A. Solomon’s Splendor.
1 Kings 3-4:34.
B. Erection of Temple.
1 Kings 5-7:51.
C. Dedication of Temple.
1 Kings 8:1-66.
D. Solomon’s Decline.
1 Kings 9-11:43.
1. In olden times First and Second Kings were one book.
2. The original book was a combination of J and E.
3. During and just after the glamour of the days of Josiah, there was a thorough revision by Deuteronomic editors.
4. And during the exile the P editors added their contributions.
5. Remember that it was Hilkiah who found Deuteronomy in the temple and so started the Josiah reforms.
6. Kings yields 51 Deuteronomic phrases-characteristic.
7. There were two definite Deuteronomic editors-the earlier and the later.
IV. SOURCES
1. Olden oral traditions.
2. The Acts of Solomon. This is the lost biography of Solomon.
3. Another lost book-the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
4. Also lost-the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
5. It was probably written around 620 B.C.
Σ.
6. Kings is a compilation from at least five different sources.
V. METHOD AND PURPOSE
1. The original author had a plan to deal with the northern and southern kingdoms contemporaneously.
2. The later editors held up Josiah as the ideal of a king of Davidic dynasty.
3. Monotheism is the theme song of Kings. “You shall have no other gods before me-I am a jealous God.”
4. Israel’s later troubles came because Solomon built shrines for the gods of his many wives:
A. The Zidonian Astarte.
B. Ammonite Melek. (Molech)
C. Moabite Chemosh.
5. The same old concept is upheld: obey God and prosper; disobey and suffer-meet with disaster.
6. This book concentrates all worship at Jerusalem.
7. Jehu was condemned because he tolerated sacrifices and worship at Bethel.
8. Ahab was a “bad king” because he tolerated idols; Hezekiah was a “good king” because he made a clean sweep of idols and shrines; he even threw out of the temple the bronze serpent of Mosea.
9. Manasseh was the really “bad king"-he made his sons pass through the fire, practiced augury, used enchantments, fraternized with “familiar spirits” and with wizards.
10. The plan of Kings is:
A. Date of king’s accession, capital.
B. Age of king. Length of reign.
C. Name of queen mother.
D. King’s attitude toward Deuteronomy.
E. Death and burial.
11. Only two kings won full approval: Hezekiah and Josiah.
12. The other kings “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”
13. The Elijah stories were not a part of the original book.
14. The wholesale condemnation of Israel’s and Judah’s kings was the work of the second or later Deuteronomic editor.
VI. THE DEUTERONOMIC EDITORS
1. The first Deuteronomic editor finished his work soon after the death of Josiah (600 B.C.). There was another Deuteronomic revision about 550 B.C.
2. This second revision also included everything from Genesis to Kings.
3. The Deuteronomic editor explained Josiah’s troubles upon the basis of suffering punishment for Manasseh’s sins.
4. The second Deuteronomic editor knew about Cyrus and his activities. He may have also been influenced by the Second Isaiah.
5. These are also the times of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
6. The second Deuteronomic editor was less hostile toward the kings of the northern kingdom.
7. The period covered by Kings is a little over four hundred years.
VII. TALES OF THE NORTH
1. The outstanding figures of the northern kingdom were Elijah, ELisha, and Ahab.
2. These stories had their origin in the north, because:
A. Nothing is said against the calf worship of Bethel.
B. No objection to sacrifice and worship at northern “high places.”
C. Elijah repairs the altar on Mt. Carmel.
D. Elijah’s work devoted to the overthrow of the altars of the Tyrian Baal-introduced by Ahab’s Tyrian wife Jezebel.
3. The author of the Elijah stories was a skillful writer-as literature his work is the equal of any Old Testament writer.
4. The Elisha stories were written by a much less competent author-they are deficient in dramatic power.
5. The Elijah and Elisha stories show what a “wonder worker” age this was- the widow’s food, the resurrected boy, the famine, the boys who ridiculed the prophet’s baldness, and the bears.
6. The Ahab narratives had a different author.
7. The second Deuteronomic editor put all these stories together-tried to effect a conflation.
VIII. TALES OF THE SOUTH
1. Sennacherib’s attack on Judah and unexplained withdrawal (even though Hezekiah paid tribute).
2. Story of the miraculous destruction of the Assyrian army.
3. Hezekiah’s sickness.
4. Insertion of stories like the embassy of Merodach-baladan which seems to be drawn from Isaiah.
IX. MODERN SIGNIFICANCE
1. The folly of thinking God dwells in only one place.
2. The last Deuteronomic editor taught that God is ever willing to pardon and forgive.
3. All sin sets in motion a tragic train of consequences.
4. Out of the sorrows of exile, there may dawn the joy of new hopes.
5. Reading of the book of Kings should be followed by the comfort and promises of the Second Isaiah.
X. SELECTED TEXTS
1 KINGS
1. Solomon asks for wisdom. “‘Give thy servant therefore an understanding mind to govern thy people, that I may discern between good and evil.’”
1 Kings 3:9.
2. Two mothers and one child. “And the king said, ‘Bring me a sword.’...And the king said, ‘Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.’”
1 Kings 3:24, 25.
3. The gift of wisdom. “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and largeness of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east.”
1 Kings 4:29, 30.
4. King Hiram helps. “And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying...’I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber.’”
1 Kings 5:8.
5. Solomon builds the temple. “So Solomon built the house, and finished it.”
1 Kings 6:14.
6. Hiram the architect. “And King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.”
1 Kings 7:13.
7. Magnitude of God. “‘But win God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built.’”
1 Kings 8:27.
8. Hiram gets 20 cities. “And Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.”
1 Kings 9:11.
9. The queen of Sheba. “And she said to the king, ‘The report was true which I heard in my own land of your affairs and of your wisdom.’”
1 Kings 10:6.
10. Solomon’s wives. “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, and Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women... He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.”
1 Kings 11:1, 3.
11. Elijah and the rain. “Elijah...said to Ahabo...’there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.’”
1 Kings 17:1.
12. The landlady’s son. “Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord...’let this child’s soul come into him again.’”
1 Kings 17:21.
13. Elijah and Ahab. “When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘Is it you, you troubler of Israel?’ And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you have...because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals.’”
1 Kings 18:17, 18.
14. Elijah and prophets of Baal. “And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.’ And they cried aloud and cut themselves...they raved on...but there was no voice; no one answered.”
1 Kings 18:27-29.
15. The still small voice. “And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord
16. Jegebel’s forgery. “So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name...and let them... take him (Naboth) out, and stone him to death.”
1 Kings 21:8-10.
2 KINGS
17. Elijah parts the Jordan. “Then Elijah took his mantle...and struck the water, and the water was parted...till the two of them could go over on dry ground.”
2 Kings 2:8.
18. Elijah is translated. “A chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”
2 Kings 2:11.
19. The boys and the bears. “Some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, ‘Go up, you baldhead:’...He cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.”
2 Kings 2:23, 24.
20. Elisha and the dead child. “When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on the bed...Then he went in...and prayed...and lay upon the child...and as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm.”
2 Kings 4:32, 34.
21. Naaman’s leprosy. “And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored.’...So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan...and his flesh was restored.”
2 Kings 5:10, 14.
22. The Assyrian slaughter. “And that night the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians.”
2 Kings 19:35.
23. Josiah’s reforms. “Moreover Josiah put away the mediums and the wizards and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah.”
2 Kings 23:24.
24. The fall of Jerusalem. “And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon... Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem.”
2 Kings 25:1.