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First and Second Kings
Old Testament scholar Terence Fretheim identifies the theology in the dramatic accounts of the books of Kings, which chronicles the reigns of more than forty kings over a period of nearly four hundred years. Interspersing theological reflections throughout, Fretheim trace's God's words of judgement and promise for Israel--and for us--accross the entirety of Kings. Books in the Westminster Bible Companion series assist laity in their study of the Bible as a guide to Christian faith and practice. Each volume explains the biblical book in its original historical context and explores its significance for faithful living today. These books are ideal for individual study and for Bible study classes and groups.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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June 18, 2012
First and Second Kings by Terence Fretheim is an absolutely wonderful commentary that aids in a helpful exploration of the history and theology that surrounds these two important Old Testament books. For the most part it presents the full passages in appropriate segments (which is helpful for taking the book on the road if you don't have your Bible to open up beside it) and then breaks it down in to context. What is made evident from the get go, even from the opening pages of the scripture itself, is that these two books, which once existed as a single book, hold the key to understanding Israelite history and God's involvement with the people (and in fact, the world). The book is written as history, but is most certainly much more predominantly a discussion of theology and the continued formation of Yahweh as the one true God.
With a few exceptions, most notably Solomon and Elijah/Elisha, the book carries us through quick and concise (and deliberate) accounts of around 30 Kings of Israel/Judah and the prophets that accompanied their ruling. The aformentioned figures get an extended look, with Elijah eventually being established as a key figure in the NT perspective as well. Essentially the arc of the narrative binds the figure of King David (of which we read in the book of Samuel with a final depiction of the end of his reign and succession to Solomon in the beginning of 1 Kings) in contrast to what would become a long history of unfaithful kings mixed with a few exceptional ones (Hezekiah and Josiah being the most important ones). It becomes a common diatribe to hear "and this king did more evil than anyone other...". And interspersed in these reigns are the prophets, a somewhat mixed group themselves, who bring the word of the Lord in to each situation always with an opportunity for repentance or continued disobedience. And what hangs in the balance throughout the entire narrative is not only the fate of the people and kings themselves, but the very promise of Yahweh to the nation and the Davidic promise (that one day a savior would come to establish His true throne).
Perhaps the best way to understand 1 and 2 Kings is in the context under which it was believed to be written. It is largely placed either near the end or in the middle of the eventual exile to which the story is leading. The Israelite nation following the end of Solomon's unfortunate rule has been divided over inner turmoil, with the Northern (Israel/Samaria) dynasties separated from Judah, the one remaining dynasty linked to David and to which it appears the promise (of which Solomon's prayer addresses at the end of his reign for God to bring forgiveness in spite of the due judgement). And through years of successive kings who continue what Solomon began (in bringing idol worship in to the life of Israel and Judah), the nation is eventually given over to Assyrian and eventually Babylonian conquest and exile. From the view of history, these people had lost the temple (which signified God's presence with them), their home and seemingly their hope in a fading promise. They are scattered among the proceeding nations and quite removed from their own traditions and teachings (the Deuteronomic law) and again, perceivably distanced from the voice of their God who once guided them out of Egypt and through the desert to the promised land. The book itself ends in the final words of 2 Kings with a defeatist sense of "what is going to happen now". We have the insight today, but for the people of this time this book(s) would have served as a definitive response to the questions their circumstance begged. Where was their God in all of this. Was the Israelite God still worthy? Faithful? Real? Present? Trustworthy? (given their acclimation to the surrounding cultures). What the reader today and then would have picked up on was a resounding yes to all of the above. Yahweh, in spite of human action, is still in control of history and nature, and as the final words play out, still has a hand on His promise. Jehoiachin, the link to the Davidic dynasty, is still alive.
