1 Kings

Author: Unknown

1 Kings carries the throne from David to Solomon and then to the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Outline

  1. Solomon established (1–4)

    Solomon is made king over his rivals, asks for wisdom, and organizes the kingdom.

  2. The temple (5–10)

    The house of the Lord is built, dedicated, and visited by the queen of Sheba.

  3. The kingdom tears (11–14)

    Solomon’s foreign worship leads to a split, and Jeroboam sets up calves at Dan and Bethel.

  4. Kings and Elijah (15–22)

    Judah and Israel are judged king by king, and Elijah confronts Ahab on Carmel.

Key verses

  • 1 Kings 3:9

    Solomon asks for an understanding heart to judge God’s people.

  • 1 Kings 8:27

    At the dedication Solomon says heaven cannot contain God, much less the house he has built.

  • 1 Kings 18:21

    Elijah asks the people how long they will limp between two opinions, the Lord or Baal.

1 Kings opens with David old and cold, and with his sons already competing for the throne he still holds. Adonijah exalts himself. Nathan and Bathsheba go to the king. David has Solomon anointed at Gihon while Adonijah’s feast is still going. Solomon is told to settle the accounts David left: Joab’s bloodshed, Shimei’s curse, and Barzillai’s loyalty. The new reign begins with executions and with a marriage alliance to Egypt. At Gibeon the Lord appears to Solomon in a dream and tells him to ask. Solomon asks for a hearing heart to govern the people. The famous judgment between two mothers is the public proof of that gift. The kingdom is described as large, supplied, and at peace on its borders.

The center of the book is the temple. Solomon conscripts labor, brings cedar from Hiram of Tyre, and builds the house over seven years. The ark is brought in. The cloud fills the house so that the priests cannot stand to minister. Solomon’s prayer does not pretend the building contains God. He asks that when Israel prays toward this place, in defeat, drought, famine, or exile, the Lord would hear in heaven and forgive. The dedication ends with sacrifice and a feast. The Lord appears to Solomon a second time and ties the permanence of the throne to walking as David walked. If the people turn to other gods, the house will become a heap and a proverb.

The glory chapters are not the end of Solomon. He loves many foreign women, and his wives turn his heart. He builds high places for their gods. The Lord says the kingdom will be torn away, but not in Solomon’s days, and not the whole of it, for David’s sake. Adversaries are raised up. Jeroboam, an officer over the labor force, is told by the prophet Ahijah that he will receive ten tribes. Solomon tries to kill him. Jeroboam flees to Egypt until Solomon dies.

Rehoboam goes to Shechem to be made king. The people ask him to lighten the labor Solomon imposed. The older men tell him to serve them. The young men tell him to be harsher. He answers with the harsher word. Israel rebels. Jeroboam becomes king of the ten tribes. To keep his people from going up to Jerusalem, he sets golden calves at Bethel and Dan and makes priests who are not Levites. A man of God from Judah cries against the altar at Bethel. The division of the kingdom is told as judgment on Solomon’s house and as a new idolatry in the north.

From there the book moves by reigns. Each king of Judah is compared with David. Each king of Israel is said to walk in the way of Jeroboam. The prose is repetitive on purpose. The standard does not change. Into that pattern comes Elijah. He tells Ahab there will be neither dew nor rain except by his word. He is fed by ravens and by a widow at Zarephath. On Carmel he challenges the prophets of Baal. Their god does not answer. The Lord answers with fire. The rain returns, and Elijah flees from Jezebel. Ahab takes Naboth’s vineyard after Jezebel has Naboth killed, and Elijah meets him in the vineyard. Ahab dies in battle at Ramoth-gilead, shot by an arrow drawn at random. The book ends with Ahaziah, Ahab’s son, sending to inquire of Baal-zebub and with Elijah announcing that he will not leave the bed he is on. The northern kingdom has a prophet it does not want, and Judah still has the temple and the promise to David.

Chapters