***

Introduction

The oldest Jewish tradition is that the prophet Jeremiah wrote 1 and 2 Kings. Like Paul with his letters, however, he may have had help.

1 and 2 Kings were originally one book, divided into two when the Septuagint was produced. The Septuagint divided the single Hebrew book Samuel into 1 & 2 Samuel, and the single book Kings into 1 & 2 Kings. All four were combined and called the books of 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 Kingdoms, which is still the way they are laid out in the Greek Orthodox version of the Old Testament.

The subject of these two books are the kings of Israel and Judah. The reigns of Saul and David, the first two kings, are covered in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, but the rest of the kings, beginning with Solomon, are covered in 1 and 2 Kings. The kingdom was split after Solomon, so the kings of Israel (the northern kingdom, aka Samaria) run from Jeroboam I through Hoshea; the kings of Judah (the southern kingdom) run from Rehoboam through Zedekiah.

***

1 Kings 1

David in Old Age
1 Kgs 1:1-4

King David has reached a stage in life of limited mobility and activity. This sets the stage for questions about who will succeed him as king.

Adonijah Exalts Himself to Become King
1 Kgs 1:5-10

1 Kgs 1:5 – Adonijah “exalted himself” to be king. Apparently, he had learned nothing from Absalom’s tragic failed attempt to do the same thing. I guess Adonijah figured there’d be a difference this time since David was still strong in Absalom’s time but not so much now. Nevertheless, the Master Himself told us:

Luke 14:11 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

It was not Adonijah’s place to decide who would be Israel’s king.

1 Kgs 1:6 – As he did with Absalom, David just looks the other way when one of his sons gets off track.

1 Kgs 1:7-8 – Adonijah had succeeded in lining up some of David’s staff to support his quest for the throne…but not enough.

1 Kgs 1:9-10 – Absalom had failed even though he had a well-crafted plan. Adonijah did not even have a well-crafted plan. He had not assembled a strong enough coalition to support him, and he had done nothing to either co-opt or neutralize his chief rival (Solomon).

Nathan and Bathsheba Intervene with David on Behalf of Solomon
1 Kgs 1:11-37

1 Kgs 1:11-14 – Nathan the prophet sees what Adonijah’s doing and wisely decides to approach David by going through Bathsheba. He properly motivates Bathsheba by emphasizing that this is not a matter of merely preserving Solomon’s right to become king but of preserving his life as well as hers. The political facts of life at the time were that there would be no future for Solomon and Bathsheba in a kingdom ruled by a rival.

1 Kgs 1:15-21 – Bathsheba flawlessly exercises her part in Nathan’s plan. She presents the matter to David as a question of whether he will 1) keep his word about Solomon being made king, and 2) protect the lives of his wife and son.

1 Kgs 1:22-27 – Before David has a chance to answer Bathsheba, Nathan comes in – not forcefully or pushy, but asking questions respectfully. “Have you made Adonijah king?”

1 Kgs 1:28-31 – David calls Bathsheba back in and affirms in no uncertain terms that Solomon will be king just as David had promised. He didn’t have to say anymore about protecting their lives because making Solomon king would take care of that.

Solomon Is Anointed King
1 Kgs 1:32-40

1 Kgs 1:32-37 – David gives orders that Solomon should be made king immediately – not waiting for David to die first. By David’s design, there would be five symbolic aspects to the ceremony which would together cement Solomon as king in the nation’s consciousness.

Solomon rides David’s animal.
The priest and prophet anoint Solomon as king.
The trumpet is sounded.
The proclamation “Long live King Solomon!” is made by the people.
Solomon sits on David’s throne.

Collectively, these steps would easily overshadow the weak attempt Adonijah had made at memorializing his ascendency through “sacrificing sheep and oxen and fatlings” (1 Kgs 1:9) in a gathering of his selected advisors.

(If the scene David set up for Solomon reminds you of Palm Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem, it is with good reason. #FJOT)

1 Kgs 1:38-39 – All of David’s ministers did exactly as he had instructed.

1 Kgs 1:40 – The ceremony David planned had exactly the effect on people that he expected.

Adonijah Capitulates
1 Kgs 1:41-53

The tables have flipped and now it is Adonijah and his allies who are fearing for their lives. Solomon’s first official act is to be merciful toward his brother.

1 Kgs 1:47 – Every righteous father wants his son to eventually outshine him. #FJOT

1 Kgs 1:52 – Jesus of Nazareth was found to be a worthy man – in fact, the uniquely worthy man. #FJOT

***

1 Kings 2

David’s Final Charge to Solomon
1 Kgs 2:1-9

1 Kgs 2:1-4 – David charges Solomon in the Lord.

1 Kgs 2:5-9 – In addition to charging Solomon in the Lord, David also counseled Solomon about unresolved matters that could be resolved at his death, just as Vito Corleone counseled Michael about unresolved matters that could resolved at his death. The rest of this chapter consists of Solomon resolving these items after David’s death.

David Dies
1 Kgs 2:10-12

David had made sure that his son Solomon’s kingdom was “firmly established.” #FJOT God did the same for His Son through the resurrection from the dead, ascension into heaven, and the second coming. These three events sealed forever the rule of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God. Nothing could, can, or will shake it.

Adonijah Gets Out of Line
1 Kgs 2:13-18

Adonijah was a foolish son. He should have realized that he was doing well to still be alive after attempting and failing to steal the throne from his brother Solomon. Bathsheba didn’t realize what Adonijah was up to, just as Eve didn’t realize what the serpent was up to.

1 Tim 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Adonijah Executed
1 Kgs 2:19-25

Bathsheba was deceived by what Adonijah was doing, but Solomon was not. (They didn’t call him wise for nothing.) Solomon realized that Adonijah was crossing the boundary Solomon had given him, so Solomon kept his word to do something about it (1 Kgs 1:52). Adonijah had proven unworthy of the mercy Solomon had previously shown him (1 Kgs 1:49-53).

Abiathar the Priest Is Dismissed
1 Kgs 2:26-27

1 Kgs 2:26 – Solomon shows mercy to Abiathar, allowing him to live even though he was being dismissed from the priesthood.

1 Kgs 2:27 – In the dismissal of Abiathar, who was the fourth generation from Eli, the prophecy of the unnamed man of God in 1 Sam 2:27-36 was fulfilled.

Joab Is Executed
1 Kgs 2:28-35

Joab had some good qualities and he was a faithful man, but he was not faithful to the end for he supported the rebellion of Adonijah. If we’re going to be faithful, men, let’s be faithful all the way to the end.

Shimei Is Executed
1 Kgs 2:36-46

Why do people accept boundaries…but then carelessly violate them?

1 Kgs 2:46 – A good closing statement for the first two chapters of 1 Kings: “Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.”

***

1 Kings 3

Solomon’s Rule Consolidated
1 Kgs 3:1-4

1 Kgs 3:1 – Solomon will take on a lot of wives in this way. His father David fought and subdued the nations around Israel, which put Solomon in a position of strength from which he could negotiate peace treaties with larger countries rather than fight wars with them. In those times, a peace treaty between countries was often secured by intermarrying the royal families.

