2 Kings: Volume 12

The Second Book of Kings--a book whose very title seems to assert the prerogative of male rule--is in fact filled with fascinating female characters as well as issues related to gender. In this commentary, Song-Mi Suzie Park argues that an interrogation of the masculinity of YHWH, Israel's deity, functions as the driving force behind the narrative in 2 Kings. While the sufficiency of YHWH's masculinity is affirmed by his military and reproductive prowess, it is also challenged and deconstructed through the painful defeats that end the book. Through a series of close readings, Park elucidates how the story of Israel's monarchic past in 2 Kings unfolds through a process of continual reformulation of masculinity and femininity in relation to YHWH and Israel.