The End of Judah: Josiah, like Ahab, humbled himself before the LORD, and judgment, as in Ahab’s case, did not fall during Josiah’s reign. The implication of the analogy is that we may expect it to fall during the reign of Josiah’s son (cf. 1 Kgs. 21:28–29). This is exactly what we find now, as the story of Kings comes to its end. It is not, however, the first of Josiah’s sons to sit on his throne (Jehoahaz) who experiences the full force of God’s wrath (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:51–2 Kgs. 1:18), or even the second, Jehoiakim (cf. 2 Kgs. 3–9). It is the third, Zedekiah. Even though the story is almost over and the distinctions between Israel and Judah are all but obliterated, God still differentiates between them. But gradually the glory of Solomon is dismantled, as imperial power passes to Babylon, t…