1 Kgs 3:2 – A “high place” was any place chosen for worship, which in those days usually meant some form of animal sacrifice. The tabernacle had been set up in Shiloh when the Israelites first possessed the promised land, but they had gotten away from going there to worship and were now sacrificing in locations more convenient to themselves. By contrast, we who live under the new covenant “worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil 3:3).

Solomon’s Prayer
1 Kgs 3:5-9

“Lord, you have made me responsible for my children – to teach them in Your ways both by example and by word. Yet, even though I am their father, I am like a little child myself and barely know how to live my own life right, much less teach these children you have given me. So give Your servant an understanding heart to…” (You get the idea.)

God’s Answer
1 Kgs 3:10-15

It is the Lord’s way that when we ask for the thing of greatest importance He throws in with it the things of lesser importance…without our having to ask.

Matt 6:25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Matt 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
Matt 6:27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
Matt 6:28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
Matt 6:29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Matt 6:30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
Matt 6:31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
Matt 6:32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Matt 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Solomon was going to get the wisdom he asked for…and a whole lot more. If we seek His kingdom and and His righteousness, we, too, will receive a whole lot more.

Solomon Wisely Judges
1 Kgs 3:16-28

Answers to prayer often come in the way life unfolds as opposed to coming like a text or email to a phone or computer that triggers a bell (“You’ve got mail!”).

Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

***

1 Kings 4

Solomon’s Officials
1 Kgs 4:1-19

1 Kgs 4:7 – The twelve deputies providing one month each for the king and his household could have been the inspiration for the apostles to ask for seven men to be appointed to provide for the widows daily.

Acts 6:1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
Acts 6:2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.
Acts 6:3 “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.
Acts 6:4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Acts 6:5 The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch.
Acts 6:6 And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.

Solomon’s Power, Wealth, and Wisdom
1 Kgs 4:20-34

1 Kgs 4:20 – This is evidence of God being faithful to His promises to their ancestor Abraham.

Gen 22:17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

1 Kgs 4:21 – In a context such as this, “the River” refers to the Euphrates and not the Jordan. Because of David’s military successes and Solomon’s wisdom in securing treaties, Israel’s influence way beyond the boundaries of Israel.

1 Kgs 4:24 – Having “peace on all sides” will later be contrasted with Israel having “terror on all sides” when they turn away from the Lord.

Jer 6:25 Do not go out into the field
And do not walk on the road,
For the enemy has a sword,
Terror is on every side.

1 Kgs 4:25 – Another expression that will find frequent usage in the Scriptures that follow is “every man under his vine and his fig tree.” And like the “on all sides” idiom, it will appear in both positive and negative ways depending on Israel’s posture toward the Lord at the time it is spoken or written.

Mic 4:4 Each of them will sit under his vine
And under his fig tree,
With no one to make them afraid,
For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

***

Joel 1:12 The vine dries up
And the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up.
Indeed, rejoicing dries up
From the sons of men.

A man having his own vine and his own fig tree was one of the Bible’s way of supporting the concepts of private property and its security. Without those two things, no society can be considered free.

***** Yet another expression that appears frequently in the Scriptures is “from Dan to Beersheba.”

1 Kgs 4:27 – The twelve deputies for twelve months idea is working out well. (See note on 1 Kgs 4:7 above.)

1 Kgs 4:29-31 – Having David as his father gave Solomon a head start on wisdom, but God poured out way more of it on him when he prayed the prayer of 1 Kgs 3:5-9.

Matt 13:12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

1 Kgs 4:32 – The books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon capture many of these.

1 Kgs 4:33 – #FJOT The Messiah spoke this way, too.

Matt 7:17 “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
Matt 7:18 “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
Matt 7:19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

***

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

***

Matt 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

Solomon was surely a type of Christ.

1 Kgs 4:34 – #FJOT If they came to hear Solomon, how much more they came – and still come – to hear Jesus.

Luke 21:38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.

***

John 12:20 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast;
John 12:21 these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

***

Luke 12:1 Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another…

***

1 Kings 5

Alliance with King Hiram
1 Kgs 5:1-12

1 Kgs 5:3 – #FJOT Compare the expression “put them under the soles of his feet” with this messianic prophecy:

Ps 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

And compare both of those expressions to this one:

Josh 10:24 When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came near and put their feet on their necks.

And now compare all those expressions to this one:

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The bruise to the heel comes from putting it on the head (neck). Of course, a bruise to the heel is painful but a bruise to the head is fatal. That is why the crucifixion was painful for Jesus but essentially fatal for Satan.

1 Cor 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

All of these expressions “under foot” help convey the degree of dominance the Messiah was able to achieve through the power of God: resurrection, ascension, and second coming. God knew from the beginning what He was going to do and how He was going to do it – right there in the garden of Eden.

Consider also that our inheritance in Christ grants us everything that is His.

Rom 8:17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Therefore, what’s true for Jesus is true for us.

Rom 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Let us grow in our understanding as His disciples so that we may learn to walk in the authority that He Himself has.

1 Kgs 5:4 – To have “rest on every side” is synonymous with having “peace on all sides.” (See note above on 1 Kgs 4:24.)

1 Kgs 5:5 – “Behold, I intend to build a family for the name of the Lord my God.” (As with the note on Solomon’s prayer for wisdom in 1 Kgs 3:5-9 above, you get the idea.)

1 Kgs 5:6 – See note on verse 9 below.

1 Kgs 5:7 – May you be “a wise son” over children who, as a result of the training they receive from you, grow up to be “great people.”

1 Kgs 5:9 – Hiram’s “Then you shall accomplish my desire by giving food to my household” in this verse matches up with Solomon’s “I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say” in verse 6. Hiram and Solomon and were exchanging value, which is as life should be.

2 Chr 32:25 But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

Like private property rights, fair trading is an essential requirement for any nation to be free and prosperous. (Socialism is legalized theft.)

1 Kgs 5:12 – #FJOT God gave Jesus wisdom and He is at peace and in active covenant with everyone who is not at war with Him.

Conscription of Laborers
1 Kgs 5:13-18

Even with Solomon’s wisdom and all the prosperity Israel was enjoying under his rule, everything was not peachy keen. A king requires a lot of upkeep. And the magnitude of Solomon’s projects were taxing on the people. The Lord had warned them about this through Samuel at the time they first asked for a king.

1 Sam 8:10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who had asked of him a king.
1 Sam 8:11 He said, “This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots.
1 Sam 8:12 “He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
1 Sam 8:13 “He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.
1 Sam 8:14 “He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants.
1 Sam 8:15 “He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants.
1 Sam 8:16 “He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work.
1 Sam 8:17 “He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants.
1 Sam 8:18 “Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
1 Sam 8:19 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us,
1 Sam 8:20 that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
1 Sam 8:21 Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the LORD’S hearing.
1 Sam 8:22 The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

The heaviness of Solomon’s yoke would not become a pressing issue during his reign. But after he died, the issue would press the nation so hard that it would break it in two (1 Kgs 12).

