Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Lord Reigns Even as Kings Fail (1–2 Kings) | Thomas R. Schreiner

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The Lord Reigns Even as Kings Fail (1–2 Kings) | Thomas R. Schreiner · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. Today we're doing a deep dive
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into a section of Scripture that can feel, well, a bit
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overwhelming. It certainly can.
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We're looking at the books of 1 and 2 Kings.
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Right. And for anyone who's tried to
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read through it, you know, you've got all these kings, this
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chaotic timeline, the split Kingdom, it's a lot to track.
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It is. So our mission here is to sort
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of cut through that. We're not trying to build a
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social history of what life was like for the average person.
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What we're doing is a theological history.
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We want to view the story from above, you could say, to see how
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the theological principles, mainly covenant faithfulness or
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or the lack of it, really caused the historical effects you see
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on the ground. So the fate of the nation is
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completely tied to the actions of its kings.
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Completely. Now to get the context, you have
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to remember where we are in the big story.
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The grand narrative of redemption, right?
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It starts way back in Genesis 3.15 with that promise of an
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offspring of the woman, and that gets clearer with Abraham in
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Genesis 12. The.
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Promise of offspring, land and a worldwide blessing.
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Yes, and then crucially, it gets laser focused in Second Samuel 7
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with the Davidic covenant. Which says that this blessing
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for the whole world is going to come through a specific king
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from David's line forever. So as we open first Kings, the
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expectation should be through the roof.
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Because it looks like all the promises are coming true, They.
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Are you've got the people, they're filling the land.
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The Kingdom is secure under David's son, Solomon.
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It feels like that global blessing is, you know, just
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around the corner. So here's the question the book
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has to answer for you as you're reading this.
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You start at this incredible high point.
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What happened? How does it all spiral into evil
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and eventually total exile? And maybe more than that, what
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are the prospects for the future after it all falls apart?
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Kings gives us the answer. It shows us the causes and the
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sovereign purpose behind the disaster.
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OK, so let's start at the beginning.
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Part 1, The rise of Solomon. This seems to be a story of
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paradise anticipated. It is, and the book kicks off in
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chapters 1 and 2 with the transfer of power from David to
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Solomon, and the author immediately sets up a really
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powerful contrast. We see Adanja first.
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Adanja and the text says he exalted himself.
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He's grasping for the throne, getting Chariots, 50 men to run
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before. Him and that detail about the
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Chariots and runners, that's not random, is it?
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Not at all. It's a very pointed callback.
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It's the exact same thing his brother Absalom did when he
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rebelled. The author is linking Adanaja to
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that same spirit of self promotion, of rebellion.
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He's trying to take the Kingdom by his own ambition.
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And Solomon on the other hand. Solomon does nothing.
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He just receives the Kingdom. He doesn't strive for it.
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Others like Bathsheba and Nathan, they work to make sure
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the promise David made is fulfilled.
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So there's a typological connection here, a pointer to
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Christ. I think so, yes.
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Solomon is exalted by his Father and gets the Kingdom as a gift.
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In a similar way Christ is exalted by his Father.
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The Kingdom begins in peace, not ambition.
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Then Solomon has to secure the Kingdom in chapter 2, and this
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part can be a bit jarring for modern readers.
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You know, with the executions. It can be, but you have to see
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it from the narrator's perspective.
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These aren't seen as vengeful purges, they're viewed as acts
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of wisdom establishing justice. So take Joab.
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Why was his execution necessary? Well, Joab was a threat to the
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kingdom's stability. He was a violent man, remember?
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He'd murdered Abner and Amassa, and now he's siding with the
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usurper Adonijah. Removing him was about cleansing
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the Kingdom of that kind of threat.
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And what about Shimei? He was the man who cursed David.
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Yes, and Solomon gave him a very generous condition to preserve
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his life, to stay in Jerusalem. But Shime violates that
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condition. He shows he doesn't respect the
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King's authority, so his removal is seen as just because he broke
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the legal term Solomon set. And then there's the priest
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Abiathar. And his removal is maybe the
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most theological of all. It's a direct fulfillment of a
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prophecy made against the House of Eli way back in First Samuel.
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So all these actions are about establishing the Kingdom on a
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foundation of justice and and fulfilled prophecy.
