2 Kings 13:1-25

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

THE KINGDOMS AT HIGH TIDE

2 Kings 13:10 to 2 Kings 15:7

Help came to Israel in the midst of the Aramean oppression from an unexpected quarter. In 802 B.C. the Assyrian king Adadnirari III attacked Damascus and inflicted serious casualties on Benhadad II. From that point on, Israel began to gradually recover her lost territories and emerge from the half century of humiliating submission to Damascus. The text under study in this chapter deals with (1) the period of recovery (2 Kings 13:10 to 2 Kings 14:22); and (2) the heyday period of both Israel and Judah (2 Kings 14:23 to 2 Kings 15:7).

REVIEW OF CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I. FACTS TO MASTER

A. How did each of the following figure in the events of this chapter?

1. Jehoash

4. Elisha

7. Azariah

2. Amaziah

5. Hazael

8. Jonah

3. Jeroboam

6. Benhadad

9. Jotham

B. What happened at each of the following locations?

1. Samaria

4. Joktheel

7. Lachish

2. Aphek

5. Edom

8. Elath

3. Selah

6. Beth-shemesh

9. Gath-hepher

C. Of what importance were each of the following?

1. bow and arrows

4. ten thousand men

2. bones

5. four hundred cubits

3. three times

II. QUESTIONS TO PONDER

1.

Why did king Joash refer to Elisha as the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof?

2.

Explain what was meant by the two symbolic acts per formed in the death chamber of Elisha.

3.

How did Amaziah manifest obedience to the Lord in the early part of his reign?

4.

What war crime did Amaziah commit in Edom?

5.

How does the career of Amaziah illustrate the folly of pride?

6.

Explain the fable which Jehoash of Israel wrote in reply to a challenge from Amaziah.

7.

Why does the author of Kings devote so little attention to the prosperous reigns of Jeroboam and Azariah (Uzziah)?

8.

How did Azariah come to be a leper?

Drawings by Horace Knowles