1 Kings

Bible #11

by Anonymous

Book 11 of the Old Testament

Genres: Religion, Christian, Nonfiction, Scripture, History, Christianity, Historical

22 pages, Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2023, my church did 1 and 2 Kings for Bible Bowl, and I participated, which meant I had to study those books diligently. Every week, I would both listen to and read those books in the original NIV translation. The preparation for that competition went on for over a year, so, I became very well acquainted with those two Biblical accounts. Still, the stories are great, and it was interesting to see how the NKJV renders the Hebrew passages differently than what I read through last year. As usual, The Word of Promise helped the stories leap off the page.

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of my READ THE BIBLE WITHIN A YEAR challenge.

Wish me luck, as I've got a long way to go, and I’m really beginning to struggle.

I MUST read on!

For fear of sounding repetitive, this book also contains lots of fighting, killing, defeating and fleeing. There is definitely a theme forming here.

Main topics that stood out to me are:

Adonijah sets himself up as king. David finds out about this and makes Solomon king.

I enjoyed the part about the two prostitutes, each with a newborn baby. One prostitute accidentally kills her baby by laying on it, so swaps it with the other woman while she’s sleeping. The women fight over who is the true mother of the living baby. King Solomon suggests the baby is cut in two and they can have half each. The real mother begs the king not to hurt the baby, and to give it to the other woman instead. Because of her response and compassion toward the baby, he knows she is the real mother and gives the child to her. This makes Solomon popular, as he has “wisdom from God to administer justice.”

King Solomon builds a temple for the LORD.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 Kings is such a sad chronicle of kings who knew better but didn’t do better.

(Names from the French, not the English)

~Salomon—wisest man on earth, wrote many good things, started out so prosperously, made some small compromises, allied himself to the wrong people, and ended up serving other gods and forsaking the Lord.

~Roboam—made a good decision or three, ignored wise counsel, and embarked on a lifelong war instead of obeying God’s plan.

~Jeroboam—raised from the dust, thought too much, started a new religion, tried to silence God’s prophets, had many instances where he saw God’s power, yet with his house was so wicked that they became a byword.

~Abijam—nothing known of him but that he walked like his father Roboam and led the people of Juda into rebellion against the Lord.

~Asa—who started out so, so well and sought the Lord, but then chose to put his strength in man, brought war upon his own people, and lost hope in God.

~Baesha, Ela, Zimri—three men who saw what wickedness brought, yet continued to walk as Jeroboam and were successively wiped out.

~Omri, who walked exactly as his predecessors and brought up his son the same way.

~Achab—infamous as the wickedest king, completely blind and deaf to all God’s signs, murderous and irresponsible and weak.

And through it all, God continued to care for His people, keeping them safe from enemies, feeding and clothing them, and endlessly making His presence known…

There are so many stories that speak to me… like he story of Eli, who insisted he alone served God—yet God told him that 700 other people had also refused to serve Baal…

[Loraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

First and Second Kings were once a single book. The division into two occurred in the fifteenth century AD. The authors are unknown. First and Second Kings accent God's elected people: Israel. God selected this people to reverse the mess that humanity had made. This book is grounded in the role of the kings themselves. But unfortunately, many of them strayed, from God's Word and led their people into worshipping other cultures' gods.

[F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am flabbergasted at some of the reviews I read by some readers concerning Bible books. They treat the Bible as a novel and speak of "character development" or complain because the storyline jumps back and forth too much [speaking of the concurrent timelines of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah]. SMH

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

[Sarita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing how God’s provision and blessing came with obedience. And how kings who started out obeying God, was removed from their position due to disobedience.

How often do we miss out on God’s blessings because of stubbornness and disobedience.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/29/2025 - 6/29/2025 with The Bible Recap

[Caleb Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, I can't not rate the Bible 5 stars without calling down fire and brimstone 😂

1 Kings picks up some time after 2nd Samuel, with King David growing old on his death bed as his final days come to a close. His son Adonijah presumptuously declares himself king, but then David declares his son Solomon, son of Bathsheba (ugh), to be the real king instead. Solomon in turn takes the throne of Israel, and naturally Adonijah has a mild panic attack...

✨Family drama✨ ensues, but eventually Adonijah grovels enough so that Solomon doesn't outright kill him.

