SUMMARY
These stories, bizarre and confusing though they may be, offer warning to the two main character groups of the book of Kings: kings and prophets.
ANALYSIS
Readers of the Bible are, for the most part, used to stories that make sense. Biblical narrative has plot lines we can follow, characters we can either identify with or vilify, and cultural references that, while different from today, can be understood in their significance. This chapter presents an altogether different biblical text. Its characters are strange and perplexing, the actions it describes are alien and befuddling, and the significance of the chapter to the larger narrative is practically incomprehensible.
To understand this chapter, it helps to remember that the book of Kings has not one, but two main character groups: kings and prophets. The book spends almost as much time recounting the deeds and adventures of God’s called prophets as it does God’s chosen monarchs. In the book of Kings, it is these two groups in particular who have power: the one, the power of the divinely-instituted monarchy; the other, the power of the divinely-given Word. Both groups have the potential to abuse these gifts. This chapter thus serves as a warning to each faction: God may have entrusted you with certain powers, but misuse of those powers will result in devastating effects.
