Introduction
Overview
The original audience for 1–2 Kings was probably the Israelites who had been carried off into exile in Babylonia. With Jerusalem burned to the ground, these people no doubt struggled to make sense of it all and to maintain some kind of hope. Why did this happen? Is the Lord unfaithful? Or perhaps he is just weaker than the gods of Babylon? The combined book of 1–2 Kings provides a very clear and important answer to these questions. The exile came as a result of Israel’s and Judah’s repeated and continued obstinate disobedience to the Mosaic covenant (especially Deuteronomy). The great tragedy of this story is that they had only themselves to blame.
There are several significant subthemes running throughout 1–2 Kings. One is the portrayal of the dismantling of the spectacular empire and temple that Solomon built. While the early chapters of 1 Kings describe how Solomon adds various valuable items to the temple, the later chapters describe how these same items are carried off by various foreign kings. Another theme in 1–2 Kings traces the reversal of the exodus and conquest (Israel’s salvation history). Recall that as the conquest began, the Israelites entered the land and captured Jericho. At the end of 2 Kings, however, it is Jerusalem that is being captured, and the Israelites are being kicked out of the land. Ironically, the final king (Zedekiah) is captured by the Babylonians right outside Jericho (2 Kg 25:5), ending Israel’s time in the land right where it began.
Another subtheme, introduced in the Elijah and Elisha stories, is that of a remnant. As the nation slides into apostasy and thus heads for national judgment, the Elijah and Elisha narratives illustrate that there is hope and deliverance for individuals who trust in God. A remnant will survive.
Literary Features
Like 1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings was originally a single volume that eventually was divided into two parts, which together recount and evaluate the story of Israel’s royal experiment. The customary title, Kings, might be slightly misleading since royal figures are only part of the cast of characters. To be sure, kings and their antics, rivalries, major feuds, minor squabbles, petty agendas, inspiring reforms, brave leadership decisions, and flawed pretensions form the backdrop and the necessary plotlines, but other characters also shape the story. Most prominent among these characters are the prophets, with a remarkable range of personalities and gifts. Nathan is instrumental in securing Solomon’s throne, while Ahijah of Shiloh pronounces its demise. Elijah confronts Ahab and hundreds of Baal prophets and later throws his mantle on Elisha of Abel-meholah in the north. Micaiah speaks of Ahab’s last days, while Huldah speaks of the doom about to befall the southern kingdom of Judah. Along with an anonymous fraternity of prophets that often seems to be hovering in the background, this diverse group of spokespeople confronts the various kings and their times and brings a sense of accountability and historical memory to the table that might otherwise be lacking.
Whether it entails speaking a word in crisis (e.g., Isaiah in 2 Kg 19) or dispensing advice on policy (e.g., Elisha in 2 Kg 6:22), new contours of the prophetic office are detailed as the narrative progresses. Not only are we given insight as to how prophets operated during this stretch of history; there also are hints dropped along the way as to how things might work in the future. Moreover, there is a host of minor characters that populate the narrative, ranging from courtiers like Benaiah and Obadiah (who serve Solomon and Ahab, respectively), to the servant Gehazi (last seen testifying about Elisha’s word in 2 Kg 8) and the high priest Jehoiada (instrumental in bringing the tyrannical reign of Athaliah to an end). Towering above all these characters—whether royal, prophetic, or part of the supporting cast—is the ultimate King, the God of Israel. The real King in this story has rebellious subjects and global concerns, yet he comes across as remarkably long-suffering and pastoral. Although there is a wealth of divine patience, as the story moves to a conclusion discipline is exacted and God’s people are humbled. In the pages of 1–2 Kings the Lord, relentlessly faithful and more sovereign than readers might expect, creatively refuses to be boxed in by anyone and resists easy labels or stereotyping.
Literary and Historical Context
Rather than read in isolation, the 1–2 Kings narrative is best studied as one chapter within a larger story. The collection of books beginning with Joshua and ending with 1–2 Kings—known in the Hebrew canon as the Former Prophets—represents a continuous narrative, the long story of Israel’s experience in the land of promise between entry and exile. These books are often referred to as the Deuteronomy-based history, since the book of Deuteronomy provides the theological backbone of the narrative. As an address from Moses to the people of Israel on the borders of Moab looking into the land of promise, Deuteronomy articulates the parameters of covenant faithfulness, and it is this standard by which the various kings and leaders of the future are measured (e.g., see Dt 11:26–28). There is, in other words, a consistent exhortation in Deuteronomy to “choose life” (cf. Dt 30:19) and a summons to partake of the available blessings and the many advantages of not forsaking covenant relationship. A necessary corollary, as Deuteronomy also intones, is the possibility of cursing should the Israelites eschew such responsibilities.
Furthermore, Deuteronomy also anticipates the advent of kingship in Israel. Deuteronomy 17:14–20, which lays out a number of criteria by which the king shall reign, concludes (vv. 18–20):
When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes. Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue reigning many years in Israel.
It cannot be baldly asserted, therefore, that in principle Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomy-based history are against the notion of the monarchy. Instead, the institution can work if strictures are in place. Of course, kingship is intimated elsewhere in the Torah. In Gn 17 both Abraham and Sarah are told that “kings” will issue from them, and the last words of Jacob include a reference to “the scepter” not departing from Judah (Gn 49:10). Kingship also features in the Former Prophets. The book of Joshua foregrounds the prominence of the tribe of Judah, while Judges provides an introduction to the story of kingship on many levels (not least the account of Abimelech in Jdg chapter 9, and the final line of the book). When the elders of Israel request a king in 1 Sm 8, God himself condescends to the request and so begins the protracted royal struggle between Saul and David, culminating in the latter’s eventual coronation and subsequent enthronement in Jerusalem.
