Kings of Judah

When the kingdom divided after Solomon, the tribe of Judah and Benjamin stayed with the house of David, and Rehoboam, who had answered the people's petition with "My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions," reigned in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:11–17). From then on Judah's throne stayed in one family line, unlike the north, and the writers of Kings and Chronicles judge each ruler by one measure: whether he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and whether the high places were taken away.

A few are commended without reserve. Asa put away the male cult prostitutes and removed his mother Maacah from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image (1 Kings 15:11–13). Jehoshaphat walked in the way of Asa his father and sent officials to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Chronicles 17:3–9). Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, and there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, and he was delivered when Sennacherib of Assyria besieged Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:5; 2 Kings 19:35–36). Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and when the Book of the Law was found in the temple he tore his clothes and kept a Passover such as had not been kept since the days of the judges (2 Kings 22:1–13; 2 Kings 23:21–25).

Others are recorded as failures. Jehoram walked in the way of the kings of Israel because the daughter of Ahab was his wife (2 Kings 8:18). Ahaziah reigned one year and was killed in Jehu's purge (2 Kings 8:26; 2 Kings 9:27). Athaliah destroyed all the royal family and reigned six years, until the infant Joash hidden in the temple by Jehosheba was crowned and she was put to death (2 Kings 11:1–16). Ahaz even burned his son as an offering and copied an altar he saw in Damascus (2 Kings 16:3, 10–11). Manasseh reigned fifty-five years and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, though Chronicles records that in captivity he humbled himself and prayed (2 Kings 21:16; 2 Chronicles 33:12–13). Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Abijah, and Amon fill out the succession with mixed records.

The line ends in exile. Jehoahaz reigned three months and was taken to Egypt (2 Kings 23:31–34). Jehoiakim became a servant of Nebuchadnezzar and then rebelled (2 Kings 24:1). Jehoiachin reigned three months and was carried to Babylon with the treasures of the temple, and was later released from prison and given a seat above the other kings there (2 Kings 24:8–15; 2 Kings 25:27–30). Zedekiah saw his sons killed before his eyes and was blinded and bound in chains, and Jerusalem was burned (2 Kings 25:6–9). Yet the promise made to David was remembered through it all: the LORD would not destroy Judah "for the sake of David His servant" (2 Kings 8:19).