1 Kgs 5:17 – This verse foreshadows what Jesus did when He chose His apostles. They were stones He found and chose, who were then tried and tested. They came through the fire as precious stones, laid as the foundation of the faith that we still practice to this day…and will for all eternity.

Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

***

1 Kings 6

The Building of the Temple
1 Kgs 6:1-38

First, Moses built the tabernacle (a mobile home); now Solomon builds the temple (a permanent home). And there was 480 years between the two. We can only marvel at the patience of God! He would have preferred to take the Israelites straight the promised land, but they balked (Num 13-14). And in the generations following that, in one way or another, the people drug their feet for most of the way. What could have taken at most a decade or two took half a millennium! Why do we ever think that God is slow in responding to us when we’ve been so incredibly slow in responding to Him?

***

1 Kings 7

Solomon’s Palace
1 Kgs 7:1-12

After spending seven years building the Lord’s house, Solomon spent thirteen building his own – a sign that his wisdom was not fully in control of his decision-making. (Do we have more wisdom than we are using?)

Hiram’s Work in the Temple
1 Kgs 7:13-51

1 Kgs 7:13-14 – This Hiram is a “worker in bronze” – a different Hiram from “Hiram the king of Tyre” (1 Kgs 5:1). The word “bronze” appears ten times in this section of the chapter. The temple and its furnishing, generally speaking, followed the pattern of the tabernacle and its furnishings. The main differences were in dimensions and materials. The tabernacle needed to be relatively small for mobility’s sake. It also needed to allow for quick disassembly and re-assembly. The temple, of course, didn’t need to be restricted by either of these factors. And, as far as materials were concerned, bronze would obviously be more durable than the acacia wood used in Moses’ tabernacle (Ex 25).

1 Kgs 7:51 – That “Solomon brought in the things dedicated by his father David” is one of the many indications that David did a lot to help Solomon build the temple.

***

1 Kings 8

The Ark Is Brought into the Temple
2 Kgs 8:1-11

1 Kgs 8:1 – David had brought the ark of the covenant from Kiriath-jearim (Baale-judah) to Jerusalem in 2 Sam 6. There it had remained until this day. Of course, the temple is in Jerusalem, too, but not in that exact same part. The terms “Zion” and “city of David” were sometimes used to refer to the entirety of Jerusalem and sometimes for part of it. Like any city, Jerusalem expanded over time. Ancient cities often had, as modern cities have, a city “center” and the “greater” city.

1 Kgs 8:3 – Solomon had learned from his father’s mistake (2 Sam 6:6-9; 1 Chr 15:2) that not just anyone could carry the ark, nor could it be transported on a cart. The rest of the tabernacle components presumably had been in Gibeon. Before that, Nob. And before that, Shiloh. This would the first time the ark of the covenant was reunited with the rest of tabernacle since the Philistines captured the ark and removed it from Shiloh in 1 Sam 4.

1 Kgs 8:8 – Someone had left the length of the poles out of the calculations when the temple compartments were being designed. Of course, it stands to reason that since the poles were designed specifically for carrying the ark that they were rendered obsolete by the temple.

1 Kgs 8:9 – The “golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded” which Paul mentioned in Heb 9:4 as additional contents were lost to history by this time. Neither do we have Noah’s ark or Moses’ staff that turned into a serpent. We don’t need relics we have the written word of God, validated by Jesus Christ.

Solomon Addresses the People
1 Kgs 8:12-21

The point that David did not build the temple but Solomon did symbolizes that God did not build the eternal dwelling place but His Son did. Or you could say, God built it through His Son.

1 John 2:23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
1 Kgs 8:22-53

After reading this lengthy and comprehensive prayer, it becomes even easier to understand why Jesus became so indignant when confronted by the commercialization of the temple in His day.

Mark 11:15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves;
Mark 11:16 and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.
Mark 11:17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
Mark 11:18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

Solomon’s Benediction
1 Kgs 8:54-61

The tabernacle was used for about 500 years (1 Kgs 6:1). The temple would remain in use for about 1,000 years. It was destroyed by the Roman army in 70 AD. Jesus prophesied this in about 33 AD.

Mark 13:1 As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
Mark 13:2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”
Mark 13:3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately,
Mark 13:4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?”

Jesus gave a long answer to this question, concluding with…

Mark 13:30 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

Moses’ tabernacle wasn’t forever. Solomon’s temple wasn’t forever. The only thing on earth that is forever is the name of Jesus Christ.

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Dedicatory Sacrifices
1 Kgs 8:62-66

The following is what James Ussher’s chronology says about the date of the dedication of the temple, coming as it did exactly 3,000 years after the date he assigned for creation week.

1004 BC: the world begins its 4th millennium during the 9th Jubilee celebrated by Israel in the Promised Land. The Ark is moved from Zion into the Temple’s Holy of Holies. The Tent of Meeting and the artifacts used in it are moved from Gibeon into Temple storerooms
(1 Kgs. 8:1-2, 65-66; 2 Chr. 5:3-5, 6:1, 8:1-11)
James ussher
Annals of the World (1658)

If accurate, this means God worked for 3,000 years after Adam’s and Eve’s sins just to get to the point of Solomon’s temple…and then another 1,000 years after that to get to the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and second coming.

***

1 Kings 9

God’s Promise and Warning
1 Kgs 9:1-9

1 Kgs 9:1-2 – It was at God’s first appearance to Solomon at Gibeon that He granted Solomon the wisdom he sought – and granted it so generously (1 Kgs 3:5-28). Therefore, we should consider this moment at least as profound as that one.

1 Kgs 9:6-9 – This is exactly what happened to that temple. Its ruins – called “The Wailing Wall” – remain on that site beneath a Muslim holy place called the Dome of the Rock. Surely, you’ve seen pictures of it. It bears witness silent witness to Israel’s sad history. The good news – and it is very good news – is that God came to earth so that He could die and rise again in order to be our temple for all eternity. This is why He said:

Matt 12:6 “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.

Jesus ministered to Israel forty years before the temple was destroyed. God never takes anything away without first having given us something better.

Miscellany
1 Kgs 9:10-28

1 Kgs 9:10-14 – Hiram king of Tyre was one of Solomon’s primary trading partners. It’s understandable that there would be wrinkles in some of the transactions that would require ironing out.

1 Kgs 9:15-22 – Solomon employed a lot of forced labor in his building projects. This reduced, but did not eliminate, the burdens placed Israel’s citizenry by Solomon’s administration of the country. Earthly glory is expensive.

1 Kgs 9:23 – All those supervisors had to be fed, too.

1 Kgs 9:24 – Solomon’s Egyptian wife did not come without her own costs.

1 Kgs 9:25 – Three of Israel’s annual feasts required all Israelite males to attend at the place of the Lord’s designation. Never in the history of the nation did it have so glorious a place to attend for the feasts as Jerusalem in the days of Solomon’s temple.

