Walk Through the Bible: I Kings
Text for Sermon: I Kings 2:1-3; 8:56; 12:20-34
I and II Kings.
In the original Hebrew Bible I and II Kings were one book. The Hebrews didn’t write down their vowels, so when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek, the scrolls were packed with vowels and were a lot bigger and had to be divided. In the Greek Septuagint they are called Third and Fourth Book of Kingdoms.
Ancient Jews believed Jeremiah was the author. More recently it is believed to be written by a contemporary of Jeremiah.
Remember the reign of King Saul was covered in I Samuel and the reign of King David was covered in II Samuel. The books of I and II Kings cover all the remaining kings of Israel and Judah beginning with Solomon.
If we don’t know I and II Kings we don’t know the historical context for over half the OT. Three poetical books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) and almost all the prophetical books (except Obadiah, Jonah, and Nahum) are written during the time of the kings
Almost all the prophets are speaking directly to Israel and Judah in this time period. 20 of 39 OT books find their genesis in either 1 or 2 Kings.
I and II Kings will take us all the way from the death of King David to the fall of both Israel and Judah into Babylonian captivity, from Israel’s golden age to her Gentile destruction. Israel is conquered by Assyria and Judah is conquered by Babylon.
If we take the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock in 1620, that is the amount of time our history covers as a nation; and how far are we from our destruction? Think for a moment how volumes it would take to capture our history as a nation from 1620 to 2020.
Since the two Kings cover the 400 years, about 50,000 words, the writer must be very selective in what he includes, so we can conclude that what is included is very important. We need to pay attention and ask why did God put this in here.
These books are historical narratives. But it is important to remember this is not just history, but prophetic history, it focuses on the words and actions of the prophets of God. At least ten prophets or prophetesses are active in the progress of this history.
The writer was most interested in theology, pastoral theology. Kings are not political history, it is pastoral history, spiritual history, the events chosen to be included are selected because of their spiritual significance. This is history with a message.
Theology is no help if is it isn’t pastoral. My best seminary professors were always those who were also pastors, with a pastor’s heart for teaching people the difference between right and wrong, sin and righteousness and holiness.
They say people who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. But people who just read history for history’s sake are doomed to miss the spiritual lessons God is teaching through the events.
This is not an exhaustive history, but a God-edited, God-authorized version of how He wants us to view His redemptive purposes and work in history.