Deliverance and Exile: It seems that the veiled threats in 2 Kings 16–17 with regard to Judah have come to nothing. Jerusalem has not suffered the same fate as Samaria. Yet the Davidic promise has been cited in 2 Kings 16–19, not in relation to a wicked king, but in relation to the most pious king Judah has had (19:34). This creates the impression that in these days of accumulated sin, even a good king requires God’s special grace if the kingdom is to survive. It brings into question, therefore, whether Judah may expect in the future, under apostate kings, the kind of special treatment it has received in the past (1 Kgs. 15:4; 2 Kgs. 8:19). Is the protection of Jerusalem to go on for ever? Second Kings 20 hints that it will not.

20:1–7  The chapter opens with an account of an illness that H…