1 Kgs 9:26-28 – Solomon even built a merchant marine! Because David was a fighter, and a successful one, Solomon could be a builder…of all sorts of things.

***

1 Kings 10

The Queen of Sheba Visits King Solomon
1 Kgs 10:1-13

#FJOT The Queen of Sheba’s state visit to meet King Solomon reminds me of why I chose to read the Bible in the first place. She had heard a lot about Solomon; I had heard a lot about Jesus. She came to see if what she’d heard was true; I read the Bible to see if what I’d heard about Jesus was true.

1 Kgs 10:1 – If anything, I was more skeptical than she was.

1 Kgs 10:2 – She was making a state visit. I was just, at first, trying to read the King James coffee table Bible we’d been given as a wedding present. When that proved inscrutable, I went to the bookstore and bought a modern English translation. It had a kivar cover and was wrapped in cellophane. I think it cost $5 brand new.

1 Kgs 10:3 – I did not get all my questions answered. I still haven’t. But I got way more answers than I was expecting. And the answers I got were to my most important questions.

1 Kgs 10:4-5 – I can relate to what she felt.

1 Kgs 10:6-7 – What she said to Solomon in these two verses represents almost thought for thought how I felt toward Jesus after I’d been reading the Bible for a few weeks.

1 Kgs 10:8 – Like Solomon’s servants, how blessed were the apostles that they got to hang around Jesus and hear the things He said. And how blessed are we today who get to read the red letters of the Bible. (I say this not to disparage the black letters, for in the red letters He promotes the black ones, too.)

1 Kgs 10:9 – Yes, it’s because God loved the world that He made Jesus King of the world. And this world includes me!

1 Kgs 10:10-12 – Like the queen with Solomon, I’ve exchanged gifts with Jesus. Unlike her, what I’ve given to Jesus can’t compare to what He’s given to me.

1 Kgs 10:13 – Unlike her and Solomon, I keep coming back to Jesus and the Bible. One visit was entirely insufficient for me. But then Jesus has so much more to give than Solomon did!

That Solomon is a type of Christ comes through repeatedly in this passage about the Queen of Sheba. Consider also what Jesus Himself said about the Queen of Sheba coming to check out the greatness of Solomon:

Matt 12:42 “The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

The reality is always greater than the shadow.

Wealth, Splendor, and Wisdom
1 Kgs 10:14-29

Descriptions of Solomon’s glory have been increasing chapter after chapter in 1 Kings. In this chapter, they reach their apex.

1 Kgs 10:21 – What a statement, that silver “was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon”!

1 Kgs 10:23 – #FJOT

Rev 17:14 “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”

***

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.
Rev 19:13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
Rev 19:15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.
Rev 19:16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

1 Kgs 10:24 – #FJOT

Matt 5:1 When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.

1 Kgs 10:25 – #FJOT

Matt 2:11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

***

1 Kings 11

Solomon Turns from God
1 Kgs 11:1-13

All Solomon’s glory gets the best of him. Women were his undoing as they were the undoing of Samson.

1 Kgs 11:1-2 – Solomon associated with women who worshiped foreign gods. This was in direct disobedience to Moses’ commands. Moses had written:

Deut 7:1 “When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you,
Deut 7:2 and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them.
Deut 7:3 “Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.
Deut 7:4 “For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.
Deut 7:5 “But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars, and smash their sacred pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.
Deut 7:6 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

1 Kgs 11:3 – In addition to associating with the wrong kind of women, Solomon also associated with too many of them. Moses had warned against this, too:

Deut 17:14 “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’
Deut 17:15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman.
Deut 17:16 “Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’
Deut 17:17 “He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

1 Kgs 11:4-8 – Notice that Solomon’s downfall came not from worshiping foreign gods in place of the Lord, but from worshiping them in addition to the Lord. This made his worship of the Lord half-hearted. He became double-minded. This is fatal to faith. Our devotion to the Lord must be whole-hearted to be any good at all. For Satan to have his way with us, he does not have to get us to hate the Lord; he only has to get us to dilute our devotion to Him by tempting us to become equally devoted to other things. The Scriptures make this point in a variety of ways – both positively and negatively.

2 Chr 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His…

***

1 Chr 12:33 Of Zebulun, there were 50,000 who went out in the army, who could draw up in battle formation with all kinds of weapons of war and helped David with an undivided heart.

***

James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
James 1:6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
James 1:7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
James 1:8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

***

James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

***

Matt 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
Matt 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

1 Kgs 11:9-10 – The two appearances were both at Gibeon – 1 Kgs 3 and 1 Kgs 9.

1 Kgs 11:12-14 – This prophecy will be fulfilled in the next chapter when Solomon’s kingdom is permanently divided.

God Raises Adversaries
1 Kgs 11:14-43

1 Kgs 11:14-22 – Hadad the Edomite
1 Kgs 11:23-25 – Rezon the son of Eliada
1 Kgs 11:26-40 – Jeroboam the son of Nebat, of the tribe of Ephraim

Of the three, Jeroboam will turn out to be the most significant because he will be the “servant” of whom God spoke in His judgment of Solomon.

1 Kin 11:11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
1 Kin 11:12 “Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
1 Kin 11:13 “However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

1 Kgs 11:31-33 – This prophecy is saying that Jeroboam will receive ten tribes but only one will be left to the house of Solomon. That only adds up to eleven. This gets reconciled in 1 Kgs 12:21-24 when the tribe of Benjamin unites with the tribe of Judah to support the house of David (from which Solomon and Rehoboam come) – making it two tribes to ten.

The Death of Solomon
1 Kgs 11:41-43

As promised, God let Solomon die in peace, but the promised division of his kingdom would take place short thereafter.

***

1 Kings 12

King Rehoboam Acts Foolishly
1 Kgs 12:1-15

During his 40-year reign, Solomon undertook many grand projects: the temple, his palace, the merchant marine, and more. These projects required a great deal of time and taxes from the citizenry…and this had taken its toll on them. Therefore, with Solomon gone, the population was looking for some relief. Living in an agricultural economy, a common metaphor for such a burden was “yoke.” The yoke of, say, oxen, could be heavy or light. Israel felt like its yoke under Solomon had been heavy, so they were looking for something lighter. Jesus and Peter used this same metaphor when they said, whether explicitly or implicitly, that the yoke of Moses was heavy and the yoke of Jesus was light.

Acts 15:10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

Jesus describes His yoke, by way of contrast, as relatively light.

Matt 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.
Matt 11:26 “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
Matt 11:27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Matt 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
Matt 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Even the Bible itself bears witness to this when anyone notices how much bigger the Old Testament is than the New Testament.

Breaking down the issue a little more finely, the Jews counted 613 commandments in the Law of Moses. Jesus boiled it down to two.

Matt 22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
Matt 22:35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
Matt 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
Matt 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
Matt 22:38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.
Matt 22:39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
Matt 22:40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Rehoboam was a young man, so it was understandable why he might naively think it would be better to follow a heavy yoke with a heavier one. What’s less understandable is why he thought young advisors would be wiser than older advisors – especially ones who had served the wise Solomon himself. Maybe Rehoboam, too, bought into the foolishness of “Don’t trust anyone over 30!”

