Synopsis Of 'Two Princes' By The Spin Doctors

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In A Nutshell
No, not "Two Princes" by The Spin Doctors—that hypnotic, catchy earworm from 1993. 2 Kings is a book of the Bible. There—we're glad we could clear that up.

In case you haven't just finished 1 Kings, and aren't already breaking out in a hot sweat, what with your fevered eagerness to start in on 2 Kings, we'll re-cap a few things about the two Books of Kings, as a whole. They're part of the Deuteronomistic history. "Gee whiz," you say, sitting down your Capri Sun juice box in consternation—"What does that mean?"

Well, it means that the Book of Deuteronomy, and its religious legal code, helped inspire the viewpoint of the Books of Kings' editor (or editors). In fact, 2 Kings describes what appears to be the discovery of a version of the Book of Deuteronomy, which inspires King Josiah to hack down sacred poles and slaughter priests on the altars they've made to foreign gods. So, there you …show more content…

You might be a king who prevents starvation and improves sanitation, but if you bow down to one sacred pole dedicated to a female goddess, you get discarded into 2 Kings' "totally wicked" pile. However, those are the rules of the game according to the Deuteronomy-inspired outlook of the book. It's all about intense religious law and hard monotheism. The kings and prophets who adhere to those standards end up being the heroes of the work.

A big part of the work's purpose is to explain why the Assyrians were able to destroy Israel and why most of the inhabitants of Judah were sent into exile in Babylon. The book hammers home this point with insistency: it's because they turned away from God, worshipping deities like Moloch with child sacrifice or Asherah with sacred poles. Even the good guys, who start to get the right idea, often aren't perfect. Their efforts to turn things around don't last long and can't prevent destruction and