Minor Kings

Northern Kingdom

Jeroboam

Nadab (1 Kings 14 v 20, 15 v 25)

Nadab was the son of Jeroboam. He only reigned for 2 years before he was killed by Baasha

Baasha (1 Kings 15 v 16-22, 15v27-16v6)

Baasha was a warring person. He took over kingship of Israel by killing Nadab and all the family of Jeroboam, and spent all his time warring against Asa, king of Judah. He reigned for 24 years, during which the prophet Jehu spoke out against him. He died and was succeeded by his son Elah.

Elah (1 Kings 16 v 8-10)

The prophet had prophecied against Baashah's house, for their evil deeds, and it wasn't long into Elah's reign that he suffered the fate prophecied. He had been reigning for two years, and was drunk in the house of his steward, when his servant, Zimri, came in and killed him, taking over as king.

Zimri (1 Kings 16 v 9-20)

Zimri had conspired against his king, and murdered him. He immediately sought out the rest of the family of Baasha, and killed them as well. He didn't last long, though, in fact just 7 days. When the armies of Israel heard that Zimri had killed Elah, they went to Tirzah, where he was, and laid siege to the city. Zimri saw what was happening, got himself into the palace, and burnt it down, killing himself.

Omri (1 Kings 16 v 16-30)

Omri had been the captain of the Israelite army, and when the people heard Zimri has set himself up as king they voted Omri in as king. He then went to defeat Zimri. Omri reigned for 12 years, but was a worse king than all the previous ones.

Ahab (1 Kings 16 v 28 - 22 v 40)

Ahab took over from his father Omri, and was a worse king than any before him. He took a wife from a foreign tribe, named Jezebel, and took on her religion, worshipping Baal. He was so bad, that God sent a drought on the land, heralded by the prophet Elijah. The drought lasted for three and a half years, ending when Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, and slaughtered them. Ahab told his wife what had happened, and she was enraged against Elijah.

The king of Syria, Benhadad, decided to bully Israel, and demand its treasures. Ahab agreed because he was outnumbered, but Benhadad wanted more. He wanted his people to come into the cities and take what they liked. Ahab denied him this, so Benhadad got 32 kings and their armies together to fight Israel. The Hebrew army was tiny, but a prophet of the Lord assured Ahab they would win, so he took them into battle and they had a great victory. Benhadad thought the Israelites gods must be gods of the hills, so came against them again, this time on the plains. Again, God gave the Israelites victory, and Benhadad came to Ahab, promising to restore all the cities he had taken. Later, a prophet came to Ahab, disguised. When he revealed himself he gave the Lord's message: because Ahab had let Benhadad live, his own life was forfeit.

Outside Ahab's palace was a vineyard, owned by a man named Naboth. Ahab took a fancy to the vineyard and offered to buy it from Naboth, which he refused. This made Ahab unhappy and he went back to the palace. On hearing his problem, Jezebel forged a proclamation from the king, ordering Naboth killed, and it was done. Ahab took over the vineyard, but Elijah came to him with the word of the Lord. Ahab would die, along with all his family. The dogs would lick his blood and eat the flesh of Jezebel. Ahab was very sorry for what he had done, and the Lord allowed him to live for now, but his family would still be cut off after his death.

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah asked Ahab to join him in winning back the city of Ramoth Gilead from the Syrians. Ahab enquired of his prophets, and 400 of them said he would be victorious. Jehshaphat asked if there were any more prophets, and Ahab said there was one, Micaiah, but he always prophecied bad things for Ahab. They called Micaiah. At first he said Ahab would return victorious, but then said he would be killed, and all the other prophets had been made to lie by God. Ahab sent him to prison and went to the battle.

Ahab hoped to avoid being targeted by disguising himself, while Jehoshaphat kept his kingly robes. The Syrians were after Ahab, though, and he was wounded by a spear. He died that evening, and was taken back to Samaria. His chariot was washed of his blood, and the dogs licked it up.