King David's final hour approaches, so he gives Solomon some very good advice, followed by a hitlist full of people Solomon should "deal with" as king.

David kicks the bucket (big sad 😭) and now Solomon is king over all of Israel.

King Solomon is eventually endowed by God with supernatural wisdom, and IMMEDIATELY starts clearing house and killing off some previous loose ends. He then goes on to build God's Temple and a fancy shmancy palace for himself...

And had the story ended there, things would have gone SO well...

If anyone thought King David couldn't keep his pants on, King Solomon was 10x worse. 1,000 women?? REALLY?? The dude who wrote Proverbs??

I mean it really shows how idiotic even the brightest people can be sometimes, but I believe this colossal screwup singlehandedly put the entire country of Israel on the path to destruction. Not only does Solomon bring over hundreds of foreign wives, but foreign gods too!

AND HE BUILDS TEMPLES FOR THEM?! ARE WE SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?? 🤦

I think at the end Solomon had a change of heart and realized what a total moron he was, but by then the damage was done. David's kingdom splits in two, with Judah ruled by the House of David, and the rest of Israel ruled by whoever God appoints.

But even these new appointed kings are colossal failures too! They all worship foreign gods and generally have some untimely deaths involving dogs licking up their splattered blood while all their descendants are wiped off the face of the planet.

All in all, 1st Kings is a fascinating read (albeit facepalm-worthy at times), and I'm TRULY enjoying all the history I'm learning about Israel and the Jews. There's lots of violence and drama, so for me it's one of the most entertaining reads in the Bible (No offense Leviticus but... I can only handle so many Mosiac Laws in one book...)

There's also countless personal lessons and insights I've taken away from it as well, and I hope to receive many more as I start diving into 2nd Kings!

[Hawley Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been anxious to dive into Kings since doing a Bible Study focused on them at the beginning of the year, but let me just say- unless you are doing a THOROUGH study, so much of the history written in first Kings is typically glossed over, actually one of the most commonly brought up characters from 1 Kings is Jezebel and she was only married to the king. I encourage you to dive in and really study the history of the “season” of Israel (and Judah’s) kings and for the most part how NOT to live. 😬

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting. King Solomon sounds like an interesting individual I would like to read more about.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still remembering studying the book of 1 Kings in reading class when I was in third grade. I learned a lot from that class, and without it I would be almost clueless about the happening in this book. As it is, I have trouble separating all the different kings in my mind. This is most certainly an interesting book of history, but the sheer volume of information can be a little overwhelming! I did really enjoy reading it in the ESV.

[Hanna Brisbois · Rating 1 out of 5]

It started out kind of interesting with basically a retelling of House of the Dragon. I got bored when they just started listing kings and all the stupid things they did

[Tintarella]

اول پادشاهان شروع عجیبی داره: داوود که آخرای عمرشه با هیچ لحافی گرم نمی‌شه... پس دستور می‌دن بین دخترای اسرائیل یکی رو پیدا کنند که پرستارِ دل دردمندِ داوود باشه و غیره. کمی بعد یکی از پسراش ادعای سلطنت و جانشینی می‌کنه ولی داوود سلیمان رو پروموت می‌کنه و یه چیزایی هم بهش یاد می‌ده که بعد مرگش مخالفاش رو چه‌طور سر به نیست کنه و خودش قدرت رو به دست بگیره (این‌جا شبیه سکانسِ سربه نیست کردن مخالفای کورلئونه توسط مایکله). بعد صلح برقرار می‌شه، یهوه به سُلی حکمت الهی عطا می‌کنه و سلیمان به مدت بیست سال به فعالیت‌های عمرانی رو میاره و برای خدا و خودش خونه می‌سازه و این وسطا هم هرکی سوالی داشته ازش می‌پرسیده (ملکه‌ی سبا هم خیلی کوتاه، میاد سوالاتش رو می‌پرسه و می‌ره). بعدِ مدتی سلیمان گمراه می‌شه و به زن‌بارگی و بت‌پرستی (اِی صنم) رو میاره و یهوه می‌گه که چون پدرت آدم خوبی بود، با تو کاری ندارم و اجازه می‌دم چهل سال سلطنتی که قولش رو دادم به ته برسونی ولی بعد مرگت انتقامِ تو رو از پسرت می‌گیرم. پس بعد از مرگِ سلیمان، سیزده قبیله‌ی یهود به مشکل برمی‌خورن و یهودا از اسرائیل جدا می‌شه... بعدش باز جنگ‌های ��یگه‌ای داریم به خصوص با سوریه‌ای‌ها و این وسط یه تعداد پیامبر بامزه هم میان مثل: ایلیا و میکا که داستانشون تو فصل دوم هم قراره ادامه پیدا کنه.
این نقشه‌ی پایینی رو از ویکی‌پدیا برداشتم. برای سال 830 قبل از میلاده و مرتبط به داستانِ ما.
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روزی یکی از انبیا به فرمان خداوند به دوستش گفت: «با شمشیر ضربه‌ای به من بزن!» ولی آن مرد این‌کار را نکرد. پس آن نبی به او گفت: «چون دستور خداوند را اطاعت نکردی وقتی از این‌جا بروی، شیری تو را خواهد درید و همین‌طور هم شد.»
(20:35-36)

