II Kings

The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries

by Mordechai Cogan, Hayim Tadmor

II Kings (Volume 11 in the acclaimed Anchor Bible) is the chronicle of the raging conflicts that tore the United Kingdom of Israel apart, creating the rival nations of Israel to the north and Judah to the south.  It tells of the time of the great prophecies of Elijah and Elisha, and of the legendary conquerors of not only the Jews, but the whole of the Middle East--Sennacherib, Hazael, Tiglath-pileser III, Nebuchadnezzar, and Shalmaneser.
The book of II Kings was written with a dual purpose.  It provided a chronological history of the divided kingdoms of Israel, from the time of division, through the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and the final exile of the Jews into Babylonia.  It also served as a reminder to all Israelite monarchs that their loyalty to the God of Israel, as worshipped in Jerusalem, determined the course of history.  In his telling of the story, the book's author emphasized to his contemporaries and future generations that in order to avert the calamities that befell the Chosen People (their conquest by nonbelievers, the destruction of Jerusalem, and their ignominious exile), they would have to avoid a repetition of the misdeeds of the past.  If they remained loyal to their God, their God would remain loyal to them.
Complete with maps, charts, photographs, and extra-biblical documentation, II Kings presents an important and illuminating new translation which explores a tumultuous epoch of change that forever affected theological and world history.

Genres: Theology, Biblical

426 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1988

Reviews

[Tim Shaw]

This 11th volume in the Yale Anchor Bible Commentary series (Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha, Greek New Testament) is a solid treatment of an important of the Prophets (Hebrew Nebi'im : Former Prophetic Historical writing) that emerged as a 2nd half / sequel only because the reconfiguring of it took place as Septuagint translators into Hellenistic Greek took 22 chapters for First Kings and 25 chapters for the next book in sequence. The commentator (himself also a translator) Mordechai Cogan is a professor emeritus at Hebrew University at Jerusalem and he brought it to a timely fruition, thanks to AB Editor David Noel Freedman, colleague & friend acknowledged in the brief preface (pages v-vi). Others may decry it as "overdue" for a 21st century treatment but I find the comments and scholarship that try to give balance between Assyriology and Bible to work in the areas of history and literary intention/scholarship/ linguistic insight. Maybe ARCHAEOLOGY that deals with the Pre-exilic and Exilic and Post-exilic strands / layers will be needful for academic high-sophisticated readers or those with "axes to grind". I was looking for comments on Josephus - ANTIQUITIES OF the JEWS and the DSS (Dead Sea / Qumran manuscript or fragment) analysis and text variations / haplographies or text additions/deletions. As an Appendix, Cogan included a Selection of extrabiblical texts relating to II Kings such as the "Moabite Stone" -- very relevant and worth noticing! Nowadays when this is a new fangled 21st century project, the NEXT Anchor-type commentary should also give consideration to "Reception Criticism" [how the narratives and characters/historical figures were understood and "updated" by the following generations of readers, listeners, scribes / literary analysts of the
First and Third/World - Southern global perspectives. Very good 5* out of 5