The 1st and 2nd Books of The Kings

The 1^st and 2^nd Books of The Kings, Background

Author and Title
       As the titles of the books indicate, 1-2 Kings describe the period of the monarchy in ancient Israel (9700-586 B.C.), excluding most of the reigns of King Saul and King David (which are mainly described in 1-2 Samuel, with the conclusion to David’s reign appearing in 1Kings 1:1-2:11).  Ancient Jewish tradition attributes this account to the prophet Jeremiah, although the books themselves do not specify the author.  Internal evidence, however, does establish that the author or authors were deeply influenced by the book of 
Deuteronomy and sought to provide Israel with an explanation of its past in terms of the theological program outlined in that book.  This is clearly signaled, for example, in the opening section of David’s parting speech to Solomon (1Kings 2:1-4), 
where the language closely parallels the following phrases from Deuteronomy: “keep charge of the LORD your God” (Deut. 11:1); “walking in His ways” (Deut. 8:6); “keeping all His statutes and His commandments” (Deut. 6:2); “that you may prosper in all you do” (Deut. 29:9); “that He may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers” (Deut. 9:5); “with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 4:29).  “Deuteronomic” language such as this appears again and again in 1-2 Kings, as first Solomon himself (1Kings 11), and then almost all the succeeding kings of Israel and Judah, are weighed in relation to the Mosaic law code and found wanting (e.g., Jeroboam, 1Kings 12:25-33; 14:1-16; Ahaz, 2Kings 16:1-4).  For this reason, the authors of 1-2Kings have often been referred to in recent biblical scholarship as “Deuteronomists.”  Beyond this one fact, however, nothing can be said for sure about the authorship of these books.  Some have speculated that these “Deuteronomists” were Levites or priests; others, that they were prophets; and still others, that they were the wise men of the Jerusalem court.  No one can really know.

Date
       In their present form, 1-2Kings could not have been written before sixth century B.C., since 2Kings 25:27-30 describes the release of King Jehoiachin from prison in Babylon in 561 and the books must therefore date from some time after that.  It is possible (and some scholars certainly believe) that this late exilic or postexilic version of Kings builds on earlier editions dating form before the exile of many Judeans to Babylon in 587 B.C., or from the period of the exile itself.  There is also evidence that at least some editing of the text took place in the Persian period (539-330 B.C.).  Notice, for example, the intriguing references to “the kings of the west” and “the governors of the land” (1Kings 10:15).  These seem best understood as representing a Persian perspective on the region west of the Euphrates, which was administered on behalf of the Persian emperor by governors (cf. Esra 8:36; Neh. 2:7,9).

Theme
These two books set out to provide for their readers an explanation of Israel’s later monarchic period in terms of the theological vision outlined in the book of Deuteronomy, so that these readers can move forward in their present times with a solidly grounded faith in the one God who controls both nature and history.  The books maintain that it is this good and all-powerful God who oversaw the destruction of His chosen city and temple, and the exile to Babylon, in 586 B.C. because of Israel’s great sinfulness (2Kings 17:7-23; 24:1-4).  Yet there remains hope because God’s chosen royal line has not come to an end (2Kings 25:27-30), and God remains ready to forgive those who are repentant (1Kings 8:22-61).

