KINGS - Week 1

 The story of Israel’s monarchy continues in 1 & 2 Kings, but now the golden age begins to lose its shine. Where Samuel told the rise of kings, Saul and David, Kings tells of the long, slow unravelling of it all. It’s a story of wisdom and failure, building and breaking, and above all, a question: what happens when the people of God forget their true King?

A Theological History

Kings isn’t just a historical account. Like Samuel, it’s considered part of what scholars call the Deuteronomistic History - a series of books from Deuteronomy through to 2 Kings that tell Israel’s story through the lens of covenant faithfulness. This way of telling history holds a clear message: obedience to God leads to life; disobedience leads to loss.

Behind the scenes, many scholars believe that these books were first shaped during the reign of King Josiah (late 7th century BCE), a reforming king of Judah who rediscovered the “Book of the Law” (likely an early form of Deuteronomy) and tried to purge the land of idols, centralising worship in Jerusalem. (we get to hear a version of this story in 2 Kings 22-23).

Later, after the fall of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon, this history is thought to have been edited again, now not just to inspire reform, but to help a broken people make sense of their national collapse.

 Why did the kingdom fall? Why the exile?

The answer Kings offers is spiritual: because king after king, and generation after generation, turned away from God.

Key Themes in Kings

As we read, we’ll see several core ideas shaping the way this story is told:

Covenant loyalty is more important than success
Kings aren’t judged by conquests or alliances, but by whether they upheld the worship of God and obeyed God’s law.

Worship must be centralised and pure
Following Deuteronomy, worship outside Jerusalem or mixed with other gods is consistently condemned.

Prophets speak for God when kings won’t
Figures like Elijah and Elisha appear in these books, serving as the voice of God to a generation that has lost its way. They challenge injustice, confront idolatry, and call people back to God.

Judgement and hope go hand in hand
Just as we saw in the story of Isaiah, the seemingly opposing themes of judgement and hope can often be found side by side. The exile is real and devastating, but even in failure, there’s a glimmer of future restoration - especially through the Davidic line.

Solomon’s Wisdom: 1 Kings 3

After a tense and bloody succession (1 Kings 1–2), Solomon secures his throne. Then in chapter 3, we get a defining moment: God appears to Solomon in a dream and invites him to ask for anything. Solomon famously asks not for riches or military strength, but for wisdom - specifically, “an understanding mind to govern your people” (3:9, NRSV).

This is more than a personal request. It sets a theological tone for Solomon’s reign.

Solomon asks for a “listening heart.”

It’s not abstract intelligence but the kind of discerning, humble attentiveness needed to lead God’s people rightly. This aligns with the Deuteronomistic concern: true kingship listens to God's word and governs with justice.

God's positive response reinforces that wisdom and covenant faithfulness belong together. Solomon's request pleases God because it reflects the posture of a servant king, echoing Deuteronomy’s vision of a king who reads God’s law daily;

When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 It shall remain with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)

Unfortunately for Solomon, the verse just before this says;

“he (the King) must not acquire many wives for himself or else his heart will turn away;” (Deuteronomy 17:17)

Oops…

Immediately after the dream, we get a practical demonstration of Solomon’s wisdom (1 Kings 3:16–28).

Two women, both claiming to be the mother of the same child, come before him. Without evidence or witnesses, Solomon calls for a sword and suggests dividing the child. The real mother cries out in compassion and offers to give the baby up, revealing her identity.

This story is more than clever judgment. It shows wisdom as the ability to uncover truth and enact justice, especially for the vulnerable. In Israel’s legal tradition, widows, orphans, and the powerless were often at risk. That the first recorded act of Solomon’s reign involves two unnamed, socially marginalised women is significant: justice is not just for the elite, but for all.

Many scholars note how this story functions rhetorically within Kings. It's an idealised snapshot - Solomon at his best, embodying what the Deuteronomistic editors believed kings should be: just, discerning, and responsive to God.

But this high point is also setting up a contrast.

Later in his reign, Solomon will abandon this “listening heart,” accumulating wealth, wives, and foreign gods - precisely the things Deuteronomy warned against.

In that sense, 1 Kings 3 is both a celebration and a warning. The signs of decline are not yet visible, quite the opposite in these early chapters, but the question begins to arise: will Solomon keep listening?

As we begin our journey through Kings, Solomon’s dream is a compelling place to start. It invites us to ask what kind of leadership truly honours God and what happens when even the wisest hearts stop listening.