Major Review: 2 Kings

thIs commentary on 2 Kings is the twelfth installment of the Wisdom Commentary series. This series addresses the problem that, despite ever increasing numbers of women entering the biblical studies guild, relatively few have authored commentaries. It is undoubtedly advantageous to the field when diverse voices are brought into the interpretive dialogue about biblical texts. Wisdom Commentaries do not limit their focus to biblical passages dealing overtly with women, but rather encourage feminist engagement with the whole biblical text. Such a goal is especially pertinent for 2 Kings, which focuses primarily on power struggles among male kings and their male god YHWH. Although this text seems at first glance an unlikely candidate for feminist interpretation, Park argues persuasively that a driving force behind 2 Kings is the interrogation of YHWH’s masculinity (defined in contradistinction to the feminine) which is continually defended, questioned, reformulated, and ultimately deconstructed.