After Ahab's death, Ahaziah, his son, took over as king.

Ahaziah (1 Kings 22 v 51-53, 2 Kings 1)

Ahaziah took over when his father, Ahab, died. He reigned for two years, and didn't follow the Lord. During his reign he fell through a lattice, injuring himself badly. He sent his servants to enquire of the god Baalzebub whether or not he would live. They met Elijah on their way and he was angry that Ahaziah hadn't enquired of the Lord. He sent message that Ahaziah would die of his injuries. Ahaziah did die, and Joram (Jehoram) reigned afterwards, because Ahaziah didn't have a son.

Joram (2 Kings 3, 2 Kings 8 v 28 - 9 v 37)

Joram is sometimes called Jehoram, and likewise the king of Judah, Jehoram, is also called Joram, which makes things a bit confusing. Joram reigned in Israel after Ahaziah. He was Ahab's son, Ahaziah's brother, and reigned because Ahaziah had no son.

While Ahab was alive, the king of Moab had been friendly, but after Ahab's death he rebelled against Israel. Joram joined with Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, and the king of Edom to fight the Moabites. They were lacking in water, and looked to Elisha for advice: he wasn't going to give them any, except he respected Jehoshaphat. Elisha told them to dig ditches, and they would be filled even though it didn't rain. Sure enough, this happened. When the sun rose, the Moabites thought the valley was full of the blood of their enemies, who had quarrelled with each other. As they ran to get the spoils, they were surprised by the Israelites and heavily defeated.

Some time later, Joram joined Ahaziah, the king of Judah, in a battle against Hazael of Syria at Ramoth Gilead. Joram was wounded in the battle, and taken back to Jezreel. While he was there some soldiers approached. He sent out messengers to find out who it was, but they didn't come back. It looked like Jehu, his captain, was coming, so Joram went out with Ahaziah, who was visiting him, in their chariots. Jehu said he was here to kill Joram, who fled, but Jehu killed him with an arrow. Ahaziah also fled, but was injured, and died soon after. Joram's body was cast down on Naboth's vineyard, and his mother, Jezebel, was also killed.

Jehu (2 Kings 9 - 10)

Jehu was Joram's captain, and was fighting at Ramoth Gilead. While he was there, and the king was injured in Jezreel, a prophet came to visit him. He poured oil on Jehu's head and proclaimed him king of Israel, saying he was to destroy all of Ahab's family. The other captains readily took him on as their king, and he rode back to Jezreel. He slew Joram, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, and when he came into the city, Jezebel was thrown down from her window and killed, and the dogs ate her flesh, as prophecied.

Jehu waged a campaign of destruction against the house of Ahab. He had Ahab's sons, his relatives and his priests killed. He tricked the prophets of Baal into coming to him in Samaria and had them all killed, destroying the images of Baal as well. However he still worshipped the golden calves set up by Jeroboam, instead of the Lord. He reigned for 28 years, and his son, Jehoahaz, became king when he died.

Jehoahaz (2 Kings 13 v 1-9)

Jehoahaz took over as king when his father, Jehu, died. He continued to worship the false idols set up by Jeroboam, and God let the Syrians conquer Israel. He turned to the Lord for help, and the Lord freed them from the Syrians, but Jehoahaz continued in his evil ways. His son Joash took over when he died.

Joash (2 Kings 13 v 10 - 14 v 16)

Joash, also known as Jehoash, took over from his father Jehoahaz. He reigned for 16 years. When Elisha was dying, Joash visited him. Elisha told him to fire an arrow out of the window, and said that he would defeat the Syrians. He then told him to hit the rest of the arrows off the ground. Joash did this three times, but Elisha told him that was not enough. He would defeat the Syrians three times but not destroy them. After his battles with the Syrians, Joash also fought against Judah. He broke down the walls of Jerusalem, and raided the temple and the palace.

