Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there. But I chose David to be over my people Israel. Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.
Nevertheless, you shall not build the temple, but your Son who will come from your body, He shall build the temple for my name. So the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke, and I have filled the position of my father David, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. And I have built a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. And there I have made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, we come to the last book in what's called the former prophets. The former prophets are Joshua, Judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel, and 1st and 2nd Kings. And while 1st and 2nd Chronicles are similar to 1st and 2nd Kings, The former prophets are strictly Joshua through Kings. Chronicles belong to the classification of the writings in the Hebrew canon, and so they are a little bit different in terms of genre and form, though there is significant overlap in terms of the material.
One man says the book of Kings, 1st and 2nd Kings together, is the last book of the former prophets, completing the narrative of God's people in the land of Canaan that began in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. Now, they are historical, first and second Kings, but it's theological history. In other words, the author, the editors put together this particular book in order to set forth various concerns for the nation of Israel, instruction concerning the fall of Israel, and ultimately instruction concerning the doctrine of the God of Israel. So tonight we want to introduce 1st and 2nd Kings.
They technically go together. The separation between 1st and 2nd Kings was probably more practical rather than theological or thematic. It was a big book and so they split it in two.
Title, Author, and Date
But I want to look at the title, the author, and the date. Secondly, look at the continuation of the monarchy. Thirdly, the structure of the book, and then fourthly, the major themes in the book. But with reference to title, author, and date, the title in the Hebrew Bible is 1st and 2nd Kings.
As I said, the split between the two is probably not theological, just practical. In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Septuagint, it broke Samuel into two books together with 1st and 2nd Kings, and they were called Books of the Kingdoms. Thus, 1st and 2nd Samuel are 1st and 2nd Kingdoms, and 1st and 2nd Kings are 3rd and 4th Kingdoms. So if you ever pick up the Septuagint and read, that's the difference there.
In the Latin Vulgate, you simply have 1st through 4th Kings. Now, the author has not told us, just like when we studied the book of Samuel. We're not certain who composed Samuel. There is an absence of a reference.
There is an ancient Jewish tradition that suggests that it was Jeremiah the prophet that wrote the books of 1 and 2 Kings. As I said, we don't know for certain, but we do know that they are indeed Scripture. Paul in the book of Romans speaks specifically of kings in Romans 11, 2. He says, God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew.
Or do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life. So certainly we don't know the particular human author involved but we know ultimately the divine author is the Holy Spirit of God Most High. Now in terms of the dates, there's two sets of dates that we ought to understand. There's the dates that the book was composed, and then there's the dates that the book covers in terms of history.
It covers about a 400-year span that begins with the death of David and the beginning of the reign of Solomon, and that's dated at 971 BC. So 971 BC is when the book officially begins. Now the death of David, I'm not the exact sure, probably 970, 71, or 7271, around that time. And then the book ends in 2 Kings chapter 25, with the fall of Jerusalem, and that took place in 586.
But it doesn't stop there because Jehoiachin is how the book ends. And Jehoiachin began his reign in 561. And in 2 Kings 25-27, it says in the 37th year of his reign. So it takes us down to 561 BC.
So 971 BC to 561 BC are the dates covered in terms of the material in 1st and 2nd Kings. Now, most suggest that the books were written after 560, probably between 560 and 538 BC. So again, it was after the fall of Jerusalem in the 6th century, and it was probably during the exile while the people of Israel, or Judah rather, were in Babylonian captivity. So that's title, author, and date.
Continuation of the Monarchy
Secondly, the books essentially record for us, in terms of their history, the continuation of the monarchy in Israel. You can turn to the book of Deuteronomy for a moment just to rehearse what we have seen or learned thus far in our study of the Old Testament concerning the monarchy or the kingship in Israel. In Deuteronomy chapter 17, specifically beginning in verse 14, we learn that there are specific principles or laws or rules that were to govern the king in Israel. Notice in 17.14, when you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you and possess it and dwell in it and say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me, you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses.
One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you. You may not set a foreigner over you who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. For the Lord has said to you, you shall not return that way again.
Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. Also, it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord as God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel." Now, as we move through these historical books, we see that the king certainly did not toe the line. They did not follow this clear injunction concerning the particulars with reference to their rule.