Purpose, Occasion, and Background

Solomon and Queen of Sheba

In the year 609 B.C. the pharaoh of Egypt, Neco II, marched north to support his allies the Assyrians in their conflict with the Babylonians and their allies the Medes.  On the way, Neco was opposed by King Josiah of Judah a the city of Megiddo, who was perhaps hoping to establish his independence from an increasingly powerful Egypt or hoping to benefit from being seen to take the Babylonians’ side.  Josiah was killed in the ensuing battle, and Judah’s independence was lost.  The king, Jehoahaz, found himself imprisoned in Egypt while his brother Eliakim reigned in Judah as a vassal of Egypt under the name of Jehoiakim.
Around 604 B.C., however, Jehoiakim switched his allegiance to Babylon.  Then, a few years later, he rebelled against the Babylonian king.  Consequently, at the end of the year 598 B.C., when the Babylonian army was before the gates of Jerusalem, Egyptian forces were not on hand to help.  The city surrendered to Babylon along with many other leading citizens and much plunder.  Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, then placed Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah on the throne and gave him the new name of Zedekiah.  From early in his reign Zedekiah was involved in discussions with neighboring peoples about he possibility of revolt, and eventually revolt occurred.  A new siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians ensued.  It was temporarily lifted when the new pharaoh, Apries, sent an army into Palestine, but resumed when the Egyptian army withdrew.  After two years of siege, with all supplies of food exhausted, the city eventually fell in 587 or 586 B.C.
The fall of Jerusalem and the events that immediately followed it came as a devastating blow to the people of Judah.  Jerusalem lay in ruins; both ordinary houses and the royal palace had been destroyed; the city’s defenses had been pulled down.  Most seriously of all, the temple – the great symbol of Yahweh’s presence with Israel – had been dismantled.  Many had been killed, and many others had been deported to Babylon to work in the fields as well as in administration.  Among the deportees were the leaders of the Judean community, who joined King Jehoiachin and the others deported there earlier.  The people left in Judah were only the “poorest of the land” (2Kings 25:12; see Jer. 39:10; 52:16), watched over by a garrison of troops in Jerusalem and initially by a native (non-Davidic) Judean leader named Gedaliah, who based himself in the city of Mizpah, about 7.5 miles (12 km) from the former capital.  The pain and grief of the time is well expressed in Lamentations 1:1: “How lonely sits the city that was full of people!  How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations!  She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.”  What did it all mean?  Was Israel’s God not in fact in control of nature and history, as Mosaic religion claimed?  Were there other, more powerful gods in Babylon who had engineered the Babylonian victory over Israel?  If the God of Moses did exist, and was good and all-powerful, how was it that God’s chosen city and temple had been destroyed, and how was it that God’s chosen royal line (the line of David) had all but come to its end?
The books of Kings must be understood against this background.  They represent a sustained response to such questions, and are designed to provide their readers a true interpretation of what happened to Israel in 586 B.C.  Israel’s God is indeed in control of nature and history; there are no other, more powerful gods anywhere.  It is in fact this good and all-powerful God who has Himself overseen the destruction of His chosen city and His temple, and the exile to Babylon.  The reason for these actions lies in Israel’s great sinfulness.  Israel has not obeyed God or heeded His word through the prophets, from the reign of Solomon onward.
Solomon turned away from the true god to worship other gods (1Kings 2:12-11:43).  Jeroboam son of Nebat led northern Israel into independence from Solomon’s son Rehoboam and Judah (1Kings 12:1-24) and into institutionalized idolatry, with gods manufactured by Jeroboam (1Kings 12:25-33) or introduced from elsewhere (1Kings 16:29-2Kings 10:31), and this ultimately led to exile in Assyria for the northern tribes (2Kings 17).  Although the religious situation in Judah was initially no better than that in Israel (1Kings 14:22-24; 15:3-5), Judah’s story afterward was not one of continuous apostasy.  Relatively good kings did not rule in the gaps between the wicked kings (1Kings 15:9-22:50; 2Kings 12:1-15:38); and toward the end of the monarchy ruled two of the best kings ever (Hezekiah, 2Kings 18:1-20:21; Josiah, 2Kings 22:1-23:30).  Sin gradually accumulated, nevertheless, resulting in exile also for the kingdom of Judah.  Yet it is implied that hope remains, for God’s chosen royal line has not in fact come to an utter end (2Kings 25:27-30), and God remains god, ever ready to forgive those who repent.  The fact that God is “one” thus represents both the ultimate reason for the events of  586 B.C. and the ultimate ground for Israel’s  hope of restoration; for if there is only on God, nothing and no one can frustrate His purposes.