Jeroboam (2 Kings 14 v 23-29)

Joash's son Jeroboam reigned after he died, and reigned for 41 years. We don't read much about him, but Hosea and Amos were prophets during his reign.

Zachariah (2 Kings 15 v 8-11)

Zachariah was Jeroboam's son, and took over when he died. He only reigned for six months before Shallum conspired against him and killed him.

Shallum (2 Kings 15 v 13-15)

Shallum killed Zachariah to become king, but wasn't there for long. He reigned for a month before Menahem killed him and took over the throne.

Menahem (2 Kings 15 v 14-22)

Menahem, the son of Gadi, reigned for 10 years. He was not a pleasant character. He defeated some port towns, and killed the women who were pregnant. He was nearly overtaken by the Assyrians, but paid them in silver to leave his country alone. He made the rich men of the country pay him the silver back.

Pekahiah (2 Kings 15 v 23-26)

Pekahiah, Manahem's son, reigned after him for two years. One of his captains, Pekah, conspired against him, and killed him.

Pekah (2 Kings 15 v 25-31)

Pekah was Pekahiah's captain, but rebelled and killed his king, taking over his throne. He reigned for 20 years. He too was conspired against, and was killed by Hoshea.

Hoshea (2 Kings 17 v 1-6)

Hoshea killed Pekah and reigned in his stead. Like all the kings of the northern kingdom, he did evil in God's eyes. He gave gifts to the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser, when he threatened Israel, but changed his allegiance after some years by allying with So, the king of Egypt, so Shalmaneser had him taken captive. The Assyrians besieged Israel for three years, then set up their own king over the land and took the jews there into captivity. Hoshea had been king for nine years, and was the last king of Israel. God had finally let them be taken because they refused to follow Him.

Southern Kingdom

Rehoboam

Abijah (1 Kings 15 v 1-8, 2 Chronicles 13)

Also called Abijam, Abijah was Rehoboam's son, and took over when he died. He reigned over Judah for three years. He fought against Jeroboam, and even though he was ambushed, the Lord brought him the victory, subduing Israel for a time.

Asa (1 Kings 15 v 8-24, 2 Chronicles 14-16)

Asa took over from his father, Abijah, and he reigned for 41 years. He removed a lot of the idols in Judah, and even removed his mother from being queen because she worshipped an idol. There was peace in Judah for thirty five years, apart from a single battle with the Ethiopians, and Asa built protection around his cities. He had trouble from Baasha, the Israelite king at the time, so sent a tribute of gold and silver to the king of Syria, Benhadad, asking him to switch allegiance, which he did. The Lord chided him for relying on Syria instead of God. In his old age, Asa had problems with his feet, but didn't seek the Lord's help, trusting in his doctors instead.

Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22 v 41-50, 2 Chronicles 17-20)

Jehoshaphat became king when his father died, and reigned over Judah for twenty five years. He was a good king, and sent out teachers from the Levites to teach his people God's law. He made a mistake by teaming up with Ahab, and going to fight at Ramoth Gilead, but the Lord protected him there, while Ahab was killed. Jehu the prophet rebuked him when he returned for joining with the ungodly king.

News came to Jehoshaphat that the Moabites and Ammonites were marching upon Judah, and he was afraid. He declared a fast, and sought the Lord, and the whole nation did likewise. A Levite named Jahaziel stood up and spoke for the Lord. They were to go to the battle the next day, but wouldn't have to fight. The battle would be the Lord's. The next day they went out, and singers went before the army praising God. God turned their enemies against one another, and when Jehoshaphat got to the battlefield there were only bodies. They returned to Jerusalem praising God, and God gave the nation peace.

Near the end of his reign, Jehoshaphat again joined with the Israelite king, Ahaziah this time. They built ships to go and collect gold. However, the ships were destroyed, because Jehoshaphat had worked together with an ungodly king.