The Kingdom Is Divided with Jeroboam Ruling Israel
1 Kgs 12:16-20

It wasn’t as though the twelve tribes split in half; rather, all the tribes rebelled from Rehoboam except for the one to which he belonged: the tribe of Judah. Recall that David had ruled Judah for seven years before he became king of all Israel. Therefore, it would have been much harder for Judah to reject Rehoboam than it was for the rest of the tribes.

Only Judah was believing the Lord’s promise to send the Messiah through the house of David. This was the essence of what the prophet Nathan had spoken to David in 2 Sam 7. Messiahs was to be a descendant of David who would sit on the throne and therefore be “the Lord’s anointed” (which is what the word “Messiah” means) – as David had been, and as Saul had been before David. This descendant would also be the one to whom God would be a father – and therefore could rightly be called “the Son of God.” Thus when Peter made the following confession to Jesus, he was saying that Jesus was the essence of what God had promised to David through the prophet Nathan.

Matt 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Matt 16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The apostle also used these two titles in tandem when he disclosed why he wrote his Gospel.

John 20:30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
John 20:31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

That twin declaration, that we also see elsewhere in the New Testament, was rooted in the 2 Sam 7 word of the Lord to David through the prophet Nathan. (See how Anointed = Christ = Messiah.)

Based on all this, we can see that Israel was rejecting God when they rejected the house of David. God was going to let them have their way…but their way was the way of unbelief. They had given up on God’s promise of Messiah – at least insofar as the promises to David were concerned. If they were relying on that promise at all it would be through the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of course, Rehoboam’s foolish decision didn’t help matters.

1 Kgs 12:18 – You have to feel bad for Adoram. His fate depicts how much Israel did not want to continue bearing a heavy yoke from the government.

1 Kgs 12:20 – Ahijah the Shilonite prophesied to Jeroboam that he would receive ten tribes yet here in 1 Kgs 12:20 it seems he has eleven since only Judah stuck with the house of David. This will get resolved in the next passage (1 Kgs 12:21-24) when Benjamin unites with Judah.

The Lord Tells Rehoboam to Let the Division Stand
1 Kgs 12:21-24

Presumably, because of the covenant between Jonathan and David and its related alliances through the years, Rehoboam was able to include the tribe of Benjamin along with the tribe of Judah to pursue a military defeat of Jeroboam. Two tribes against ten might seem like overwhelming odds to face, but Judah was Israel’s most-populated and strongest tribe by far. Moreover, the nation’s capital of Jerusalem was in Judah, which meant the levers of government power would be there. Plus, the territory of Benjamin bordered on Judah’s so forces from those two tribes could not be easily divided from each other. For these reasons, the outcome of a military conflict could not be easily predicted. However, the issue became moot because God sent word through a prophet to Rehoboam that it was God’s will that he should let the division of the country stand. Benjamin’s unification with the tribe of Judah leaves Jeroboam with the “ten tribes” Ahijah the Shilonite prophesied he would receive (1 Kgs 11:31).

The Divided Kingdom

From this point onward, the history of God’s people becomes a little more difficult to follow. This is mainly because there are now two national histories to track and not just one. To help keep them straight, I’m putting an additional heading on each chapter segment indicating which of the two kingdoms is being covered in that section. I follow this practice for the rest of 1 Kings and into 2 Kings until we reach 2 Kings 17. That’s when the kingdom of the ten tribes is destroyed by Assyria in 722 BC and has no more history after that.

Although the kingdom to the north only consists of ten tribes, it is generally called “Israel.” It will also come to be called “Samaria”. And although the kingdom to the south consists of Judah and Benjamin, it is generally called “Judah.”

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Jeroboam’s Idolatry
1 Kgs 12:25-33

Jeroboam knew that the biggest weakness of his kingdom was that Israel’s temple was in Jerusalem, which was part of Judah. He would always be at risk of his subjects being pulled by religious loyalties to reunite with Judah in order to have full and free access to the temple. Therefore, Jeroboam perverted Israel’s religion by producing not one, but two golden calves. Moses’ brother Aaron had produced one at Mount Sinai. Of course, that idol was so strongly condemned by Moses that Jeroboam could have only pulled this off if the people were sufficiently vague about what the Scriptures said. To insure they’d stay fuzzy on such subjects, Jeroboam appointed priests who would be loyal to him because they weren’t of the tribe of Levi. He stationed of one of his golden calves in northernmost Israel in the city of Dan; he placed the other in Bethel, which was about ten miles north of Jerusalem. Thus he, in essence, sought to transform the common saying “From Dan to Beersheba” into “From Dan to Bethel” so as to help Israel forget its ties to Judah. However, God was forever tied to Judah because of His promise regarding Messiah being a Judahite (including Gen 49:10 and Nathan’s word to David in 2 Sam 7). Therefore, the Lord sends a prophet with an ominous warning and a disfiguring sign for Jeroboam (in the next chapter).

***

1 Kings 13

This is another occasion where the Bible’s chapter breaks can distract from the narrative flow. (Chapter and Verse Divisions) The story of Jeroboam’s attempted corruption of Israel’s faith to serve his own purposes continues.

This chapter tells us the story of two unnamed prophets. The first was comparatively younger and naive. The second was older and dishonest.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Jeroboam Warned and Stricken by a Prophet
1 Kgs 13:1-10

This prophecy will be fulfilled about 300 years after it was delivered. Here in the book of 2 Kings is the fulfillment:

2 Kin 23:15 Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.
2 Kin 23:16 Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
The Prophet Encounters Another Prophet
1 Kgs 13:11-34

Pursuant to this continuation of the story involving the second prophet, we find this also in 2 Kings.

2 Kin 23:17 Then he said, “What is this monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
2 Kin 23:18 He said, “Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones.” So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

1 Kgs 13:33-34 – This prophecy was fulfilled in 722 BC when the Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom. That kingdom arose again. They had remained in rebellion to the house of David – God choice for the line of Messiah – all that time.

***

1 Kings 14

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ahijah Prophesies against King Jeroboam
1 Kgs 14:1-20

1 Kgs 14:2 – The occasion to which Jeroboam is referring was reported in 1 Kgs 11:29-39.

1 Kgs 14:3 – The “ten” loaves would be a subtle reminder to the prophet that he had prophesied that God was the one who gave the ten tribes to Jeroboam – and thus should honor this request Jeroboam was making through his wife.

1 Kgs 14:5 – Because of stories like this about prophets in the Old Testament, we can find Pharisees saying things like this in the New Testament:

Luke 7:36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.
Luke 7:37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume,
Luke 7:38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.
Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

This Pharisee was assuming Jesus knew nothing about the woman’s identity because He wasn’t saying anything about her identity. But just because a prophet doesn’t say something doesn’t guarantee that he doesn’t know it. We don’t have to say everything we think.

