his sources the compiler refers chiefly to two distinct works, the “words” or “chronicles” of the kings of Israel and those of the kings of Judah. Precisely how much is copied from these works and how much has been expressed in the compiler’s own language is of course uncertain. It is found on inspection that the present history consists usually of an epitome of each reign. It states the king’s age at succession (so Judah only), length of reign, death and burial, with allusions to his buildings, wars, and other political events.[1] In the case of Judah, also, the name of the royal or queen-mother is specifically mentioned. The references to the respective “chronicles,” made as though they were still accessible, are wanting in the case of Jehoram and Hoshea of Israel, and of Solomon, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah of Judah. But for Solomon the authority cited, “book of the acts of Solomon” (1 Kings xi. 41), presumably presupposes Judaean chronicles, and the remaining cases preserve details of an annalistic character. Moreover, distinctive annalistic material is found for the Israelite kings Saul and Ishbosheth in 1 Sam. xiii. 1; xiv. 47–51; 2 Sam. ii. 8–10a (including even their age at accession), and for David in 2 Sam. ii. 11 and parts of v. and viii.
The use which the compiler makes of his sources shows that his aim was not the history of the past but its religious significance. It is rare that even qualified praise is bestowed upon the kings of Israel (Jehoram, 2 Kings iii. 2; Jehu x. 30; Hoshea xvii. 2). Kings of great historical importance are treated with extreme brevity (Omri, Jeroboam (2), Uzziah), and similar meagreness of historical information is apparent when the editorial details and the religious judgments are eliminated from the accounts of Nadab, Baasha, and the successors of Jeroboam (2) in Israel or of Abijam and Manasseh in Judah.
To gain a more exact idea of the character of the book we may divide the history into three sections: (1) the life of Solomon, (2) the kingdoms of Ephraim (or Samaria)[2] and Judah, and (3) the separate history of Judah after the fall of Samaria. I. Solomon.—The events which lead up Solomon. to the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) are closely connected with 2 Sam. ix.–xx. The unity is broken by the appendix 2 Sam. xxi. xxi.–xxiv. which is closely connected, as regards general subject-matter, with ibid. v.–viii.; the literary questions depend largely upon the structure of the books of Samuel (q.v.). It is evident, at least, that either the compiler drew upon other sources for the occasion and has been remarkably brief elsewhere, or that his epitomes have been supplemented by the later insertion of material not necessarily itself of late origin. At present 1 Kings i., ii. are both the close of David’s life (no source is cited) and the necessary introduction to Solomon. But Lucian’s recension of the Septuagint (ed. Lagarde), as also Josephus, begin the book at ii. 12, thus separating the annalistic accounts of the two. Since the contents of 1 Kings iii.–xi. do not form a continuous narrative, the compiler’s authority (“Acts of S.” xi. 41) can hardly have been an ordinary chronicle. The chapters comprise (a) sundry notices of the king’s prosperous and peaceful career, severed by (b) a description of the Temple and other buildings; and they conclude with (c) some account of the external troubles which prove to have unsettled the whole of his reign. After an introduction (iii.), a contains generalizing statements of Solomon’s might, wealth and wisdom (iv. 20 seq., 25, 29–34; x. 23–25, 27) and stories of a distinctly late and popular character (iii. 16–28, x. i–10, 13). The present lack of unity can in some cases be remedied by the Septuagint, which offers many deviations from the Hebrew text; this feature together with the present form of the parallel texts in Chronicles will exemplify the persistence of fluctuation to a late period (4th–2nd cent. B.C.).
Thus iii. 2 seq. cannot be by the same hand as v. 4, and v. 2 is probably a later Deut. gloss upon v. 3 (earlier Deut.), which represents the compiler’s view and (on the analogy of the framework) comes closely after ii. 12.[3] Ch. iii. 1 can scarcely be severed from ix. 16, and in the Septuagint they appear in iv. in the order: iv. 1–19 (the officers), 27 seq. (their duties), 22–24 (the daily provision), 29–34 (Solomon’s reputation), iii. 1; ix. 16–17a (alliance with Egypt); iv. 20 seq. 25 are of a generalizing character and recur in the Septuagint with much supplementary matter in ii. Ch. iv. 26 is naturally related to x. 26 (cf. 2 Chron. i. 14) and takes its place in Lucian’s recension (cf. 2 Chron. ix. 25). There is considerable variation again in ix. 10–x. 29, and the order ix. 10–14, 26–28, x. 1–22 (so partly Septuagint) has the advantage of recording continuously Solomon’s dealings with Hiram. The intervening verses belong to a class of floating notices (in a very unnatural order) which seem to have got stranded almost by chance at different points in the two recensions; contrast also 2 Chron. viii. Solomon’s preliminary arrangements with Hiram in ch. v. have been elaborated to emphasize the importance of the Temple (vv. 3–5, cf. 2 Sam. vii.); further difficulty is caused by the relation between 13 seq. and 15 seq. (see 2 Chron. ii. 17 seq.) and between both of these and ix. 20 seq. xi. 28. The account of the royal buildings now sandwiched in between the related fragments of a is descriptive rather than narrative, and the accurate details might have been obtained by actual observation of the Temple at a date long subsequent to Solomon. It is not all due to a single hand. Ch. vi. 11–14 (with several late phrases) break the connexion and are omitted by the Septuagint; vv. 15–22, now untranslatable, appear in a simple and intelligible form in the Septuagint. The account of the dedication contains many signs of a late date; viii. 14–53, 54–61 are due to a Deuteronomic writer, and that they are an expansion of the older narrative (vv. 1–13) is suggested by the fact that the ancient fragment, vv. 12, 13 (imperfect in the Hebrew) appears in the Septuagint after v. 53 in completer form and with a reference to the book of Jashar as source (βιβλίον τῆς ᾠδῆς ספר (השיר) הישר). The redactional insertion displaced it in one recension and led to its mutilation in the other. With viii. 27–30, cf. generally Isa. xl.–lvi.; vv. 44–51 presuppose the exile, vv. 54–61 are wanting in Chron., and even the older parts of this chapter have also been retouched in conformity with later (even post-exilic) ritual and law. The Levites who appear at v. 4 in contrast to the priests, in a way unknown to the pre-exilic history, are not named in the Septuagint, which also omits the post-exilic term “congregation” (‘ēdah) in v. 5. There is a general similarity of subject with Deut. xxviii.
The account of the end of Solomon’s reign deals with (a) his religious laxity (xi. 1–13, now in a Deuteronomic form), as the punishment for which the separation of the two kingdoms is announced; and (b) the rise of the adversaries who, according to xi. 25, had troubled the whole of his reign, and therefore cannot have been related originally as the penalty for the sins of his old age. Both, however, form an introduction to subsequent events, and the life of Solomon concludes with a brief annalistic notice of his death, length of reign, successor, and place of burial. (See further Solomon.)
II. Ephraim and Judah.—In the history of the two kingdoms the redactor follows a fixed scheme determined, as has been seen, by the order of succession. The fluctuation of tradition concerning the circumstances of the schism is evident from a comparison with the The Divided Kingdom. Septuagint, and all that is related of Ahijah falls under suspicion of being foreign to the oldest history.[4] The story of the man of God from Judah (xiii.) is shown to be late by its general tone (conceptions of prophetism and revelation),[5] and by the term “cities of Samaria” (v. 32, for Samaria as a province, cf. 2 Kings xvii. 24, 26; for the building of the city by Omri see 1 Kings xvi. 24). It is a late Judaean narrative inserted after the Deuteronomic redaction, and
- ↑ Cp. the brief annalistic form of the Babylonian chronicles (for a specimen, see C. F. Kent, Israel’s Hist. and Biog. Narratives, p. 502 seq.). For a synchronistic history of Assyria and Babylonia, prepared for diplomatic purposes, see Schrader’s Keilinschr. Bibl. i. 194 sqq.; also L. W. King, Studies in Eastern Hist. i. (Tukulti-Ninib), pp. i, 75 seq. (with interesting variant traditions).
- ↑ The term “Israel” as applied to the northern kingdom is apt to be ambiguous, since as a general national name, with a religious significance, it can include or suggest the inclusion of Judah.
- ↑ Here and elsewhere a careful study (e.g. of the marginal references in the Revised Version) will prove the close relation between the “Deuteronomic” passages and the book of Deuteronomy itself. The bearing of this upon the traditional date of that book should not be overlooked.
- ↑ See art. Jeroboam; also W. R. Smith, Old Test. in Jew. Church, pp. 117 sqq.; H. Winckler, Alttest. Untersuchungen, pp. 1 sqq., and the subsequent criticisms by C. F. Burney (Kings, pp. 163 sqq.); J. Skinner (Kings, pp. 443 sqq.); and Ed. Meyer (Israeliten u. Nachbarstämme, pp. 357 sqq.).
- ↑ Notice should everywhere be taken of those prophetical stories which have the linguistic features of the Deuteronomic writers, or which differ in style and expression from the prophecies of Amos, Hosea and others, previous to Jeremiah.
