1st Kings to Esther

© John Stevenson, 2012

 Historical Poetic Prophetic
Pentateuch
Books Books Books
Genesis Joshua, Job, Isaiah,
Exodus Judges, Ruth, Psalms, Jeremiah,
Leviticus 1st&2nd Samuel, Proverbs, Lamentations,
Numbers 1st&2nd Kings, Eccles., Ezekiel,
Deuteronomy 1st&2nd Song of Daniel, Minor
Chronicles, Solomon Prophets
Ezra,
Nehemiah,
Esther
 1st Samuel 2nd Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings
Samuel & David as Solomon & Fall of the
Saul King Divided Divided
Kingdom Kingdoms

1 Kings 1-11 1 Kings 12 - 2 Kings 17 2 Kings 18-25

United Kingdom Northern Kingdom
under Solomon
Southern Kingdom of Judah
 Now Solomon
ruled over all the
kingdoms from the
River to the land of
the Philistines and
to the border of
Egypt; they
brought tribute and
served Solomon
all the days of his
life. (1 Kings 4:21)
 ● Dan
So Judah and
Israel lived in safety,
every man under his
vine and his fig tree,
from Dan even to
Beersheba, all the
days of Solomon.
(1 Kings 4:25).

●
Beersheba
 1 Kings 4:26
Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for
his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.

The Septuagint reads:

Solomon had 4,000 stalls
of horses for his chariots,
and 12,000 horsemen
(See 2 Chronicles 9:25)
 Moreover, he shall not
multiply horses for himself
(Deuteronomy 17:16)

Some boast in chariots

and some in horses,
But we will boast in the
name of the LORD, our
God. (Psalm 20:7)
 1 Kings 4:30-33
Solomon's wisdom surpassed the
wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the
wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all
men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol
and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame
was known in all the surrounding nations. 32
He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs
were 1,005. 33 He spoke of trees, from the
cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop
that grows on the wall; he spoke also of
animals and birds and creeping things and
fish.
 1st Kings 1-8
Chapter 1-2 Chapter 3-4 Chapter 5-8
Solomon’s Solomon’s Solomon
Succession to Wisdom and builds the
the throne Wealth Temple
 1 Kings 6:1
Now it came about in the four hundred
and eightieth year after the sons of Israel
came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth
year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the
month of Ziv which is the second month, that
he began to build the house of the LORD.

1447 B.C. -Exodus of Israel from Egypt

Thiele’s 971 B.C. -Beginning of Solomon’s reign
Dates 967 B.C. -4th Year of Solomon
931 B.C. -Solomon's death
 Then Solomon began to build
the house of the LORD in
Jerusalem on Mount Moriah,
where the LORD had appeared
to his father David, at the place
that David had prepared on the
threshing floor of Ornan the
Jebusite. (2 Chronicles 3:1).
 Dimensions of the Tabernacle
& Temple
Tabernacle Temple
Area Cubits Feet Cubits Feet
Area of Length 30 45 60 90
the Entire Width 10 15 20 30
Structure Height 10 15 30 45
Holy of Length 10 15 20 30
Holies Width 10 15 20 30
Height 10 15 20 30
 1 Kings 11:1-2
Now King Solomon loved many foreign
women along with the daughter of Pharaoh:
Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and
Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning
which the LORD had said to the sons of
Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor
shall they associate with you, for they will
surely turn your heart away after their gods.”
Solomon held fast to these in love.
 1 Kings 11:3-4
He had seven hundred wives,
princesses, and three hundred concubines,
and his wives turned his heart away. 4 For
when Solomon was old, his wives turned his
heart away after other gods; and his heart
was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God,
as the heart of David his father had been.
 1 Kings 11:29-30
It came about at that time, when
Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the
prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the
road. Now Ahijah had clothed himself with a
new cloak; and both of them were alone in the
field. 30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new
cloak which was on him and tore it into twelve
pieces.
 1 Kings 11:31-32
He said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself
ten pieces; for thus says the LORD, the God
of Israel, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of
the hand of Solomon and give you ten tribes
32 (but he will have one tribe, for the sake of

