Today's Readings: 2 KINGS 1 | Jeremiah 50 | 1 Corinthians 10

Other comments on this day's readings can be found here.

Reading 1 - 2Kings 1

"1Ki and 2Ki were originally one book divided into two by the LXX (BC 294-289). It appears Isaiah and Jeremiah were the authors, using the public records of the kings. It could be that Isaiah wrote to the time of Hezekiah (2Ch 32:32). Jewish tradition says that Jeremiah was the author. The purpose of the book is to show the reason for the Davidic Kingdom being disrupted and to reveal why Yahweh sent Israel into captivity (Eze 21:24-32). It describes the events in the Northern Kingdom of Israel from the ministry of Elisha to the death of Jehu, Israel's 10th king (2Ki 1-10). It provides alternating annals of both kingdoms to the captivity of Israel. Jonah, Amos and Hosea prophesied at this time in the north (2Ki 11-17). The record continues to the end of the Kingdom. The prophets Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah and Jeremiah prophesied at this time (2Ki 18-25). Judah outdistanced Israel for over a century. The Northern Kingdom was compared to the shameful example of Jeroboam. The Southern Kingdom was likened to the glory of David. The one example cast the shadows of death; the other revealed the light of life. Nineteen kings reigned over the north for a period of 250 years, whilst 20 kings reigned in the south from the time of the Disruption for 390 years. The 19 kings of the north came from 7 different dynasties in contrast to the one dynasty in the South. The record of the kings graphically shows the faithfulness of Yahweh to the Davidic Covenant in the preservation of a line (cp 2Ki 8:19)" (GE Mansfield).

Reading 2 - Jeremiah 50; 51

Jer 50; 51 is the most detailed prophecy of the fall of Babylon. And again, this passage was certainly fulfilled in 539 BC. But a number of verses suggest a future fulfillment: " 'In those days, at that time,' declares the Lord, 'the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the Lord their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten' " (Jer 50:4,5). When in the past has Israel bound itself in a perpetual covenant to the Lord at Jerusalem, a covenant that cannot and will not be broken? Never. So these verses have yet to be fulfilled.

" 'But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture and he will graze on