Outside of the Exodus story, there may be no other book that holds such grand miracles on display in the OT. And an interesting dynamic at work here is how there seems to be such intent at linking this piece of history with the Exodus story and the Deuteronomic history. Right off the bat there is this wonderful succession of prophets who find themselves connected with a replay of the parting of the red sea, a definite moment for the Israelites and a reminder of His faithfulness. This is the same God that they are being called to follow, a God entirely distinct from all the rest. What is also striking is how the miracle stories are set in to a theological framework here that is unprecedented anywhere else. It really is all about the question of God's soveriengty and how to rectify that with their circumstance. The reality is that no one can truly control the end result, neither prophet or King or nation or people. And out of this we grasp a powerful message of grace that will eventually cover the entire NT. It is not by our works that we are saved. And nowhere is this more realized than in the ins and outs of this piece of history. And yet at the same time we find a common theme emerging. The command to all is to be faithful. The reality on the other hand sees faithfulness at times neglecting to fuel prosperous results. The command is to pray, and yet sometimes the prayer actually changes the direct trajectory of history that has been set in motion and allows God to literally change a prophetic word, while at other times it does not lead to the desired results. The command is to worship God and God alone, and sometimes this leads to the nation being rebuilt, and at other times the true worship of a few still leads to exile and problematic results. And here is why the reality feels so conflicted. Throughout 1 and 2 Kings, the narrator desires us to understand God's promise on two levels. The first is that God will and always works to accomplish his will. In the grand picture of Israel and Judah, and all the earth, He is bringing a savior and establishing His true kingdom. But at the same time God's promise to individuals, nations, families, kings and prophets are dependent on their faithfulness and obedience. And the reality is that sometimes one persons unfaithfulness can affect an entire nation. And so what we find is that God moves in and through the stories of the people themselves, always with a clear call towards faithfulness in worship and prayer and justice, but with unpredictable results. An interesting discussion that this puts in play is whether God's soveignty demands that He know the end result of each personal story. There are a number of times in this book where God is saddened, angered, dissapointed and shocked at the end result of a persons unfaithfulness, and more than a few where God is convinced to change a course of action that otherwise appears to be a word set in stone. Irregardeless of how one views this, one thing is certain. Some may cry that this appears to be injustice, God apparently giving people over to their own choice of action, but in the end what it speaks of is how God's movement in the grand story of history is ultimately played out and made important in the personal lives and stories of people. We are involved in a relationship which sets God apart from every other god in history.
It is worth noting, and this book gives a lot of attention to this tension, the discomfort that is very apparent in the reality of God's wrath, specifically in the OT. The book that is most often held on trial is the book of Deuteronomy, and with 1 and 2 Kings being firmly anchored in this tradition (and interestingly, there is much discussion happening over the latter pages of 2 Kings giving us a clue to the development of the Deuteronomic tradition) it is firmly entrenched with similarly harsh language, definitive words of judgment and horrific stories of even God's people and God's Word doing what are perceived to be terrible things. This is not a book that many would want to read to their children. What Fretheim teaches us is how to appropriately read through some of this context, which includes understanding culture, tradition and understanding. It is often difficult to read through the pages through modern eyes given the development of our own line of thought, but when reading through scripture we must read it through the lens that they would have in order to give proper attention to the motivation of the writer and the implication of the language. The first question any reader must wrestle with is why, as is true for every OT book, there appears to stand such a contrast between a focus on justice (God's motivation is almost always, when it comes to the people themselves, for those who find themselves on the outside or who are needy, persectuted, struggling) and the seeming reality of war and violence that often marks the reaction of the people. However, when read closely, in nearly every account where we see this tension, we find clues as to how to navigate this. The first is clear. God is for the salvation of all people. It is striking that this is so evident in the pages of this OT book while God is driven by a promise that demands the protection of the Davidic dynasty, by no terms is He bound to follow the Israelite/Judean people at the expense of injustice and unfaithfulness. His action in the lives of people moves from non-Isaelites to Israelites with seemingly no boundaries.