My servant David and for the sake of

Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen from
all the tribes of Israel)…”
 1 Kings 11:33
“…because they have forsaken Me, and
have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the
Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and
Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and
they have not walked in My ways, doing what
is right in My sight and observing My statutes
and My ordinances, as his father David did.”
 ISRAEL

JUDAH
 1 Kings 12:1
Then Rehoboam went to
Shechem, for all Israel had come to
Shechem to make him king.
Shechem
 1 Kings 12:2-4
Now when Jeroboam the son of Nebat
heard of it, he was living in Egypt (for he was
yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the
presence of King Solomon). 3 Then they sent
and called him, and Jeroboam and all the
assembly of Israel came and spoke to
Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our
yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard
service of your father and his heavy yoke
which he put on us, and we will serve you.”
 Rehoboam Jeroboam
Son of Solomon and heir Former appointee over
apparent to the kingdom the labor projects of
Solomon
A young man? A mature man
From the tribe of Judah From the tribe of
(his mother was a Ephraim
princess of Ammon)
 1 Kings 12:6-7
King Rehoboam consulted with the
elders who had served his father
Solomon while he was still alive, saying,
“How do you counsel me to answer this
people?” 7 Then they spoke to him,
saying, “If you will be a servant to this
people today, and will serve them and
grant them their petition, and speak
good words to them, then they will be
your servants forever.”
 1 Kings 12:8-9
But he forsook the counsel of the
elders which they had given him, and
consulted with the young men who
grew up with him and served him. 9 So
he said to them, “What counsel do you
give that we may answer this people
who have spoken to me, saying,
‘Lighten the yoke which your father put
on us’?”
 1 Kings 12:10
The young men who grew up with
him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you
shall say to this people who spoke to
you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke
heavy, now you make it lighter for us!’
But you shall speak to them, ‘My little
finger is thicker than my father’s loins!’”
 1 Kings 12:11
“‘Whereas my father loaded you
with a heavy yoke, I will add to your
yoke; my father disciplined you with
whips, but I will discipline you with
scorpions.’”
 The Elders The Young Men
They had served as They had grown up with
advisors to Solomon Rehoboam
“Be a servant to the “Threaten the people
people, grant them their with even greater
petition, and speak good burdens”
words to them”
 1 Kings 12:13-14
The king answered the people
harshly, for he forsook the advice of the
elders which they had given him, 14 and
he spoke to them according to the
advice of the young men, saying, “My
father made your yoke heavy, but I will
add to your yoke; my father disciplined
you with whips, but I will discipline you
with scorpions.”
“What my father
did” “What I will do”
Made your yoke heavy Add to your yoke
Disciplined you with Discipline you with
whips scorpions
 1 Kings 12:15
So the king did not listen to the
people; for it was a turn of events from
the LORD, that He might establish His
word, which the LORD spoke through
Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the
son of Nebat.

The king's heart is like channels of water

in the hand of the Lord; He turns it
wherever He wishes. (Proverbs 21:1).
 1 Kings 12:16-17
When all Israel saw that the king
did not listen to them, the people
answered the king, saying, “What
portion do we have in David? We have
no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To
your tents, O Israel! Now look after your
own house, David!” So Israel departed
to their tents. 17 But as for the sons of
Israel who lived in the cities of Judah,
Rehoboam reigned over them.
 ISRAEL

JUDAH
 Then
Jeroboam built
Shechem in the
hill country of
ISRAEL
Ephraim, and

lived there. And Shechem
 Penuel
he went out
from there and
built Penuel.
(1 Kings 12:25)
JUDAH
 1 Kings 12:26-27
Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now
the kingdom will return to the house of
David. 27 If this people go up to offer
sacrifices in the house of the LORD at
Jerusalem, then the heart of this people
will return to their lord, even to
Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will
kill me and return to Rehoboam king of
Judah.”
 1 Kings 12:28
So the king consulted, and made
two golden calves, and he said to them,
“It is too much for you to go up to
Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel,
that brought you up from the land of
Egypt.”
 Dan
He set one in
Bethel, and the
other he put in
Dan.
ISRAEL
(1 Kings 12:29)