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Right, Solomon starts with a clean slate.
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But even with that clean slate, Chapter 3 gives us this this
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ominous warning sign right away. The marriage to Pharaoh's
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daughter, it's just dropped in there.
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It says Solomon loved the Lord, but he married the daughter of
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Pharaoh. Which goes directly against the
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law for the king in Deuteronomy 17.
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Directly, that law warns the king not to multiply wives lest
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his heart turn away. That one act, right at the start
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plants a seed of compromise. Still, he begins well, He loves
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Yahweh, he obeys him, and that leads to the famous scene at
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Gibeon. Gibeon is so important when God
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offers him anything. He doesn't ask for riches or
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long life. He asks for wisdom, for a
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discerning heart to govern God's people justly.
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And God's response is just overwhelming.
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Wisdom beyond measure. More than all the wisdom of the
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East, more than Egypt. And this isn't just about being
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smart. It's the moral skill of good
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government. When the king is wise, the
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nation experiences a kind of Edenic rest.
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Let's talk about that. The results of this wisdom are
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laid out in chapter 4, and it really does sound like paradise.
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The descriptions are so carefully chosen.
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First, the people of Israel were countless, as many as the sand
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by the sea. The Abrahamic promise of
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offspring fulfilled. Exactly.
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Then there's peace and prosperity.
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It says they ate and drank and we're happy.
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But the most evocative phrase is that every man lived in safety
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under his vine and under his fig tree.
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What's the significance of that specific image?
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It's an idiom for total security and prosperity.
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It looks back to promises in Genesis and looks forward to how
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prophets like Micah would describe the Messiah's future
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Kingdom. It meant the fullness of rest
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had come. And even the borders of the
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Kingdom. They stretched from the
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Euphrates to the border of Egypt.
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This is the full extent of the land promised made to Abraham.
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It looked like God's intended rule over the world, which
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started in Eden, was finally becoming a reality through
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David's son. But all of this peace and
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prosperity, as amazing as it is, it's all secondary to the
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presence of Yahweh himself. That's.
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The heart of it all. Which brings us to the temple in
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chapters 5 through 8. The building of the temple is
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what truly makes the land like Eden again.
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It's a new Garden of Eden. A consecrated space at the
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center of the world, Solomon builds it for God's name, which
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is a way of saying it's the place where God reveals his true
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character to humanity. And the details of the
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construction seem to really matter, like the timeline.
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Yes, the seven years to build it 7 is the number of completion of
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covenant. It's very likely a parallel to
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the seven days of creation, suggesting that God is finding
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his Sabbath rest among his people in this new creation.
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The architecture itself seems to point back to the garden too.
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Oh, absolutely. The Inner Sanctuary, the Most
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Holy Place, is a perfect cube covered in gold, and inside are
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these massive cherubim guarding the Divine Presence.
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Just like the cherubim who guarded the way back to Eden in
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Genesis 3. Precisely, it signals a return
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to that sacred space where heaven and earth meet.
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Then we get to the dedication to the temple, and it's one of
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those dramatic moments in the Old Testament.
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It is. The ark is brought in, the
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sacrifices are made, and then this cloud, the glory of the
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Lord, fills the house. It's so overwhelming that the
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priest can't even stand to do their jobs.
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That's just incredible. And it's a direct echo of the
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dedication of the Tabernacle in Exodus.
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It's this picture of God's awesome holy presence,
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condescending to dwell with humanity, but remaining utterly
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transcendent at the same. Time.
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Solomon's prayer during this dedication, Chapter 8 is just
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It's the theological core of the whole event.
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It is, and he starts by acknowledging God's
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transcendence. He says heaven and the highest
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heaven cannot contain you. How much less this house that I
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have built? And yet God puts his name there.
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He graciously does, and Solomon praises God as the one who keeps
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his promises. He says not one word has failed
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of all his good promise. Everything they're experiencing
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is a testament to God's faithfulness.
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What's so striking, though, is that even in this high moment,
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Solomon anticipates Israel's failure.
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He's a realist. He knows there is no one who
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does not sin. So the prayer includes these
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pleas for forgiveness for when Israel inevitably transgresses
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and suffers the consequences, including exile.
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He foresees the end of the book right here at the beginning.
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He does, but he also provides a path back.
