, especially after the end of the united monarchy.

Prophets are interesting people in the bible. They are chosen by God to speak his word, though identifying the ones actually backed by God is tricky. They can lie to each other, and only know God's will insofar as he informs them. Sometimes prophets are ignorant of the plans of others or danger. Other times God is careful to keep them well informed.

The function of the prophet as mouthpieces of God helps to drive the plot of dialectical tensions that pushes the tale of Israel forward. Prophets arise when the Lord is being disobeyed. The book of 1 Kings features a number of prophets. Today's post will take a look at them and analyze how they function within the biblical narrative.

Getting to Know the Prophets: the Man of God


The South and the North - Judah and Israel - have been divided. Jeroboam now reigns over Israel, but like his ancestors has fallen from following the Lord. He has built golden calves for worship and appointed non-levitical priests. Apostasy like this is always condemned by the biblical author, and in this case a prophet directly condemns the action.

The unnamed "man of God" comes to King Jeroboam to deliver a bleak warning as he is about to offer incense on the altar:

O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’
(1 Kings 13.2)

The message is not for the King of Israel, but on the altar of offering. This is indeed fulfilled hundreds of years later during the reign of Josiah. However, the man of God offers an additional message with a sign of the Lord's hand in the matter of the altar:

The altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.
(1 Kings 13.3)

Upon hearing these words, the king points to the man of God and orders that he be seized, only to find his had withered, a trick with its roots in the Moses narrative (Exodus 4.6-7). The Lord protects his servant the prophet with one of the classic displays of the Lord's power. This display continues as the altar is torn down and the ashes scattered with no apparent cause, in fulfillment of the man's prophecy of the Lord. The prophet further confirms the power of the Lord by healing Josiah's hand. Apparently grateful, the king invites the man to eat and drink with him, but the man refuses because the Lord has commanded he should not do so in Bethel.

What follows is one of our first glimpses of prophet interaction - a scene that reveals a little about the secret lives of prophets. A man of Bethel, identified as a prophet, tracks down the man of God and lies to him, saying:

I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat food and drink water.
(1 Kings 13.18)

This deception is not detected by the man of God, indicating that prophets cannot identify false prophets by sight or the sound of their prophecies. In this sense prophets are only messengers of God, and are corruptible. Prophets, as explained by God through Moses, operate in a gray area:

You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
(Deuteronomy 18.21-22)

Their powers and messages can be imitated by others, and the only way to judge them is by the truth of their predictions or the power of their works, as in the destruction of the altar or the parting of the Red Sea. For day-to-day matters, prophecy seems to be indistinguishable from mere words. Truth is only revealed when the Lord takes action to prove or disprove the words. However, even the prophet of Bethel who speaks false words to the man of God is still a legitimate prophet. He fools the man of God into eating and drinking, at which time God comes to him to utter a legitimate prophecy:

Thus says the Lord: Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you, but have come back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, ‘Eat no food, and drink no water,’ your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb.
(1 Kings 13.21-22)

Indeed, the man of God is killed by a lion who acts in a supernatural fashion. The lion's only prey is the man, not the donkey he rode on or those that pass by. The lion seems to have been sent by God to kill the man and stand besides his body.

Though responsible for his death, the prophet mourns the man of God as a brother. The dead man is recognized as a simple messenger - again, corruptible - and perhaps the prophet of Bethel realizes this as he mourns for the man as "my brother." The man of God is given a proper burial in the prophet's own grave, where the prophet himself will be buried when he dies. The prophet knows his guest was a true prophet, and so the two are to be buried together, both as vessels of the word of God.

Ahijah: The Mouthpiece of God


When King Jeroboam's son Abijah becomes ill, the king sends his wife to the prophet Ahijah to inquire after the boy's fate. She is to pretend to be another woman, but the Lord informs Ahijah of her purpose so that even the blind prophet knows who she is. Prophets, after all, are informed by the Lord, even if they do not desire to be. Ahijah utters a curse against Jeroboam: Because the king has not followed in the ways of David in leading Israel, all the men of his house will be "cut off" and will not receive proper burial. Rather, dogs and birds will pick at their corpses where they fall. In this way the boy is blessed. Only Abiah is to receive proper burial,

...Because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
(1 Kings 14.13)

This is a twist on the traditional punishment afforded one who disobeys the Lord. The son dies for the father's sin, as usual, but the son is also exalted over the father - by receiving proper burial - for being a seed of promise. All Israel mourns the child's death.

