Week 20 2 Chronicles
At the beginning of the week I set myself a little mental-focusing exercise. I decided to track and categorize the kings of Judah based on three simple questions. Were they Good Kings – Bad Kings – or Middler Kings?
It seemed like an okay exercise and I guess it was. Of course it slowed me down a bit. And in the end I think the three-category classification scheme oversimplified things. But it concentrated my thinking.
I got flummoxed in chapter 36 though. What to do with those last four kings? I’d figured on Monday to map all the kings from Rehoboam (first king) to Zedekiah (last king). But when I got to chapter 36 I realized that the independent kingdom of Judah was gone by then. Kaput! Did those four reign? Well…yeah. But did they have real power? Uh-uh.
Josiah died in chapter 35 and Jehoahaz replaced him. For three months. Then his guardian the king of Egypt shipped him off to Egypt.
Eliakim (also known as Jehoiakim) replaced Jehoahaz. But Egypt determined his state policies. He was a puppet-king.
Then when Egypt was a replaced in an international rebalance-of-power Babylon attacked Jerusalem. Eliakim? Shipped into exile.
Jehoiachin replaced Eliakim for three months then Nebuchadnezzar replaced him with Zedekiah.
Anyway the point is that I decided not to include these final four plug-in kings in my list of Goods-Bads-Middlers. They weren’t Real Kings. You’re not king-of-your-castle if someone else is.
Tomorrow I’ll submit my Good-Bad-Middler Report.