The book of 1 Kings provides an account of the death of David, the reign of his son Solomon, and the decline and division of the Kingdom of Israel after Solomon and many of his successors turned to idol worship. It also recounts the ministry of the prophet Elijah among the northern ten tribes of Israel.
#1 - TITLE
The books of kings take their names from the fact that they present the history of the Judahite and Israelite kings.
Like the books of Samuel, they originally constituted a single book; in the LXX they and the books of Samuel constituted the books of kingdom.
The division into two books was first made in the Greek translation of the OT and then in the Latin Vulgate.
English translations have adopted the four fold division of the history books in the manner of the Septuagint, but retained the Hebrew titles of Samuel and kings.
1 Kings covers the 120 years from the beginning of Solomon’s reign in 971. B.C. through Ahaziah’s reign ending in 851 B.C. the key date is 931 B.C. the year the kingdom was divided into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.
#2 - AUTHORSHIP
The author of the books of Kings is unknown, although Jewish tradition ascribes the work to the prophet Jeremiah.
All that can be said with certainty that kings was compiled from various sources and written from prophetic perspective.
#3 - CONTENTS
1 Kings
The first half of 1 Kings traces the life of David’s successor and son Solomon. Under his leadership Israel rose to the peak of her size and glory.
Solomon’s great accomplishments, including the unsurpassed splendour of the temple which he constructed in Jerusalem, brought him worldwide fame and respect.
However, Solomon’s zeal for God diminished in his later years, as pagan wives turned his heart away from wholehearted worship of God.
As a result, the king with divided heart leaves behind a divided kingdom and 1 Kings traces the twin histories of two sets of kings and two nations of disobedient people.
2 Kings
2 Kings continues the drama which began in 1 Kings – the tragic history of two nations on a collision course with captivity.
It was systematically traces the reigning monarchs of Israel and Judah, first by carrying one nation’s history forward, then retracing the same period for the other.
19 consecutive evil kings in Israel, leading to the captivity by Assyria. The picture is somewhat brighter in Judah, where godly kings occasionally emerge to reform the evils of their predecessors. But at the end Judah also went into Babylon as captive.
#4 - MAJOR THEME
Pre-Classic and Classical Prophesy
The development of Hebrew kingship prompted the emergence of parallel non-writing (pre-classical) and writing (classical) prophetic movements in Israel.
There are some general distinctions have been made between the pre-classical and classical prophets. The former predate the latter.
The records of the non-writing prophets tend to be preserved in story form, including accounts of their miraculous signs confirming divine authority in their message.
The ministry of the non-writing prophets was essentially to the royal family and their message was one of judgment and national destruction for covenant violation.
By contrast, the message of the classical prophets (Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea) was generally preserved in oracle form and was often underscored with symbolic behaviour rather than miraculous event.
The prophets took their message to the political and religious leaders of the monarchies as well as to the people. In some cases their prophetic ministry was even expanded to the surrounding nations.
#5 - OUTLINE
1 KINGS
1 Kings 1-11: Solomon’s reign
1 Kings 12-22: The Divided Kingdom
2 KINGS
2 Kings 1:1-16:20: The Divided Kingdom
2 Kings 17:1-18:12: The Fall of Samaria
2 Kings 18:13-24:9: Judah alone
2 Kings 24:10-25:30: The Fall of Jerusalem