WHO WROTE:  The authorship of these Books remains uncertain.  However, there is some portions of them and of Jeremiah that are almost identical, e.g., Second Kings 24:18-25, compared to portions of Jeremiah, Chapter 52; Jeremiah 39:1-10; 40:7-41:10.  There are also many un-designed coincidences between Jeremiah’s writings and the Book of Second Kings.

 

Compare Second Kings To Jeremiah:

 

Second Kings 25:1-3 compared to Jeremiah 38:1-9; 39:1-7;

Second Kings 25:11-12; 18-21 compared to Jeremiah 39:10-14; 40:1-5;

Second Kings 24:13; 25:13 compared to Jeremiah 27:18-20; 28:3-6;

Second Kings 24:14 compared to Jeremiah 24:1, 2;

Second Kings 17:18-20; 17:23; 24:20 compared to Jeremiah 7:15; 15:4; 19:3.

 

We also know that these events, as recorded in the Books of Kings, Jeremiah had personal knowledge of.  These facts countenance in some degree the Jewish tradition that Jeremiah was the author of the Books of Kings.  The “Talmud,” in“Baba Bathra,” f. 15, section 1, makes the author out to be Jeremiah.  But the more probable supposition is that Ezra, after the Captivity, compiled them from documents written perhaps by David, Solomon, Nathan, Gad, and Iddo, and that he arranged them in the order in which they now exist.

 

It should also be noted that Chaldee forms are rare in the Books of Kings, while they are numerous in the Chronicles, which has also Persianisms, not found in the Books of Kings.  The history of the Books is brought down to past the middle of the Babylonian captivity; yet no allusion occurs to the deliverance from it; indicating that the author was probably living with the Babylonian exiles.

 

Thus, since Jeremiah most likely died in Egypt, our real author was just most likely familiar with the writings of Jeremiah.  However, to get back to Jeremiah, the absence of any mention of Jeremiah in the Books of the Kings, though he was so prominent in the reigns of the last four kings, is just what we might expect if Jeremiah was the author of the Books of Kings.  The mention of Seraiah and Zephaniah, as slain by Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki. 25:18), accords with Jeremiah 21:1; 29:25-29, wherein Zephaniah appears to be the faction that opposed Jeremiah, which was headed by priests and false prophets.  Other verses to compare would be Second Kings 24:2 & 7, with Jeremiah 25:9 & 20-21; 37:7-8; 46:1-12.

 

 

WHAT TIME PERIOD IS COVERED:  B.C. 1109 - B.C. 909.

 

 

WHEN WRITTEN:  B.C. 647?

 

 

INTRODUCTION:  The two Books of Kings formed originally but one Book in the Hebrew Scriptures.  The present division into two Books was first made by the “LXX,” which now, along with the Vulgate, numbers them as the Third and Fourth Books of Kings, the two Books of Samuel being the First and Second Books of Kings.  In the Septuagint the Books are called, “the third and fourth of the Kingdoms,” while in the “Vulgate,” “the third and fourth book of Kings.”  Bomberg, in his printed editions (1518 and 1549 A.D.), was the first to divide them into two.

 

For a time period of the two Books of Kings and Chronicles, See my Bible Study Chart, “KINGS, CHART OF THE,” and or, my Excel Spreadsheet of, “KINGS, CHART OF THE.”  The Books of Kings give greater prominence to the Kings of the two kingdoms, while the Books of Chronicles gives greater prominence to the priestly, or Levitical offices.

 

The events of these Books are frequently quoted or alluded to by our Lord and His Apostles (Mat. 6:29; 12:42; Luke 4:25, 26; 10:4; compare 2Ki. 4:29 to Mark 1:6 and Luke 10:4; and compare 2Ki. 1:8 to Mat. 3:4; other examples exist such as Rom. 11:2-4; Heb. 11:35; James 5:17-18; Rev. 2:20; 11:6).

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