Shechem
 Penuel

Bethel


JUDAH
 1 Kings 12:30-31
Now this thing became a sin, for
the people went to worship before the
one as far as Dan. 31 And he made
houses on high places, and made
priests from among all the people who
were not of the sons of Levi.
 Dan

ISRAEL
Samaria

  Penuel
Shechem

Bethel


JUDAH
Southern Kingdom of Category
Northern Kingdom of
Judah Israel

19 Kings, 1 Queen Kings 19 Kings

Jerusalem Capital Shechem/Samaria
Judah & Benjamin Tribes Ten Northern Tribes
Most were unstable; All were bad; Ahab
Legacy of
some were good, Kings and Ahaziah were idol
some were bad worshipers
Conquered by Babylon Fall
Conquered by Assyria
in 586 B.C. in 721 B.C.
Returned to the land Return No Return
 Sidon


SIDON ISRAEL

Ethbaal
OMRI
(Itto-Baal)
Israel

Jezebel Ahab

Judah
 Sidon
Now Elijah the 

Tishbite, who was of

the settlers of Gilead,
said to Ahab, “As the
Lord, the God of Israel
Israel
lives, before whom I
stand, surely there
shall be neither dew
nor rain these years, Judah
except by my word.” (1
Kings 17:1).
 Sidon
Mount 
Carmel

Yahweh Baal

Israel
Elijah Ahab

Who will
you serve? Judah
 An Outline of 1 & 2 Kings st nd

The United Kingdom of Solomon (1 Kings 1-12)

Wars of Judah and Israel (1 Kings 13-16)
The Ministry of Elijah (1 Kings 17 - 2 Kings 1).
The Passing of the Prophetic Mantle from Elijah
to Elisha (2 Kings 2).
The Ministry of Elisha (2 Kings 3-13).
Wars of Judah and Israel 2 Kings 14-17).
The Kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 18-25).
 SIDON ISRAEL JUDAH

Ethbaal
OMRI ASA
(Itto-Baal)

Jezebel Ahab Jehoshaphat

Ahaziah Joram Athaliah Jehoram

Ahaziah

Joash
 • Nineveh

• Jerusalem
Assyrian
Terror
Tactics
Samaria
 2 Kings 17:6
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the
king of Assyria captured Samaria and
carried Israel away into exile to
Assyria. and settled them in Halah and
Habor, on the river of Gozarx and in
the cities of the Medes.
 2 Kings 17:7-8
Now this came about, because the
sons of Israel had sinned against the
Lord their God, who had brought them up
from the land of Egypt from under the
hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and their
had feared other gods 8 and walked in
the customs of the nations whom the
Lord had driven out before the sons of
Israel, and in the customs of the kings of
Israel which they had introduced.
Hezekiah’s Reformation
• Religious Reform
• Envoys from Merodach-Baladan
• Revolt against Assyria
• Hezekiah’s Tunnel
 2 Kings 19:35-36
Then it happened that
night that the angel of the
Lord went out, and struck
185,000 in the camp of the
Assyrians; and when men
rose early in the morning,
behold, all of them were
dead.
So Sennacherib king
of Assyria departed and
returned home, and lived at
Nineveh.
 Taylor Prism
“As for Hezekiah, the
Jew, who did not submit to
my yoke, 46 of his strong
walled cities, as well as the
small cities in their
neighborhood, which were
without number, by
escalade and bringing up
siege engines... Himself,
like a caged bird, I shut up
in Jerusalem, his royal city.
Reform under Josiah
• Religious Reform
• Fall of Assyria
 Scythians
Carchemish