Key Themes

King Solomon's First Temple

       1.  Yahweh is the only true God.  There is only one living God, and He is the Lord (1Kings 18:15; 2Kings 5:15).  This Lord is not to be confused with the various so-called gods worshiped in Israel and other nations, for these are simply human creations (1Kings 12:25-30; 2Kings 17:16; 19:14-19). They are part of the created order, like the people who worship them; and they are powerless, futile entities (1Kings 16:13; 18:22-40; 2Kings 17:15; 18:33-35).  The Lord, by contrast is the incomparable Creator of heaven and earth (1Kings 8:23; 2Kings 19:15).  He is utterly distinct from the world that He has created (cf. 1Kings 8:9, 14-21; 27-30, where he is neither truly “in” the ark no “in” the temple; and 18:26-38, where the antics of the Baal priest apparently imply belief in the intrinsic connection between their actions and divine action, while Elijah’s behavior implies quite the reverse).  At the same time, the Lord is powerfully active within His world.  It is He, and no one else, who controls nature (1Kings 17-19; 2Kings 1:2-17; 4:8-37; 5:1-18; 6:1-7, 27).
2.  Yahweh controls history.  The Lord, and neither an idol god, nor king, nor prophet, controls history (1Kings 11:14, 23; 14:1-18; 22:1-38; 2Kings 5:1-18; 10:32-33; 18:17-19:37).  This is perhaps illustrated most clearly in the way in which prophets function within 1-2Kings, describing the future before God brings it about (1Kings 11:29-39; 13:1-32; 16:1-4; 20:13-34; 2Kings 19:6-7, 20-34).  Nothing can hinder the fulfillment of this prophetic word, although God Himself, in His freedom, can override its fulfillment for His own purposes (cf. 1Kings 21:17-29; 2Kings 3:15-27, where the ending to the story is somewhat unexpected).
3.  Yahweh demands exclusive worship.  As the only God there is, the Lord demands exclusive worship.  He will not take His place alongside the gods, nor is He willing to be displaced by them.  He refuses to be confused with any part of the created order.  He alone will be worshiped, by Israelite and foreigner alike (1Kings 8:41-43, 60; 2Kings 5:15-18; 17:24-41).
4.  The content and place of true worship.  Much of 1-2 Kings is therefore concerned to describe what is illegitimate in terms of worship.  The main interest is in the content of this worship, which must neither involve idols or images nor reflect any aspect of the fertility and other cults of “the nations” (1Kings 11:1-40; 12:25-13:34; 14:22-24; 16:29-33; 2Kings 16:1-4; 17:7-23; 21:1-9).  There is a subsidiary concern about the place of worship, which is ideally the Jerusalem temple, and not the local “high places” (1Kings 3:2; 5:1-9:9; 15:14; 22:43; 2Kings 18:4; 23:1-20).
5.  The consequences of false worship.  The books of 1-2 Kings also describe the moral wrongs that inevitably accompany false worship.  They claim that true worship of God is always bound up with obedience to the law of God, and the worship of something other than God inevitably leads to some kind of mistreatment of fellow mortals in the eyes of God; see 1Kings 21, where the kind of abandonment of God envisaged in Exodus 20 leads to wholesale breach of the other commandments described there (2Kings 16:1-4, esp. v. 3; 2Kings 21:1-16, esp. vv. 6, 16).  By the same token, wholehearted obedience.  It cannot be divorced from either (see 1Kings 1-11, where much can be learned about the nature of true wisdom).
6.  Yahweh as just and gracious Lawgiver.  As the Giver of the law, which defines true worship and right thinking and behavior generally, the Lord is also The One who executes justice on wrongdoers.  The world of 1-2Kings is a moral world in which wrongdoing is punished, whether the sinner be a king (Solomon in 1Kings 11:9-13; Jeroboam in 1Kings 14:1-18), or prophet (the unnamed Judean in 1Kings 13:7-25; and the disobedient man in 1Kings 20:35-43), or ordinary Israelite (Gehazi in 2Kings 5:19-27; the Israelite officer in 2Kings 7:17-20).  It is not a vending-machine world, however, in which every coin of sin that is inserted results individually packaged retribution.  There is no neat correlation between sin and judgment in Kings, even though people are told that they must obey God if they are to be blessed by Him (e.g., Solomon in 1Kings 2:1-4; Jeroboam in 1Kings 11:38). This is largely because of the compassionate character of the Judge, who does not desire final judgment to fall on His creatures (2Kings 13:23; 14:27) and who often delays or mitigates such judgment (1Kings 21:25-29; 2Kings 22:15-20).  God’s grace is to be found everywhere is 1-2Kings (1Kings 11:9-13; 15:1-5; 2Kings 8:19), confounding expectations that the reader might have formed on the basis of an oversimplified understanding of law.  Sin can, nevertheless, accumulate to such an extent that judgment falls, not only on individuals but on whole creatures, sweeping the relatively innocent away with the guilty (2Kings 17:1-23; 23:29-25:26).
