1 Kings.
Solomon's glory, the kingdom divided, and the slow drift toward catastrophe.
Who wrote 1 Kings?
Anonymous; the work of the "Deuteronomistic Historian."
Who was it written for?
The exiles in Babylon, asking how they got there.
Structure
- Solomon (1–11): wisdom, temple, and the failure of his old age
- Divided kingdom (12–16): Rehoboam, Jeroboam, and the fracture
- Elijah (17–22): the prophet against the apostasy of Ahab
Key verses
Why 1 Kings matters
The book is structured around two contrasts: Solomon's rise and fall, and the long Elijah cycle. Solomon shows what happens when wisdom is divorced from faithfulness. Elijah shows that even when the official religion has collapsed, God preserves "seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal" — the remnant theme that runs through the rest of Scripture.
Related tools
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