Sermon and Worship Resources

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1 Kings 20:35-43

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Ahab’s War against Aram: Elijah has recruited Elisha, and we expect to read now, perhaps, of his anointing of Hazael as king over Aram and of Jehu as king over Israel (19:15–18). Instead, we find a story in which a different prophet takes up the running (Elijah does not appear at all) and in which a different king of Aram (Ben-Hadad) loses a war with Ahab. The message of chapter 19 is thus underli...

2. A Wise Ruling

1 Kings 3:16-28

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

A Wise Ruling: “The lips of a king speak as an oracle,” Proverbs 16:10 tells us, “and his mouth should not betray (or ‘act treacherously against’) justice.” Quite so. For the king is the hub around which the whole legal process revolves. He is the highest court of appeal and the foundation of all administration and justice. To invent a proverb: if the core is rotten, then there is no hope for the ...

3. Abijah King of Judah

1 Kings 15:1-8

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Abijam and Asa: We remain for the moment in Judah, with Rehoboam’s immediate successors. Abijam is the characteristically bad Judean king, indulging in the idolatry of Solomon’s later years and of Rehoboam. Asa is the characteristically good Judean king, behaving relatively faithfully like David and the younger Solomon. These two between them set the pattern for all subsequent Judean kings, who ar...

4. Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King

1 Kings 1:1-27

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Solomon Becomes King: The narrative that begins our book (1 Kgs. 1–2) is really not a beginning at all, but the last chapter of the larger story of David, which is found in 1–2 Samuel. It is in 2 Samuel 11 that Bathsheba, who plays such a prominent role in 1 Kings 1–2, first appears—possessed by David at the cost of her husband’s life (2 Sam. 11:6–27). Later the lives of various of David’s sons ar...

5. Ahab Becomes King of Israel

1 Kings 16:29-34

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

From Nadab to Ahab: The fulfillment of the prophecy against the house of Jeroboam has been delayed until it has been made clear how different God’s treatment of the house of David is. Now, however, we shall hear that it all turned out as Ahijah had said; as king succeeds king in this fast-moving tale of northern intrigue and violence, we shall also begin to see what he meant by describing Israel a...

6. Ahab Defeats Ben-Hadad

1 Kings 20:13-34

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

7. Ahab Killed at Ramoth Gilead

1 Kings 22:29-40

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Ahab Dispatched: The house of Ahab stands under the prophetic curse. The full outworking of God’s wrath is to be delayed until the reign of Ahab’s son, because of the king’s response to Elijah (21:27–29). Ahab’s own death, however, has now been foretold by two different prophets, with no delay in prospect (20:41–42; 21:19), and we thus anticipate an early fulfillment of their prophecy. The appeara...

8. Ahab's Family Killed

2 Kings 10:1-17

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

The Destruction Continues: Elijah had prophesied that the LORD would consume Ahab’s descendants and cut off from him every last male in Israel (1 Kgs. 21:21; cf. the previous prophecies against Jeroboam and Baasha in 1 Kgs. 14:10; 16:3). It comes as little surprise, in view of the literal fulfillment of such prophecy in 1 Kings 15:29 and 16:11–12, to find that Jehu is not content with the deaths o...

9. Ahaz King of Judah

2 Kings 16:1-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Jotham and Ahaz of Judah: The kingdom of Judah has been going through hard times. Its royal house has seen three of the last four kings assassinated, and the fourth lay aside power because of illness. Things are not about to improve. 15:32–38 Jotham has already been exercising power in Judah because of his father’s illness (15:5), but now he becomes king in his own right. He is a relatively good (...

10. Ahaziah King of Israel

1 Kings 22:51-53

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah: Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah, already characters in Ahab’s story (1 Kgs. 22:2 etc.; 22:40), now find a place of their own. Our expectations differ with respect to each. Jehoshaphat is a Davidic king, so we anticipate no major disasters in his reign (cf. 1 Kgs. 11:36), particularly since he is evidently pious (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:5). Ahaziah, on the other hand, is an Israelite and a s...

