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KingsSurvey of the Old Testament: The ProphetsFall 2005 |
Table of Contents |
Name: The books of 1 st and 2 nd Kings were originally one book in the Hebrew bible, named “Kings.” In the 2 nd century translation into Greek known as the Septuagint, the books were split and called 3 rd & 4 th Kings (with 1 & 2 Samuel being named 1 st and 2 nd Kings).
The name is appropriate as it highlights the spiritual history of the kings of Israel and Judah. However, the book is not just about kings, but also prophets. The Hebrew bible places Kings in the “former prophets,” for this reason. Indeed, every major king in these books has a prophet who serves as the conscience of the king (e.g. Solomon and Nathan, Jeroboam and Adijah, Ahab and Elijah, Hezekiah and Isaiah.)
Author: The author is anonymous. However, the author clearly was concerned about the causes of the demise of Israel and Judah, and may have even been an eyewitness to the events of the Babylonian exile. In addition, the author is written from the perspective of one sympathetic to the ministry of the prophets of the time.
There is strong traditional support for the authorship of Jeremiah. Certainly Jeremiah was an eyewitness to most of the latter events in the book. In addition, Jeremiah, as son of a priest, had access to the priestly and royal records, and was a prophet who was very involved in the history of Judea at the time of its fall [1]. His entire ministry proclaimed to the nation the causes of their captivity.
Some scholars have suggested that Ezra wrote the book of Kings after the return of the exiles [2]. This seems less likely as the return would likely have been mentioned in the epilogues of chapter 25. Furthermore, Kings is written from the prophets perspective. Ezra, a priest, more likely wrote Chronicles, which is written from the priests perspective.
Date: The events recorded in the book cover almost five centuries from the reign of Solomon (1000 BC) to the fall of Jerusalem (586 BC).
The book was most likely written sometime during the Babylonian exile, under the reign of the Babylonian emperor, Evil-merodach. This would place the date of the book in the sixth century BC.
Audience: Most likely the book was written to the Judean in exiles in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
The books of 1 st and 2 nd Kings are broken into five major sections:
Reign of Solomon |
Kingdom Divides (Jeroboam & Rehoboam) |
Reign of Ahab (Elijah & Elisha) |
Fall of Israel |
Fall of Judah |
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| 1 | 11 |
12 | 16 |
16 | 8 |
9 | 17 |
18 | 25 |
1 Kings |
2 Kings |
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The book of Kings follows a standard formula in the presentation of the various kings. The template is as follows:
In the 37 th year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel… (2 Kings 13:10a)
…in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years (2 Kings 13:10b).
He was 16 years old when he became king, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem (2 Kings 15:2)
He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in them (2 Kings 13:11)
Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father (1 Kings 15:11a)
…he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done (2 Kings 16:2b)
Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah… (2 Kings 13:12a)
…are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? (2 Kings 13:12b)
So Joash slept with his fathers… and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel (2 Kings 13:13).
The key element of the template is the spiritual assessment. The kings are judged not on their military success or the length of their reign, but on whether or not they did right in the sight of the Lord. For the kings of Judah, this standard is found in King David.
Two kings transcend the normal spiritual assessment and rise above the kings that came before them: King Ahab of Israel and King Hezekiah of Judah. These two kings serve as a stark contrast. Ahab was more evil “than all who were before him (1 Kings 16:30),” while Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, “so that after him there was none like him among the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him (2 Kings 18:5).”
The books of Kings provide a history of Israel and Judah from its apex under King Solomon to its eventual demise at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. However, this merely a history, but an exploration of the spiritual decline of the nations under their kings. The author has written this history to demonstrate that the exile is a result of kings who did “evil in the sight of the Lord.”
Assuming that the book was written by Jeremiah or a contemporary of Jeremiah to the people in exile, then the purpose of the book would be to explain to the exiles the causes of their captivity and to encourage them to return to the Lord in anticipation of the end of the exile (1 Kings 8:46-50).
A final purpose is to reaffirm that Yahweh is the only true God, and that the god and goddess of Israel and Judah's neighbors are false gods not worthy of worship. We see this affirmation proclaimed by Solomon at the dedication to the temple, proven by Elijah at the battle at Mount Carmel, and affirmed by Naaman the Aramean leaper after he is cleansed.
• Those who reject the Lord will lose the blessing of the Lord and face the consequences of their sin.
The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day (2 Kings 17:22-23 NASB)
• There is no God but Yahweh, the God of Israel.
O Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or the earth beneath. (1 Kings 8:23)
[Next: The Reign of King Solomon]
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