The promised land was characterized as a place of abundance, like Eden (Deut 8:7–10). At the end of 2 Kings, however, the land is a place of famine and scarcity. The description of exile portrays the land as a place of decreation.

Famine

Eden, based on the meaning of the word and the description of the place in Genesis 2, was a place of abundance. The promised land was supposed to be similar, a “land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat breat without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing …” (Deut 8:8–9). Instead, as Nebuchadnezar arrives, “the famine was so severe” that “there was no food for the people of the land” (2 Kings 25:3).

Split

In Genesis 1, the starting point of creation is described as a watery abyss. The first three days of creation describe God bringing order through separating (בדל) the watery nothingness. The Genesis 2 creation story starts in a different place, in a barren wilderness. In 2 Kings 25:3–4 Jerusalem is described similarly. Jerusalem is a sort of wilderness, and the city itself is split/separated (בקע), but for a very different purpose than the creative separating of Genesis 1. In Genesis 1, God separated to bring order, but here the city is split open for destruction by the Babylonian army (2 Kings 25:4).

Garden

In Genesis 2, God caused Adam and Eve to rest in a garden (Gen 2:15). Humanity was to rule creation as God’s image (Gen 1:27–28) in such a way that creation would be led into greater flourishing. They were to work the garden and keep it like priests (Gen 2:15). In 2 Kings 25, however, as inhabitants of the land flee from the city, they run past the “garden of the king” (2 Kings 25:4). This is the opposite of the Eden ideal.

Light

The first act of creation—“let there be light” (Gen 1:3)—separated light from darkness, but in 2 Kings 25 Jerusalem’s king is thrust back into darkness. Babylon catches him on the run, his sons are slaughtered, and his eyes are put out.

Serpent

Finally, Genesis 3:15 promised that a descendant of Eve would strike the head of the serpent (נָחָשׁ). In 2 Kings 25:7, however, Jerusalem’s king is taken away in “bronze fetters” (נְחֹשֶׁת). I can’t help but see the snaky-נחשׁ letters in the material that binds Jerusalem’s king.

Temple

Finally, a large portion of 2 Kings 25 (vv. 13–17) is dedicated to describing the dismantaling of the temple, the temple that was designed to recall the flourishing of Eden.

Conclusion

The story that stretches from Genesis to Kings ends in ways that remind me of where it all started (creation) and the tragic end that resulted from human rebellion (decreation).