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Books of the Bible |
Traditionally accepted to be Jeremiah, but may be another prophet from the same era.
The book was written sometime after Babylon overthrew Jerusalem in 587 B.C. A date around 550 B.C. is very likely. First Kings covers the time period from about 971 B.C. to 848 B.C.
The primary purpose behind First Kings is the tracing of the spiritual decline that led to the division of Israel and ultimately to the destruction of the nation and the Babylonian exile. It is, in many ways, the history of the spiritual journey of the nation. Despite how it sounds it was never really intended as a political history.
The United Kingdom (1-11)
Solomon replaces David as king (1-2)
Solomon asks for and receives wisdom (3-4)
Solomon's building programs (5-8)
Solomon's decline as king (9-11)
The divided Kingdom (12-22)
Rehoboam becomes king and the kingdom is split (12:1-24)
Reign of Jeroboam in Israel (12:25-14:20)
Reign of Rehoboam in Judah (14:21-31)
The reigns of two kings of Judah (15:1-24)
The reigns of five kings of Israel (15:25-16:28)
The reign of Ahab in Israel (16:29-22:40)
The reign of Jehoshaphat in Judah (22:41-50)
The reign of Ahaziah in Israel (22:51-53)
Solomon became king in about 971 B.C. and the kingdom was divided in 931 B.C. The Assyrians became a significant threat to the kingdom during this time, launching assaults against Israel (the Northern Kingdom) starting in 734 B.C. and ending in 722 B.C. when the Northern Kingdom fell. In the south the major threat turned out to be Babylon, which campaigned against Judah in 605 and 597 B.C. and seized Jerusalem in 587, when the temple was destroyed and many of the leading citizens were taken into captivity.
David makes Solomon king; The death of David; Solomon asks God for wisdom; Solomon builds the temple; The Ark is brought into the temple; Solomon marries foreign women and turns away from the Lord; Death of Solomon; Rehoboam becomes king and the kingdom is divided; Apostasy, idolatry and immorality in the divided kingdom; The Lord's judgment against Israel through the drought; The events surrounding Elijah; Elijah's victory at Mt. Carmel; Elisha is called; King Ahab is killed.
David, Solomon, Abishag, Adonijah, Nathan the prophet, Hiram king of Tyre, Huram (Hiram) the craftsman, Queen of Sheba, Jeroboam, Rehoboam, Ahab, Jezebel, Elijah, Elisha, Jehoshaphat
First Kings shows how the moral decay of Israel after the death of David leads more and more rapidly into the sins that God had warned them against. The kings are measured against the standards of either David for his righteousness or Jeroboam for his idolatry. The covenant promises that God had made to David were dependant on Israel's continued obedience, when they stopped obeying the surrounding nations begin to move in and ultimately overthrow the nation.