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Introduction

The purpose of this page is to give a summary of the Books of Kings in order to explain the way that idolatry and rebellion against God spread from the Northern Kingdom of Israel into Judah, and eventually led to the destruction and exile of both kingdoms. There is a diagram to illustrate this at the bottom of the page.

David

In the Book of Kings, David is regularly referred back to as the ideal king. A good king was like David, being faithful to God, but an evil king was not faithful to God as David was. For example, Hezekiah, “did what was right in the sight of the LORD just as his ancestor David had done” (2 Kg 18:3), is contrasted with Ahaz, who, “did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his ancestor David had done”. (2 Kg 16:2).

Solomon

Solomon began his reign well, asking God for wisdom and desiring to worship God. However he ended his reign badly. The main cause of his downfall was marrying foreign women and worshipping their gods (1 Kg 11). His desire was to make peace with the nations around Israel, but the way this was done was through marriage alliances, where each king would marry the daughter of the other king. The problem was that Solomon worshipped the gods of his wives. Because of this idolatry, God declared that he would tear the kingdom from him. However, because of God’s promise to David, and his faithfulness, the tribe of Judah would remain, and this division would not happen until the days of his son Rehoboam.

“Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, ‘Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of father David, I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son (Rehoboam). I will not, however, tear away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen’.” (1 Kg 11:11-15).

The sin of Jeroboam

Jeroboam, the servant of Solomon, in charge of forced labour, was appointed the first king of the Northern Kingdom by the prophet Ahijah (1 Kg 11:31). Being anxious that the people travelling south to Jerusalem to worship God would defect to Judah, he essentially declared religious independence and set up his own system of worship. “So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. He said to the people , ‘You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan’.” (1 Kg 12:28-29). This became referred to as ‘the sin of Jeroboam’, “And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan” (1 Kg 13:30).

The rebellion by Jeroboam became a tipping point for the northern kingdom, when God declared judgement on the northern kingdom, “This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.” (1 Kg 13:34). God declared judgement on the northern kingdom, “The LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; he will root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their ancestors, and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their sacred poles, provoking the LORD to anger. He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and which he caused Israel to commit.” (1 Kg 14:16).

Each of the kings that ruled the northern kingdom after Jeroboam, are described as walking in the ways or sins of Jeroboam. These include Nadab (1 Kg 15:26), Baasha (1 Kg 15:34), Zimri (1Kg 16:19), Jehoram (2 Kg 3:3) and even Jehu (2 Kg 10:31), who was careful to follow the law of the LORD.

The sin of Jeroboam ultimately led to the destruction of Samaria and exile of the northern kingdom to Assyria in 722 BC (2 Kg 17). “When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. The people of Israel continued in all the sins that Jeroboam committed; they did not depart from them until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight.” (2 Kg 17:21-22).

War between Israel and Judah

In the early years of the divided monarchy, there was war between the two kingdoms, continuing over the reigns of several of the early kings. For example, in the summary of Rehoboam’s reign, “There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.” (1 Kg 14:30), and in the summary of Nadab’s reign, “There was war between Asa and King Baasha of Israel all their days”. (1 Kg 15:32).

Omri, Ahab and Jezebel

Omri was one of the most powerful rulers of the northern kingdom. Assyrian records referred to Israel as the kingdom of Omri, even long after his death. The Book of Kings dismisses him as being more evil than the kings that preceded him (1 Kg 16:25). He was succeeded by his son Ahab, who like his father also continued following the sins of Jeroboam. What was even worse was that, “he took as his wife Jezebel daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshipped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria” (1 Kg16:31-32). This was probably also a marriage alliance, between Israel and the Phoenicians. God responded to this rise in the worship of Baal by calling the prophet Elijah, leading to a contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. The result was that the worship of Baal became prominent in the northern kingdom and later spread to Judah as well.