In context one also must recognize the infiltration of other cultural traditions and realities in to the lives of God's people. Perhaps one of the most prominent that we read here is that of the sacrifice of children (a strong foreign practice). This becomes an ongoing theme of the prophets, and is simply one example of the world through which God must work. It was a war that hinged on kingdoms and war, strict laws of action against disobedience (that included many manners of execution) and was largely a society which operated on an honor/shame custom (those on top were honorable, those on the bottom were the neglects). God, certainly in these pages, chooses to work within this reality, not control it. In almost every case He uses existing situations to proclaim judgement. And in almost every case the narrator, under what we believe to be God's guiding voice, is careful to give us subtle inclinations as to what action is off the mark and which one deserves to be upheld. The presence of the Israelite nation was built on the law handed down by Moses, and the history of Deutronomy shows us a nation trying to learn what it means to live out God's law in the midst of their reality, often with failure. This is why we sometimes read of God being on the side of war, and then at other times being disgusted by it. Why sometimes the Israelites participate in societal laws of execution, and at other times are called to some sort of higher order that thinks differently about it. And it's why throughout there is this distinction between Israel and the surrounding nations based on how they treated the poor and needy, not only among their own people but also within foreign nations, which was again an absolutely ludicrous and radical notion back then. We are not reading of a contradiction, but rather of a God choosing to dwell in relationship rather than contoling in the same way the other gods did.
The other element of this is the nature of how God's word is revealed to His people in the first place. Over and over again we read of God using His people in a variety of different ways, even with the prophets. The book also helps to give us further context for prominent prophetic figures who ministered in this time, including Jeremiah and Isaiah. Prophetic word in 1 and 2 Kings is rarely dependent on it's precise unfolding. Rather, sometimes God uses what some might deem false prophets (which were abounding under the 500 prophets left alive with Jezebel after Elijah finished on the mountaintop) to bring about His purpose through a deceptive word. Sometimes the "sons of prophets" (every major prophet would have their group of following prophets who would preach and teach the same ministry as their mentor) would be speaking with mixed and convoluted results. Sometimes prophets take the word of God and expand on it within their own free will with mixed results (sometimes they clearly end up way off base, sometimes God adapts to it, and sometimes we are left unsure of the results). And it is the same with kings. Sometimes God uses some horrendous acts, and other times he chastises for it to make a clear point about where He stands. But what happens when God allows this sort of relationship to play out within His creation is that contradictions exist. But one thing this can teach us is that contradictions aren't always a bad thing. They can often be the thing that pulls us or points us to the greater truth. And if there is one thing for sure, this OT book(s) does not shy away from it's main point... that there is only one true God that is worthy of our worship, and only one God who ultimately is in control of history and nature. It is all about Him, not the kings, not the prophets, not the acts or faithfulness or failures. It was the sin of Solomon that begins this theme, and it becomes well positioned through the ministry of Elijah and the prophets that follow. And what follows is that this one true God is ultimately faithful and trustworthy despite our current circumstance and despite the nature of prosperity.
1 and 2 Kings is an exciting book to read through. There is political intrigue and great battles. There are some exciting historical points, such as the seeming emergence of the full Deuteromic history, and the origin of the Samaritan moniker. The story of Solomon alone is absolutely entertaining and intriguing and well told. While Elijah is probably my favorite, I also very much enjoy the lesser known Elisha. There are some incredible miracle stories and some neat little personal stories that catch you off guard and speak of the relational nature of Yahweh. Right off the hop we are reintroduced to King David in some not so nice circumstances. A man after God's own heart, and we find him entrenched in some questionable motivations and political maneuvering. And yet he stands as the measuring stick, and we are let in why with this simple idea. The thing that sets David apart, and the good kings that follow, was the way he lived his life on grace and grace alone. His willingness to live in a cycle of failure and repentance is what led to his success and God's movement through his rule. It becomes clear in the story of Solomon, a story in which even the outsiders have a better grasp of this then he does, is that when we don't live that way bad things happen. We become given over to the idols in our lives and become dependent on our success. The wisest man in the world learned this at the end of his reign (out of which I tend to believe we are given the words of Ecclesiastes), but not without eventual consequence. He set in play one of the most destructive and painful periods of Israelite history under a sequence of familiar kings who refused to understand the kind of grace that returned Elijah to a ministry that would eventually place Him as one of the most important figures in biblical history. No matter how far we run and how far we fall, God is always waiting to meet us personally in relationship and to call us back to what it is all about... the worship of His name and the standing up for justice and those around us instead of ourselves. That these words in the OT can understand this so clearly long before Jesus comes to fullfill this same message is an exciting thing indeed.