1 Kgs 14:8-10 – Jeroboam was right that God had given him ten tribes of Israel, but that wasn’t a license for Jeroboam to create two golden calves, set up additional places of worship besides Jerusalem’s temple, and appoint priests who were not from the tribe of Levi. And because of this, God was going to eliminate (“cut off”) Jeroboam’s hereditary line. Contrast this with David, to whom God not only promised a continuation of his descendants but also that one of them would be the Messiah. When the Lord appointed men as the heads of families, He promised to help them – that is, us…you and me. But if we abuse that office of leadership, we are only going to bring a heap of trouble on ourselves – as Jeroboam brought a heap of trouble on himself and his family, as well as a bad reputation for all of eternity.

1 Kgs 14:15 – “Asherim” were false gods. (An “im” at the end of a Hebrew word indicates a plural.)

Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
Rehoboam Misleads Judah
1 Kgs 14:21-31

While King Jeroboam in the north was directing corruption the Jewish religion in order to keep his people from reuniting with Judah, King Rehoboam in the south was allowing corruption of the Jewish religion by his people.

1 Kgs 14:25-28 – The degrading of Israel’s treasures from gold to bronze reflected the degrading of their spirituality.

***

1 Kings 15

Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
Rehoboam Succeeded by Abijam
1 Kgs 15:1-7

1 Kgs 15:6 – The two kingdoms had averted a full-scale war when the Lord told King Rehoboam to stand down (1 Kgs 12:21-24), but there remained ongoing intermittent skirmishes between the two.

Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
Abijam Succeeded by Asa
1 Kgs 15: 8-22

Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
Asa Succeeded by Jehoshaphat
1 Kgs 15:23-24

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Jeroboam Succeeded by Nadab
1 Kgs 15:25-27

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Nadab Succeeded by Baasha
1 Kgs 15:28-31

Israel (The Northern Kingdom) and Judah (The Southern Kingdom) at War
1 Kgs 15:32-34

***

1 Kings 16

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Prophecy against Baasha
1 Kgs 16:1-5

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Baasha Succeeded by Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab
1 Kgs 16:6-34

1 Kgs 16:6 – Elah succeeds Baasha.

1 Kgs 16:9-10 – Zimri assassinates Elah and takes his place.

1 Kgs 16:11-23 – The kingdom rebels against Zimri. Omni and Tibni vie to take Zimri’s place, with Omri prevailing.

1 Kgs 16:24 – Omri builds a capital city and names it Samaria. So now we have a kingdom called Samaria (as well as “Israel” and “the Northern Kingdom”) and its capital city called Samaria. The idea was to have as fortified a capital as Judah had in Jerusalem.

1 Kgs 16:28 – Ahab succeeds Omri.

1 Kgs 16:30 – This was no small achievement for Ahab.

1 Kgs 16:31 – Marrying Jezebel was Ahab’s most notorious act. He was already doing evil, but she was able to incite him to even more.

1 Kgs 16:34 – Hiel the Bethelite was acting in defiance of the oath Joshua had the Israelites take after God had granted a supernatural defeat of Jericho roughly 500 years earlier (Josh 6:26).

***

1 Kings 17

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Elijah Predicts Drought
1 Kgs 17:1-16

Elijah’s name is mentioned 29 times in the New Testament. He was a type of Christ, bearing several similarities to the Lord.

Elijah was a prophet ~ Jesus was a prophet.
Elijah lived in northern Israel ~ Jesus lived in Galilee, which was in northern Israel.
Elijah performed amazing miracles ~ Jesus performed amazing miracles, many more than Elijah.
Elijah stood up to corrupt government of Israel who hated him and tried to kill him (King Ahab and his wife Jezebel) ~ Jesus also stood up to a corrupt government of Israel (the Sanhedrin and Herod) who succeeded in getting Him killed.

Jesus even spoke of Elijah as a type of Himself when He was speaking at the synagogue in Nazareth. This is what He had to say about this experience Elijah had with this widow in Zarephath.

Luke 4:22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
Luke 4:23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’”
Luke 4:24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
Luke 4:25 “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;
Luke 4:26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

Thus Jesus was referring to the events of 1 Kgs 17 as He spoke to those attending the synagogue in Nazareth that day. They would have all heard this read in the synagogue there, probably many times over the years.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son
1 Kgs 17:17-24

That men like Elijah were types of Christ means that there were precedents for everything that Jesus did in His ministry. This was to help Israel recognize the Messiah when He came. Nothing the Messiah did would be unprecedented. The Jews would be able to look at Jesus and think to themselves: “We’ve heard of this sort of thing!” In fact, they would have been hearing of precedents of the things He did every week in the synagogue when Moses and the Prophets were read. Therefore, the difference between what Jesus did and what the types (preliminary examples) of Him did was in the frequency and magnitude of what was done. For example, compare this incident of Elijah raising someone from the dead and Jesus doing it. Jesus raised him with a fraction of the effort Elijah exerted.

Luke 7:11 Soon afterwards He went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, accompanied by a large crowd.
Luke 7:12 Now as He approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her.
Luke 7:13 When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.”
Luke 7:14 And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”
Luke 7:15 The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Luke 7:16 Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”
Luke 7:17 This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.

Next, consider this case of another child being raised from the dead by Jesus with comparative ease.

Mark 5:35 While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?”
Mark 5:36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.”
Mark 5:37 And He allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John the brother of James.
Mark 5:38 They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He saw a commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing.
Mark 5:39 And entering in, He said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep.”
Mark 5:40 They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was.
Mark 5:41 Taking the child by the hand, He said to her, “Talitha kum!” (which translated means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).
Mark 5:42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.
Mark 5:43 And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.

Lastly, consider the case of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. It’s too long to copy and paste all of it here, but consider just this one element:

John 11:39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

No one in the Old Testament, much less in any other historical record, had ever raised anyone who had been dead that long. Thus Jews who witnessed Jesus were seeing Him do things they had been hearing about all their lives – just on a much greater scale, both with respect to frequency of the miracles but also with respect to the magnitude of each one. It was the perfect combination of known and unknown aspects God provided to help Jews recognize their Messiah.

***

1 Kings 18

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Obadiah Meets Elijah
1 Kgs 18:1-16

This Obadiah is not the prophet Obadiah who lived about three centuries later and wrote the one-chapter book that bears his name. This Obadiah was a man caught between two worlds – like Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea in New Testament times. That is, all three were faithful Jews who found themselves having to serve under or alongside fellow Jewish officials who were corrupt and unbelieving.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
God or Baal on Mount Carmel
1 Kgs 18:17-40

Keep in mind the context for these stories about Elijah: he is living in northern Israel (Samaria), the domain governed by King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Like all the kings of this domain since Jeroboam, Ahab and Jezebel have been fostering the false religion concocted by Jeroboam – the golden calves, etc. (See The Divided Kingdom).