In terms of the overall composition, 1–2 Kings forms the last installment of the long story of Israel’s experience in the land. Indeed, the beginning of 1 Kings—with the aged David near the end of his tenure—seems to be something of a resumption from the narrative thread of 2 Sm 20, the story of civil war that, save for the actions of Joab and the wise woman of Tekoa, could have been a disaster for the Davidic kingdom. Despite the rebellion’s suppression, seeds are planted that germinate when the northern tribes break away in 1 Kg 12. But prior to that, the Davidic torch is passed to Solomon, whose accession (in roughly 960 BC) and reign dominate the opening half of 1 Kings. The era of Solomon is certainly impressive on the outside, with the achievement of the temple and the glittering erection of his palace complex. Yet Solomon’s reign is darker than commonly thought, incorrigibly marred by a series of concessions (such as becoming a son-in-law to Pharaoh) and great apostasy. Solomon does not bequeath the best legacy to his son Rehoboam: within a week or so of Rehoboam’s accession, the kingdom is permanently divided into north and south (933 BC).
Although Rehoboam manages to reign in the south and retain Jerusalem as the capital of Judah, Jeroboam presides over a northern kingdom that increasingly drifts into idolatrous instability. One could argue that at times the south fares no better, yet there is comparatively more stability because of the divine promise to David in 2 Sm 7, where God guarantees that a Davidic descendant will always be on the throne; much of the narrative in 1–2 Kings confirms that this promise is the difference between the north and the south. An acute rise in prophetic activity is particularly visible after the division of the kingdom, and correspondingly there also is a rise in international hostilities. Israel was plagued with plenty of foreign conflicts before—preeminently with the Philistines—but during the period of the divided monarchy the scale increases, with a number of Aramean and Assyrian offensives. Such antagonism, coupled with an increasingly syncretistic worship and a string of ineffective northern leaders, reaches a climax with a devastating Assyrian invasion that results in the fall of the northern kingdom and the pillaging of Samaria (722 BC). The miraculous survival of the south (with Jerusalem still intact) is slowly countered by a mounting Babylonian presence in the region, and the days of the southern kingdom as a viable political entity are numbered. Nebuchadnezzar’s sack of Jerusalem in 586 BC results in the demolition of the temple, and his deportation of a large number of Judeans inaugurates the period of exile. [How Do We Determine the Dates for the Events in the Old Testament?]
Many of the literary prophets live, preach, and write in Israel or Judah during the time period covered by 1–2 Kings. This includes Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.
When surveying the end of the book, we can discern an “envelope structure” between the start and finish of Kings. Just as 1 Kings begins with an aged king, so 2 Kings ends with an imprisoned king at the mercy of the Babylonians; therefore Kings begins and ends with the same issue: uncertainty about succession. The repetition of this issue is not arbitrary; it is, rather, part of the theology of hope central to the book, and to the Former Prophets as a whole. In other words, the future of Israel lies not with a formal monarchy but rather with the promises and character of God, who out of this royal mess will bring forth a Messiah.
Composition
The book of 1–2 Kings is a sophisticated work of historiography, one that utilizes a number of different sources and archival materials and combines regnal formulas with other dating procedures. As mentioned above, 1–2 Kings is but one chapter in the larger Deuteronomy-based history. A number of scholars have affirmed that the author(s) of 1–2 Kings experienced the Babylonian exile and from this vantage point were inspired to produce a story of Israel and a history of the nation’s downfall. The purpose of the author(s) was decidedly constructive: just as the nation was exiled because of disobedience, God has by no means given up on his people, and the examples of the past become a guide for the future.
That being said, contemporary interpreters are aware that 1–2 Kings presents more than merely a quest for historical “objectivity,” as though that represents the highest standard of truth for an ancient historian. On the contrary, 1–2 Kings is filled with the author’s assessment from start to finish (sometimes overt, at other times submerged just below the surface of the text). In this work we are dealing with theological narrative, which presents an intersection between human actions and divine sovereignty. When reading this text, then, the interpreter should attend to matters of theological significance, such as the role of prayer and the efficacy of the prophetic word. Thus, the best methodology for interpreting 1–2 Kings incorporates the results of historical analysis with theological reflection. The narrative artistry and literary sophistication of 1–2 Kings also should be noted, in particular the narrative dynamics at work in the story. It is this literary dimension (with issues of plot, characterization, point of view, irony, ambiguity, and spatial setting) that we will touch on during the course of the commentary.
It would not be an overstatement to label 1–2 Kings as dramatically worthy of its regal subject matter, and all the vicissitudes of Israel’s four-hundred-year experiment with kingship are worth studying, pondering, and preaching. There is much for God’s people even today to hear in these pages. What is important is not that kings such as David, Solomon, and Hezekiah are flawless and worthy of emulation (because this is simply not the case—there are many shades of gray in these complex figures); instead, what is continually stressed is the character of God, who keeps his promises and refuses to give up on a nation—even one on a passage to exile.
Outline
1. From David to Ahab (1 Kg 1:1–22:53)
A. Accession of a Younger Son (1:1–53)
B. Security Clearance (2:1–46)
C. Wise Options (3:1–28)
D. Constructive Criticism (4:1–10:29)
E. Divided Heart, Divided Nation (11:1–12:33)
F. Northern Exposure (13:1–16:34)
G. Prophetic Contests (17:1–22:53)
2. From Elijah to Exile (2 Kg 1:1–25:30)
A. Chariots and Fire (1:1–2:25)
B. Days of Elisha (3:1–8:29)
C. Jehu’s Ascendancy (9:1–10:36)
D. Twilight for Samaria (11:1–17:41)
E. Hezekiah’s Assyrian Crisis (18:1–20:21)
F. Babylon Rising (21:1–24:17)
G. Judah’s Captivity (24:18–25:30)