7.  Yahweh as promise-giver.  Israel’s God is not only a lawgiver, however, but also a promise-giver.  In 1-2Kings it is a promise usually to be found at the heart of the Lord’s gracious conduct toward His people.  The two most important divine promises referred to are those given to the patriarchs on the one hand, and to David on the other.
The patriarchal promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – descendants and everlasting possession of the land of Canaan – clearly influences God’s treatment of His people at various points in the story (2Kings 13:23, and implicitly in 1Kings 4:20-21, 24; 18:36).  That promise also lies in the forward to the possibility of forgiveness after judgment.  The future-oriented aspect of the promise in this passage is interesting because it is a promisein clear tension with the story’s ending in 2Kings 25, where disobedience has led to expulsion from the land and exile in a foreign empire.  It seems that the true fulfillment of the promise is thought still to be in the future, even though it has also played its part in the past.
The promise given to David, that he should have an eternal dynasty, shares in the same kind of tension, and indeed appears in 1-2Kings in a curiously paradoxical form.  In much of the narrative it provides an explanation for why the Davidic dynasty survives when other dynasties do not, in spite of the disobedience of David’s successors (1Kings 11:36; 15:4; 2Kings 8:19).  It is viewed, in other words, as unconditional in one aspect.  Judah’s fate is not to be the same as Israel’s and Jerusalem’s fate is to be different from Samaria’s, because God has promised David a “lamp,” a descendant who will always sit on his throne.  So when Solomon sins, the Davidic line does not lose the throne entirely, but retains “one tribe” (1Kings 11:36) in the meantime, with the prospect of restoring its dominion at some time in the future (1Kings 11:39).  When Abijam sins, likewise, his son sill retains the Judean throne (1Kings 15:4).
The background here is the promise to David recorded in 2Samuel 7, where the sins of David’s descendants are to be punished by the “rod of men” rather than by the kind of divine rejection Saul experienced (2Sam 7:14-16).  This promise makes the ultimate difference between Davidic kings and those of other royal houses throughout much of the books of Kings, and makes the Judean dynasty unshakable even while the dynasties of the northern kingdom are like reeds “shaken in the water” (1Kings 14:15).  This dynasty survives in spite of the disobedience of David’s successors.  At other times, however, the continuance of the dynasty is made dependent on the obedience of David’s successors (1Kings 2:4; 8:25; 9:4-5).  The promise is treated as conditional.  As the books progress, it seems that this latter view prevails, as accumulating sin puts the promise in its unconditional aspect under great stress and in the end brings down God’s judgment on Judah just as severely as on Israel (2Kings 16:1-4; 21:1-15; 23:31-25:26).
Yet Jehoiachin lives (2Kings 25:27-30).  The authors of Kings did not need to record this fact.  They could have allowed Jehoiachin to dwel in obscurity with Zedekiah (2Kings 24:18-25:7), who effectively ends up as the eunuch in Babylon that the prophet Isaiah had foreseen (2Kings 20:18) – a mutilated man deprived of the heirs who might later claim the throne.  The significance of this postscript on Jehoiachin appears clearer in an earlier section to 2Kings.  After the reign of two relatively righteous kings (Asa and Jehoshapahat), Judah found herself with two kings who share with King Ahab’s children both their names (Jehoram, Ahaziah) and their attraction to idolatry (2Kings 8:16-29).  Yet God had promised David an ever-burning “lamp” in Jerusalem (2Kings 8:119; cf. 1Kings 11:36; 15:4), an everlasting dynasty.  Therefore, although Ahab’s dynasty comes to an end in 2Kings 9-10, David’s dynasty does not.  Although Ahaziah dies and is mother Athaliah tries to wipe out the entire royal family (2Kings 11:1), one royal prince remains to carry on the family line (2Kings 11:2).  Against all the odds, Joash survives six years of his grandmother’s rule to emerge once again as king in a land purified of the worship of foreign gods (2Kings 11:3-20).