Many of them multiply wives, many of them multiply horses, or military weaponry, and many of them multiply wealth. They depart from the law of God in this particular instance. Notice as well, what the first order of business was to be for the king. Verse 18, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests, the Levites.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes. One wonders if the kings of Israel had actually fulfilled this particular mandate, things would have been much, much different in terms of the particular nation involved in the covenant, the nation that was called to be the covenant people of God. So, we note that during the time of the judges, there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. So, God raised up judges to serve as deliverers for the nation of Israel.
The book of Judges simply is a series of cycles. The people of Israel sin against God. God raises up foreign oppressors. He sends them in order to punish or chastise the covenant people.
The people then cry out for deliverance. They don't cry out in repentance, but rather they cry out in distress. And because of the God of mercy that He is, He would raise up these human deliverers, these saviors, these judges in Israel, and they would bring deliverance to the people of Israel. We get to the book of 1 Samuel, and there we see people crying out for a king.
And it's not the monarchy, necessarily, that is a sinful request. It is what drives this request. They do want to be like the nations around them. Instead of trusting in the sovereignty of God and in the power of their covenant God, they would rather have an earthly king to rule over them.
Remember that in 1 Samuel chapter 8, God through Samuel says, the king that you get is going to exploit you. The king that you get is going to tax you. The king that you get is going to do all manner of nasty things to you. And nevertheless, the people cry out, so God calls Samuel to anoint Saul.
Saul becomes the king and he is covenantally unfaithful. He is a wretch, and so the Lord God condemns him. The Lord God says that he is going to give the kingdom to a man after his own heart. And so it's David who serves as the king of Israel from about 1 Samuel 16, when he's anointed, all the way to the end of 2 Samuel.
Now, David's reign was a good reign. It was positive overall, but it was not perfect. Certainly, we saw the misgivings or the shortcomings, rather, of David when we studied 1 and 2 Samuel. Well, that brings us specifically to the book of Kings.
And what we have here, as we've mentioned before, is that Solomon, the son of David, occupies the throne in Israel. Solomon has a good reign. There is peace, there is blessing, there is prosperity during Solomon's reign. The people of Israel do engage in and do enjoy a season of great blessing and comfort.
But nevertheless, Solomon himself, as good and as positive as a presentation we have of Solomon's reign in chapters 1 to 11, we see that it's not perfect. If you keep in mind, What Deuteronomy 17, 16, and 17 says, a king was not supposed to multiply wives. Solomon does that. A king was not to multiply wealth.
Now that doesn't mean he had to be dirt poor, but the queen of Sheba comes to see the pomp and the glory and the majesty of Solomon's kingdom. And the king of Israel was not to multiply weapons. But Solomon does that very thing in terms of horses and in terms of chariots. So as good as Solomon was, he did typify for us the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was nevertheless a sinful king. And so in 1 Kings chapter 12, as a result, or after Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam becomes king. And then Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, rebels against Rehoboam. And essentially what Jeroboam does is split the kingdom.
And this is a judgment from God upon the nation. We'll see that when we get to 1 Kings chapter 12. But what you have then is what's called the divided monarchy. You have two sections.
The one kingdom of Israel becomes a divided kingdom. You have the North and you have the South. And in the South you have two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. All the rest are in the North.
And there is some friendship among the kingdoms throughout the books of 1st and 2nd Kings, but there is some unfriendly activity that goes on between them as well. So a bulk of, or much of, first and second kings deals with that monarchy, or that divided monarchy. And what the author does, he doesn't just treat the kings of Israel and then jumps to the kings of Judah, but he does them sort of parallel, and there is something of an overlap, or rather the absence or the lack of an overlap, because you might have a king of Israel here, and then a king of Judah here. Basically, the timing is a bit difficult to trace, and we'll try and note that as we move through these particular books.
But it is intriguing that in the kingdom of Judah, you had, counting Solomon, 21 kings in about 343 years. In the kings of Israel, you had 20 kings in 200 years. They didn't have dynasty. There were several, or there were a couple where there were four perhaps in a dynasty, but the common thread running through Judah is that they were descendants from David.
