acy of God's will in all the departments of private, social, and public life. It raaj' be that the time has come for a resuscitation of this idea of Jesus whiili the exigencies of tlie apostolic age threw somewhat into the background ; and that new applications and triumplis await it in the com- plexities of our modern social life, which even inspired men of the first generation could not reasonably foresee.
Literature.— 7?tWica^ Theotogieg of Old and New Tentg. : Ochler, Dilluuuiii, Scliulti:, Hit-hni, Rcusa, Weiss, etx;. ; Weiidl, Die Lfhre Jesu ; Uitschl, Hecht. und Ver. ii. iii. ; SchmoIIer, Die Lehre vom lieifhe (iottt'a (l.sitl); Issel on same subject (1S91) ; Kostlin in SK (\is9i) ; Cttndlish, The Kingdom of Hod ; Bruce, Tlie Kingdom o/ God ; Stanton, TheJewinh and Vhriatian Mejtsiah ; Daluian, M'orte Jesu, J^ OkR.
KINGDOM OF ISRAEL.
OF).
-See Israel (Kingdom
KINGDOM OF JODAH.— See JuDAH (KINGDOM
OF).
KINGS, I. AND II.—
1. Title, Scope, and Place in Canon.
2. Purpose.
3. Method and Characteristics of the Editor.
4. Date of the Editor.
5. Later Editors.
6. Sources and Composition of Kings considered In detail Literature.
I. Title, Scope, and Place in Canon.— The title in AV, R'V is 'The first (second) Book of tlie Kings.' Heb. (n) n d'jVd ' Kings I. II.' ; LXX BA:;IAEIQN r (A). The use of the definite article in the English Version, ' the Kin^s,' is therefore unwarranted. The narrative of Kings, like those of .Samuel and Chronicles, is continuous, and the division into two books is clearly a later device, and no part of the scheme of the original editor.
The division of the Hebrew text of Kings into two books ii not found in the MSS or in the early printed editions. It first occurs in the great Rabbinic Bible of Daniel Bocaber^', publislieti at Venice 1516-17, where an asterisk between 1 K 325^ and 2 K 11 calls attention to a note in the mar^n : — DM>17n D'7'nnD |XD 'VDI '*dSd "IBD. * Here the non-Jews (i.e. Christians) begin the fourth Book of Kings.' A similar note is found between i and 2 S. Cf. Ginsburg, Introd. to the 3!assoretico-critii:at Edit. 0/ the Heb. Bible, pp. 45, 930 t. Thus the division in JIT seems to have been an innovation from LXX, Vulg. While in LXX no known MS presents an undivided text of 1. 2 K, 3. 4 K, 1. 2 Ch, it is interesting to note that in B the first verse of each second book appears also at the close of each first book respec- tively— a fact which shows that the divider of the books was desirous of indicating the inner connexion existing between the first and second divisions in each case. Cf. the manner in which in MT Ezr li-3« (to "jy'i) repeats 2 Ch 3621 », o( which It origin- ally formed the imbroken continuation.
Kings takes up the history of the kingdom of Israel at the point which has been reached by the narrative of Samuel, viz. the last days of David's reign, and the appointment of Solomon as his successor. Passing from Solomon to an account of the circumstances which led to the disruption of the kingdom, the editor from this point gives a parallel history of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The fall of the northern kingdom having been recorded (2 K 17), the narrative con- tinues with an account of the fortunes of the southern kingdom until its destruction by Nebu- chadrezzar and the final deportation of the Jud.-eans to Babylon, B.C. 586. The concluding section of the w^ork carries the history do^vn to the release of king Jehoiachin from prison in the 37th year of his captivity (B.C. 561), under Evil- Merodach, the successor of Nebuchadrezzar.
Kings belongs to the second of the three divisions of the Hebrew Canon — the Nebhi'im (o'x'3}) or Pro- pliets. In this division the book forms, with Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, the earlier section, styled Nebhi'im rishunim (D-jitrNi d-n'Jj), the Former Pro- phets, as distinct from the Latter Prophets — Isaiah,
KINGS, I. AJS'D IL
KINGS, L AND n.
857
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve minor prophets. Tliejustitication of tliis nomenclature as it applies to Kings is to be gathered from consideration of the puri)ose which the writer of the book appears to have had in view.
2. Purpose. — Kings may accurately be described as a history of the jieriod of the monarchy of Israel and Jiidab ; and indeed, on account of the excel- lence of the sources eniploj'ed for the composition of the work, takes first rank among the historical documents of tlie OT. But the mere compilation of a history is not the sole, or main, purpose of the writer. This may rather be characterized as religious and admonitory. History is emi)loyed as the vehicle of certain special religious lessons, drawn from the past, which the writer desires to inculcate upon his o\\ii age, and upon future generations. Thus an exhaustive employment of the historical sources which lay at his disposal is no part of his plan. So far from claiming to have utilized to the full his sources of information, he delinitelj' and repeatedly refers to them as con- taining further details of fact likely to be of interest to the curious (I 11" 14'»- *» al. See below). His special purpose is consistent with a selection from his materials ; and this selection he carries out with such skill that the simple narration of the facts of history generally suffices to convey the lesson which the writer has at heart, even apart from his own comment and application.