1 Kgs 18:17-18 – King Ahab wanted to label Elijah as a “troubler” (troublemaker) of Israel because Elijah wouldn’t support the false religion of Israel (the northern kingdom). Elijah rightly declared who was the true “troubler” of Israel. As they say today, Ahab was “confessing through projection.” Another way this is expressed is, “Always accuse your opponent of what you yourself are doing.”

1 Kgs 18:19 – The number of false prophets was far greater than the number of true ones because the false ones were being fed by the government while the true ones were being hunted down by the government.

1 Kgs 18:21 – Those of us who procrastinate need such prods from God. For other such motivators, see Josh 18:3; Judg 18:9; 2 Kgs 7:3-4.

1 Kgs 18:31 – By taking twelve – and not ten – stones, Elijah was indicating that he was a true prophet of the one true God. In other words, he was representing the true religion of all Israel. By contrast, Ahab, Jezebel, and all the false prophets – even what was called “Israel” (the Northern Kingdom, Samaria) – were all in rebellion to Israel’s God.

1 Kgs 18:36 – Even if some of Elijah’s actions seem brazen or over the top, we must remember that he was only acting on divine direction. It must have given Elijah a wonderful feeling to say to the Lord, “I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word.” And how much more wonderful must it have been for Jesus to be able to say:

John 8:29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

These are things you and I want to be able to say with regularity.

1 Kgs 18:37 – This prayer was answer in verse 39.

1 Kgs 18:39 – This is the answer to Elijah’s prayer in verse 37.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Elijah’s Prayer for Rain
1 Kgs 18:41-46

The drought’s beginning was marked in 1 Kgs 17:1. This marks its conclusion. The people abandoning Baal and rallying to the name of the Lord at Mount Baal (1 Kgs 18:39) brought the spiritual breakthrough that gave Elijah the clearance and confidence to pray for rain. Jesus’ earthly brother James used the example of Elijah to illustrate the power available to humanity through prayer – staggering though it is.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
James 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
James 5:18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

***

1 Kings 19

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Elijah Flees from Jezebel
1 Kgs 19:1-8

Even though Elijah is departing the confines of “Israel: The Northern Kingdom,” I’m keeping it in the heading since the focus remains on Elijah and he is still a citizen of that kingdom even though in this chapter he’s traveling outside it.

1 Kgs 19:1-3 – It is remarkable that Elijah faced down 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel but was terrified by message he received from a woman. If Jezebel caused that kind of reaction in a man like Elijah, she must have been more treacherous and murderous than we can imagine. ***** Beersheba was situated at the southernmost tip of Judah and all of Israel (“From Dan to Beersheba”). It sat on the edge of an extensive desert area (the Negev, or Negeb).

1 Kgs 19:8 – “Mount Horeb” (also known as Mount Sinai) – the great meeting place of God and Moses (the burning bush and, later, the Ten Commandments) – was at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, meaning that was a long way for Elijah to go by foot.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Elijah at Horeb (Sinai)
1 Kgs 19:9-18

1 Kgs 19:9-12 – Elijah goes to Mount Horeb (Sinai) to encounter Moses’ God. God asks Elijah for what purpose he has come: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah then answers with a short litany of what’s gone wrong. Then the Lord tells Elijah to stand on the mountain and wait for the Lord. There ensues a sequence of meteorological spectacles, similar to the kind Moses’ had experienced and that had frightened all the Israelites. But the Lord was not in any of these things. What He was in was “a gentle blowing” that came after all the hoopla. The King James version of this verse says “a still small voice” in place of “a gentle blowing.” This is, of course, a picture of Jesus coming after all the Old Testament had described (creation week, the flood, the plagues on Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, etc). #FJOT

This scene in 1 Kgs 19:9-12 is reminiscent of another Old Testament scene that foreshadowed the coming of God: Ex 33:17-23. God placed Moses in the cleft of a rock (Elijah was in the cave of the mountain), and the Lord “passed by” in both scenes. See that passage and the accompanying BSN notes for comparison.

1 Kgs 19:13-14 – God asks the same question He asked in 1 Kgs 19:9 and Elijah gives Him the same answer he gave in 1 Kgs 19:10.

1 Kgs 19:15-17 – This time God gives Elijah a game plan. Elijah is to anoint three leaders for going forward.

Hazael would become king of Aram in place of Ben-hadad.
Jehu would become king of Israel in place of Ahab.
Elisha would become prophet in place of Elijah.

Elijah has come to the end of his service to the Lord. He would be departing the scene soon. But first he has to get these new leaders launched.

1 Kgs 19:18 – As for the fear and discouragement that Elijah had faced, Paul quotes of this experience when he’s wanting to make the point that a man of God may be tempted to think he’s the only one left, but God often has significant numbers of unrecognized servants – like Obadiah (1 Kgs 18:1-16 above) – who are serving Him under the radar.

Rom 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Rom 11:2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
Rom 11:3 “Lord, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS, THEY HAVE TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS, AND I ALONE AM LEFT, AND THEY ARE SEEKING MY LIFE.”
Rom 11:4 But what is the divine response to him? “I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.”
Rom 11:5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Elijah Commissions Elisha to Take His Place
1 Kgs 19:19-21

This passage provides a point of comparison for a similar passage in the New Testament.

Luke 9:57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”
Luke 9:58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Luke 9:59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”
Luke 9:60 But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”
Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

***

1 Kings 20

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ben-hadad King of Aram Threatens Ahab King of Israel
1 Kgs 20:1-12

There is little to commend about Ahab, but there’s no denying that 1 Kgs 20:11 is a true and valuable adage. Surely he’s quoting it and not originating it.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ahab Defeats Ben-hadad in the Mountains
1 Kgs 20:13-25

1 Kgs 20:13-15 – Hmm. Are these the 7,000 of whom God spoke to Elijah in 1 Kgs 19:18? If not, these are certainly representative of those. God was not saving Israel for Ahab’s sake, nor was He even saving Israel for all Israel’s sake. Rather, He was saving Israel for the 7,000’s sake.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ahab Defeats Ben-hadad in the Valleys
1 Kgs 20:26-30

As God sent a prophet to deliver Israel from Aram in the previous battle, so He does the same in this one. God demonstrates that His ability to save is not limited to certain locations or types of locations. As “mountains” are contrasted “the plain” in 1 Kgs 20:23-25 so they are contrasted with “valleys” in 1 Kgs 20:28. In this context, it seems obvious that “the plain” and “valleys” are being used synonymously – in other words, low places compared to the high places of mountains. Similarly, we might should seek God’s rule in our happy times as well as our sad ones.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ben-hadad Seeks Peace and Ahab Grants It
1 Kgs 20:31-34

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
The Lord Rebukes Ahab for Squandering Israel’s Victories
1 Kgs 20:35-43

After sending a prophet each time to lead Ahab to two victories over Ben-hadad of Aram, the Lord sends a prophet to Ahab to rebuke him for letting Ben-hadad live to fight Israel another day. God had wanted to deliver Israel from the threat of Aram entirely, but Ahab was someone who chose what he liked from the Lord and disregarded the rest. This situation is reminiscent of King Saul sparing King Agag of the Amalekites, and the Lord sending Samuel to rebuke him. Like Saul, Ahab fails to take the opportunity to repent. Ahab will pay the consequences for this with his life in 1 Kgs 22.

