Author

Unknown

Written

550 BC Covering the time period of 975-850 BC

Main Themes

Contains the stories of the prophet Elijah, one of the most important prophets, who appeared at the Transfiguration with Jesus and Moses in Matthew 17. However, the stories were written or put together in Babylon, during the Great Exile

Solomon decides which woman is the real mother of the baby.

Solomon builds the Temple.

Elijah confounds the prophets of the false god Baal and gets hundreds of them killed.

Key Verses

1 LKings 2:3 And keep the command of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and whichever direction you follow:

1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, a resident of Gilead, said to Ahab, Before Jehovah, the living God of Israel, in whose presence I stand, there will not be dew nor rain in the years ahead, until I say so.

Important Points

1 Kings continues the stories that began in 1 Samuel and continued in 2 Samuel 1 Kings covers the reign
of David's son, King Solomon, known as the wisest and wealthiest man alive.

The death of King Solomon occurs in Chapter 11.

In Chapter 12, Solomon's son Rehoboam causes an uproar when he increases taxes instead of decreasing them, according to the request of the people via the elders. The kingdom splits into two and remains two kingdoms until the Babylonian invasion and exile, beginning in 586 BC

The story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal is in 1 Kings 18. However most of 1 Kings after the split in the kingdom are snippets of each of the kings. They include the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. Each snippet says whether that king did good or evil in the eyes of the Lord. Most did evil!