The book of 2 Kings introduces a dizzying array of kings, some of them appearing for only a few verses. Many of the facts associated with these kings, such as when their reigns began and ended and how righteous they were, can be represented graphically.
The following diagram shows all of the kings of both kingdoms (Israel and Judah) from David to Zedekiah. The height of each box represents the length of their reign, and the color represents their faithfulness, with white representing a king who largely followed God’s commandments and dark blue representing a particularly wicked king. About a third of the kings were assassinated (13 out of 41), and I’ve indicated those events with a small circle at the end of their reign. A red circle with a down arrow (↓) indicates a coup: the killer assumed the throne. An orange circle with an “X” indicates that the king was killed but the throne remained in the family. Interestingly, those two types of assassination cluster by kingdom. Israel experienced eight coups, while the kingship of Judah remained with the descendants of David until the Babylonian Captivity.
The books of Kings highlight these outcomes as fulfillments of prophecy:
- “This was the word of the Lord which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass” (2 Kings 15:12; see also 2 Kings 10:30).
- “Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children” (2 Kings 8:19; see also 1 Kings 11:36; 15:4; 2 Samuel 7:12-16).
The book of Ether similarly chronicles the reigns of many kings. Unlike Israel, the Jaredite nation was never permanently split. However, during much of Jaredite history, the people were divided between rival kings. Eleven out of the thirty-two kings who occupied the Jaredite throne were assassinated (about a third, just like Israel). Most of those assassinations resulted in a change of dynasty. Additionally, ten kings spent part of their reigns either in prison or in exile, fulfilling the brother of Jared’s warning when the people requested a king: “Surely this thing leadeth into captivity” (Ether 6:23). The following diagram matches the format of the diagram above, except that the boxes are all the same height, since the book of Ether doesn’t specify how many years each king reigned.
A few principles become evident when these books of scripture are viewed graphically. First, the brother of Jared was right: monarchy eventually leads to captivity. Among his people, that captivity occurred repeatedly, as kings were imprisoned. But Israel and Judah also eventually fell into captivity as they lost God’s protection and were conquered by other empires.
Second, leaders’ righteousness matters. Israel had no righteous kings. Jeroboam set a low standard, and his successors largely followed in his footsteps, even though they represented a number of different dynasties. Hundreds years after his death, the sins of Israel’s kings are still attributed to the precedent he set: “He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin” (2 Kings 15:9, 18, 24, 28). Judah, in contrast benefitted from a series of mostly righteous kings, as well as two very righteous ones near the end — Hezekiah and Josiah — both of whom are described as walking in the ways of David their father (2 Kings 18:3; 2 Kings 22:2). The Jaredites similarly benefitted, in spite of all of the turmoil, from many kings who did good “in the sight of the Lord” (Ether 10:16-17, 19) — until the downward spiral which ended the civilization.
Finally, a leader’s influence can be intergenerational. Judah endured for so long partly because its kings followed David’s example and partly because God fulfilled his promises to David. For example, Abijam was not a great king, but “for David’s sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, … because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Kings 15:4-5).
Today, I will remember that my influence can extend beyond today. I will strive to lead in a way that encourages faithfulness and stability over time.
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