Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 1:1; 2:10-11; 2 Kings 25:1-7
With this message we begin the life-study of 1 and 2 Kings. My burden in this life-study can be expressed by the following four statements:
1)David committed the greatest gross sin against God, and God forgave him after his repentance and gave him a son as God's beloved, although God still disciplined him for the sake of His righteousness.
2)Solomon insulted God with many idols through his many pagan wives and concubines, and because of this God cut away ten tribes from his kingdom but still left one tribe with him for David to have a lamp in Jerusalem.
3)The children of Israel forsook God and went after idols, so God dispersed them into all the nations yet, in His eternal love, would bring them back to their fathers' land in the last days.
4)God's being so gracious to David, Solomon, and Israel was to keep the lineage of Christ's genealogy that Christ might come into humanity and to keep a people to possess the land of Emmanuel that Christ may come to establish His kingdom on the earth.
This introductory word to the life-study of 1 and 2 Kings presents the intrinsic revelation of the books of history in the Old Testament. Such a revelation is necessary to get into the real significance of these books. Otherwise, we may regard these books merely as story books.
God promised Abraham that He would give him and his descendants Canaan as the good land. Through Moses He brought Israel as a people, the descendants of Abraham, out of Egypt through the wilderness to the border of the good land. After Moses, Joshua was used by God to bring His elect into the good land He had promised to them.
The intrinsic revelation of the history according to the record from Joshua to Esther is to unveil to us how the eternal economy of God was carried out by His elect on the earth. The eternal economy of God is altogether concerning Christ and for Christ, mainly in the person of Christ and the kingdom of Christ. Regarding the person of Christ, the record of history in the Old Testament keeps a lineage of the genealogy of Christ for His coming through His incarnation to be a man. Regarding the kingdom of Christ, the Old Testament history keeps a line on the kingdom of God for Christ to establish His divine kingdom on the earth. These two items form the governing line of the divine revelation in the books of the history of Israel. Now in 1 and 2 Kings this governing line must be realized by us for our study and understanding of these two books.
For the carrying out of His economy, God needs a people and a land. For Christ's person, there is the need of a people to be the lineage of His genealogy to bring Him into humanity. For Christ's kingdom, there is the need of a land. Although the earth was created by God, it has been usurped by Satan. Thus, God uses His people to gain a part of the Satan-usurped earth to serve as a "beachhead" for Him to set up His kingdom.
The Bible is not a book of history. The Bible is the record of the divine revelation concerning God's eternal economy, of which Christ is the center and reality. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, and the church is the organic Body of Christ. These two items are the basic structure of the Bible. So, in understanding any book of the Bible, we should hold this point of view, especially in the life-study of the books of Kings. Apparently, these two books are the history of the kings of Israel. Actually, they are books written in the inspiration of the Spirit of God in the way of being related to God's eternal economy.
The first two kings, David and Solomon, are important types of Christ in two aspects. The first aspect is that of His suffering on earth, before His resurrection. From the time of His birth, He suffered. His life began in a manger in the lowest estate and ended in His being crucified on the cross. The manger and the cross were the two ends of His suffering life. David typifies this suffering Christ. David also suffered from his youth. Yet his suffering was for the conquering of the usurping enemies and the gaining of the good land, the ground for God's building. Solomon typifies the Christ glorified in the kingdom of God and its splendor. Solomon was glorified in the kingdom of Israel with the splendor of that kingdom. This is a prefigure of Christ in the millennium. These two types are strong evidences that the history of the kings of Israel is related to God's eternal economy, which concerns Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the organic Body of Christ.
The main striking point of these historical books concerning Israel is to show us in detail, in the way of typology, how to experience Christ as the good land given to us by God as our portion (Col. 1:12). First, the book of Joshua shows us how to gain, to take possession of, and to keep the good land. Then the books of Judges, Ruth, and 1 and 2 Samuel give us pictures of certain persons, showing us how they remained in the good land and enjoyed the good land after they took possession of it. The record of quite a few judges in the book of Judges, of Ruth and Boaz in the book of Ruth, and of Eli, Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel presents us vivid pictures of how those persons remained in and enjoyed the good land. Even though those pictures were painted in detail, there is still the need of 1 and 2 Kings to give us pictures of more persons showing us how they remained in and enjoyed the good land.
