King Solomon settling the dispute over who is the true mother of the baby.
I am now 1/5 done with my project of reading through the Bible. As the name suggests, the Books of 1st and 2nd Kings chronicle the history of consecutive kings since the death of David, Israel's greatest king ever. Solomon gets us off to a great start as he is a wise and wonderful leader, accomplishing world renown with his building projects, wisdom and accumulation of wealth. Unfortunately, he also accumulates a very large number of wives and concubines and this becomes his undoing. After a very detailed description of the construction of the temple and his own palace, the book gets down to a blow by blow accounting of the kings that followed Solomon. Some good, some bad, but overall, there is a steady decline in morality and faithfulness to God. The individual stories of each king contain grim and sometimes gory anecdotes that explain why each king is either good or evil. The prophets Elijah and Elisha make dramatic appearances (and exits), and their exploits make for some interesting reading. It is becoming apparent that the leadership is no longer hearing God's voice either on their own or through his prophets. To emphasise the decline, the last few words of the 1st book speak of King Ahaziah, who "did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father, Ahab." The 2nd book ends with good King Josiah, but soon after his reign, Jerusalem is destroyed, as is the temple that Solomon built, and the people are taken into exile in Babylon. God is simply 'fed up' with his people.
Impressions: Again, it so apparent that bad decisions result in calamity and misfortune. God's assessment of Israel being a "stiff-necked people" way back in the book of Exodus, proves to be true even as time goes on. Instead of being a nation set apart, they continually become enculturated by the surrounding tribes. Hmm. Sounds like us today.
Readability: 4 stars
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