Kings, THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF, in the English Authorised Version titled The First Book of Kings, commonly called the Third Book of Kings, and The Second Book of Kings, commonly called the Fourth Book of Kings. In the ancient Rabbinical enumeration, implied in Josephus and followed in the Peshito and by Jerome, the Book of Kings (Melachim) was reckoned one, ranking fourth and last in the series of the 'earlier prophets' (after Joshua, Judges, and Samuel); the division into two first appears in the Septuagint translation, where they are called the third and fourth 'of the kingdoms' (Basileiôn, Heb. Melachoth), the books of Samuel forming the first and second. This division was copied by the Vulgate, whence it passed into the 'common' usage of Christendom. The separation between Samuel and Kings is itself not original; for the first two chapters of Kings, concluding the life of David, are consecutive with 2 Sam. ix.-xx. and by the same hand. The books of Kings as we now have them are evidently a compilation, and careful examination shows that they have passed through more than one redaction. In their composition at least four elements can be distinguished: (1) In 1 Kings, xi. 41, reference is made to 'the book of the acts (chronicles) of Solomon,' and for the reigns of subsequent kings there is very frequent mention of 'the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah,' and of a corresponding book of the kings of Israel. The exact nature of these chronicles cannot now be determined; but the probability is that they were themselves compilations, chiefly digests of a statistical and annalistic character, further epitomised by the writer of the canonical book. (2) The official records of the temple at Jerusalem, though nowhere expressly named, must have been directly or indirectly the source of much of the information given about the worship there, especially under the reigns of Solomon, Joash, Ahaz, and Josiah. (3) The book owes most of its vividness and picturesqueness to materials derived from a series of unofficial narratives, having their origin chiefly in the northern kingdom, and in which the acts of the prophets had special prominence. To this category belong in particular the history of Elijah (1 Kings, xvii.-xix., xxi.), and the much more complicated series of passages relating to Elisha, for the northern kingdom; and the story of the man of God from Judah (1 Kings, xiii.), for the southern. (4) The main redactor has contributed the chronological scheme of synchronisms in which the histories of the two kingdoms are brought together under one view, and has given a pragmatical tone to the narrative by undertaking, in the case of each king, an estimate of his religious character and work. This is done in the spirit of the Deuteronomic legislation, and it may be inferred with certainty therefore that the main redaction did not take place till after the reformation of Josiah. The phraseology of such passages as 2 Kings, viii. 22; xiv. 7; xvi. 6 ('unto this day'), implies an earlier date than the fall of the kingdom of Judah; but evidence of a later pen is found in 2 Kings, xvii. 19, 20; xxiii. 26, 27), while 2 Kings, xxv. 27 seqq., brings us down to a far advanced period of the exile. Important variations (especially in the series of rather disconnected notes which form a large part of the history of Solomon) between the existing Hebrew text and that which must have lain before the LXX. translators show that the book was still in a somewhat fluid state at a very much later date.
For discussion of the critical problems, see Wellhausen in the fourth edition of Bleek's Einführung (1878), reprinted in his Composition des Hexateuchs, &c. (1889). Of expositions, those of Thenius (2d ed. Leip. 1873), Keil (2d ed. 1876; Eng. trans. 1872), Bähr (in Lange's Bibelwerk, 1866; Eng. trans. 1877), Rawlinson (in Speaker's Commentary), and Reuss (La Bible) may be mentioned.