1 Kings: Power, Politics, and the Hope of the World

by John Woodhouse, R. Kent Hughes (Editor)

Overview

The book of 1 Kings outlines the rise and fall of ancient Israel through the stories of fourteen kings. It is a book of great victories and devastating failures. In its pages are violence, betrayal, power, and politics. But no matter how great the accomplishments or evil the deeds, none of these kingdoms built by human kings could last.

John Woodhouse walks us through this book passage by passage as it reveals how God's purpose for the kings reaches far beyond what they could accomplish in their lifetimes. Their lives are part of a greater story, bearing witness about the King of kings, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world—building and strengthening our faith as we set our eyes on the kingdom that will last forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433524530
Publisher:	Crossway
Publication date:	11/30/2018
Series:	Preaching the Word Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	800
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

John Woodhouse (DPhil, Victoria University of Manchester) served as principal of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, from 2002 to 2013. Previously, he worked in pastoral ministry in a suburb of Sydney. He has published articles in various academic journals and is the author of three volumes in Crossway's Preaching the Word commentary series.

John Woodhouse (DPhil, Victoria University of Manchester) served as principal of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, from 2002 to 2013. Previously, he worked in pastoral ministry in a suburb of Sydney. He has published articles in various academic journals and is the author of three volumes in Crossway’s Preaching the Word commentary series.

R. Kent Hughes (DMin, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is senior pastor emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, and former professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hughes is also a founder of the Charles Simeon Trust, which conducts expository preaching conferences throughout North America and worldwide. He serves as the series editor for the Preaching the Word commentary series and is the author or coauthor of many books. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Spokane, Washington, and have four children and an ever-increasing number of grandchildren.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

A Frail and Fading King: What Hope Can There Be?

1 Kings 1:1–4

FIRST KINGS IS A REMARKABLE STORY of power and politics. We will read of the rise and fall of kings, of political intrigue, violence, betrayal, power deployed for good and for evil. We will see an empire established and prospering. We will see the same empire collapse in ruins. It is a story of striking accomplishments and devastating failures. In all this it is much like any slice of human history.

But there is more. This is the story of God's purpose for human history. It is a story intended to teach us to see human power and politics for what they really are, to understand that the world will not be saved by human muscle and planning. There is hope for this troubled world, but we need to know that the best efforts of men and women will achieve little, and even what is accomplished will not last.

The opening scene of 1 Kings is confronting. It is a pathetic picture of weakness and vulnerability: Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. (v. 1)

Great King David — the Sequel (v. 1a)

"Now King David ..." (v. 1a). The first words of 1 Kings signal that what we are about to read is the continuation of the story of King David's life that has been the subject of the two preceding books, 1 and 2 Samuel. David first appeared in 1 Samuel 16, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem. David's tumultuous journey to become Israel's great king (in 2 Samuel 5:1–5) is told in one of the world's finest pieces of narrative literature. It is not our task here to rehearse that marvelous story, but the reader of 1 Kings is expected to know at least two critical things about King David.

The Man after God's Own Heart

The first is that David had been chosen by God to be king over God's people, Israel. He was the man on whom God set his heart to be a king "for myself," as the Lord said to the prophet Samuel (see 1 Samuel 13:14; 16:1). Hannah's prophetic prayer at the beginning of 1 Samuel had anticipated this:

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king?
and exalt the horn of his anointed. (1 Samuel 2:10)

It was David who became "his king," "his anointed." The Lord exalted David and his kingdom (2 Samuel 5:10, 12) and by him crushed the enemies of his people (see, for example, 2 Samuel 8). David became a great and good king who did "justice and righteousness for all his people" (2 Samuel 8:15, at).

However, as Hannah's prayer suggested, God's purpose in choosing David was greater than anything that happened in David's lifetime ("The Lord will judge the ends of the earth"). This was made clear in God's momentous promise to David recorded in 2 Samuel 7:

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. (vv. 12–16)

As we begin to read 1 Kings, nothing is more important than keeping in mind this promise. We will see that the words almost provide a Table of Contents for much of 1 Kings. They are a sure guide to the meaning and significance of the history that 1 Kings recounts, as each part of this promise becomes historical reality.