[Henrique Bagatim Júnior]

Vídeo explicativo: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bVFW3wb...

O livro de Reis começa com a jornada do rei Salomão, filho de Davi, nas suas conquistas politicas e sua queda na idolatria.
Na segunda parte mostra a divisão no reino em Israel e Juda, e as falha na sucessão de Reis em seguir Jave.
No final o aparecimento dos dois profetas para corrigir a idolatria e a injustiça dos Reis.

[Books Of The Way · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of all the lines of kings for Israel starting with King David and his son Solomon and their decline and turn away from following the Lord. They became seduced by the world and adopted pagan practices and deities. We see the work of the prophet Elijah, and we are reminded of the longsuffering and patience of the Lord, who is always ready to bring his people back into a covenant with Him.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Era of King Solomon.

[CandiCane · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10

[Ashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild.

[Ash reads stuff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting reading about Israel's history during the period of the Kings. I particularly found the split of Israel into Judah and Israel interesting, and sad. Sin continues to impact Israel. Also can see the result of having sinful leaders throughout this time. Lots of fighting, war, division and idolatry.

[Wren (fablesandwren) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sidenote: The reason for such vague and short and "eh" words on each of these books, is because I wasn't challenging the study of the Bible when I read these. I was challenging myself to read the whole Bible in a year because I knew it would be discipline to keep at it daily. I do, however, plan to pick up a book and study what it is saying. Those will be longer reads and more notes.

So here is my review from my "Read the Bible in a Year" challenge. Usually just snippets of thoughts and random things I liked about the book itself. Nothing in-depth.

Here is my review of 01 Kings.

Basically, this book is how Solomon becomes king, in a rather violent way.

I think the most important thing about this is how full-heartedly Solomon follows God. God told him to ask for anything and he asked for wisdom to run the kingdom right. Like out of everything he could ask, he asked for that. He wasn’t selfish about it, he wasn’t about to ask about the best looks or the best singer or anything like that.

Wisdom.

Thinking of others before yourself.

Marvelous.

[Andy Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

The companion history to 1 Chronicles, some scholars think 1 Kings was written during the reign of the kings, while 1 Chronicles is another history written after the return from the exile to Babylon. Regardless, both histories are rocking adventures full of sex and violence, debauchery and idolatry, faithfulness to God and faithlessness. Miracles happen, prophecies are fulfilled. Kings are murdered in their beds and children kidnapped.

If you like Game of Thrones, you'll love 1 Kings!

[Kindle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this one kind of fast.

Good stuff: Solomon’s wisdom, Solomon’s acceptance of other cultures

Bad stuff: god punishment of Solomon for being accepting of other cultures and customs, the building of the temple (too many details) Israel and Judah from Jeroboam I/Rehoboam to Ahab/Asa (too much back and forth, not a tidy story)

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading through the bible in a year, I love the OT!

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The turbulent reign of the Kings in both Israel and Judah.
Unfortunately they were quite given to idolatry and the nation became increasingly out of sorts.

[Lesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

God sure as hell didn’t know who was going to be a righteous king and got a little pissy when they weren’t. Not sure why if he’s all knowing…

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Binge Reviewing my previous Reads #The Bible Reread the Bible in-depth during Covid 19

If 2 Samuel is a symphony of passion and fracture, then 1 Kings plays as a vast historical fugue: dynasties rise, empires breathe down Israel’s neck, prophets thunder from the wilderness, and kings wrestle with the seduction of power. Reading it during the still, uncertain months of Covid, I found it less like a dusty chronicle and more like an X-ray of civilisation itself—showing bones cracked, healed, and fractured again.

The book opens with David in twilight, his legendary energy fading, court intrigue swirling around his bedchamber. It is a haunting reminder that even the greatest monarchs end in frailty. Into this fading light strides Solomon, whose reign becomes the central axis of 1 Kings. The narrative lingers on his famed wisdom, his architectural triumphs, and his international prestige. Yet almost in the same breath, it records the seeds of his downfall: wealth, foreign alliances, and the slow drift from devotion to God.

This duality fascinated me: Solomon embodies both the pinnacle of monarchy and the inevitability of decline. His temple stands as the great symbol of covenantal permanence, yet his divided heart foreshadows the kingdom’s fracture. The text almost whispers a postmodern irony: every structure we raise—whether temple, nation, or empire—already carries within it the cracks of collapse.

Comparatively, this motif resonates with Hindu scripture. Think of the Mahabharata: the Pandavas build Indraprastha, a dazzling city, only to lose it to dice and greed. Or the Ramayana, where Ayodhya’s golden age under Rama is shadowed by suspicion and exile. In both traditions, grandeur is fleeting, because human hearts remain restless. The Bible’s temple and the Hindu epic’s palaces remind us that permanence is an illusion; dharma or covenant must be continually renewed.

Beyond Solomon, 1 Kings is haunted by prophets. Figures like Elijah enter with volcanic energy, standing against kings who compromise with idols and injustice. These prophets destabilise the narrative of royal power: history is not written solely by monarchs but also by fiery outsiders who insist on divine accountability. Reading Elijah’s contest on Mount Carmel alongside Hindu ascetics confronting kings in the epics, I saw a shared insistence that rulers are never ultimate; they answer to something higher.

What gives 1 Kings its modern bite is its refusal of propaganda. This is no sanitised national epic. It records not just victories but schisms: the kingdom splits into north and south, kings stumble into idolatry, and foreign powers loom. In a way, it reads like the deconstruction of the very monarchy it once celebrated. From a postmodern lens, the book undercuts grand narratives of stability. It shows history as fragmentation, a record of failed attempts to unify what resists unification.

During Covid, this theme echoed daily. Institutions we trusted fractured under pressure; leaders projected strength while citizens endured vulnerability. 1 Kings seemed to say: this is not new. Kingdoms, temples, systems—they rise and fall, and their cracks are part of the story. But within those cracks, voices like Elijah’s arise, reminding us that truth is not drowned out by collapse.

In Hinduism, too, cycles of rise and fall are woven into cosmology. The four yugas—ages of truth, decline, and darkness—mirror Israel’s own cycles of faith and betrayal. Both traditions affirm that history is not linear progress but rhythm, a tide of devotion and forgetting, judgement and renewal. This shared vision suggests an inherent unity: religion, at its deepest, is not triumphalist but realistic. It acknowledges that human structures falter, yet insists that the divine thread continues through prophets, sages, scripture, and memory.

What lingers after reading 1 Kings is less a single story than a texture: grandeur shadowed by fragility, voices of power interrupted by voices of protest, the eternal tension between temple and wilderness. Solomon’s wisdom, Elijah’s fire, and the kingdom’s fracture—these are not separate tales but facets of a larger truth: that human ambition can never secure permanence, but divine presence refuses to vanish.

In the end, 1 Kings is not merely about kings. It is about the paradox of history itself: how every age of brilliance shades into decline, how every prophet reminds us that the centre is not the throne but the eternal. It stands alongside the Mahabharata and Ramayana as a reminder that civilisations shimmer and fade, yet the call to righteousness—whether dharma or covenant—remains undimmed.

For me, rereading it during a global rupture was oddly consoling. It told me that fragility is part of the human story, that failure is not the end, and that the voices who speak from the margins may outlast the monuments of kings.

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Kings was written “to record history but, more important, to teach the lessons of history.”2 As with other historical books in the Old Testament, the history recorded here was meant to preserve not just important events but spiritual truths learned through those events.