Ahab and Jehoshaphat

Jehoshaphat was one of the better kings of Judah, who did what was right in the sight of God, but the high places were not taken away (1 Kg 22:43). After the continual wars between Israel and Judah, Jehoshaphat and Ahab made a peace treaty (1 Kg 22:44). This was also a marriage alliance. Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel married Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat. This alliance may have made peace, but it almost led to total disaster for the kingdom of Judah.

Jehoram (Joram) and Ahaziah

In the Book of Kings, Jehoram is the first king of Judah to be described as walking in the ways of the kings of Israel. “He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he daughter of Ahab (Athaliah) was his wife” (2 Kg 8:18). He was succeeded by his son Ahaziah, who only reigned for one year, whose mother’s name was Athaliah, a grand-daughter of King Omri of Israel (2 Kg 8:26). He also walked in the ways of Ahab, as he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab (2 Kg 8:27). Ahaziah was wounded in battle against Aram and died.

Athaliah

After the deaths of both her husband, King Jehoram, and her son, Ahaziah, Athaliah seized the throne of Judah and ruled as queen. To remove any threat to her rule, she sought to kill all remaining members of the royal family of Judah. “Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family” (2 Kg 11:1). If she had been successful, she would have completely destroyed the Messianic line.

In an important action which protected the future of the monarchy, the sister of Ahaziah, named Jehosheba, took her brother’s infant son, Joash, and hid him, thus protecting him from Athaliah. He was hidden for six years in the temple, looked after by the priest Jehoiada. Eventually he was brought out of hiding and declared to be the true king of Judah, and Athaliah was put to death (2 Kg 11:1-16).

The ways of Ahab (in Judah)

Through Athaliah’s influence, the worship of Baal became entrenched in Judah, so that some of the following kings were described in the Book of Kings as walking the ways of Ahab and the kings of Israel. These included Ahaz (2 Kg 16:3) and Manasseh (2 Kg 16:3).

Hezekiah

After Athaliah there were several good kings, including Amaziah, Uzziah and Jotham. However they all failed to remove the high places. One of the best kings was Hezekiah, who attempted to make major reforms, bringing the nation back to faithfulness to God and the covenant, celebrating the Passover, as well as destroying the high places.

Manasseh

Hezekiah was succeeded by the worst king of all, his son Manasseh. “He did was was evil in the sight of the LORD, following the abominable practices of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected altars for Baal, made a sacred pole as King Ahab of Israel had done, worshipped all the host of heaven and served them”. (2 Kg 21:2-3). Like Ahaz, he also sacrificed his son, passing him through the fire (2 Kg 21:6). This should also been seen as a direct attack on the Messianic line, as his son was the next king of Judah, and the next in the line that would lead to the Messiah.

In a similar way to the sin of Jeroboam in the northern kingdom, the evil practices of Manasseh became a tipping point for Judah, making God’s judgement and the exile inevitable. “The LORD said by his servants the prophets, ‘Because King Manasseh of Judah has committed these abominations, has done things more wicked than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has caused Judah also to sin with his idols; therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such evil that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line for Samaria, and the plummet for the house of Ahab; I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. I will cast off the remnant of my heritage, and will give them into the hand of their enemies; they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day that their ancestors came out of Egypt, even to this day”. (2 Kg 21:10-15).

The end of Judah

Evil kings that followed Manasseh, like Amon (2 Kg 21:20) are described in the Book of Kings as following the ways of Manasseh. The godly Josiah was the exception, who made major reforms, including renewing the covenant after the book of the law was discovered in the temple. However, his reforms have often been described as ‘too little, too late’. Because of the sin of Manasseh, judgement and exile, had been declared by God, and could only be delayed. During the reign of Jehoiakim, the Babylonians and other peoples besieged the city of Jerusalem. This explanation is given in the Book of Kings, “Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the LORD, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, for all that he had committed, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed.” (2 Kg 24:3). A few years later, during the reign of Zedekiah, Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed.