Volume II
The First Book of Kings
With John Brown’s marginal references, notes and reflections · Vol. II, p. 715
Perhaps this and the following book were written by the prophets who lived in their respective periods; and the whole connected together by Jeremiah or Ezra. They contain the history of the Jewish church and nation for about 427 years, from the coronation of Solomon to the burning of the temple by the Chaldeans. The alternate changes of mercies and judgments therein represented are an exact fulfilment of Le. xxvi.; De. xxviii. xxxii. Forty years the kingdom of Israel continued united under Solomon, whose instalment, wisdom, wealth, erection of the temple, and idolatrous apostasy, are largely described, i.-xi. After the division, the kingdom of the ten tribes continued two hundred and fifty-four years under nineteen kings, descended from nine different families; viz. Jeroboam I., Nadab;—Baasha, Elah;—Zimri;—Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram;—Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II., Zechariah;—Shallum;—Menahem, Pekahiah;—Pekah;—Hoshea: all of them idolaters. The kingdom of Judah continued three hundred and eighty-seven years under nineteen kings of the line of David; viz. Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah (Athaliah was an usurper), Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah: of whom Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah were pious, and Manasseh a penitent. The history of these thirty-nine sovereigns, with that of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, is the subject-matter of these books. The scope is to show how righteousness exalts a nation, and sin is the reproach of any people. [The First and Second Books of Kings were originally only one book. They are so still in Jewish manuscripts. They were divided in the Septuagint version, and printed so for the first time in Hebrew in the Bible edited by Bomberg. In the Septuagint and Vulgate they are called the Third and Fourth Books of Kings, First and Second Samuel being counted as First and Second Kings. The reason of this is obvious. The history in the four books is continuous, forming in fact a complete outline of the whole Israelitish monarchy from the anointing of David till the captivity. There can be little doubt that Jeremiah was the author of the Books of Kings. Jewish tradition affirms the fact, and the language and style fully corroborate it. The last chapter bears evidence that the writer of it was an eye-witness of the triumph of the Babylonish arms and the capture of the Jews, while he himself remained in Judea. This exactly accords with the history of Jeremiah. The sources from which he derived his information were doubtless national records and other authentic documents. The latter part of the history came under the author's own observation; and accordingly we find that the narrative of the appointment of Gedaliah as governor, of his murder, and of the flight of the Jews to Egypt, is just an abridgment of the Book of Jeremiah, ch. xl.-xliii. Several works are mentioned by the writer as sources of information:—The Book of the Acts of Solomon, 1 Ki. 11. 41; The Book of Jonah, 2 Ki. 14. 25. Others are named in Chronicles; such as The Acts of David; The Book of Nathan; The Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite; and The Visions of Iddo the Seer, &c. These were doubtless accessible to Jeremiah; and formed part of the materials from which, under divine inspiration, he composed the Books of Kings. P.]