With a few exceptions, most notably Solomon and Elijah/Elisha, the book carries us through quick and concise (and deliberate) accounts of around 30 Kings of Israel/Judah and the prophets that accompanied their ruling. The aformentioned figures get an extended look, with Elijah eventually being established as a key figure in the NT perspective as well. Essentially the arc of the narrative binds the figure of King David (of which we read in the book of Samuel with a final depiction of the end of his reign and succession to Solomon in the beginning of 1 Kings) in contrast to what would become a long history of unfaithful kings mixed with a few exceptional ones (Hezekiah and Josiah being the most important ones). It becomes a common diatribe to hear "and this king did more evil than anyone other...". And interspersed in these reigns are the prophets, a somewhat mixed group themselves, who bring the word of the Lord in to each situation always with an opportunity for repentance or continued disobedience. And what hangs in the balance throughout the entire narrative is not only the fate of the people and kings themselves, but the very promise of Yahweh to the nation and the Davidic promise (that one day a savior would come to establish His true throne).
Perhaps the best way to understand 1 and 2 Kings is in the context under which it was believed to be written. It is largely placed either near the end or in the middle of the eventual exile to which the story is leading. The Israelite nation following the end of Solomon's unfortunate rule has been divided over inner turmoil, with the Northern (Israel/Samaria) dynasties separated from Judah, the one remaining dynasty linked to David and to which it appears the promise (of which Solomon's prayer addresses at the end of his reign for God to bring forgiveness in spite of the due judgement). And through years of successive kings who continue what Solomon began (in bringing idol worship in to the life of Israel and Judah), the nation is eventually given over to Assyrian and eventually Babylonian conquest and exile. From the view of history, these people had lost the temple (which signified God's presence with them), their home and seemingly their hope in a fading promise. They are scattered among the proceeding nations and quite removed from their own traditions and teachings (the Deuteronomic law) and again, perceivably distanced from the voice of their God who once guided them out of Egypt and through the desert to the promised land. The book itself ends in the final words of 2 Kings with a defeatist sense of "what is going to happen now". We have the insight today, but for the people of this time this book(s) would have served as a definitive response to the questions their circumstance begged. Where was their God in all of this. Was the Israelite God still worthy? Faithful? Real? Present? Trustworthy? (given their acclimation to the surrounding cultures). What the reader today and then would have picked up on was a resounding yes to all of the above. Yahweh, in spite of human action, is still in control of history and nature, and as the final words play out, still has a hand on His promise. Jehoiachin, the link to the Davidic dynasty, is still alive.
