I Kings

The books of I Kings starts off with the account of the death of David and the succession of Solomon.  Solomon misinterprets the prophecy by Nathan and builds the temple as an institution made by human hands.  Solomon is extolled for his wisdom as he makes many wise rulings throughout the book.  Solomon is also praised for his knowledge about Biology.  Solomon eventually lets his multiple wives get in his way as they lead him to follow after other gods.  Thus, he builds temples to these other gods and accumulates wealth like never before.  After Solomon the kingdom divides as Jeroboam his son revolts against the leadership of his other son Rehoboam.  Jeroboam sets up golden calves for worship in the Northern Kingdom and rules as king over the Northern Kingdom while Rehoboam rules as king over Judah.  The book then gives accounts of the rules of the kings.  In the accounts of the kings of Israel, the reigns are generally relatively short as there is constant conspiracy to overthrow the king in office by someone else who wants to be king.  All the kings of Israel are described as doing what they perceive as right in their own eyes.  Judah's kings on the contrary are a mixture.  Some of them good and some of them evil.  For the most part in this book the kings of Judah do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.  In chapter seventeen we have an introduction to Elijah the prophet who fights against the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel.  Elijah succeeds in defeating the priests of Baal even though he is outnumbered 450-1 as God answers by sending fire upon the altar that Elijah built.  Eventually after this defeat Elijah sits up against a tree and basically prays for God to take his life.  As he is there, storms and violent winds pass of which it says the Lord is not a part of.  In many ways, there are many storms that come upon our live today but that doesn't mean that God is the agent in brining about these storms.  Evetually Elijah regainns the will to life and stands up against Ahab king of Israel and Ahab's wife Jezebel.  Jezebel was a false prophetess of the Baalites and one of the reasons that the nation turned aside to the Baalites.  In chapter 22, the rule of Ahab ends as the prophet Micaiah comes to him and tells him he is going to lose the battle he is about to go to, but the other prophets of Israel say otherwise.  Micaiah insists that the Lord has put a lying spirit on the mouths of the prophets.  This does not mean that God sent spirits to lie through the prophets but rather that the prophets were false and inconsistent and that God allowed false spirits speak through the prophets.  Ahab goes into battle and thus is defeated and killed right there, while Micaiah was put in prison before Ahab went to battle simply for telling the truth.