Preface
W
hen I taught in seminary I was always glad when I had a class on November 10, Martin Luther’s birthday. We would do a ‘Luther’ cheer to begin class that day. I would holler, ‘Give me an “L”!’ and they would shout it back, and so on through Brother Martin’s surname until I could yell, ‘What does it spell?’ and they would thunder back ‘Luther!’ It was a rousing way to begin class and forty or so, mostly male, voices easily rose to the invitation for mounting bedlam. I’ve far fewer opportunities for rowdiness now that I’m serving a congregation again, but I was especially delighted over Luther’s birthday this year because it was the very day I finished the rough dra of this 2 Kings commentary. Twenty years ago I began writing, hoping to produce expositional commentaries on the ‘Former Prophets’ (Joshua–2 Kings minus Ruth) and it is gratifying to finish that course. I am especially thankful to the kind folks at Christian Focus, who picked up an ‘orphaned’ series halfway through. I have never forgo en Malcolm Maclean’s visit one March day and his willingness to take a rejected 2 Samuel manuscript back to Scotland with him. And I owe a huge debt to the elders at Woodland Presbyterian where I now serve. Any number of times they have asked me if I was ‘ge ing enough time to work on the commentary.’ They even offered to relieve me of preaching the evening services for a while in order to free up 9
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