1 Kings: Solomon and the divided kingdom
1 Kings tells how Solomon asked for wisdom, built the temple and prospered, then turned to other gods and fell; how the kingdom split into Israel in the north and Judah in the south; and how the prophet Elijah stood before Ahab, who served Baal.
About the book
In the Hebrew Bible Kings is a single book; the Greek Old Testament divided it in two, as it did Samuel, and our Bibles follow. So 1 Kings runs straight on into 2 Kings.
Kings does not name its author. Jewish tradition, in the Babylonian Talmud, says that the prophet Jeremiah wrote it Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra. Those who hold to it point out that the end of 2 Kings (24:18–25:30) is nearly the same as Jeremiah 52, and that the book weighs its kings with a prophet's eye. Kings also names the royal records it drew on, such as "the Book of the Acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41) and "the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel" (1 Kings 14:19).
The last event it records, King Jehoiachin's release from prison in Babylon, falls about 560 BC (2 Kings 25:27). Many scholars see Kings as the closing part of the Deuteronomistic History described in the lesson on Joshua, and many think it was first put together under King Josiah and completed in the exile. Some notes come from before the temple fell: the poles of the ark "are there to this day" (1 Kings 8:8). Many who hold the traditional view also think that Jeremiah or another prophet in the exile gathered the older records, so the two views meet in a book built on older records and completed in the exile.
1 Kings closes the era of the united monarchy with David's last days and Solomon's reign (usually dated about 970–930 BC), then covers some eighty years of the era the map under the Jesus tab gives it, the divided monarchy (930–586 BC).
How it unfolds
| Chapters | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1–11 | Solomon: his accession, the gift of wisdom (3), the temple built and dedicated (6–8), his fall (11) |
| 12–16 | The kingdom divided: Rehoboam and Jeroboam, the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, the northern kings |
| 17–22 | Elijah and Ahab: the drought, Mount Carmel (18), the still small voice at Horeb (19), Ahab's death |
With every new king the book asks the same question. Of a king of Judah: did he do "what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done" (1 Kings 15:11)? Of a king of Israel: did he walk "in the way of Jeroboam" (1 Kings 15:34)?
Key passages
Young Solomon did not ask for long life or riches but prayed, "give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil" (1 Kings 3:9). He built the temple over seven years, and at its dedication he prayed:
But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
1 Kings 8:27
Yet in old age "his wives turned his heart after other gods" (1 Kings 11:4), and under his son the kingdom split. Jeroboam, the north's first king, set up two golden calves at Bethel and Dan, so that his people would not go up to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:28-29).
When the worship of Baal ran deepest, under Ahab, God sent Elijah. On Mount Carmel he cried, "How long will you waver between two opinions?" (1 Kings 18:21); fire fell, and the people bowed down: "The LORD, He is God!" (1 Kings 18:39). When Elijah fled from Jezebel as far as Horeb, God met him there:
And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. … After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice.
1 Kings 19:11-12
As Matthew Henry notes, "The wind, and earthquake, and fire, did not make him cover his face, but the still voice did" Matthew Henry. To the prophet who thought himself alone, God said he had kept seven thousand who had not bowed to Baal (1 Kings 19:18).
The book and Christ
The queen of Sheba came from far away to test Solomon with hard questions (1 Kings 10:1). Jesus said of her, "she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here" (Matthew 12:42). The God whom the highest heavens cannot contain came to dwell among us in Christ. When Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again" (John 2:19), "Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body" (John 2:21). Matthew Henry writes of Solomon's prayer that the temple's sacrifices and service "were all typical of the Redeemer's offices, oblation, and intercession" Matthew Henry.
Elijah, too, looks ahead to Christ. The angel said that John the Baptist would go before the Lord "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17), and on the mountain of the transfiguration the two men who had met God at Horeb appeared: "Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus" (Matthew 17:3). The church has long seen in the two men the Law and the Prophets, and he is the one they pointed to.
Reading it
Two chapters a day takes eleven days; begin with 1 Kings 1. From chapter 12 on, keep a list of the kings of Judah and of Israel, with how long each reigned and the book's verdict on him: the book moves back and forth between the two kingdoms, dating each king by the other kingdom's years. Read chapters 18–19 slowly, then go on to 2 Kings, where Elijah is taken up and Elisha follows him.
Practice
- Practice 1 of 6
When God asked Solomon at Gibeon what he should give him, what did Solomon ask for?
- Practice 2 of 6
At the temple's dedication, what did Solomon confess about God?
- Practice 3 of 6
Why did God say he would tear the kingdom from Solomon and give it to his servant?
- Practice 4 of 6
What did Elijah ask the people on Mount Carmel?
- Practice 5 of 6
At Horeb, after the wind, the earthquake and the fire, what did Elijah hear?
- Practice 6 of 6
What is true of how Kings was written?
Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.
Related topics
Source
- The Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b–15a — Completed c. 6th century. The Jewish tradition of who wrote (or compiled) each book of the Hebrew Bible: Moses his own book, the portion of Balaam and Job; Joshua his and the Torah's last eight verses (his death recorded by Eleazar and Phinehas); Samuel his, Judges and Ruth (finished by Gad and Nathan); David the Psalms with the elders; Jeremiah his, Kings and Lamentations; Hezekiah and his company Isaiah, Proverbs, the Song and Ecclesiastes; the Men of the Great Assembly Ezekiel, the Twelve, Daniel and Esther; Ezra his and the genealogies of Chronicles.
Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.