The Books of Kings

The Books of Kings are a set of books in the Old Testament. The Books of Kings describes the history of Israel's kings from the end of the rule of David until the time of the Babylonian exile, a time of about 453 years. After a long description of Solomon's rule, 1,2 Kings writes of how the kingdom of Israel was divided and then shows how the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah developed. 

1 and 2 Kings, like 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Books of Chronicles are actually one book. It was simply called "Kings." However, it was divided into two books by the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), and so it was written as 1 and 2 Kings by the Latin translation and many other versions. The division between 1 and 2 Kings was made after the death of Ahab in the northern kingdom (22:37) and Jehoshaphat in the southern kingdom (22:50). 

It is not known for sure who is the author of 1,2 Kings. Jewish tradition says that Jeremiah wrote 1,2 Kings, but people do not usually think so today.[1] Whoever the author was, he knew the book of Deuteronomy, like many of Israel's prophets. He also used lots of sources, like "the books of the annals of Solomon" (11:41, NIV), "the book of the annals of the kings of Israel" (14:19 NIV), and "the book of the annals of the kings of Judah" (14:29 NIV)". Probably other sources were used, like those inside Chronicles. 

1,2 Kings gives lots of chronological information. The length of time each king rules is given, and other information such as the age of the ruler at the time of becoming king. 

By putting in Biblical data with those given from Assyrian chronological records, the year 853 B.C. is probable as the year of Ahab's death, and the year 841 as the year Jehu began to reign.[1] So, it can be known that the division of the kingdom happened in 930 B.C., and that Samaria was defeated by the Assyrians in 722-721, and that Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586. 

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