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He prays that if they are in exile and they genuinely repent
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with all their mind and all their heart, that God will show
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mercy. It frames the whole tragic
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history with a sliver of hope. And the prayer isn't just for
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Israel, is it? It has this universal scope.
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This is so key. He prays for the foreigner, the
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person who hears of God's great name and comes to pray toward
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the temple. He asks God to answer them.
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Why? So that all peoples of the earth
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may know your name and fear you. The mission was come and see.
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The world was meant to be drawn to Jerusalem.
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Which is exactly what happens with the Queen of Sheba in
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chapter 10. The nations did come and see.
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Her visit is the proof she's just stunned by his wisdom and
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prosperity. And she gives the glory to God,
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she says, because the Lord loved Israel forever.
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He has made you king. The world saw that Israel's
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flourishing was tied to God's love.
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And the chapter ends with all this talk of gold.
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Just a staggering amount of gold.
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Another identic marker, Genesis 2, mentions the gold of that
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land. So you have this perfect
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picture. A wise king, a peaceful land,
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God's presence in the temple, and overflowing prosperity.
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It looks like paradise. But the author won't let us rest
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there. No, because God had already
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given Solomon a second warning in Chapter 9.
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A very what? Was the warning.
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He said if you or your descendants abandoned me and
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worship other gods, Israel will go into exile and this temple,
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this glorious house will be destroyed and become a ruin.
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That warning hangs over everything that follows.
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So the unraveling begins Part 2. The turn in Chapter 11 is just
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so swift and tragic. It really is.
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The fall is traced directly to that first warning sign we
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talked. About his foreign wives.
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His love for many foreign women, 700 wives, 300 concubines.
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It's a flagrant violation of Deuteronomy 2017 and the author
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is crystal clear. His wives turn his heart away
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from the Lord. So it wasn't just having many
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wives, it was embracing their gods.
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He commits the fundamental sin, transgressing the first
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commandment. He starts worshipping Ashtereth,
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Milkham, Chimash, Molech. He even builds high places for
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them near Jerusalem. David sin grievously, but he
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never did this. This was total apostasy.
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So the judgement of the dividing covenant has to fall, but the
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covenant itself is eternal. How does that work?
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That's the tension you have to see.
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The promise to David is irrevocable, but the experience
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of the blessings under the Mosaic covenant is conditional.
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Solomon's sin means he has to be punished.
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But God's promise to David can't fail.
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So God preserves A remnant. He tells Solomon he'll tear the
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Kingdom from him, but he'll leave one tribe, Judah, for
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David's sake. The ultimate promise holds, but
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it's immediate realization through Solomon has failed.
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And that failure leads directly to the Kingdom splitting under
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his son Rehoboam. Yes, and the narrator makes it
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clear that this isn't just a political accident.
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The prophet Ahijah had already told Jeroboam he would rule 10
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tribes. So when Rehoboam acts like a
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fool and threatens to be even harsher than his father.
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He's just providing the human means for God's prophetic word
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to be fulfilled. The author steps in and says
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this was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord, that
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He might fulfill His word. OK, so let's look at Jeroboam
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and the new Northern Kingdom. He has a divine promise of a
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sure house if he obeys God. But he doesn't trust it.
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He's got a political problem. The center of worship, the
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Temple, is in Jerusalem, the capital of his enemy.
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He's afraid his people will go back to Rio Baum.
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So he creates his own state sanctioned religion.
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He does. He sets up rival worship centers
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in Bethel and Dan. And what does he put in them?
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Golden calves. A direct echo of Aaron's sin at
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Sinai. A cynical, deliberate revival of
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that apostasy. He even uses the same words.
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Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of
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Egypt. And that one act pollutes the
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entire identity of the Northern Kingdom from then on.
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It becomes the defining sin. It's mentioned over and over
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again the sin of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.
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It sets them on a path that leads directly to their
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destruction. And the certainty of God's word
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against this sin is then driven home in this really bizarre
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story in chapter 13, the story of the man of God.
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It's a strange one, for sure, but its function is to show that
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the judgment pronounced against Jeroboam's altar will absolutely
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happen. This prophet predicts by name
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that a king named Josiah will one day defile that altar.