The Lord delivers a further prophecy through Ahijah, prophecy characteristic of the later prophets of the bible:

The Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; he will root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their ancestors, and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their sacred poles, provoking the Lord to anger. He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and which he caused Israel to commit.
(1 Kings 14.15-16)

This is indeed fulfilled with the fall of Samaria in 721 BCE.

Elijah the Prophet: Supernatural

Elijah is introduced during the reign of King Ahab of Israel, inserted by the biblical author in such a place that he serves as a direct response to Ahab's fondness of the Canaanite god Baal. Baal is the god of storms and rain and fertility (among other things), so it is no surprise that Elijah's introduction undermines the god by predicting a three-year drought - caused by the Lord, of course. Elijah is the mouthpiece of God, and a man that will prove Baal's ineffectiveness.

Elijah's status as a prophet is quickly proven through three vignettes. In the first he is fed in the wilderness by the Lord's command by ravens bearing bread and meat (a story that draws obvious parallels to Exodus). In the second vignette, the Lord provides endless meal and oil to a widow so she may make cakes for Elijah, herself, and her son so that do not starve. In the third vignette, Elijah actually revives the widow's son from apparent death - with the aid of the Lord. Each of these stories shows Elijah either acting with the aid of God or God coming to Elijah's aid. In any case, Elijah has powerful backing.

When the Lord decides to end the drought, he sends Eljah to see Ahab, so that the rain may start again. Elijah has Ahab command the Israelites to meet at Mount Carmel so that the Lord's greatness may be demonstrated. The event directly challenges the 450 prophets of Baal to call on their god to light a fire on which a bull has been placed - an imitation of sacrifice at an altar. Baal's prophets fail, but Elijah succeeds in calling on the power of the Lord to light the fire. Consequently, the 450 prophets of Baal are killed for their inefficiency.

When it finally does rain, Elijah pulls off another superhuman display - this time of speed and endurance - running ahead of Ahab's chariot some 17 miles to Jezreel. Afterwards, Jezebel threatens Elijah's life, and he pulls off another miracle, surviving on mount Horeb 40 days and nights after eating only 2 cakes and drinking 2 jars of water. The man is like a biblical version of Chuck Norris!

In all seriousness, Elijah is a high-profile prophet, able to have a direct experience with God on Mount Horeb, just as Moses did. The encounter is one of the most poetic of the bible:

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
(1 Kings 19.11-13)

The message of the biblical author is that God is ineffable. God is not in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire. God is not even in the silence, though the silence leads to God. It is impossible by this description to exactly describe who or what God is. Perhaps this is the author's intent. It took a devoted prophet like Elijah to give us this glimpse of the supernatural.

Another Nameless Prophet and His Tool of the Trade

Farther into the narrative, a tradition of prophetic judgment called "juridical parable" is demonstrated by a nameless prophet. This tactic is used in Nathan's condemnation of David in 2 Samuel 12. Here the prophet appears to King Ahab as a warrior, and utters a parable that traps King Ahab in his own judgment. Ahab, thinking he condemns the man, utters words that describe his own impending condemnation.

Interestingly, the episode that follows closely follows the story of David's courting of Bathsheba. Here Ahab lusts for a piece of property - a vineyard - for which the owner is killed in order to claim it. A few details are changed, but the story remains the same, and punishment comes upon both Ahab and David. Elijah curses Ahab with the same language of 1 Kings 14.10-14, and curses Ahab and Jezebel specifically as well. For Ahab's prompt repentance his house is not destroyed in this day, but rather in the following generation.

1 Kings, 2 Kings: Infographic

I put a lot of thought into this post (and a lot of frustration toward my dying computer), but here, finally, is a post covering 1-2 Kings. It traces the kings of Israel and Judah from Saul to the fall and captivity of Judah. The x axis denotes the amount of time each king reigned over Israel or Judah. The y axis denotes the number of verses dedicated to each king.

Click the image below to see in greater detail!

1 Kings 1-11: The House of Solomon

I just finished reading Tracy Kidder's House, and my timing could not have been more perfect for writing this post. The work of long-form journalism follows the creation of a house from lines on an architect's drawing through the building process to habitation by the the family. It has resonances of Moby Dick as the narrator takes the reader through little adventures along the way into the history of house building or the creation of lumber. Detailed lists are not uncommon. These lists memorialize the materials that go into the making of the house, and seem meant to astonish with their breadth. Moreover, Kidder seems to argue that a house is a product of many different people, and that this one in particular is a particular manifestation of the people who paid for it and lived in it, the Souweine family.

