First Kings is not so much a book of history as a book of religion, says Dr. Simon J. DeVries. Through the historic events it relates, the religion of the Hebrew people was being shaped.

Dr. DeVries s thorough overview of the world of 1 Kings its geography, its culture, its politics, and the religious situation brings the biblical record alive in its time and place. Upon this foundation is superimposed a comprehensive, lucid discussion of sacred history as theological testimony, and responsible consideration of 1 Kings as literary composition.

In this commentary, Dr. DeVries provides keen insight into the intricacies of both the events and the textual difficulties of 1 Kings: The throne succession from David to Solomon Solomon s reign his influence and his failings The building of the Jerusalem temple and its significance The division of the United Kingdom The puzzling chronology of the Hebrew kings The problem of heathen shrines and cult objects The role of the prophets in Elijah s time.

For this second edition, he has updated and expanded the bibliography.

Prophecy, a burgeoning new religious impulse of the period of 1 Kings, receives special emphasis as a particularly rich source of profound theological truth communicated in the effective linguistic forms of prophet-narratives.

Whether appearing as historiography or as pious story, the contents of 1 Kings offer themselves as testimonies to the ways of God with men, Dr. DeVries notes. The scene is history; the players are kings and prophets; behind the curtain is the Lord of history, challenging his players to make history the scene of salvific revelation. "

The book of 2 Kings reads like tragic drama, telling the story of the closing decades of the divided monarchy in Israel and Judah-its failure, the Exile, the destruction of Jerusalem. If these are indeed God's chosen people, why has he allowed them to be so devastated?

In this insightful commentary, Dr. T. R. Hobbs focuses on 2 Kings as the purposeful attempt of its author to interpret the tragedy for those people-to give them new understanding of their past and renew their hope for the future.

Dr. Hobbs provides guidance in exploring several important themes emphasized by the author, among them: the prophet's role in the history of Israel and Judah, and the power of the divine word, particularly as transmitted by the prophet Elisha God's relentless insistence on faithfulness to the law of Moses (largely ignored by the people) as a condition for continuation of the Davidic covenant the dire effects of idol worship as practiced by the Canaanites and foolishly emulated by Israel and Judah inevitable doom as the fruit of disobedience, despite the occasional reforms instituted by some of the kings.

Dr. Hobbs's careful research has supplied sound reasons for acknowledging 2 Kings to be the creation of a single author, a master of literary expression whose skillfully crafted work fulfills its purpose. Particularly intriguing is the discussion on the deliberate imbalance in the author's selectivity of source materials and role models, both positive and negative; the perceptive analysis of literary techniques such as threefold repetition, word plays, and formulaic progressions; and the brief but penetrating overview of the nature of history and its relation to literary artistry.

The commentary includes a welcome commonsense examination of2 Kings' complicated problems of chronology, and there is ongoing dialogue with scholars who hold to a view of double or even multiple redaction of the book. Throughout, Dr. Hobbs demonstrates the author of 2 Kings to be "faithful to the facts, to his readers, to future Israel, and to God, whose word he delivers."

Eminently qualified to write this groundbreaking book, Philip King is known as both an archaeological and biblical authority. Defining biblical archaeology as the "process of correlating archaeological evidence with the biblical record," he sees the function of this discipline as the illumination of the events recorded in the Bible in order to clarify the text. In Amos, Hosea, and Micah, King offers an enlightening and elegant commentary on the eight-century prophets from an archaeological perspective.

Of special interest in the books of Samuel is the personal touch of the historian under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This book is primarily concerned with the text of the books of Samuel and 1 Kings 1-11, which record the rise and development of the united monarchy.