Medes
Assyria

Megiddo

Babylon

EGYPT
 Scythians
Carchemish


Medes
Assyria

Megiddo

Babylon

EGYPT
605 B.C. Hostages taken from among
the nobility including Daniel
and his three friends
597 B.C. A total of 10,000 of the
craftsmen are taken along
with Ezekiel
586 B.C. The Temple is destroyed
and all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem are taken into
captivity
And he burned the
house of the LORD,
the king’s house,
and all the houses
of Jerusalem; even
every great house
he burned with fire.
(2 Kings 25:9).
 Kings Chronicles
Prophetic Priestly Perspective:
Perspective: Hope
Judgments
Wars Prominent Temple Prominent
History of thrones History of Davidic
line
Israel & Judah Mostly Judah
Morality Redemption
610 600 590 580 570 560 550 540 530

Babylonian Return
Kings of Judah Captivity from
Exile

Jerusalem &
Amos
Joel?
Temple
Destroyed
Zephaniah
The Prophet of Social Justice
Daniel

Jeremiah

Habakkuk

Obadiah? Ezekiel
Lydians

Medes

Persians
Babylon 
 Ezra 1:2-3
Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,
“The LORD, the God of heaven, has
given me all the kingdoms of the earth
and He has appointed me to build Him
a house in Jerusalem, which is in
Judah. 3 Whoever there is among you
of all His people, may his God be with
him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which
is in Judah and rebuild the house of
the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the
God who is in Jerusalem.
 Ezra 1:4
“Every survivor,
at whatever place he
may live, let the men
of that place support
him with silver and
gold, with goods and
cattle, together with a
freewill offering for the
house of God which is
Cyrus in Jerusalem.”
the
Great
Cyrus the
Great

Haggai &
Cambyses Zechariah
prophesy
and urge
Construction construction
halted to begin
again
Permission
given to
rebuild
Cyrus the Darius the
Great Great

Cambyses

Construction
halted

Permission Permission
given to given to
rebuild complete
 1st Return under
Zerubbabel & Ezra 1-6 538-516 B.C.
rebuilding Temple
Events of Book Book of
473 B.C.
of Esther Esther

2nd Return under

Ezra 7-10 458-457 B.C.
Ezra

3rd Return under

Book of
Nehemiah & 445-444 B.C.
Nehemiah
rebuilding walls
 Cast of Characters
• Esther (also known as Hadassah).
• Ahasuerus: Xerxes
• Mordecai & Haman
 The Narrative
• A new queen
• Mordecai saves the king
• Haman’s jealousy
• A plan for ethnic cleansing
• Plea to Esther
• Haman’s plan
• The king’s plan
• Esther’s revelation
• The Jewish deliverance
 Esther 9:24
For Haman the son of Hammedatha,
the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews,
had schemed against the Jews to destroy
them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to
disturb them and destroy them.
 Haman Mordecai
A descendant of Agag From the tribe and family
(Esther 3:1), the king of of Saul (Esther 2:5).
the Amalekites whose life
Saul spared in
disobedience to the
command of God.
The enemy of the people The savior of the people
of God of God
 Points to Ponder
• Esther is the book of God’s
Providence
• The Success of Haman’s plot
would also exterminate the
seed through which the
Messiah would come
• This book reminds us that God
works in the lives of both the
great and the small
 A Picture of Christ
The Story The Picture
Esther was the virgin bride The church is the
who married the king.
spotless bride who
marries the King
The king’s former wife had The natural branches
been displeasing and had
been set aside. were broken off due to
unbelief.
 A Picture of Christ
The Story The Picture
Haman plotted against Satan has set himself
Mordecai and against all the
against Christ and
Jews.
against all men

Mordecai convinces Esther Jesus Himself

to intercede on behalf of her
people. interceded on behalf
of His church.
 A Picture of Christ
The Story The Picture
Esther agrees to intercede Christ interceded on
after the people have fasted our behalf and then was
for three days.
in the grave three days.

Haman plans to have Jesus was tempted by

Mordecai executed for not Satan to worship him;
bowing down to him. Satan’s attack culminated
in the cross.
 A Type of Christ
The Story The Picture
Haman met his end Christ intentionally
on the gallows he had went to the cross
intended for Modecai. that was prepared
for us.

In both cases, that which looked like

certain death and defeat was turned
into ultimate victory.