Praying All of Scripture: 1 Kings
Author: Daniel Owens, PhD
July 22, 2026
Eleventh in a series.
1 Kings 2:1–4
1When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, 2“I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, 3and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4that the LORD may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’”
1 Kings 6:1, 11–13
1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people 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, he began to build the house of the Lord.
11Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 12“Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. 13And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”
1 Kings 9:4–9
4“And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”
1 Kings 15:1–5
1Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah. 2He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. 3And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father. 4Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, 5because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
1 Kings 18:36–39
36And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 38Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”
1 Kings 22:51–53
51Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 52He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 53He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done.
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Tragedies in life and literature often unfold in slow motion. Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus Rex, is a good example. Around the time of his birth, an oracle predicts that Oedipus would murder his father and marry his mother. This leads to his being abandoned and raised by the king and queen of Corinth. When he is grown, he kills a man and then becomes king of Thebes, taking the dead man’s wife as his own. As the story unfolds, it turns out that his parents were, in fact, the king and queen of Thebes. The tragedy unfolds in a slow yet inevitable way, affirming the ancient Greek belief in the inexorable march of fate—despite his best efforts to avoid his prophesied fate, Oedipus makes decisions that lead to his tragic end.
The Book of 1 and 2 Kings is another slow-moving tragedy, one that takes place over generations but with a very different moral, that unfaithfulness to the covenant with God leads to exile. In contrast to Oedipus, the kings of Israel and Judah largely do not attempt to avoid the tragic end they are warned about. In this post, I will focus on 1 Kings, but we should keep in mind that the story comes to resolution in 2 Kings 25, when Judah goes into exile to join its northern cousins. The tragedy is that God had already given his people the guidance they needed to avoid this outcome. The seeds of this failure begin to appear in Solomon’s reign and continue to unfold, despite prophetic warnings calling the people back to covenant faithfulness.
David is the first “prophet,” speaking from his deathbed to urge his son to be faithful to the covenant (1 Kgs. 2:1–4). When God appears to Solomon in a dream and grants his request for wisdom, he also warns him to remain faithful (2 Kgs. 3:5–14). The dedication of Solomon’s temple marks the pinnacle of Israel’s kingdom. It also becomes a moment when God again calls his people to faithfulness (1 Kgs. 6:11–13) and affirms that their future hinges on a simple choice: covenant loyalty in the land or exile from it (1 Kgs. 9:7–8).
Despite this steady drumbeat of “faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness,” Solomon disregards the limits on kingship laid out in Deuteronomy 17:16–17, which forbid multiplying horses, wives, or gold. Instead, he amasses vast amounts of gold, numerous horses, and many foreign wives—who ultimately turn his heart away from God (1 Kings 10–11). Solomon embraces the contemporary view of kingship of security through financial, military, and diplomatic strength, rather than trusting their covenant God to keep Israel secure. With Solomon’s death, the kingdom begins to unravel. His son Rehoboam oversees the nation’s division into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, including unsanctioned and rival worship centers in the northern kingdom (1 Kings 12). Throughout 1 and 2 Kings, David’s life of covenant faithfulness to God is the standard by which kings are evaluated, and most fall short.
The fortunes of Judah and Israel rise and fall over the generations, but God raises up prophets throughout this time. Among these, Elijah is the most famous. In particular, Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal, who enjoy the backing of King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel. On Mount Carmel, Elijah demonstrates that Yahweh alone is God when a simple prayer brings fire from heaven that consumes even a water-soaked sacrifice (1 Kings 18:36–40). First Kings ends with the sobering yet brief description of the reign of Ahaziah in Israel. His reign repeats the errors of Jeroboam and portends the coming exile. These kings show us our worst failures, demonstrating that there can be no blessing without faithfulness.
This slow-moving tragedy reminds us that God has made it clear how we can enjoy a fruitful relationship with him. In their failure, these kings, from Solomon onward, show our need of a greater David, one who stands on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah and receives the affirmation, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” Jesus fulfills the role of prophet and king, mediating God’s word to us and demonstrating God’s character in his sinless life. Apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we too would act out of our sinful flesh and pursue the exact wrong path.
And so we should pray,
Our Father, we thank you that you have given us your Son, Jesus, who was strong and kept your charge, walking in your ways and keeping your statutes, commandments, rules, and testimonies. Help us now to pay close attention to our way, to walk before you in faithfulness with all our heart and with all our soul, resting in the perfect obedience of Jesus and following in his example of faithfulness as the greater David. Help us always to remember that you are God, that our hearts may not be turned back from following you, through Jesus Christ, amen.
Daniel Owens is NCC’s Pastor of Discipleship. Earlier chapters in this series will be found in the NCC Blog.
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