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A. Prophecy that won't come true
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for 300 years, right? And as an immediate sign, the
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altar splits apart. But then you have this strange
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subplot. Where the prophet is killed by a
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lion, yes. He was told by God not to eat or
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drink there. An old prophet lies to him and
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convinces him to disobey. On his way home, a lion kills
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him. And the detail that's emphasized
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is that the lion doesn't eat him or his donkey, It just stands
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there. Which tells you this isn't a
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natural animal attack, it's divine judgment.
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The whole point of this strange story is that God's prophetic
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word cannot be nullified. It will always come true.
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Disobedience to it brings swift judgment.
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And sure enough, Jeroboam's dynasty is cut off quickly.
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The North becomes incredibly unstable. 10 different dynastic
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changes in just over 200 years. It's a stark contrast to the
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South, to Judah, where the Davidic line continues because
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of God's promise. The whole nation is just in a
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downward spiral. It is.
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The Kings get worse and worse. Omri is worse than those before
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him, but then his son Ahab takes the throne.
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And Ahab plunges the nation into total apostasy.
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Through his marriage to Jezebel, he introduces state sponsored
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bail worship. This isn't just syncretism
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anymore, it's a complete turning away from Yahweh to embrace a
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rival God. And the section closes with this
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little historical note that feels almost random.
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About Hile of Bethel rebuilding Jericho, right?
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Why is that there? Because it fulfilled a curse
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spoken by Joshua centuries early, the narrator puts it
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there right after introducing the worst king, Ahab, as a
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final, chilling reminder. God's word always comes true no
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matter how long it takes, and the judgement for Israel's sin
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is coming. So that brings us to Part 3, the
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confrontation with this apostasy led by the prophets.
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Right. The battle against Beale isn't
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led by the Kings. They're the problem.
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It's led by Elijah and Elijah. This whole section is about
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demonstrating the efficacy of God's Word through His prophets.
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The real battle is Yahweh versus Bale, Yes.
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And Elijah's ministry is a systematic takedown of
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everything Bale was supposed to represent.
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Bale was the storm God, the God of fertility.
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So Elijah's first act is to declare a drought.
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It there won't rain except by my word.
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He's showing that Yahweh, not Baal, controls the weather.
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And Yahweh, not Baal, is the source of life and provision.
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Look at the miracle with the widow of Zarephath, a Gentile
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widow. She's sustained by miraculous
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flour and oil Yahweh provides for her while his own people
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starve. Then he raises her son from.
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The dead and the woman's response is the key.
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She says, Now I know that the word of the Lord in your mouth
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is truth. And that realization sets the
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stage for the big public showdown.
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Mount Carmel, Chapter 18. The contest is designed to
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expose Bale as a fraud. You have 450 profits of Bale
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screaming, dancing, cutting themselves all day long.
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And the result. No voice, no one answered, no
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one paid attention. The author just hammers home
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Bale's complete impotence. And then it's Elijah's turn.
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And he makes it impossible to fake.
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He has them drenched the altar with water three times until the
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trench is full. Then a short, simple prayer.
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And the fire of the Lord falls. And it consumes everything, the
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sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust and all the water.
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It was a complete and total victory.
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The people's hearts are turned. They declare the Lord He is God,
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yes. But even after this huge win,
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Elijah flees from Jezebel. He runs in despair all the way
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to Mount Horeb. Back to Sinai, the place where
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the covenant began. He's in crisis.
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He thinks he's the only one left, but God meets him there
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and teaches him a lesson about how he works.
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God isn't in the wind or the earthquake or the fire.
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He's in the whisper. The still small voice.
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The point is that while God can act in dramatic judgment, the
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long term work of His Kingdom often happens quietly as He
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works to preserve His people and bring about His purposes.
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And that preservation of a remnant is so central.
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It is God assures Elijah that he has reserved 7000 in Israel, who
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haven't bowed the need to bail. This principle of election is
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what guarantees the covenant promise will survive even in the
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midst of mass apostasy. This leads us to Ahab's
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downfall, where again, God's word is shown to be inescapable.
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Yes, like in the strange story in chapter 20 where a prophet
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tells another man to strike him. And when the man refuses, he's
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killed by a lion. It's shocking, but the narrative
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point is the absolute, immediate effectiveness of God's Word.