And we'll see that as we move into the major themes of the book.
Structure of 1 and 2 Kings
In terms, thirdly, of the structure of the book, I think you could take a large swath and break 1st and 2nd Kings down into three primary sections. You have the reign of Solomon in 1st Kings 1.1 to 1st Kings 11.43. You then have the divided monarchy in 1 Kings 12, 1 to 2 Kings 17, 41. And then you have the kingdom of Judah alone in 2 Kings 18, 1 to 25, 30.
And the reason you have the kingdom of Judah alone is because the Northern kingdom falls in 2 Samuel, I'm sorry, 2 Kings 17. They fall to Assyria. So essentially what you have in 1st and 2nd Kings is not only God's sovereignty, His preservation of the people, His goodness and His kindness to them, but you also have the sinfulness and the rebellion of both kingdoms. And as a result, they provoke the Lord God Most High and He brings the covenant curses to bear upon Him.
What we are seeing in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was not a new thing. The very same thing is recorded for us in 2 Kings 17 and then again in 2 Kings 24 and 25 with the fall of the northern kingdom and the fall of the southern kingdom. This was God's punishment and this was God's judgment upon the nation of Israel because they had violated or broken the covenant they had made or had sworn to keep with the God of Israel. So we see the title, the author, and the date.
We note the continuation of the monarchy, the structure of the book.
Major Themes
Now, what are some of the major themes in the book? And there are several that we ought to consider.
The History of Israel
The first place, on a human level, it is the history of Israel. I mean, it's about a 400-year period. If you understand 1st and 2nd Kings, it will help you understand a whole lot of your Old Testament. And without this understanding, without a knowledge of what 1st and 2nd Kings is all about, it's going to be tough to make heads or tails out of certain of the prophets.
Because remember, the prophets are writing, and the prophets are preaching, and the prophets are ministering to Israel during this 400-year period. Now, not all of the prophets, there were some that came after the exile in Babylon, but a bulk of the prophets were speaking and preaching and teaching and calling Israel to repentance and faith during this 400-year period. I really can't understand how persons could read the prophets profitably without having a knowledge of first and second kings, to have that historical background. When you read Isaiah, for instance, it is most crucial to understand the years that he prophesied, to know something in terms of the kings who were in Israel and in Judah.
It's also very helpful to understand what the world powers were outside of the the kingdom of Israel. To know that is to be helped as you read the prophet Isaiah. We're not supposed to just mine out little timeless truths from the prophets and put them on our refrigerators. We're supposed to understand what their function was and how they operated and in order to do that these books of 1st and 2nd Kings are crucial to an understanding of the prophets.
I mean, when you read about Jeremiah having to leave and going into Egypt, you need to understand what the backdrop is in that regard. When you learn these historical books, it helps you to fill in some of the places so that you can indeed understand the prophets. And conversely, when you read the prophets, you go to the historical books and you can understand what's happening and what's facing them at that particular time. So the history of Israel, and I think really practically it ought to instruct us and help us to consider what life in the kingdom ought to look like.
In other words, we are in the church. The church is the visible expression of the kingdom of God on earth. We ought to learn from the mistakes or from the sins that have been perpetrated before us. We ought to realize that we ought to give heed to the prophetic word.
We ought not to do the sorts of things that the people of Israel fell into so many times in this 400-year period, and we ought, by the grace of God, strive to be faithful to the law that the Lord has given to us. It doesn't do us any good to have the entirety of the Bible and then sin with an impudent mindset when we see the examples that have gone on before us. As the apostle says in Romans 15, All of Scripture is written for our encouragement and for our admonition. Now, we ought not to moralize and say we ought to dare to be an Elisha and this is the reasons how or the reasons why, but we ought to learn from these particular accounts that we shouldn't duplicate the same sorts of sins that the children of Israel fell into. 1 Kings 17 and 18 with reference to Elijah and the contest at Carmel.
Well, we ought to learn or we ought to see there's an equivalence between what the prophet Elijah says in terms of, choose you this day whom you will serve. If Yahweh is God, serve Him. If Baal is God, then serve Him. We ought to see something paralleled in that with reference to Jesus' words in Matthew 12, 30.