Jehoram (2 Kings 8 v 16-24, 2 Chronicles 21)

Jehoram was Jehoshaphat's son, and became king when Jehoshaphat died. He didn't seem to learn much from his father though. He married Ahab's daughter, and followed the wicked ways of the kings of Israel. He even murdered his own brothers, and some of the princes of Israel. Elijah the prophet spoke out against him, and told him he would contract a terrible disease. Sure enough Jehoram got this disease of the bowels, and it was the cause of his death. He reigned for eight years, during which several of the neighbouring countries revolted against Judah, and then he died.

Ahaziah (2 Kings 8 v 24 - 9 v 29, 2 Chronicles 22 v 1-10)

Ahaziah was also known as Jehoahaz, and was Jehoram's youngest son. All the other princes were taken away by Judah's enemies, along with Jehoram's wife and all his treasures. He became viceroy when his father fell ill, and a year later became king when his father died. He only reigned for a year but still managed to be an evil king. He got caught up with Joram of Israel in his battle against Jehu, and was slain by Jehu because of it.

Athaliah (2 Kings 11 v 1-20, 2 Chronicles 22 v 10 - 23 v 21)

Athaliah was Ahaziah's mother, and when he died she took over. She sought out all of Ahaziah's sons, her grandsons, and had them killed. But the one-year old Joash was hidden away by his aunt, Jehosheba. They stayed hidden in the house of the Lord for six years. Then the priest Jehoiada arranged for the royal guard to protect him as they revealed him to the queen. He was crowned, and when the queen discovered she shouted "Treason". However she was taken out of the house of the Lord and was killed.

Joash (2 Kings 11 v 2 - 12 v 21, 2 Chronicles 22 v 11 - 24 v 27)

Joash, also known as Jehoash, had to be hidden from his grandmother Athaliah, as she sought to kill all her son's children. His aunt, Jehosheba, hid him for six years in the house of the Lord, before he was brough out in public and hailed as king, while Athaliah was killed.

He reigned in Judah for 40 years, and was generally a good king. He got rid of some, though not all, of the places of idol worship, and restored the temple. The priests put in charge of this weren't very good at managing the money they were given, so Jehoiada instituted an offering box, and all the money given to the temple was put in the box, and given to the workmen restoring the temple.

The king of Syria, Hazael, marched towards Jerusalem with the intention of taking the city. Instead of trusting in God to help him, Joash gave Hazael all the riches of the temple and the palace to persuade him to leave them alone.

Joash died when his own servants conspired against him. They killed him, and his son Amaziah was made king after him.

Amaziah (2 Kings 14 v 1-20, 2 Chronicles 25 v 1-28)

Amaziah was 25 when his father was killed, and he was made king. The first thing he did was to put to death his father's servants who had killed him. He was a good king, but didn't abolish idolatry as he should have. He organised the people of Judah into a great army, with 300,000 men. He also hired some of the Israelites to join his army, but was warned by a prophet this wasn't a good idea, and so sent them home angry. He went to fight and defeat the land of Edom, but while he did this, the Israelites he had sent home were sacking his own towns. He also brought back idols from Edom, and worshipped them, which angered the Lord.

The king of Israel, Joash, fought against Amaziah, and defeated him. He broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and took the precious vessels from the temple.

Amaziah reigned for 29 years in Judah. After he turned away from God, his people conspired against him. He ran away, but was found and killed, and his son made king in his stead.

Uzziah (2 Kings 15 v 1-17, 2 Chronicles 26 v 1-23)

Uzziah, or Azariah, was Amaziah's son, and became king when he was 16, when his father was killed by his own people. He was a good king, and had a long reign, for 52 years. The Lord was with him in battle and he won many victories, also strengthening Jerusalem with great machines for firing arrows and throwing stones. He became proud though, and was discovered in the temple, burning incense at the altar. Because of this sin he was smitten with leprosy, and had to go and live in isolation. His son Jotham took over his affairs until he died

Jotham (2 Kings 15 v 32-38, 2 Chronicles 27 v 1-9)

When his father died, Jotham took over as king. He was 25, and reigned for 16 years, building up the cities in Judah and defeating the Ammonites. He followed his father's early example and was a good king, but still didn't remove the high places where the people practised idolatry. When he died, his son Ahaz took over.