It is clear that Kidder consulted the bible in constructing his narrative; he quotes from and refers to it a few times. Surprisingly, though, there is nothing about Solomon. Solomon is one of the greatest builders in the bible, constructing the temple in Jerusalem.

Just as Kidder found it necessary to interweave the ideas of house and home, the biblical author, writing millennia earlier, presents us with the establishment of three different houses in the tale of Solomon:

1. The establishment of the "house" of Solomon, continuation of the "house" of David
2. The construction of the temple, the "house" of the Lord
3. The construction of the structure that will house Solomon, his physical house

Two houses are promised through the covenant between God and David in 2 Samuel 7. The first of these is the house of David - the metaphorical house of his familial rule of Israel. The second is the house of God - the physical temple to be constructed by David's son.

Moveover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with you ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever...Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
2 Samuel 7.11-16

In effect God establishes a blueprint for the future of the Davidic line's rule over all Israel. But the metaphorical house of David, as it turns out, is to be built on contract. In House this means that the structure has a base price that changes as the architect fleshes out the features and design. In my biblical use it will mean there is a contract between God and the king of Israel that might prevent God's promise from being fulfilled if the king does not act in a suitable manner. Though the contract seems secure in the passage above, it is actually modified once Solomon begins his reign.

Creating David's House
The story of succession to David's throne, the continuation of the house of David, is one of political intrigue. David's son Adonijah wishes to make himself king, and is successful in gaining support. As primogeniture, he might believe he has a right to the throne. However, the bible tends to favor the youngest son and the one favored by the mother (like Isaac and Jacob). Solomon is the second son of Bathsheba, who loves him greatly (Bathsheba's first son died, which cleared David of his sin of adultery and in a way probably also cleared Bathsheba of sin as well). Therefore she and Nathan conspire to make Solomon king. The scene of trickery has resonances with the tale of Jacob and Esau, in which their father Isaac is old and blind, having to rely on other cues to (incorrectly) identify his son and deliver his blessing. Here, however, the son's physical presence is removed from the narrative entirely as Bathsheba and Nathan conspire together and remind David of an oath that he made that Solomon would succeed him. Whether this oath was actually made is a matter of debate. On the one hand, this oath is not mentioned in Samuel or Kings, and so might be a lie. On the other hand, there are a number of books mentioned in Kings that do not appear within the biblical canon and may exist no longer. In any case, Solomon is not active in seeking the throne; it is handed to him. Jacob, by comparison, is at least complicit in Rebekah's trickery as he acts to fool his father. The trickster characteristic that made Jacob so appealing was clearly not desirable to the biblical author of Solomon's story. In fact, the author (or composite of authors) of the King narrative is very careful to emphasize that neither David nor his son Solomon betray the present king and seek the throne. David does not kill Saul when he gets a chance because Saul is the Lord's anointed. Solomon does not sit on the throne until after his father's death. These are men chosen specifically by God to create his house. In this way, if no other, the house of David is pure.

Solomon's Housekeeping
King Solomon has some housekeeping to do after ascending the throne, just as his father David did in the early chapters of 2 Samuel. Solomon kills off dangerous characters that pose a threat to his throne, people like Adonijah, Hoab, and Shimei. In this way Solomon purifies his and his father's house.

1 Kings 4 reveals what we might call the "domestic" side of Solomon's reign: his 12-member cabinet of priests and officials, as well as 12 officials over the land, each of whom makes provisions for him one month out of the year. Under Solomon and his cabinet and officials, "Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they ate and drank and were happy" (1 Kings 4.20). His provisions are listed, revealing how Solomon keeps up with the great sacrifices for which he is acclaimed. His grounds and men are described in detail. These lists are an important part of biblical narrative, as we shall see. The biblical author in this capacity acts as a record keeper, recording in detail many different aspects of the king. This penchant for listing and describing in detail has already appeared in the bible many times, in particular in the instructions for and descriptions of the creation of the ark of the covenant and traveling tent of meeting in Exodus. These lengthy descriptions of materials and design have been recorded since the earliest days of writing, and continue up through modern classics like Moby Dick, House, and famously in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:

We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls.

Sections of literature like these suggest the building process itself by providing an ordered bill of materials. The author, in describing how something is built, builds something him or herself.

Building the Temple
This need for making lists reveals itself most clearly in the creation of God's house, the temple. Solomon is able to build, argues the author, on the basis of God's covenant with David and the current peace in the land.