Outside of the Exodus story, there may be no other book that holds such grand miracles on display in the OT. And an interesting dynamic at work here is how there seems to be such intent at linking this piece of history with the Exodus story and the Deuteronomic history. Right off the bat there is this wonderful succession of prophets who find themselves connected with a replay of the parting of the red sea, a definite moment for the Israelites and a reminder of His faithfulness. This is the same God that they are being called to follow, a God entirely distinct from all the rest. What is also striking is how the miracle stories are set in to a theological framework here that is unprecedented anywhere else. It really is all about the question of God's soveriengty and how to rectify that with their circumstance. The reality is that no one can truly control the end result, neither prophet or King or nation or people. And out of this we grasp a powerful message of grace that will eventually cover the entire NT. It is not by our works that we are saved. And nowhere is this more realized than in the ins and outs of this piece of history. And yet at the same time we find a common theme emerging. The command to all is to be faithful. The reality on the other hand sees faithfulness at times neglecting to fuel prosperous results. The command is to pray, and yet sometimes the prayer actually changes the direct trajectory of history that has been set in motion and allows God to literally change a prophetic word, while at other times it does not lead to the desired results. The command is to worship God and God alone, and sometimes this leads to the nation being rebuilt, and at other times the true worship of a few still leads to exile and problematic results. And here is why the reality feels so conflicted. Throughout 1 and 2 Kings, the narrator desires us to understand God's promise on two levels. The first is that God will and always works to accomplish his will. In the grand picture of Israel and Judah, and all the earth, He is bringing a savior and establishing His true kingdom. But at the same time God's promise to individuals, nations, families, kings and prophets are dependent on their faithfulness and obedience. And the reality is that sometimes one persons unfaithfulness can affect an entire nation. And so what we find is that God moves in and through the stories of the people themselves, always with a clear call towards faithfulness in worship and prayer and justice, but with unpredictable results. An interesting discussion that this puts in play is whether God's soveignty demands that He know the end result of each personal story. There are a number of times in this book where God is saddened, angered, dissapointed and shocked at the end result of a persons unfaithfulness, and more than a few where God is convinced to change a course of action that otherwise appears to be a word set in stone. Irregardeless of how one views this, one thing is certain. Some may cry that this appears to be injustice, God apparently giving people over to their own choice of action, but in the end what it speaks of is how God's movement in the grand story of history is ultimately played out and made important in the personal lives and stories of people. We are involved in a relationship which sets God apart from every other god in history.
It is worth noting, and this book gives a lot of attention to this tension, the discomfort that is very apparent in the reality of God's wrath, specifically in the OT. The book that is most often held on trial is the book of Deuteronomy, and with 1 and 2 Kings being firmly anchored in this tradition (and interestingly, there is much discussion happening over the latter pages of 2 Kings giving us a clue to the development of the Deuteronomic tradition) it is firmly entrenched with similarly harsh language, definitive words of judgment and horrific stories of even God's people and God's Word doing what are perceived to be terrible things. This is not a book that many would want to read to their children. What Fretheim teaches us is how to appropriately read through some of this context, which includes understanding culture, tradition and understanding. It is often difficult to read through the pages through modern eyes given the development of our own line of thought, but when reading through scripture we must read it through the lens that they would have in order to give proper attention to the motivation of the writer and the implication of the language. The first question any reader must wrestle with is why, as is true for every OT book, there appears to stand such a contrast between a focus on justice (God's motivation is almost always, when it comes to the people themselves, for those who find themselves on the outside or who are needy, persectuted, struggling) and the seeming reality of war and violence that often marks the reaction of the people. However, when read closely, in nearly every account where we see this tension, we find clues as to how to navigate this. The first is clear. God is for the salvation of all people. It is striking that this is so evident in the pages of this OT book while God is driven by a promise that demands the protection of the Davidic dynasty, by no terms is He bound to follow the Israelite/Judean people at the expense of injustice and unfaithfulness. His action in the lives of people moves from non-Isaelites to Israelites with seemingly no boundaries.
In context one also must recognize the infiltration of other cultural traditions and realities in to the lives of God's people. Perhaps one of the most prominent that we read here is that of the sacrifice of children (a strong foreign practice). This becomes an ongoing theme of the prophets, and is simply one example of the world through which God must work. It was a war that hinged on kingdoms and war, strict laws of action against disobedience (that included many manners of execution) and was largely a society which operated on an honor/shame custom (those on top were honorable, those on the bottom were the neglects). God, certainly in these pages, chooses to work within this reality, not control it. In almost every case He uses existing situations to proclaim judgement. And in almost every case the narrator, under what we believe to be God's guiding voice, is careful to give us subtle inclinations as to what action is off the mark and which one deserves to be upheld. The presence of the Israelite nation was built on the law handed down by Moses, and the history of Deutronomy shows us a nation trying to learn what it means to live out God's law in the midst of their reality, often with failure. This is why we sometimes read of God being on the side of war, and then at other times being disgusted by it. Why sometimes the Israelites participate in societal laws of execution, and at other times are called to some sort of higher order that thinks differently about it. And it's why throughout there is this distinction between Israel and the surrounding nations based on how they treated the poor and needy, not only among their own people but also within foreign nations, which was again an absolutely ludicrous and radical notion back then. We are not reading of a contradiction, but rather of a God choosing to dwell in relationship rather than contoling in the same way the other gods did.