He who is not with me is against me. They're saying and preaching essentially the same message. So there is a whole host of things that we ought to learn from the history of Israel. We ought to imitate when they did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and we ought to guard against doing those things that were displeasing in the eyes of the Lord.
The Law of Moses
A second major theme in the book is the Law of Moses. Now, we know it's the Law of God, but for convenience sake, we'll call it the Law of Moses. That refers to the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Primarily, Deuteronomy is behind the scenes in the books of King. If I just say book, that means 1st and 2nd Kings. It really is considered as one book. But how are the Kings measured with reference to their performance?
They're measured according to the law of Moses. They're measured according to the law of God. In fact, as the author is indicating to us that, say for instance, Solomon makes a treaty with Pharaoh, king of Daughter, and marries Pharaoh's daughter, then he brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem. Perhaps the author is recalling to our minds the whole mandate of holy war.
Holy War and Deuteronomy 17 specifically discouraged making political alliances, social alliances, and certainly religious alliances with the Canaanites in the land. And here in 1 Kings chapter 3, Solomon is marrying an Egyptian woman in order to make a political treaty. Now, some might look at that and say, well, that's good. You ought to make political treaties.
Not if you're the people of Yahweh. Not when he has said that you are to go into the land and utterly destroy everything that they own, tear down their idols, dispossess the land of the Canaanites. No reader of 1 Kings 3.1 should say, well, Solomon's really acting wisely in this particular point. When we move on and we see that Solomon multiplies wealth, and he multiplies wives in addition to this one, and when he multiplies horses, the author is alluding to or having us to remember what the Deuteronomic law says and what it stipulates.
And we just read it there in Deuteronomy 17, 16 and 17. If we read through 1 Kings 1 to 11, and we conclude that Solomon was a great guy until the very end, We ought not to, you know, or we ought to sort of reevaluate and realize that, no, there were foreshadowings or there were symbolic or statements rather that show us that Solomon is on the wrong path. So it is the law of Moses by which the kings are measured according specifically to the book of Deuteronomy.
The Reign of Solomon
Thirdly, we see the reign of Solomon. And again, I don't want to, you know, diss Solomon. It's always tough when you're, you know, on this side of things to call into question. But the Spirit gave us these things concerning not only Solomon, but David.
And we would be remiss to not point out their shortcomings and their failures. Remember, one of the purposes in the entirety of the Old Testament is to point us to the one true hero. David was a heroic man. Solomon was a great man.
There were kings that were most excellent. Josiah, Hezekiah are two that stand out among the Judahites. But all of these men were men at best, and they point us forward to the one that will be without sin, the one that is holy, harmless, and undefiled, the one that is the perfect king. Remember Jesus in Matthew's gospel says there is a greater than Solomon here.
He is a greater than Solomon. Solomon was typical. He did point forward, but Solomon's reign fell short of what Jesus Christ will accomplish or does accomplish. So the encouraging aspects in terms of Solomon's reign, his request for wisdom.
I mean, that's a most excellent thing. When God the Lord comes to Solomon and asks him, what do you want? And what does Solomon say? He wants wisdom.
That is a blessed lesson we ought to learn from Solomon. If God comes to you and says, what one thing can I give you? What would you say? I don't want a show of hands or I don't want you to say, you know, I want a hundred more wishes, God.
You know, we would treat him as if he's the genie. You get three wishes. What's your first wish? Well, I want a hundred wishes.
Well, that's not what we're dealing with here. But God comes to Solomon and says, what do you want? And he says, I want wisdom. And then we see the use of that wisdom right away.
Solomon demonstrates wisdom in terms of his political rule and his political leadership. It is most excellent. So he not only requests wisdom, but he also uses wisdom. And then he is the builder of the temple.
This is Solomon's primary claim to fame. Remember in 2 Samuel 7, David is sitting in his nice house, and he wants to build a house for the Lord. And the Lord God sends the prophet to tell him, you're not going to build a house for me, I'm going to build a house for you. And what God the Lord means to David is not your own personal dwelling place, not your own personal palace, but I'm going to make a dynasty out of you, David.