Solomon contracts the men of King Hiram of Tyre to cut down the cedars of Lebanon to be used in the creation of the temple. The biblical author shows us a bit of the economy that comes into place: Hiram provides timber and Solomon supplies him with food, as well as 30,000 of his own men, 10,000 each working one-month shifts. Meanwhile, Solomon's own men work in the hill country quarrying great, costly stones: 70,000 laborers and 80,000 stone cutters, besides 3,300 supervisors.

The temple as constructed in 1 Kings 6 is described in great detail with all its great stones and walls of cedar laid over with gold. It is furnished with cherubim and decorated with carvings of open flowers, palm trees, and cherubim. All is conveyed in a matter-of-fact fashion; the literature seems almost to be a technical manual, which in fact it might be or at least be based off of. The house of God is a solid, beautiful structure, adorned with great pillars and basins of bronze. In total the size of the temple is 90 feet long, 30 feet high, and 45 feet tall, with a porch out front that measures 15 feet long by 30 feet wide. It takes seven years to build the structure, which is blessed with a grand housewarming festival and sacrifices.

Solomon's palace takes six years longer than the temple to construct, but employs the same language and detailed descriptions of construction and materials. 1 Kings 10 offers an even fuller treatment of the house of Solomon, with his possessions listed in lavish detail.

Housing Matters
As Solomon builds God's house, the word of the Lord comes to him:

Conerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you, which I made to your father David. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people.
1 Kings 6.12-13

As the house of David is built on contract, as mentioned earlier, the Lord reserves the right to modify the contract at any time. The earlier contract with David was unconditional, but here a condition is placed upon God's promise. God will only dwell among his people if Solomon obeys the Lord. Of course, this immediately raises the dialectical tensions that run through the bible, the tensions between God's will and human action. Humankind has a tendency to undermine the will of God through exogamy and apostasy. And though Solomon prays to the Lord, who he sees inhabit the temple in a cloud, he has a soft spot for foreign women, who eventually turn him away from God. It is a shame, because with the completion of the temple comes a resting place for God and the covenant after so many years of travel. Solomon explains to the Israelites:

Now the Lord has upheld the promise that he made; for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
1 Kings 8.20-21

Unfortunately, the establishment of a home for the covenant does not put the matter of faith to rest. Faith in God is something that the people of Israel will always struggle with. This wavering devotion will eventually lead to the destruction of the temple and dispersal of the Israelites. And yet the Lord will always remain metaphorically at home in the temple:

I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
1 Kings 9.3

I say the Lord remains in the temple metaphorically because Solomon is wise to note in his prayer:

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! Have regard to your servant’s prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; that your eyes may be open night and day towards this house, the place of which you said, “My name shall be there”, that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays towards this place. Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray towards this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling-place; heed and forgive.
1 Kings 8.27-30

God has a strange characteristic in which he is simultaneously comprehensible and ineffable. Though the smoke of God’s presence fills the temple, God does not really reside there. God’s home serves to metonymically connect the incomprehensible ideal of God with a fixed dwelling place. The temple helps to focus devotion to a God that defies logic, and Solomon himself seems to recognize this. Solomon even expresses some of the paradox himself, first claiming that the highest heaven cannot contain God, and then referring to God whose dwelling place is in heaven. Perhaps the dwelling place does not actually describe the abstract truth about God, but it is perhaps the closest concrete thing that humans are able to understand.

Bad Houses
As mentioned above, Solomon fails to keep his house neat and clean; he corrupts it by marrying foreign women. These women turn Solomon’s heart away from God, so that he evens builds “high places” (altars) that serve as houses for foreign gods. Solomon thereby breaks the covenant with God and nullifies the agreement they had. The house of David is to end. For the sake of David, it will not end during Solomon’s time. Rather, the kingdom will be wrenched from Solomon’s son so that he only reigns over one tribe, Judah. The man who will receive the other 10 tribes is Jeroboam, whose future is revealed when the prophet Ahijah tears his garment into 12 pieces and gives Jeroboam 10, to signify the tribes he will rule over.

Mere years after its establishment, the figurative house of David begins to crumble. The physical temple of God will be destroyed within a few centuries. Solomon’s personal house will surely be destroyed before then.

But the beauty of the bible’s portrayal of God is that even without these things, even without a temple to centralize worship, God continues to be a real presence that people feel in their lives. As some advocate today for the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem, God – and the conception of God – is a force to be reckoned with, and amazingly is able to survive without a physical home on earth.