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Disobedience to a direct command from a prophet has fatal
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consequences. It's setting the stage, the
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judgement on Ahab, who is the great disobedient.
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One which brings us to Naboth's vineyard in Chapter 21.
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A classic case of royal abuse of power.
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Naboth rightly refuses to sell his ancestral inheritance, so
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Jezebel's schemes has him murdered and Ahab takes the
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land. And Elijah shows up immediately
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with a word of judgement. That dogs would lick up Ahab's
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blood in the very place they licked up Naboth's, and that
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dogs would eat Jezebel. The judgement is sealed.
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Then in chapter 22 we see Ahab try to cheat death.
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He does. He consults his 400 false
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prophets who tell him what he wants to hear.
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He ignores the true prophet Micaiah.
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And Micaiah gives a stunning vision of the heavenly court.
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He pulls back the curtain and shows that Yahweh himself has
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decreed Ahab's death and has even sent a lying spirit into
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the false prophets to lure him to his doom.
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The narrator isn't concerned with the mechanics of that.
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The point is God's sovereignty. That's it.
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Yahweh is king and his purposes will be done.
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So Ahab disguises himself and goes into battle thinking he's
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safe. But he's not.
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A soldier drew his bow at random, and that random arrow
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finds the one tiny gap in Ahab's armor.
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It's a perfect picture of God's meticulous sovereignty over
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so-called chance. And the prophecy is fulfilled.
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To the letter. After Elijah's taken up to
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heaven, his ministry is continued by Elijah, who
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receives a double portion of his spirit.
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And Elijah's miracles continue that theme of demonstrating
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Yahweh's power, but they also seem to anticipate a future
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restoration, a new creation. How?
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So what's the theme of his miracles?
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They're about life and provision.
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He heals the bitter water of Jericho, making the land
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productive again. He multiplies grain to feed the
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hungry. He raises another child from the
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dead. All things Bell was supposed to
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do but couldn't. Exactly.
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Even the small miracles, like making an iron axe head float,
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show God's care for the everyday needs of his people.
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The message is you can trust Yahweh, you don't need idols.
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And this recognition of Yahweh's power starts to spread beyond
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Israel's borders. It does, which brings us to name
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in the Syrian in chapter 5, a powerful foreign general, an
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enemy of Israel. And he's a leper.
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He comes to Elijah for healing and is outraged by the
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instructions. He is.
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He expected some grand ritual. Instead, Elijah just tells him
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to go wash in the Jordan River. 7 * A simple command requiring
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humble obedience. And when he obeys, he's healed.
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And his confession is the climax.
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I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel the
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simple prophetic word draws the nation's to Yahweh.
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This all builds to a crisis point where the Lord raises up
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Jehu to purge the land of bell worship.
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A brutal, bloody purge, but the narrator frames it entirely as
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the fulfillment prophecy. Jehu wipes out the House of
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Ahab. And the prophecy about Jezebel
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comes true in a gruesome way. Thrown from a window, her body
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eaten by dogs, just as Elijah had said, it's the final,
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violent proof that God's Word, once spoken, will be
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accomplished. Jehu's actions, however brutal,
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are God's judgement in history. But even as Baal is being wiped
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out in the north, the Davidic line itself comes under threat
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in the South. A huge theological crisis.
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Athalia, who is Jezebel's daughter, tries to murder the
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entire royal family. It's the offspring of the
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serpent trying to stamp out the line of the promised seed.
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But a single heir, the baby Joash, is hidden and preserved.
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And that's the point. No human scheme can thwart God's
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covenant promise. The lamp promised to David in
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Jerusalem. It flickers, but it is not
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extinguished. So we move into the final
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section, Part 4. The covenant curses are coming
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due, yes. Even after Jehu's purge, the
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North just goes right back to the sin of Jeroboam.
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It's a hopeless cycle. But the narrator makes a point
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of showing Grouse patience. He does.
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He notes that God showed mercy to Israel time and again, not
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because they deserved it, but because of His covenant with
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Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Meanwhile, Judah is also
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declining, especially under a king like Ahaz.
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Ahaz is a disaster. He practices child sacrifice.
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He's threatened by Syria and Israel, and instead of trusting
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God, he turns to the superpower of the day, Assyria, for help.
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And he brings their Pagan worship right into the temple.
