Exegetical Paper Two (2nd King

The biblical passage I am doing this exegetical paper on appears to be one of those mystery passages that no one knows anything about. This passage is part of what many people call the Elisha cycle. This cycle is inserted into Kings in the middle of the reign of King Jehoram. The events mentioned in the Elisha cycle seem to take longer than the reign of King Jehoram and don’t seem to mesh with what was happening during his reign, either.

When exactly this pericope does belong in Israel’s time period, though, is greatly contested. Unfortunately we don’t have any archaeological evidence to help us date this passage. We know that the kingdom of Aram did exist and was based out of Damascus, but other than that archaeology doesn’t help. (Tadmor, 104) Knowing this, we are left with two theories. One of these theories is that the Elisha cycle started during the reign of King Jehoram, and it went through to the King Joash and King Jehu. (

This pericope was written very consistently and well, even if there is doubt as to when and how it came to be. It is a very well laid out narrative story all the way through, without any breaking into different literary forms. There also didn’t seem to be any conflict about where the paragraphs should be made, with divisions at verses 5b, 8, 15,19b, and 25.

Regardless of the exact date of this passage, we still know that it happened during the middle of the divided kingdom period when both Israel and Judah were falling in and out of love with God. The priesthood was no longer something to be always trusted and so Elijah and Elisha stepped in to be the spiritual guides for the time. Elisha, however, did not live to see Israel fall into the hands of their enemy.

Tadmor, 11) The second idea is that the Elisha cycle was written during Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram’s reigns. (Freedman, 472 vol.2)

The Elisha cycle appears so suddenly and anonymously in the first part of 2nd Kings that it has mad

Some topics in this essay:
Elijah Elisha, King Jehoram, Exegetical Paper, Jordan River, Ahaziah Jehoram’s, Jeremiah Freedman, Testament Archer, Israel Judah, BCE Tadmor, Jehu Tadmor, elisha cycle, reign king jehoram, reign king, king jehoram, exegetical paper, writer kings, elijah elisha, date passage, tadmor 11, 2nd kings,