Old Testament · History · book 11 of 66 · 2 min read
The book of 1 Kings
Solomon's temple and Solomon's compromise, then the kingdom splitting in two and a prophet on a mountain discovering God is not in the earthquake.
“After the earthquake a fire passed; but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice.”
At a glance
- Chapters
- 22
- Author
- Anonymous; part of the Deuteronomistic history
- Written
- Final form likely sixth century BC
- Written for
- Exiles asking how it came to this
- Themes
- temple, wisdom and compromise, division, prophets
What it is about
The first eleven chapters are Solomon: the wisdom, the temple, the wealth, and then the seven hundred wives and the shrines built for their gods. The book presents the decline as gradual and entirely self-inflicted.
Chapter 12 splits the kingdom. Ten tribes go north under Jeroboam, two remain south under Rehoboam, and from here the narrative alternates between two royal lines, evaluating each king by one criterion that has nothing to do with military or economic success.
The second half belongs to Elijah, whose contest on Carmel is the most theatrical scene in the Old Testament and whose collapse immediately afterwards is the most human. The still small voice at Horeb is the answer he gets, and it is deliberately not the answer Carmel would have predicted.
Where to start
Chapter 18 for Carmel and chapter 19 for what happens to Elijah the next day. Read them together; separating them is what turns the story into a triumph.
The chapters worth knowing
- 1 Kings 8 — The temple dedication and Solomon's prayer, the high point of the united kingdom.
- 1 Kings 12 — The split, caused by a young king refusing to lighten a labour burden.
- 1 Kings 19 — Elijah at Horeb, exhausted and suicidal, and the still small voice.
What people get wrong about it
That Solomon is a straightforward success. The book gives his failures as much space as his temple and traces the kingdom's division directly to them.
Questions
Why did the kingdom split in 1 Kings?
Rehoboam refused to lighten the labour burden Solomon had imposed, and ten tribes seceded. The narrative presents the split as the consequence of Solomon's reign rather than his son's tactlessness alone.
What is the still small voice?
Elijah, exhausted and suicidal after his victory at Carmel, is met at Horeb — not in wind, earthquake or fire, but in a low whisper. It is the book's correction to the assumption that God works mainly through spectacle.