From your line kings will come. One king will ultimately come who will rule and reign forever and ever. But the son of David was to build a house for the Lord. And Solomon realizes this.
Again, I think it's still typical and it points forward to what we see in Matthew 16. After Peter confesses, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. He is the son of God according to the Davidic covenant. And then Jesus says, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
You have a Davidic son who builds a house for God. Yes, in Solomon, but it's realized fully and brought to consummation through our Lord Jesus. So Solomon had some encouraging aspects. The discouraging I've already mentioned, the multiplication of wives, chapter three, verse one, and then chapter 11, versus one and following.
I mean, he had a lot of wives, and they led his heart away from the living and the true God. That was the specific requirement in Deuteronomy chapter 7. Do not marry with them, because if you marry with them, you're going to be worshiping with them before long. That's the reason why.
What does Deuteronomy 13 say? If the wife of your own bosom entices you away from Yahweh your God, then you shall have her put to death. Seduction to apostasy or idolatry was a capital offense in Old Covenant Israel. And here we see the king of Israel multiplying wives in a nauseating manner.
So there is encouragement, but there is discouragement in terms of the reign of Solomon.
The Davidic Covenant
A fourth theme that we ought to appreciate in the book is the Davidic Covenant. The Davidic Covenant, in fact, turned to 2 Samuel 7. It's good to have that before our eyes so that we understand why the book ends the way that it does, 2 Kings. Notice in 2 Samuel 7 verse 11, the very end, also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house.
Again, this is a dynasty. Verse 12, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you who will come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son.
If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever." That's why when you get to say the prophet Ezekiel, God through the prophet says, I will send David my king.
What's he talking about? He's talking about the Lord Jesus. He's talking about the New Covenant. He's talking about the reality that Christ fulfills what 2 Samuel 7 tells us, that God will, from David's line, raise up one to sit upon the throne whose rule and reign shall have no end.
Now, when we look at the Davidic Covenant, or we consider that particular theme, we understand the utter apostasy and the utter failure of the Northern Kingdom. But when we look at the line of Judah, there is this small glimmer of hope that 2 Kings ends on. You can turn to 2 Kings chapter 25. Now, when I say a small glimmer of hope, It is a small glimmer of hope, but sometimes a small glimmer of hope is all that one needs to keep going in the daily grind.
Notice in 2 Kings, forgive me, I'm going to say Samuel probably for the next several weeks since we've been in Samuel for so long, but notice in 2 Kings 25-27. Now it came to pass in the 37th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the 12th month, on the 27th day of the month, that evil Meredok, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.
And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day all the days of his life. The Davidic line is not extinguished. It is not utterly snuffed out. Again, that's a small glimmer, but it's a glimmer nevertheless.
Ian Proven says, the future of the Davidic line apparently hangs by the slender thread of a displaced ruler sitting at the table of the king of Babylon. And Ralph Davis says, it seems to me then that biblical theology would lead us to see a ray of hope in this kindness done to the exiled Davidic king. Again, it's very small, but nevertheless, that Davidic covenant runs through this particular era. It will indeed secure the arrival of the coming king, even our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Prophets of God
As well, another major theme in the book are the prophets of God. I mean, if you have read through 1st and 2nd Kings, we've got exciting stuff ahead of us, don't we? I mean, you've got Elijah and Elisha. I mean, these were men of God, men that were faithful, men that stood up to the wickedness and to the lawlessness of their age.
One only need remember Elijah on Mount Carmel fighting those prophets of Baal. Remember those prophets at that time were state subsidized. They ate at the king's table. They were on the government payroll in Israel.
So these were dark days in Israel's history, and yet Elijah the Tishbite just shows up. In fact, look at 1 Kings 17 for a moment. Truly an amazing way that he's introduced to us. After an array of bad kings, notice in 1701, and Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, that's it, he's there.
There's no, and Elijah was raised to, you know, Betty and Johnny and he was brought up on the catechism and he went to this school. He's just there. One man says, whenever evil flourishes, it is always a superficial flourish. For at the height of the triumph of evil, God will be there, ready with his man and his movement and his plans to ensure that his own cause will never fail.
