1 Kings Introduction

The principles that obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings disaster, and that God is active in the judging of individuals and nations on the basis of the covenant are used by the author as his criteria for evaluation of the kings of Israel and Judah. For example, the author consistently condemns kings for allowing the worship of Asherah, the Canaanite goddess of fertility on the “high places” (see 2Kg 17:9-10; Dt 16:21). The emphasis on Ahab’s reign is due to his marriage to Jezebel, a Phoenician princess, and allowing her to introduce the worship of Phoenician gods into Israel (1Kg 16:30-33). In contrast, the author reserves his unqualified praise only for Hezekiah (2Kg 18:3-7) and Josiah (2Kg 22:2) because they removed the high places and restored national worship to conform to Mosaic prescriptions. He gives qualified commendation to Asa (1Kg 15:11-14), Jehoshaphat (1Kg 22:43), Joash (2Kg 12:2-3), Azariah (2Kg 15:3-4), and Jotham (2Kg 15:34-35) for generally following Deuteronomic prescriptions, but explicitly complains about their failure to remove the high places.

The books of 1 and 2 Kings are not completely original documents. The author may be described as a compiler of information about Israel’s kings who then evaluated each king according to certain religious and moral principles. The text itself mentions at least three sources. The first source is the Book of Solomon’s Events (1Kg 11:41), which contained contemporary events, biographical material, and extracts from the records in the temple archives. Scholars have assigned various parts of 1 Kings to this source: Solomon’s marriage with an Egyptian princess (1Kg 3:1), judgment of the dispute over a newborn infant (1Kg 3:16-28), lists of court officials (1Kg 4:1-6) and government administrators (1Kg 4:7-19,27), the treaty with Hiram of Tyre and preparations for building the temple (1Kg 5:1-18), construction of the temple (1Kg 6:1–7:51), the dedication of the temple (1Kg 8:1-66), additional relations between Hiram and Solomon (1Kg 9:11-14), the construction of terraces (1Kg 9:24), the wisdom of Solomon and the visit of the Queen of Sheba (1Kg 9:26–10:29), and possibly the story of two enemies of Solomon (1Kg 11:14-25).

The second source, the Historical Record of Israel’s Kings, records events from the time of Jeroboam I to Pekah (1Kg 14:19—2Kg 15:31) and is explicitly cited eighteen times as a source. It contained not only current events, but also official records of significant political happenings and other memorable events from each reign.

The Historical Record of Judah’s Kings is the third source used for much of the material in 1 Kings 14:29—2 Kings 24:5, covering events from Solomon’s son Rehoboam and the dividing of the kingdom into two parts until the reign of Jehoiakim. It is cited fifteen times as the author’s source. These are apparently extracts from court records of state archives in Jerusalem. Although this source is not explicitly mentioned, scholars have ascribed the reigns of Ahaziah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah to it; interestingly, their deaths and burials are not recorded, unlike the other kings of Judah. Some have also included Athaliah (2Kg 11:1), who usurped the throne and ruled for seven years, as well as the construction projects of Asa (1Kg 15:23), the wars of Jehoshaphat (1Kg 22:45), and the conduit of Hezekiah (2Kg 20:20).

There is the possibility that the author of Kings used other, unidentified sources. There are passages which are tightly composed and appear to stand on their own as literary units. While only speculation, these literary units might include court records of David (1Kg 1–2), three “cycles” of tradition for Elijah, Elisha, and Ahab: (1) the Elijah stories (1Kg 17–19; 21; 2Kg 1), which are very political and polemic; (2) the Elisha stories (2Kg 2–13), which focus more upon the needs of religious groups and individuals and the narratives of the wars against Mesha, King of Moab (2Kg 3:4-27).

The Elisha stories are integrated into the account of Jehoram, second son of Ahab, king of Israel. They are not in chronological order, and the name of the Israelite ruler is unmentioned (deliberately?), so it is not clear which of the Elisha stories actually occurred during the reign of Jehoram. Perhaps this reflects an attitude that the northern kingdom, Israel, had already been rejected by God because of their failure to respond in faith to the clear demonstration of the Lord’s reality and power by Elijah on Mount Carmel.

Some postulate an “Ahab source” (1Kg 20; 22:1-38), but in what way it is different from the Elijah source is difficult to say. The Ahab narratives exhibit a consistent antagonism to the Arameans (1Kg 20:42), but this is hardly grounds for distinguishing it from the Elijah source. The evidence simply does not allow it. Conclusions based upon this kind of “internal” evidence are subjective at best, and speculative at worst.

However, there is one further source that forces itself on our attention—the so-called “Isaiah source” (2Kg 18:1–20:20). So named because it is almost a word-for-word parallel to Isaiah 36–39; either the exilic author of 2 Kings quoted from this eighth century BC prophet, or both cited a common source. Since 2 Kings 20:20 refers the reader to the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings for further information about Hezekiah’s reign, it is possible, even likely, that this is the common source. However, 2 Chronicles 32:32 refers to the Visions of the Prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, and the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel as a source separate from the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. While not completely certain, it is most likely the author of Kings copied his text from Isaiah directly.