Ahaz (2 Kings 16 v 1-20, 2 Chronicles 28 v 1-27)

Ahaz took over as king when his father Jotham died, but he was a far worse king. He worshipped idols, and even sacrificed his own children in the valley of Hinnom. The Lord left him to be defeated by both the Syrians and Israel. When Israel defeated Judah they took many of the children of Judah captive, but a prophet persuaded them to let them go. When Edom invaded, Ahaz sent to Assyria for help, giving him gold from the palace and from the temple. But the Assyrian king didn't come to his aid. Ahaz desecrated the temple and worshipped the Gods of other countries. He died after 16 years of reign, and his son Hezekiah took over.

Hezekiah (2 Kings 16 v 20, 18 v 1 - 20 v 21, 2 Chronicles 29 v 1 - 32 v 33)

Hezekiah became king at the age of 25, and reigned for 29 years. From the start he reversed the trends of his father. He had the idols and pagan altars taken down, and removed the bronze serpent put up by Moses, which had become a focus of idol worship. He set the priests and Levites to cleaning out the temple, and reinstated the forms of worship prescribed by God. They had a special passover feast, a month later than usual because it took time to get the priests sanctified. He also reintroduced tithes, so the priests could focus on their duties before the Lord. He followed God and tried to obey Him, and the Lord made him prosper. He also stopped paying tribute to the king of Assyria.

In Hezekiah's fourth year, the king of Assyria rose up against the northern kingdom of Israel. It took 3 years to take Samaria, but Shalmanessar conquered and took all the people captive to his own land.

In his 14th year, another king of Assyria, Sennacherib decided to take over Judah. He took the cities of Judah, and his army camped outside Jerusalem. Hezekiah offered him a tribute of silver and gold taken from his palace and from the temple, but Sennacherib wasn't interested. His envoys came to Jerusalem and told the people they had no chance against Assyria, that their God wouldn't help them just as all the other countries' gods hadn't helped them. Isaiah told Hezekiah not to worry. The Assyrians would not set foot in Jerusalem. Sure enough, one night the angel of the Lord swept through the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 of their people. They fled, and when Sennacherib returned to his capital of Nineveh, he was killed by his own sons.

Around his time, Hezekiah fell ill. He sent for Isaiah, who told him that he would soon die. Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed to God. Before Isaiah had left the palace grounds, the Lord told him to turn back and speak to Hezekiah. He would live for 15 more years. As a sign of this, the shadow on the sundial turned back 10 degrees.

Having heard Hezekiah was sick and recovered, the prince of Babylon visited him. Hezekiah was prideful, and showed this prince all the treasures he had in the palace and in the temple of the Lord. When Isaiah heard this he prophecied that all these treasures would one day be taken away to Babylon, along with Hezekiah's descendents.

Manasseh (2 Kings 21 v 1-18, 2 Chronicles 33 v 1-20)

Manasseh was only 12 when he became king, and he reigned for 55 years in Judah. He rebuilt the altars and idols that Hezekiah had removed, and even sacrificed one of his own sons. He was involved in black magic and fortune telling, and had so many people killed that the country seemed strewn with bodies. A prophet of God prophecied that, because of all this evil, Judah would be punished.

God sent the Assyrian army to punish Manasseh. They captured him with hooks and chains and took him to Babylon. There he came to his senses. He realised he had done evil, and prayed to the Lord for rescue. He was released and taken back to Jerusalem. After this he was a changed man, taking down the altars again, and commanded the people to worship the true God.