Now note, Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand. I mean, that's an amazing statement from this Tishbite. Before whom I stand. God sends his man to deal with the situation facing Israel.
And then just that one snippet concerning Elisha, when those young, those lads mocked him and called him baldy bean or bald head and he cursed them and the she bears come out and kill that. Now when we get to that, you're probably gonna have a bit of prejudice or some of us have this prejudice that we have two and three year old little boys that mock this prophet and he sent these she bears out to devastate them. There's more going on than just that. But these men were paradigmatic or somewhat typical of men to come, Elijah, John the Baptist is the Elijah in the New Covenant, and there are some very striking parallels between Christ and Elisha, the prophet that we will note when we get to the Elisha narrative.
So the prophets of God are another theme, and certainly it's the word of God that is to hold sway in the hearts of God's kings and in the hearts of God's people.
The Doctrine of God
And then finally, well not finally, we got two more, the doctrine of God. The doctrine of God is conspicuous throughout the book of Kings. In the first place, His being. He is God alone and thus the gods of the heathen are idols.
That was a problem facing Israel at this particular time. You had behind the scenes, or rather around Israel, you had Egypt, you had Aram, or what we call today Syria, you had Assyria and Babylon. These were the competing powers against Israel at the time. Well, each of them had their own collection of gods.
And so Israelites would go a whoring from the true and the living God. But God is God alone, and thus the gods of the heathen are idols. Notice in 8.23, we didn't read that part, but he says, Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like you, who keep your covenant and mercy with your servants, who walk before you with all their hearts. He is God alone, and thus the gods of the heathen are idols.
He is the creator of heaven and earth, 2 Kings chapter 19. 2 Kings chapter 19, specifically verse 15. Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth. You have made heaven and earth. As well, God is the one who controls nature.
Now this is important to realize or understand because the pagans thought Baal controlled nature. The pagans thought that Baal brought rain. The pagans thought that Baal was the cause for fruitfulness and for bounty with reference to crops. In fact, one man, his last name is Fully Love.
I've never seen a name like that. Fully Love is his name. I'm guessing he's full of love, but he makes this observation. This is from a recent release.
It's an introduction, a biblical theological introduction to the Old Testament, and several authors that take up different books, and this fellow takes up 1 and 2 Kings, but he makes this observation concerning the miracles that are reported in the books of 1st and 2nd Kings. And Elijah and Elisha do a lot of miracles. And he says, the miracles recounted in Elijah and Elisha's stories are not as haphazard as they may seem upon a casual reading. Instead, these miracles form a polemic against Baal worship.
Baal was the storm god, more specifically with lightning as his weapon and rain as his blessing. Therefore, it is no accident that fire from heaven is a key component of the miracles and kings. Nor is it likely an accident that control of rain and provision of water feature prominently in the miracles of kings. As the supposed giver of rain, Baal would have been considered the ultimate source of food.
And not surprisingly, many of the miracles and kings relate to the provision of food. Ugaritic literature, Ugarit was an ancient city in Syria. Ugaritic literature even discusses Baal's conquering of Judge River, his rival, while both Elijah and Elisha can strike the Jordan and command it to part. The Ugaritic Baal myth includes Baal rising from the dead in an annual cycle, yet both Elijah and Elisha even raise the dead.
In the Elijah and Elisha narratives then, God and his prophets are victorious, not just over wayward kings, but even over other gods those kings follow. Anything Baal is said to do is actually instead done by Yahweh's prophets. I thought that was a very interesting observation and very fitting for our consideration of these books tonight. And as well, he is the one who controls history.
As we saw, I think, repeatedly in our studies in 1 and 2 Samuel, God is sovereign in providence. God overrules history. God is the one who is in the heavens, and He does whatever He pleases. And time and time and time again, you will see that the Lord God is the controller of the events that occur in the books of 1 and 2 Kings.
As well, with reference, so in terms of the doctrine of God, we see something concerning His being, but as well His worship. his worship. We see and understand something of the second commandment in the books of 1st and 2nd Kings. God is a jealous God. He'll brook no rivals.
You can't have God and Baal. You can't have God and, you know, Asherah. You cannot mix or mingle the two. If you try and do that, you have neglected, rejected, and resisted the living and the true God.
