2 Kings maps & timelines

Geographic Context

Second Kings ranges across the whole ancient Near East. The Elisha narratives move around the northern kingdom — Samaria its capital, the Jordan valley, Shunem, and Aramean Damascus to the northeast. The looming threat then shifts eastward to the great empires of Mesopotamia: Assyria, with its capital Nineveh, which destroys Samaria and deports the ten northern tribes, and later Babylon, which conquers Judah.

In the south, the focus is Jerusalem, delivered from the Assyrian Sennacherib in Hezekiah’s day but finally besieged and burned by the Babylonians. The exiles are carried far to the east to Babylon, on the Euphrates, where the book closes with Jehoiachin at the Babylonian court — the people of God now scattered from the land of promise, awaiting a return.

Timeline of Major Events

• c. 848 BC - Elijah is taken up; Elisha begins his ministry.
• c. 841 BC - Jehu’s revolt destroys the house of Ahab and Baal worship in Israel.
• 722 BC - Samaria falls to Assyria; the northern kingdom is exiled.
• 701 BC - Sennacherib invades Judah; Jerusalem is delivered in answer to Hezekiah’s prayer.
• c. 640-609 BC - The reign and reforms of Josiah; the Book of the Law is rediscovered.
• 597 BC - Nebuchadnezzar exiles King Jehoiachin and the leaders of Judah.
• 586 BC - Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed; Judah is exiled to Babylon.
• c. 562 BC - Jehoiachin is released from prison in Babylon, a sign of enduring hope.