***

1 Kings 21

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ahab Covets Naboth’s Vineyard
1 Kgs 21:1-10

This incident is like the parable the prophet Nathan told in order to show King David how he had wronged Uriah the Hittite by taking his wife Bathsheba.

2 Sam 12:1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said,
“There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.
2 Sam 12:2 “The rich man had a great many flocks and herds.
2 Sam 12:3 “But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb
Which he bought and nourished;
And it grew up together with him and his children.
It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,
And was like a daughter to him.
2 Sam 12:4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man,
And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd,
To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him;
Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

In both cases (one fictional, the other factual), the rich man is robbing the poor man. Stealing is obviously wrong, but the rich stealing from the poor is doubly wrong.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ahab Allows Jezebel to Take Charge
1 Kgs 21:5-14

We could commend Ahab for accepting Naboth’s answer, but we have to condemn him for pouting like a petulant child and allowing his wife to take charge of the situation in order to steal for him what he coveted.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ahab Accepts the Fruits of Jezebel’s Treachery against Naboth
1 Kgs 21:15-16

As evil as it was for Jezebel to murder Naboth, it was even more evil for Ahab to let her do it in his name and then, on top of that, accept the benefit of the evil she did without even questioning her about it.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Elijah Pronounces Judgment on Ahab and Jezebel
1 Kgs 21:17-29

Ahab’s judgment will come in the next chapter (1 Kgs 22); Jezebel’s in 2 Kgs 9.

***

1 Kings 22

This chapter has more back and forth in the narrative between the two kingdoms than most. Use the headings to help you keep track. Even with the headings, it can be hard to keep the two kingdoms straight.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom) and Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
Ahab’s Third Campaign against Aram
1 Kgs 22:1-12

1 Kgs 22:1-4 – Recall from 1 Kgs 20 that though the Lord had twice given Israel victory over King Ben-hadad of Aram, King Ahab did not execute Ben-hadad. In that same chapter, the Lord sent a prophet to rebuke Ahab over this failing. In this chapter comes the reckoning. While King Jehoshaphat of Judah is visiting, King Ahab asks him to join in seeking to take back the city of Ramoth-gilead that Aram had previously conquered.

1 Kgs 22:5-6 – As a general rule, the kings of Judah (the Southern Kingdom) were more faithful to the Lord than the kings of Israel (the Northern Kingdom). Thus it is no surprise that Jehoshaphat seeks the word of the Lord before going into battle. (In other words, he wants to pray before settling on a decision like this.) Recall from Elijah’s face-off against hundreds of false prophets at Mount Carmel that Ahab and his wife Jezebel kept a lot of “yes men” on the payroll as “prophets.” (Notice also that false prophets almost always outnumber true prophets; this is because most people think there is “safety in numbers” rather than seeking the truth no matter how few people believe it.) Hundreds of false prophets perished at Mount Caramel, but as long as Ahab and Jezebel were passing out meal tickets, there were always many more false prophets to take their places.

1 Kgs 22:7 – Jehoshaphat recognizes that Ahab’s and Jezebel’s “400 prophets” are just telling King Ahab what they think he wants to hear, so Jehoshaphat asks Ahab to bring forth a true prophet of the Lord…if Ahab has one.

1 Kgs 22:8 – Sure enough, Ahab has access to the kind of prophet Jehoshaphat wants to hear. The tell-tale sign? This prophet never has anything good to say about Ahab. (We don’t need prophets to say good things about us; we need prophets to tell us the truth.)

1 Kgs 22:9-12 – Meanwhile, the 400 false prophets continue putting on a show, with one named Zedekiah using horns of iron in a skit. The central message all of them are sending is the one Ahab wants to hear: “Ahab, you’re a winner – go for it!” The whole reason they were on the payroll was to keep telling the emperor how fashionable his clothes were.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom) and Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
The Prophet Micaiah Predicts Defeat for Israel and Judah, and Death for Ahab
1 Kgs 22:13-28

1 Kgs 22:13-14 – Micaiah gets coaching from the king’s messenger that he should spout the company line, but Micaiah reminds the messenger that he’s not that kind of prophet.

1 Kgs 22:15-16 – Micaiah starts off sarcastically mimicking the false prophets. Ahab tells him to knock it off and say what he’s got to say.

1 Kgs 22:17 – Though Ahab and Israel have twice defeated Aram before (1 Kgs 20), this time Israel is going down to defeat.

1 Kgs 22:18 – Ahab turns to Jehoshaphat and says, “I told you so!”

1 Kgs 22:19-23 – Micaiah goes on to pull back the curtain on the entire charade.

1 Kgs 22:24 – The false prophet Zedekiah strikes and insults Micaiah. It’s like what would happen almost a thousand years later between the Sanhedrin and Jesus at His trial. #FJOT

1 Kgs 22:25 – Micaiah was telling Zedekiah that he would know more when he spent more of his prayer time in an “inner room” than for public consumption – just as Jesus would one day warn. #FJOT

Matt 6:5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Matt 6:6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

1 Kgs 22:26-28 – Don’t you love how Micaiah puts it all on the line! This is just the way Moses said a true prophet could be known – his word comes true.

Deut 18:21 “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’
Deut 18:22 “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

What Micaiah said would come true; what Zedekiah and the rest of the 400 false prophets would not. The matter is just that simple.

Israel (The Northern Kingdom) and Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
The Defeat Of Israel and Judah, and the Death of Ahab
1 Kgs 22:29-40

The ironies in this account of the battle between Aram and the kingdom of Israel and Judah are fascinating and absorbing.

1 Kgs 22:36 – Compare what Micaiah prophesied earlier to what happened on the battlefield.

1 Kin 22:17 So he said,
“I saw all Israel
Scattered on the mountains,
Like sheep which have no shepherd.
And the LORD said, ‘These have no master.
Let each of them return to his house in peace.’”

***

1 Kin 22:36 Then a cry passed throughout the army close to sunset, saying, “Every man to his city and every man to his country.”

The word of the Lord is more certain than money in the bank.

1 Kgs 22:37-38 – This is fulfilling the prophecy that Elijah spoke to Ahab:

1 Kin 21:17 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
1 Kin 21:18 “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it.
1 Kin 21:19 “You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Have you murdered and also taken possession?”‘ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs will lick up your blood, even yours.””‘

True prophets bat a thousand; the false ones, zero. There’s no such thing as .300 hitters in prophecy.

Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
Jehoshaphat Rules
1 Kgs 22:41-47

Israel (The Northern Kingdom) and Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah Disagree about Ships
1 Kgs 22:48-49

Judah (The Southern Kingdom):
Jehoshaphat Succeeded by Jehoram
1 Kgs 22:50

Israel (The Northern Kingdom):
Ahab Succeeded by Ahaziah
1 Kgs 22:51-53

***

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