Introduction to 1 Kings

When we fail to pay attention to the warnings of God we are setting ourselves up for disaster.  God had used Moses to warn the nation of Israel about the consequences of co-habiting with the nations of Cannon and the inevitable idolatry that would follow.  God had used Samuel to warn the people of the consequences of looking to human leadership in the form of a king instead of submitting to God as their King.  Israel’s failure to heed these warnings and the ensuing consequences is on full display in the book of Kings.  The book starts out on a high note with the transition from David to Solomon and the construction and dedication of the temple.  However, by the end of Solomon’s reign idolatry begins to take over and with very few exceptions idolatry is the mark of the rulers in Israel.  The book ends with Elijah’s confrontation of Ahab and the multiple prophets of Baal.  God is faithful throughout the history of the nation to discipline His children and to send them multiple prophets to warn and instruct them.  Unfortunately, the majority of these interventions fell upon deaf ears.  It is vital that we listen to God’s warnings, respond to His discipline and follow His instructions or we too will find ourselves suffering under the consequences of disaster.

THE KINGDOM IS DEDICATED AND SOLOMON IS DISTRACTED: Prior to David’s death he makes it clear that Solomon is supposed to succeed him as king over the nation.  This was not as smooth of a transition as it should have been because Adonijah, Solomon’s older half-brother, decided to set himself up as king.  Timely and clear communication are vital for leaders to practice during times of transition.  Once Solomon is established as King he is greatly blessed by God because of his request for wisdom to lead the people.  He could have asked to be a powerful warrior or a wealthy king but recognized that wisdom was far more precious than money and far more useful than might.  Solomon’s early reign is marked by his massive construction projects.  He builds the temple that David had desired to build and he builds a massive palace for himself.  The elaborate construction and extravagant furnishings are a testament to the abundance of God’s provision for the nation of Israel.  David had been a God fearing king despite his moral failings; he had walked with God and fought valiantly to conquer the land God had given the nation.  Solomon started as a wise king who dedicated his time and efforts into building a temple and worshiping the Lord.  However, Solomon becomes distracted by his own success.  His wisdom and wealth bring great admiration to him, especially from women.  Solomon begins to be impressed with his own fame and then follows his own lusts.  He multiplies his wives and concubines to mind numbing proportions.  These many women from many nations have a profound impact on Solomon and he ends up building multiple other temples and places of worship for the idols of his wives.  This distraction leads Solomon deep into idolatry.  We must learn to protect our hearts from the multiple things that Satan tries to use to distract us from fully consecrated worship of our Lord.

THE KINGDOM IS DIVIDED AND THE KINGS ARE DISOBEDIENT: The transition of leadership from Solomon to Rehoboam was not a very successful one.  Idolatry had become prevalent in the land and the people had been heavily taxed to fund the massive building campaigns.  God was greatly displeased with the direction of the nation and so He decided to divide the nation.  The ten northern tribes split off and are called Israel under the leadership of Jeroboam.  The two southern tribes become known as Judah.  The elderly men who had advised Solomon advised Rehoboam to lighten the tax burden on the people, while the young advisors urged him to increase it.  The abuse of power will almost always result in the losing of power.  Now instead of the nation working together to conquer the land the Lord had given them; they are fighting against one another.  Division amongst the people of God is one of the saddest realities of history.  When men become hungry for power and care more about themselves than they care about the Word of God and worshiping God; division and dissention will always be the result.  The history of the kings of Israel is one of constant disobedience and rampant idolatry.  The nation now called Judah was blessed with two godly kings in Asa and Jehoshaphat after a fragile start under Rehoboam and Abijah.  The evil kings are always compared with the idolatry of Jeroboam while the standard by which the godly kings were measured was always David.  It is very clear that the prophecies of Moses concerning the rebellion of the nation are coming true.  It is a very sad reality to see how quickly an entire nation can turn from the Lord.  Division and disobedience continue to be Satan’s strategy to destroy the people of God today.  God calls us to walk in unity under submissive obedience to the Lord.  When we fail to do so the consequences will inevitably be disastrous. 

THE KINGDOM IS DISCIPLINED AND ELIJAH IS DISCOURAGED: Despite the constant disobedience and idolatry in the nation of Israel; we continue to see God seeking to call them back to Himself.  He does this by disciplining the nation as well as by sending prophets to warn the nation and to call it back to obedience.  In the days of one of the most evil kings of Israel named Ahab God sent Elijah to prophet to be the voice of discipline, to urge the people to repent and to demonstrate God’s power over these false gods of man’s own making.  God demonstrates that He is the one to be feared by sending a long drought and famine to the land.  Elijah informs the people of God’s discipline and instead of the result being repentance; Ahab seeks to kill the messenger instead of pay attention to the message.  Elijah ends up going into hiding and God provides for him in many miraculous ways.  He is hand fed by birds and then provided for by a widow whose supplies never run dry by God’s miraculous provision.  Finally, God decides to demonstrate His superiority over the idols the children of Israel are worshiping as Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a duel.  Four hundred prophets build and altar, cover it with wood, offer a sacrifice and then call upon Baal to send fire down from heaven to consume it.  After crying out for hours, cutting themselves and dancing around like madmen trying to wake up a sleeping deity; they quit in frustration because the gods of their own making were impotent.  Elijah stands alone before the people and the bleeding, exhausted prophets of Baal.  He tells the people to douse his altar and wood with water and then simply calls down fire from heaven.  After this simple prayer, the one and only God who made the universe and all that is in it sent down fire from heaven that consumed both altars.  Elijah calls upon the people to join him in slaughtering the false prophets and they oblige.  When Ahab’s wife Jezebel gets wind of these events she promises to kill Elijah by the setting of the sun.  It is amazing that Elijah could stand up to the entire nation and confront 400 false prophets with courage and complete confidence in God; but at the threat of one woman he runs away and fear and falls into a deep depression.  We are always the most vulnerable to temptation and risk falling into depression when we have just experienced great victory.  Physical exhaustion and spiritual pride can take us to some very dark and ugly places.  God resolves Elijah’s depression by giving him food to eat, water to drink, a good sleep and speaking truth into his life.  When we become depressed and discouraged or have just experienced a successful time of ministry; we must be careful not to rationalize sin.  The right course of action is to get the physical rest that we need, draw close to the Lord in prayer and pay close attention to His Word.