1. In 2 Kings 5, we find two people who had bad things happen to them. First is a young girl from Israel who was taken captive by the Syrian army.

2. Scripture: "And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them"(2 Kings 6:16).

3. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had already come to take Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, prisoner (2 Kings 24). Then Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin's uncle, Zedekiah, his puppet king.

4. In 2 Kings 7 we find an intriguing story about Samaria under siege.

5. In 60 years, the place is leaded by 2 kings, famine ordeal them.

6. Did they remember the widow in Elisha's day whose jug of oil did not run dry till she had filled the jars collected from all her neighbors (2 Kings 4:1-7)?

7. The last dated event that is mentioned in 2 Kings is something that occurred in 562. That was when King Jehoiachin was released from prison in Babylon, in 562.

8. In a story recorded in 2 Kings, the city of Samaria lay under siege and deadly famine.

9. This led Shalmaneser to invade Syria (2 Kings 17:5) and besiege Samaria for three years.

10. He was a prophet of Israel, and predicted the restoration of the ancient boundaries (2 Kings 14:25-27) of the kingdom.

11. In the midst of completing all this, he later gives a man a ride in his chariot, saying, "Come ... and see my zeal for the LORD" (2 Kings 10:16).

12. And that historical narrative that runs from Joshua through 2 Kings provides that information.

13. In the days of Elisha he went to Shunem a city of Issachar and meet a very rich woman and for the rest of the story read 2 kings 4:8-37.

14. While that evaluation isn't generally true, our story from 2 Kings supports the negative stereotype. A poor widow is at the mercy of a loan shark who takes advantage of her vulnerability.

15. There are certain key features of Deuteronomistic thought that are evident from Joshua through 2 Kings One is the belief in the divine election of Jerusalem.

15. try its best to gather and build good sentences.

16. In our reading for today a prophet speaks far-reaching words of judgment that aren't fulfilled until about 300 years have passed (see 2 Kings 23:15-20).

17. And that conviction is going to color its presentation, its evaluation and its interpretation of Israel's history and her kings from Joshua right through to 2 Kings.

18. So a bloodbath begins. Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri, Ahab's father (see 2 Kings 8:26), wants the throne for herself.

19. And the Former Prophets include the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings. They read as a historical narrative.