Kings Summary

Question 1

What is a summary of the Kings books (in order)?

Answer 1

The book starts with the death of David, and how he leaves the kingdom of Israel, unified, under the rule of his son, Solomon (he’s the one David had with Bathsheba). Then, Solomon reigns. He’s a good king in many ways, but he isn’t a super-godly one, and ends up bringing sin into his land as a byproduct of the good relations he built with other big, powerful, ungodly nations. Then, after he dies, his son, Rehoboam, takes over. Not everyone likes this, so the 10 northern tribes of Israel (now under the rule of Jeroboam) split away from the 2 southern tribes of Judah. The next part of this book covers the 20-kings-per-nation-long period filled with prophets instructed by God to condemn bad behavior and promote good, godly behavior. Then, Jehu, the current king of Israel kills the house of Ahab, a former king of Israel. This starts a spiraling succession of more inner violence and coups in Israel, paving the way for Assyria to take over. They try to also take over Judah, but they resist. Soon later, before the Israelites are finished with their exile in Assyria, the Assyrians are taken over by Babylon, and so is Judah. The book ends almost the opposite as it begins, with God’s kingdom completely in exile, and not at peace

Question 2

What was Solomon like? What were some good things he did for Israel? What were some things that he did which lead to Israel’s downfall?

Answer 2

Solomon was the son of David and succeeder to his kingship of Judah. He was an overall wise king in the traditional sense, and made Israel a lot more successful in terms of military and wealth. He established good relations with plenty of other nations at the time (mainly with treaties, ‘marriage alliances’ and trades), he made the temple, and built walled cities for battle. He wasn’t all good, though (he was born out of a string of sins, after all). He also ended up bringing in a lot of sin as a byproduct of having such amazing relations with other countries. Also, he wasn’t the closest to God himself. Overall, he resembled Pharaoh more than David

Question 3

What happened after Solomon was gone? (Rehoboam, Jeroboam, exile)?

Answer 3

After Solomon died, his son, Rehoboam succeeded him, which ends up causing the split between the 10 northern tribes of Israel, and the 2 southern tribes of Judah. Then, Jeroboam ends up becoming king of Israel. After that, the minor prophets come into play, one by one, trying to reinfuse godliness into their land and condemn bad practices, all as God sees fit. As time goes on, and God’s people get more and more sinful, they are takin into exile. First, the Israelites fall to the Assyrians, but Judah resists. Then, Babylon takes over Assyria in its entirety (including Israel) and also takes Judah into exile