That'll come out over and over in the books of 1st and 2nd Kings. As well, He is to be worshipped legitimately in terms of content. You're not supposed to worship God with idols or images. Again, Deuteronomy is behind the scenes in 1st and 2nd Kings.
You're not supposed to, you know, make calves or golden calves and set them up in order to divert the attention of the northern kingdom. It's precisely what Jeroboam did. And I think in terms of a worldly or a carnal ploy, it made sense. Jeroboam realized that if the northerners travel all the way to Jerusalem, they may be convinced that what we're doing here is wrong.
So that's why he puts these calves up and ascribes to them that they are Yahweh that brought them out of the land of Egypt. It was an attempt to bring to the north Yahweh, but by doing so, it's an act of idolatry. And as well, he is to be worshiped legitimately in terms of place. Jerusalem, not in the high places.
Remember, a primary concern in the book of Deuteronomy, specifically chapter 12, was that Israel was to have a central sanctuary. There was to be one place. God didn't want Israel to worship wherever they hankered after him. No, because he knew that if they worshiped wherever they hankered after him, It might be Baal or it might be Asherah, it might be Moloch, it might be some other form or some other situation.
There was a central sanctuary designed to protect the integrity of Israel's worship. You are not supposed to just entertain God on any high place. Then as well, his judgment. That's something else that we see that this book illustrates adequately.
Note first, the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 2 Kings 17. 2 Kings 17. The fall of the northern kingdom was not due to the superiority of the Assyrian army. Note 2 Kings 17 at verse 13. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all of his prophets, every seer saying, turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by my servants, the prophets.
Nevertheless, they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them. They followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served Baal.
And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from His sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. Also, Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but they walked in the statutes of Israel which they had made.
And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers until He had cast them from His sight. For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin. where the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did, they did not depart from them until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria as it is to this day.
You see, it was God. It wasn't the Assyrians and their military savvy or superiority. It was the judgment of God because the nation of Israel, specifically the Northern Kingdom, had apostatized, they had defected, they had broken the covenant of God Most High, and according to the covenant curses, He sent them into exile. Notice in 2 Kings chapter 24. 2 Kings chapter 24.
The fall of the southern kingdom takes up 24 and 25, but just the first four verses in 2 Kings 24. In his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him, and the Lord sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans. Remember I said he is the sovereign over history?
Look who sends the raiders. He sent, the Lord sent, against him, raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which He had spoken by His servants, the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that He had done. and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed, for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon." Remember, Jesus says this to the first-century generation that he is speaking to.
They had filled up the measure of their father's guilt. All the blood of righteous Abel of Zechariah will be required from that particular generation. They had a long history and a long pedigree of violating the law of God and breaking His commandments and breaking His covenant. So the Northern Kingdom falls in 722, the Southern Kingdom falls in 586, And then as the nation comes out of exile, Judah is back in existence, the Christ comes from the line of David, he comes to his own, his own receive him not, they ultimately deliver him up to crucify him.
And so that is when AD 70 occurs to bring the judgment of God to bear upon them one last time as a body politic, as a theocracy, as the special covenant people of God. After AD 70, they enter into the rank and file of every other nation. They are no better than others. They are no worse than others.
They stand in need of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, this is fully love concerning the fall of the kingdoms. He says, the author or compiler of the book than is giving, under inspiration of God, an accurate theological take on events in the history of God's people. I mean, if you were a bystander and you saw Israel, the northern tribes, fall to Assyria, you'd probably conclude that Assyria was the superior army.
If you saw that Judah fell to Babylon, you might conclude that Babylon had a better army and Nebuchadnezzar was a better military commander. This man says that Kings gives the theological rationale specifically for the judgment that fell upon both North and South. He says, that theological take is that God was justly judging His people for their sin. Such a viewpoint would have competed with other potential inferable explanations for the fall of Israel and Judah, that they had made poor alliances or simply had not won the geopolitical contest, or even possibly that the people had failed to be sufficiently devoted to Baal.
