The Last Days of The Kingdom of Judah

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The Last Days of The Kingdom of Judah

• By
• Leanne DApolito

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The First Half of the Seventh Century

• Very Little Information
• Dominated by the reign of King Manasseh
• Had the longest rule of any king in Israels or
  Judahs history
• Judged by the religious editors of the Second
  Book of Kings to have the worst reign in history
• Chief supporter of false gods and most ardent
  enemy of the demands of the covenant
• The authors conclude that he did more evil than
  all the Canaanites before him, made Judah fall
  and therefore became the major cause of the
  destruction and exile that later befell the
  nation (2 Kings 2110-15)
• Manasseh was succeeded by Amon, who was
  assassinated and replaced by his son Josiah
• No prophetic voice recorded between 700 and 650,
  although it is highly unlikely that none were
  present in the land
• The king may have persecuted them or accounts of
  their words may have not survived for the authors
  of the Second Book of Kings to use them

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The Book of Zephaniah

• Records for us the voice of reaction against the
  idolatry practiced in Manassehs years
• Many experts think that Zephaniah was a prophet
  who spoke during the temple liturgy on some
  special occasion
• Can be divided into 3 sections which all revolve
  around a major themethe Coming Day of the Lord
• Oracles against the sins of Judah
• Oracles against enemy nations
• Promises of deliverance
• He opens Chapter 1 by stressing that the good
  order of Gods creation recounted in Genesis has
  been reversed and that instead chaos rules
• He warns the people pf Judah first, and then
  preaches to foreign nations about the same terror
  and destruction that shall fall upon the
• He ends with a dramatic announcement of the
  destruction of Assyria
• Assyrias pride and arrogance against Yahweh far
  exceeds any other nations
• He returns in Chapter 3 to list all the
  corruption at every level of society, and
  declares that the whole earth shall be consumed
  by fire for its evilbut he does include a
  promise of hope
• The entire message of the prophet ends as it
  beganwith praise for God who rules the entire
  universe

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King Josiahs Reform

• 2 Kings 22 tells the story of how Josiah began
  his reforming efforts
• He decided to repair the temple and began a bold
  effort to remove all pagan shrines
• He made the people renew the covenant and promise
  to obey all its divine laws and statutes
• The Book, because of the reforms, was considered
  a book of the law, and it once said that Josiah
  did according to the law of Moses (2Kings
  2325)

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King Josiahs Political Gains

• Last great king of Assyria dies2 new powers
  rising to take control of the near EastBabylonia
  and Medes
• Judah began hope for independence
• Josiah forced all major religious celebrations to
  be held in Jerusalem to insure that all worship
  was properly orthodoxthe chief center of pagan
  worship were therefore removed, and the whole
  nations loyalty was focused on Jerusalem

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The Book of Deuteronomy

• Written as a single speech of Moses on the banks
  of the Jordan just before the people are to cross
  over to begin the conquest of the Promised Land
• Moses farewell speech
• There is a difference in style and vocabulary
  between Deuteronomy and the other four books of
  the Pentateuch
• Favors long speeches with much urging to
  obediencetypical of a preacher delivering a
  sermonmakes a call for return to the proper
  obedience to the covenant
• The core of the Book is the Law Code found in
  chapters 12-26called the second law

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Deuteronomy Continued

• The book is directed at a people living long
  after the events of the exodus, people who are
  urged to recall the and keep the teaching of
  Mosesreturn to the covenant
• Follows the format of a treaty-create a framework
  for the authors message
• The Preamble
• The Historical List of the kings kindness to the
  smaller state
• The list of demands to be obeyed
• Provisions to have the treaty read each year
• The witness of the gods
• Curse on those who break the demands and
  blessings on those who keep them
• The author centers on a single sanctuaryit is
  never mentioned but Jerusalem is meant to be this
  place

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Who Wrote Deuteronomy?

• It is a rich mixture of references to the old
  covenant laws of the Book of Exodus
• Claims to be a speech from Moses lips but has no
  style from the old Yahwist or Elohist sources
• When sorting our the different concerns of the
  book according to which traditions of the
  Pentateuch they are most likethe Yahwist and the
  Elohist source come to mind