Christ is the good land given to us by God, and we need to enjoy this good land. We should ask ourselves how much we have enjoyed Christ. It is not sufficient simply to experience Christ; we must also enjoy Christ. Have you enjoyed Christ today? I can testify that today I have enjoyed Christ as my life supply, my strength, my living faith, my joy, and my peace.
The two books of Kings present us a full picture of the details by which God's elect remained in and participated in the good land. It depicts, as an x ray, in detail, the character, the intention, the preferences, the habits, the morality, and the actions of all the kings as the descendants of David the king. By such a picture we can see that what we are, what we desire, what we intend to do, what we want, and how we behave ourselves have very much to do with our remaining in Christ and participating in all His unsearchable riches for our enjoyment. This picture concerning Israel ends with a tragedy of all the kings who were put into the blessed situation of the Davidic kingship and who were not faithful to God and did not take good care of their inheritance: they lost the good land and were carried away as captives to the idol-worshipping world. This should be a solemn alarm and warning to us in our relationship with Christ. If we are wrong in any of the matters mentioned above, we will suffer the loss of Christ as our enjoyment. I hope that we all will see this and be deeply impressed with it.
Christ is our good land, and we need to remain in this land, participate in it, and enjoy it. But the enjoyment of Christ has been very much neglected by the believers. For instance, many believers can testify that they have prayed and that their prayers have been answered by God. However, not many can say that in receiving an answer to their prayers they enjoyed Christ. This indicates we can pray and receive an answer without having any enjoyment of Christ.
The record of the first two chapters of 1 Kings could be considered a conclusion of the history of David recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel. This is strong evidence that the historical books in the Old Testament were written in the way of unveiling God's economy, not merely in the way of the history of Israel. This is critical to us who are the students of the holy Scriptures. The entire Bible, although written by more than forty authors in sixty-six books, unveils to us only the unique economy of God, which He made for the accomplishment of His heart's desire, that is, to have Himself expressed and enlarged through Christ in His Divine Trinity. Such an accomplishment of God is more involved with the church in the New Testament than with Israel, God's elect, in the Old Testament and will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
First and 2 Kings were one book in the Hebrew Scriptures, called The Books of the Kings.
There is no evidence in these two books to indicate who the writers were. Some of the Jewish and Christian teachers suppose that Jeremiah might have been the writer.
The history covered in these two books encompasses 426 years. The first book covers 118 years, from 1015 to 897 B.C., that is, from the decease of David (2:10) to the reign to Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, king of Israel (22:51). The second book covers 308 years, from 896 to 588 B.C., that is, from the reign of Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel (3:1-3) to the captivity (25:1-7).
The two books of Kings were probably written in Jerusalem.
The content of these books is the history of Israel, God's elect, from the decease of David to the captivity of Israel to Babylon.
The central thought of the books of Kings is God's governmental dealing, in God's economy, with the devastation and ruin of the divine kingship on the earth by the kings and the tragic issue of the just dealing of God, that is, the loss of the holy land, which was the base of God's kingdom on the earth, and the capture of the holy people who maintained the lineage of Christ's genealogy.
God desired to have a people for the bringing of Christ into humanity, and God needed a land for Christ to set up God's kingdom. Satan instigated the king of Babylon to conquer Israel to devastate the land and to carry away the people. It seemed that these two lines had ended, but in the genealogy in Matthew 1 we see that these two lines were continued even through the captivity. Eventually, Christ came into humanity through this lineage.
There are only two sections to the books of Kings: the old age and decease of David (1 Kings 1:1—2:11) and the reign of the kings (1 Kings 2:12—2 Kings 25:30).