Instead, the author is arguing that God's people were in exile because God had willed it as a judgment for their disobedience to the law, especially as presented in Deuteronomy. So it gives the rationale behind the fall of the kingdoms. We know why. It's not because God just woke up in a bad mood and thought He'd dispatch the Assyrians and then the Babylonians.
It's because God sent prophet after prophet after prophet to prosecute His holy law to these people. He called them to repentance. Remember, this is a 400-year period. Never let anyone say that this God in the Old Testament is just, you know, quick at the trigger.
No, He's long-suffering. He's bearing. I sent my servants, the prophets, to you. He bore long with them, but the measure of their guilt had been filled up, so he sends these raiders to bring the covenant curses to bear upon them, just as Christ sends the Roman armies in 80-70 to bring the covenant curses to bear upon them.
It's the same sort of thing that happens. God comes in judgment in the Old Testament via Assyria and via Babylon. That's how we're supposed to understand this coming that Jesus speaks of in Matthew chapter 24. He comes in judgment.
He's enthroned at the right hand, but through historical means and through providence, he brings judgment to bear upon Israel.
Christ in the Kings
And then the final thing we ought to appreciate is Christ in the Kings, Christ in the Book of Kings. Certainly every good king is a type of our Lord Jesus. Solomon is a type of our Lord Jesus. Remember, the type doesn't correspond exactly to the anti-type, because then it wouldn't be a type-anti-type relationship.
Not everything that is true of the antitype is necessarily true of the type. The type has certain elements that point us to the antitype. And then Hezekiah, Josiah, these other godly kings certainly typify what we find in our Lord Jesus Christ. But also the temple.
You know, we have sought in the exposition in Matthew's Gospel to show that Christ is the reason that the temple stood. The temple pointed to the Lord Jesus. In fact, you can turn to Zechariah chapter 6. Zechariah chapter 6.
This is post-exilic. This is after the Babylonian captivity. And this is a prophecy concerning our Lord Jesus in Zechariah chapter 6 at verse 12. And speak to him, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch.
From his place he shall branch out, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Yes, he shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne. So he shall be a priest on his throne and the council of peace shall be between them both.
John chapter two. John chapter two. You can look there. Christ is the reason the temple stood when Solomon built that earthly temple.
It was to point Israel to the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in John two specifically at verse So, the Jews answered and said to him, what sign do you show to us since you do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?
But he was speaking of the temple of his body. Therefore, when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them, and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. Now if you didn't catch it the other time or one of the times on Sunday, this theology of the temple, Adam was a son of God charged with expanding the temple of God. Adam failed.
Israel comes and they're a son of God, the firstborn son, and they're supposed to build the temple and expand the knowledge of God and the glory of God throughout the earth. You'll see that in Solomon's prayer of dedication in 1 Kings 8. The temple wasn't simply to be for Jerusalem, it was so that all the nations would see the glory and the majesty of God. Well certainly, Adam was a sinless son of God who fails in extending the temple of God.
Israel is a son of God who fails in extending the temple and the glory of God. Christ is the son of God who builds the temple of God and extends the glory of God throughout the cosmos. All of Scripture is pointing us from the beginning to the end. It points us to Christ as that temple, that one in whom God and sinners find this meeting place.
That's the glory of temple in the Old Testament. It preaches to the people of Israel and hopefully preaches to us the glory of Jesus Christ as the one in whom God and sinners meet together. So that is Christ in the Kings. I'm sure we'll see him many, many more times as we move our way through these two wonderful books of the Bible.
We'll all close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for not only history, but theological history, and the things that You see are necessary for us in this new covenant setting. Help us to appreciate these studies in the Old Testament. I pray that all of us would be reading our Old Testaments. We know that Jesus said these testify of Him. and give us grace and ears and eyes and hearts to receive the truth as it is in Christ.
And may we be encouraged in our most holy faith, may we be strengthened in it, and may we, as Michael prayed earlier, be bold witnesses for the glory of Christ. Certainly we are to be living lights in this crooked and perverse generation, and we are to hold forth the word of truth. And if the task of Adam, realized by Christ, is to expand or to extend the knowledge of God and the glory of God, then use us as living stones in this temple to do that very thing and to bring glory and praise to your Most High Name. Go with us now, we pray, in Jesus' name.
Amen.