11. Ahaziah King of Judah

2 Kings 8:25-29

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

The End (of Ahab) is Nigh: The tension has become almost unbearable. In spite of Ahijah’s prophecy that Israel would be like a reed swaying in the water (1 Kgs. 14:15), the house of Omri has held the throne since 1 Kings 16:23. In spite of Elijah’s prophecy about the end of this house (1 Kgs. 21:21–24), we are now reading of Ahab’s second apostate son, who holds on to his kingdom with the help of ...

12. Ahijah's Prophecy Against Jeroboam

1 Kings 14:1-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

The End of Jeroboam: Jeroboam had been promised a dynasty like David’s (1 Kgs. 11:38). His desire to have also a temple like David’s, however, has led him into disobedience—and we have seen in chapter 13 what happens to the disobedient. First Kings 14:1–20 now describes to us the consequences of Jeroboam’s attempt to possess the two “houses” he wanted instead of the one he was promised, and they d...

13. Amaziah King of Judah

2 Kings 14:1-22

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Amaziah, Jeroboam, and Azariah: Second Kings 13 has ended with the description of a modest upturn in Israel’s fortunes. The LORD has saved them, even in the midst of idolatry, because of both his covenant with the patriarchs (2 Kgs. 13:23) and—remembering the context in which the chapter is narrated—his promise to Jehu (2 Kgs. 10:30). The impetus of that recovery continues now into chapter 14, as ...

14. Amon King of Judah

2 Kings 21:19-26

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Manasseh and Amon: First there was a good king who went bad and lost most of his kingdom (Solomon). The remainder of the kingdom (Judah) was ruled by good kings mixed with bad (Rehoboam to Jehoshaphat). The LORD kept faith with the Davidic house through the bad times, because of the Davidic promise. He continued to do so even through the very bad times when that house was allied with the house of ...

15. An Axhead Floats

2 Kings 6:1-7

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Miracles, Trivial and Significant: Elisha’s prophetic activity thus far has been of a relatively private character (2 Kgs. 2:19–25; 4:1–44). Prior to chapter 5, there was just that single excursion into the wider world in chapter 3. We know, however, that it is his destiny to be a pivotal figure in the drama of international politics between Israel and Aram (1 Kgs. 19:15–18). His contact with Aram...

16. Asa King of Judah

1 Kings 15:9-24

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

17. Athaliah and Joash

2 Kings 11:1-21

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

“David” Survives “Jezebel”: The destruction of the house of Ahab has impinged to an unsettling extent upon the house of David (2 Kgs. 9:27; 10:12–14). We recall the ominous lack of any restatement of the Davidic promise in 8:25–27. Have the two houses become so identified in intermarriage (8:18, 27) that a distinction is no longer to be maintained between them? Second Kings 11 begins by bringing u...

18. Azariah King of Judah

2 Kings 15:1-7

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

19. Baasha King of Israel

1 Kings 15:33--16:7

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

20. Ben-Hadad Attacks Samaria

1 Kings 20:1-12

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

21. David Makes Solomon King

1 Kings 1:28-53

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

22. David’s Charge to Solomon

1 Kings 2:1-12

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

David’s Charge to Solomon: Chapter 1 anticipated David’s death. Chapter 2 will describe it. First, however, David has a few things to say to Solomon about his conduct as king (2:1–4). Then there are certain “loose ends” to be tied up (2:5–9). Only after he has seen to the good of the kingdom in this way will he be able to die in peace (2:10–11). 2:1–4 Like God’s words to Joshua upon his “successio...

23. Death in a Pot

2 Kings 4:38-41

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Elisha’s Miracles: The Moabite affair has further established Elisha’s credentials as a prophet in the line of Elijah. Both are now firmly associated with the God who provides water at will (cf. 1 Kgs. 18), whether by orthodox means (wind and rain, 1 Kgs. 18:45) or not (neither wind nor rain, 2 Kgs. 3:17). In this chapter we shall read of a number of further miracles, both of provision and healing...

24. Elah King of Israel

1 Kings 16:8-14

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

25. Elijah and Obadiah

1 Kings 18:1-15

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal: Chapter 17 launched Elijah suddenly into the public arena of Israel’s politics (v. 1) only to whisk him away again into the privacy of the Transjordanian wilderness and a Sidonian home. There he has contributed in a small way to the war that the LORD is now waging upon the worship of Baal, while leaving the drought to do most of the damage. The time has now come fo...

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