Amon (2 Kings 21 v 18-26, 2 Chronicles 33 v 20-25)

Amon took over from his father when he was 22 years old, and reigned for only two years. He followed in the evil things his father had done, but didn't have the same change of heart. After he had ruled for two years, his aides conspired against him and killed him. A posse was put together to bring these assassins to justice. They were killed, and the people put Amon's son, Josiah, on the throne, at just 8 years old.

Josiah (2 Kings 21 v 26 - 23 v 30, 2 Chronicles 33 v 25 - 35 v 27)

Josiah was only 8 years old when he was made king, after his father was killed. But though he was young he was determined to do good. In his eighth year as king he started trying to seek the Lord God of David. In his 12th year he started a campaign of destruction of the altars, idols, high places and worship of false gods. This was to take a long time, but he was exhaustive in removing idolatry from Judah, and even removed altars from the cities of Samaria as well.

In his 18th year, Josiah ordered that the house of he Lord be repaired. They used the money collected at the gates of the temple by the priests. As they were cleaning out the temple, the priests made a discovery: the book of the law, which hadn't been read for generations. They took it to Josiah and read it to him.

When Josiah heard what was written in the book of the law, he was shocked at how much his people were in disobedience. He tore his clothes, and humbled himself before God. He sent to the prophetess, Huldah, to ask what the Lord would do. Huldah told him that God would judge the kingdom for their disobedience, but because of Josiah's humility, He wouldn't do it in Josiah's lifetime.

The king gathered the people together in Jerusalem, where he read them the book of the law that had been found. He urged them to join him in a covenant with the Lord to turn from their sins and follow His commandments. They all stood in agreement. Josiah continued his campaign of destruction and desecration of altars to false gods. He burned the bones of the priests on the altar set up by Jeroboam, just as had been prophecied.

In his 31st year, Josiah decided to go and fight against Necho, Pharaoh of Egypt. Necho warned him that he shouldn't come out and fight, but Josiah did anyway, and was slain by an arrow. He was takn back to Jerusalem in his chariot, and buried there.

Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23 v 30-34, 2 Chronicles 36 v 1-4)

When his father was slain, Jehoahaz became king, at 23 years old. However, he was only king for 3 months. King Necho of Egypt captured him and took him to Egypt where he died. He put Jehoahaz's brother, Eliakim, in his place, renaming him Jehoiakim.

Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23 v 34 - 24 v 6, 2 Chronicles 36 v 5-8)

Jehoiakim was made king of Judah at 25 by Necho of Egypt, and paid him tribute which he extracted as a tax from the people. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took over Egypt, and hence Judah, and Jehoiakim served him for 3 years, before rebelling against him. The Lord sent all the Jews' enemies against Judah, and Nebuchadnezzar came to capture Jehoiakim and take him away to Babylon, but he died. Jehoiakim had reigned for 11 years in all.

Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24 v 6-15, 25 v 27-30, 2 Chronicles 36 v 8-10)

Jehoiachin took over when his father died. He was 18 when he became king, and only lasted 3 months. Also called Jeconiah, he was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, who took him, all the treasures of the palace and temple, and many of the people off to Babylon. We hear about him 37 years later, when a new king of Babylon takes pity on him, and takes him out of jail, treating him a bit more like a king.

Zedekiah (2 Kings 24 v 17 - 25 v 21, 2 Chronicles 36 v 10-21)

Zedekiah was Jehoiachin' uncle. Nebuchadnezzar put him in charge after he removed Jehoiachin, changing his name from Mattaniah. He was 21, and reigned for 11 years in the depleted Judah. He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, who besieged Jerusalem in his 9th year. After 3 years of siege, the city was suffering from famine, the soldiers fled, and Zedekiah was captured. His sons were killed in front of him, he was blinded and bound and taken to Babylon. His 11 year reign was the last of the kings of Judah. After Nebuchadnezzar had removed him, he destroyed Jerusalem, burning the buildings and knocking down the walls.

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