Elijah is Taken Up Into Heaven

Later, Jehoiachin reappears in the narrative of 1-2Kings in a manner strikingly reminiscent of this reappearance of Joash after that earlier destruction of “all the royal family” (2Kings 11:1).  Like Joash, he unexpectedly survives in the mids of carnage; and like Joash during Athaliah’s reign; he represents the potential for the continuation of the Davidic line at a later time.  All is not yet necessarily lost.  The destruction of the family of the last king of Judah (Zedekiah) does not mean that no Davidic descendent is left.  Second Kings 25:27-30 hints that the unconditional aspects of the Davidic promise may still, even after awful judgment has fallen, remain in force.  Similarly, the prayer of Solomon in 1Kings 8:22-53 looks beyond the disaster of exile, grounding its hope for the restoration of Israel to its land in God’s gracious and unconditional election of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (see also 1Kings 18:36-37; 2Kings 13:23; 14:27).  Solomon’s prayer had also refused to accept that God’s words about the rejection of the people, city and temple (e.g., 2Kings 21:14; 23:27) were his final words.  The words in 2Kings 25:27-30 express the hope that God may indeed be found to be, in the end as in the beginning, a God of grace and not only of commandment, and that a Son of David will one day appear to introduce His righteous rule on the earth.

OUTLINE

1Kings
I.  The Reign of King Solomon (1:1-11:43)
A.  Solomon becomes king (1:1-2:46)
B.  More on Solomon and wisdom (3:1-28)
C.  Solomon’s rule over Israel (4:1-20)
D.  Solomon and the nations (4:21-34)
E.  Preparations for building the temple (5:1-18)
F.  Solomon builds the temple and his palace (6:1-7:51)
G.  The ark brought to the temple (8:1-21)
H.  Solomon’s prayer (8:22-53)
I.  The temple narrative ended (8:54-9:9)
J.   Glory under a cloud (9:10-10:29)
K.  Solomon’s apostasy, opponents, and death (11:1-43)
II.  The Kingdom Is Divided (12:1-14:31)
A.  The kingdom torn away (12:1-14:31)
B.  The man of God from Judah (13:1-34)
C.  The end of Jeroboam (14:1-20)
D.  The end of Rehoboam (14:21-31)
E.  Abijam and Asa (15:1-24)
III.  From Nadab and Ahab (15:25-16:34)
IV.  Elijah and Ahab (17:1-22:40)
A.  Elijah and the drought (17:1-24)
B.  Elijah and the prophets of Baal (18:1-46)
C.  Elijah and the Lord (19:1-21)
D.  Ahab’s war against Syria (20:1-43)
E.  Naboth’s vineyard (21:1-29)
F.  Ahab killed in battle (22:1-40)
V.  Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah (22:41-53)

2Kings
I.  The Death of Ahaziah (1:1-18)
II.  Elisha and Israel (2:1-10:36)
A.  Elijah taken to heaven and gives way to Elisha (2:1-25)
B.  Elisha and the conquest of Moab (3:1-27)
C.  Elisha’s miracles (4:1-44)
D.  A Syrian is healed (5:1-27)
E.  Elisha and Syria (6:1-23)
F.  The siege of Samaria (6:24-7:20)
G.  The Shunammite’s land restored (8:1-6)
H.  Hazael murders Ben-hadad (8:7-15)
I.  Jehoram and Ahaziah (8:16-29)
J.  The end of Ahab’s house (9:1-10:17)
K.  Jehu destroys Baal worship (10:18-36)
III.  Joash (11:1-12:21)
IV.  Jehoahaz and Hehoash (13:1-25)
V.  Amaziah, Jeroboam II, and Azariah (14:1-15:7)
VI.  Israel’s Last Days (15:8-31)
VII.  Jotham and Ahaz (15:32-16:20)
VIII.  The End of Israel (17:1-41)
IX.  Hezekiah (18:1-20:21)
X.  Manasseh and Amon (21:1-26)
XI.  Josiah (22:1-23:30)
XII.  The End of Judah (23:31-25:30)

The ESV Study Bible, ESV. 2008. Crossway. Wheaton, IL.