In the books of 1 Kings, each king is evaluated by “his reaction toward his covenantal responsibility to the Law of the LORD. That was the acid test of whether he ‘did evil’ or ‘that which was right in the eyes of the LORD.’”3 Readers will notice scathing rebukes of some kings—reports not typically recorded by purely historical writers. In addition to the kings, the prophets figure heavily in this book. They are God’s spokesmen, proclaiming His word to mostly hard-hearted rulers. It is through the prophets’ eyes—always connecting the nation’s fortune with its kings’ faithfulness (or lack thereof)—that we learn the history of Israel and Judah.

Solomon was known as the wisest man of his day. He was arguably the wealthiest man of his time. He enjoyed God’s favor in many ways, yet his legacy is tarnished by the faithlessness he displayed in his later years. In direct contradiction to God’s command for a king not to “multiply wives” (Deuteronomy 17:17), Solomon married many foreign women. First Kings laments, “When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods” (11:4). Solomon began to rely on his fortune, his military might, and his political alliances instead of the God who gave all of those blessings to him. He focused on the gifts, forgetting the Giver.

How often do you do the same? Are there any direct commands from God you are ignoring? Today, take time to recall the blessings in your life, and then thank the Lord for them. Rely on Him, not your possessions or position, as your source of strength and significance.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

1 Kings is a strange book:
the first two chapters are the end of the original David narrative, and seem to be written by that author;
we then have the Solomon stories, which are a hotchpotch of legends, folk-tales, political PR and some truth sneaking through (in order to finance his enormous building programme, Solomon enslaved the indigenous population and taxed to the hilt all of the Israelites - the "wisdom" of Solomon is the wisdom of a mafia capo - keep your friends close and your enemies dead), and some incredibly unlikely building specs;
we then have a progression of civil wars, rebellions, political murders, where the Deuteronomic Historian praises people we would probably described as Talibanic today: these kings are the ones who massacred anyone of mixed race, persecuted women and centralised their religion to be exactly what they said it was - yay;
and we finally get some prophets, men speaking truth to power, of whom Elijah is the most notable, but not the only one.

Over all this is the dead hand of the Deuteronomic Historian, who has respectfully kept this material (excellent), and then tries to put a puritan-racist-exclusionary religious gloss over the whole thing (not so good); for the last couple of chapters, it even appears he has got some of the Kings of Israel muddled up. He keeps saying a bad king was "not like his father David", having utterly failed to understand the David narratives from the Samuel books: David was an adulterous, wife-stealing thug, whose only interest in religion was how much it advanced him.

It is fascinating, but you need to read between the lines, ask "Who exactly is telling this story?", and don't accept any of the writers' (very twisted) moral and religious judgements. I read the Robert Alter translation, which makes very clear the different styles of the various writers.

[Pablo (Cicatricesdelibros) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro se nota mucho más que se divide en dos que los de Samuel.

Es una historia que podríamos compararla con la de Anakin Skywalker. Quien iba a traer balance y prosperidad, pero eligió mal y uso su fuerza y poder para llevar a un estado peor del que estuvo antes.

Este libro de Reyes combina lo anterior con la importancia de la herencia y crianza, dónde no fue necesario conocer la vida de cada padre e hijo que heredaba su corona, sino que con las consecuencias ya se podía inferir.

Dios quería bendecir a la gran nación de Israel y lo hizo con casi la mitad de este libro en la historia de Salomón. La cuál parece un cuento de hadas tradicional con tantas maravillas que es casi imposible imaginar su real magnitud. Sin embargo, con este libro y el anterior, y sabiendo la historia de Israel desde el éxodo, Dios sabía que podía fracasar y las advertencias de la desobediencia, siempre cabían más en la categoría de profecias que de advertencias.

En la segunda parte del libro es donde se ve el desperdicio y caída del poder y riqueza que Israel tenía, dónde el reino se transformó en cualquier otro y, al término del reinado de Salomón, se parecía más a Egipto, que a un pueblo especial y escogido sacado de ese mismo país.

Dios casi no interviene sino que se pone en la tarea de espectador para documentar. Sin embargo, ya al final, nuevamente se da a conocer como un segundo poder, a través los profetas. Aquí comienza una guerra entre estos poderes: reyes vs profetas, su pueblo vs su Dios.