The other element of this is the nature of how God's word is revealed to His people in the first place. Over and over again we read of God using His people in a variety of different ways, even with the prophets. The book also helps to give us further context for prominent prophetic figures who ministered in this time, including Jeremiah and Isaiah. Prophetic word in 1 and 2 Kings is rarely dependent on it's precise unfolding. Rather, sometimes God uses what some might deem false prophets (which were abounding under the 500 prophets left alive with Jezebel after Elijah finished on the mountaintop) to bring about His purpose through a deceptive word. Sometimes the "sons of prophets" (every major prophet would have their group of following prophets who would preach and teach the same ministry as their mentor) would be speaking with mixed and convoluted results. Sometimes prophets take the word of God and expand on it within their own free will with mixed results (sometimes they clearly end up way off base, sometimes God adapts to it, and sometimes we are left unsure of the results). And it is the same with kings. Sometimes God uses some horrendous acts, and other times he chastises for it to make a clear point about where He stands. But what happens when God allows this sort of relationship to play out within His creation is that contradictions exist. But one thing this can teach us is that contradictions aren't always a bad thing. They can often be the thing that pulls us or points us to the greater truth. And if there is one thing for sure, this OT book(s) does not shy away from it's main point... that there is only one true God that is worthy of our worship, and only one God who ultimately is in control of history and nature. It is all about Him, not the kings, not the prophets, not the acts or faithfulness or failures. It was the sin of Solomon that begins this theme, and it becomes well positioned through the ministry of Elijah and the prophets that follow. And what follows is that this one true God is ultimately faithful and trustworthy despite our current circumstance and despite the nature of prosperity.
1 and 2 Kings is an exciting book to read through. There is political intrigue and great battles. There are some exciting historical points, such as the seeming emergence of the full Deuteromic history, and the origin of the Samaritan moniker. The story of Solomon alone is absolutely entertaining and intriguing and well told. While Elijah is probably my favorite, I also very much enjoy the lesser known Elisha. There are some incredible miracle stories and some neat little personal stories that catch you off guard and speak of the relational nature of Yahweh. Right off the hop we are reintroduced to King David in some not so nice circumstances. A man after God's own heart, and we find him entrenched in some questionable motivations and political maneuvering. And yet he stands as the measuring stick, and we are let in why with this simple idea. The thing that sets David apart, and the good kings that follow, was the way he lived his life on grace and grace alone. His willingness to live in a cycle of failure and repentance is what led to his success and God's movement through his rule. It becomes clear in the story of Solomon, a story in which even the outsiders have a better grasp of this then he does, is that when we don't live that way bad things happen. We become given over to the idols in our lives and become dependent on our success. The wisest man in the world learned this at the end of his reign (out of which I tend to believe we are given the words of Ecclesiastes), but not without eventual consequence. He set in play one of the most destructive and painful periods of Israelite history under a sequence of familiar kings who refused to understand the kind of grace that returned Elijah to a ministry that would eventually place Him as one of the most important figures in biblical history. No matter how far we run and how far we fall, God is always waiting to meet us personally in relationship and to call us back to what it is all about... the worship of His name and the standing up for justice and those around us instead of ourselves. That these words in the OT can understand this so clearly long before Jesus comes to fullfill this same message is an exciting thing indeed.
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