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He replaces the Lord's bronze altar with a replica of an
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Assyrian one. It's a complete spiritual
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surrender. And this all leads to the fall
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of the Northern Kingdom Israel in Second Kings 17.
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And the narrator pauses the story here to give a long
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explanation for why it happened. And the reason is not political.
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No, it's entirely religious. They were exiled for breaking
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the covenant. They worshipped false gods,
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built high places, practice child sacrifice, and ignored the
21:59
prophets God sent them. It's the fulfillment of the
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curses from Deuteronomy. It's a textbook case.
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They chose the curses and they got them.
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All this darkness, there's one more bright spot in Judah.
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King Hezekiah. A really bright spot.
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He's like a new David. He trusts the Lord, He tears
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down the idols. And his faith is vindicated in a
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dramatic way when Assyrian invades.
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The Assyrian king mocks God, Hezekiah prays, and the Angel of
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the Lord strikes down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.
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It's a stunning display of God's power to save his faithful King.
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But even Hezekiah's reign ends on a sour note.
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It does. After he's healed from a
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sickness, he foolishly shows off all his treasures to envoys from
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Babylon. And the prophet Isaiah tells him
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that one day all that wealth will be carried off to Babylon.
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And Hezekiah's response is just chilling.
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He's basically just glad it won't happen in his lifetime.
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A complete lack of concern for the future generations.
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It's a fatal flaw and it sets the stage for his son Manasseh.
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And the book presents Manasseh's reign as the point of no return.
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It does. He reversed all of Hezekiah's
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reforms and then some. He put idols inside the temple.
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He practice child sacrifice and the text says he filled
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Jerusalem with innocent blood. And that sin, the shedding of
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innocent blood, was something the Lord would not pardon.
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That act sealed Judah's fate. The exile was now guaranteed.
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But there's one last gasp of hope with King Josiah.
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A wonderful godly king, he finds the book of the Law in the
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temple and is horrified by what he reads.
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He realizes the judgment that's coming.
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And he leads this incredible sweeping reform.
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He purges the land of idols, cleanses the temple and
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celebrates the Passover. And he even fulfills that 300
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year old prophecy about defiling the altar at Bethel.
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A beautiful moment of obedience, but it wasn't enough.
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It couldn't turn back the clock on generations of sin.
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The narrator is clear the Lord's wrath was still coming because
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of the sins of Manasseh. After Josiah dies, it's all
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over. And so the final act and two
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Kings 25. Nebuchadnezzar and the
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Babylonians come. The city is besieged and finally
24:06
the temple is burned to the ground.
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The end of everything Solomon built.
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Everything. The Last King, Zedekiah is
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blinded, his sons are killed. The people are carried off into
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exile in Babylon. The covenant curses fully
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realized. The land is lost, the people
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scattered. The whole project seems to have
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failed. So wrapping this up, it's a
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story of devolution. You start in a near paradise
24:26
with Solomon and you end up in exile back in Babylon, which is
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where the story in Genesis really kicks off.
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Every part of the Abrahamic promised land and offspring
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blessing, it's all been jeopardized.
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The story shows the sheer force of sin and that Israel on its
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own simply cannot be faithful. But the one theme that holds it
24:46
all together, the main thing you're supposed to see, is the
24:48
reliability of God's Word. That's the take away.
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The Word that promised judgement came true down to the smallest
24:54
details. So you the listener, you know
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God's Word is reliable. And then the book ends with this
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one tiny detail that changes everything, the last four
25:02
verses. Yes, after all that in
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Devastation we get this little note.
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Jehoiachen, the exiled Davidic king, is released from a
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Babylonian. Prism and he's given a place at
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the King of Babylon's table. It seems so minor.
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Why end the entire two books saga on that note?
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Because it's a whisper of hope. It's not a shout, but it tells
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you that the Lord has not forgotten His covenant.
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If the word of judgement was kept so perfectly, then the word
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of promise, the promise of a perpetual dynasty for David,
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that lamp in Jerusalem, that word must also come.
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True, the Davidic king survived. He survived, and he was even
25:35
being cared for in exile. The story isn't over, It's
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paused. That small act of grace points
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forward to the greater Davidic King who is still to come, the
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one who would finally establish the true and lasting paradise.
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That promise, despite all the failure, remains secure.