I Kings – Study Guide Lessons 1-3 Preface: In this study guide we will return to our study of the life of the Children of Israel and pick up where we left off at the end of II Samuel, with the continuation of King David’s reign. I have written this study guide for the Tuesday morning Ladies’ Bible Study at Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, GA in the year of our Lord, 2014 - 2015. I have used the commentary “I Kings, The Wisdom and the Folly,” by Dale Ralph Davis as my main source and guide. This book and others I have used are listed at the end of this study in the Bibliography. All scripture quotes are from the English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV) unless otherwise stated. All references cited without a preceding book name (i.e. 4:3) are assumed to be in the book of I Kings. All other references include book, chapter and verse (i.e. James 2:10) Lesson 1 – I Kings 1:1-53 The Book of Kings (what we call “I and II Kings”) is a continuation of the narrative history of the Children of Israel from the end of David’s reign to the end of the final king of the Davidic line – King Zedekiah. It covers a period of about 400 years and was originally written as all one book, but was later separated into two books, which is what we find in our bibles today. Jewish tradition holds that it was written by the prophet Jeremiah, but we cannot know for certain since the author does not identify himself in the book. 1. As we study God’s dealings with his chosen people, we see that He never intended for them to have an earthly king, but rather intended for them to be led by Him through His word delivered to them through His servant, Moses. He promised them that if they obeyed His commands, they would be blessed and if they disobeyed, they would be cursed. Israel swore to obey, but over and over again fell into sin as they worshipped the Baals of the nations that surrounded them in the Promised Land. Over and over God carried out His curse in the form of persecution from the nations, and over and over God rescued them by sending them a judge. Finally, Israel demanded a king so that they might be like the nations. God had warned them that an earthly king would take too much power to himself and oppress them, but they insisted, so God gave them Saul. Alas, Saul’s heart was evil and his dynasty was not to continue, so God ripped the kingdom from Saul’s hands and gave it to David, a man “after his own heart.” What covenant promise did God make to David? (II Sam. 7:9 and 11-13) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. As we come to the study of I Kings, we begin to see this covenant promise fulfilled. David ruled the land well for 40 years and the borders of his kingdom had expanded. He had plans to build the temple in Jerusalem to house the ark of the Covenant, which was the place of the presence of God. God prevented him from doing this because he had shed so much blood in his reign as king. (I Chron. 22:8) At this point, however, David was near the end of his life and had become old and basically dysfunctional as king. He suffered physical 1 of 22 I Kings - Lessons 1-3 problems and could not keep warm. What solution for this problem was recommended by his servants? (1:2) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Who was found to fill this role? (1:3) ___________________________________________________________ 4. Was this a sinful relationship for the king? (1:4) ___________ Explain: _________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. The next person we meet in this chapter is Adonijah. Who was he? (1:5 and II Sam. 3:2-5) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. What happened to two of David’s other sons who were born before Adonijah? (II Sam. 13:28-29; II Sam. 18:9-15) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. What other facts are we given about Adonijah? (1:5-6) _______________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Who does this remind us of? ____________________________ Explain: (II Sam. 14:25 and 15:1) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Once Adonijah decided that he would be the next in line for the throne of David, with whom did he confer? (1:7) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. What did these men do? (1:7b) ________________________________________________________________ 2 of 22 I Kings - Lessons 1-3 11. Who Adonijah conferred with and who he left out is very important in this story, so let’s look at these two men a little more closely. Look up the following Scriptures and tell what you learn about each man: (a) II Samuel 8:16-17; 17:25a ______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (b) I Chron. 6:50-53 - ________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 12. Who did Adonijah leave out in seeking advice regarding his takeover of the kingdom? (1:8) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why do you think he left these particular men out? (II Sam. 20:23)_____________________________ ​ ​ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 13. Next we see “the plot thicken.” Adonijah did something that turned out to be treasonous. What was it? (1:9-10) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 14. How do we know that this act was treasonous? Who tells us and what did he say? (1:11) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 15. Nathan told Bathsheba what she needed to do to save her life as well as the life of her son, Solomon. Usually, when one son takes the kingdom by force, he eliminates all rivals to the throne and that would definitely include Solomon and his mother. What did Nathan tell Bathsheba to do in order to turn this situation around? (1:13) 3 of 22 I Kings - Lessons 1-3 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 16. Did David truly make this promise to Bathsheba? How do we know? (I Chron. 22:6-10 summarize) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 17. Why did Nathan stage this scene with himself and Bathsheba both delivering the same message to the king, one right after another? (Num. 35:30 and Deut. 17:6) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 18. As Bathsheba went in to tell the king her story, what facts about David were repeated? (1:15) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why do you think the author of I Kings repeated this information? What was he trying to tell us regarding David’s