Therefore as we see King David "old and advanced in years" (v. 1), we should remember the promise that began, "When your days are fulfilled ..." (2 Samuel 7:12). There is more here than a shivering old man huddled under his blankets. This man was God's king, and these were the days spoken of in the promise that his kingdom will be established forever.

The Man Who Sinned against the Lord

The second thing about David that all readers of 1 Kings must remember is the alarming turn his story took when David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for the murder of her husband, Uriah (2 Samuel 11). David, the great and good king, showed himself capable of disastrous foolishness and terrible wickedness. The consequences were dreadful. His family was wracked with violence (see the horror of Amnon's David-like behavior in 2 Samuel 13), and he almost lost the kingdom to his rebellious, fratricidal son Absalom (2 Samuel 15 — 19). These developments raised serious questions about how God's promise to David could ever be fulfilled. David himself was greatly diminished by his failures, and his sons (certainly if we look at Amnon and Absalom) were no better.

Remarkably the Lord did not withdraw his promise to David. Earlier the Lord had rejected Saul because Saul had rejected the word of the Lord (1 Samuel 15:23, 26). The Lord treated David differently. The difference was made clear in the promise concerning David's son:

When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. (2 Samuel 7:14b, 15).

While this promise focused on David's future son, it was reflected in David's own experience. Terrible consequences flowed from David's wickedness. He was disciplined with the rod of men (2 Samuel 13 — 20). However, when he acknowledged his evil deeds ("I have sinned against the Lord," 2 Samuel 12:13a), he heard from Nathan the prophet the astonishing words, "The Lordalso has put away your sin" (2 Samuel 12:13b). The Lord's steadfast love did not depart from him.

This meant that David could sing the Lord's praises in these terms:

Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever. (2 Samuel 22:51)

However, 1 Kings begins with a scene that makes us wonder whether, after all, we are near the end of the story of David and his great kingdom. There is little to be seen here of the greatness or goodness of King David.

Great King David — Now Frail and Fading (vv. 1–4)

With these things in mind, let's look more closely at the strange scene with which our book begins. The full royal title ("King David" in v. 1) and the six references to him as "the king" in verses 1–4 remind us of who this man had been. What we now see, however, is his frail and feeble condition.

King David's Frailty (v. 1)

"Now King David was old and advanced in years" (v. 1a). He was now about seventy years old (see 2 Samuel 5:4; 1 Kings 2:11), but rather less sprightly than some seventy-year-olds I know. He was bedridden and appears to have been suffering from advanced arteriosclerosis. "Although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm" (v. 1b).

It has been suggested (encouraged, no doubt, by the way this scene plays out in vv. 2–4) that the king's inability to "get warm" is really a rather polite way of saying that he was sexually impotent, in a world in which "the authority and even the life of the king depends on his virility." This reads too much into verse 1 and makes the all too common mistake of interpreting the Bible in the light of a supposed background for which the Bible itself gives no evidence. The king's problem here was one that extra blankets should have solved but didn't. The old man was cold! The once great king, now weak and infirm, was a shivering shadow of the mighty ruler he had been.

A Pathetic Plan (vv. 2, 3)

Therefore his servants said to him, "Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm." (v. 2)

The king's servants wanted to help their quivering king. They suggested a rather surprising plan to help raise David's temperature. For three reasons it is difficult to avoid the sexual overtones of their proposal.

First, the Hebrew phrase translated "a young woman" (sometimes rendered "a young virgin") almost certainly has a sexual nuance here. In Hebrew a word is used that indicates the young woman was to be "sexually mature, of marriageable age."

Second, if the requirement is that this young woman should be sexually mature, the otherwise innocent expression "let her wait on the king and be in his service" sounds like an understatement. She was to be more than his nurse.

Third, the "more" is clarified with the words, "Let her lie in your arms" (literally "in your bosom," esv margin). While there is still some appropriate indirectness in this expression (it does not necessarily mean what it seems to mean here), the proposal of the king's servants is clear enough. Indeed they used exactly the same expression as Nathan in his devastating parable about David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:3; cf. v. 8)!

Here was the servants' plan to revitalize their frail old king. They knew David's reputation. A beautiful young woman in his bed would surely "warm my lord the king"! I think I can see a nudge and a wink as the idea was put forward.

But it was a pathetic plan. There is more than a hint of denial. Pretending to be young again will not reverse advancing age and diminishing capacities. Aging men (and aging women), take note. Furthermore it was a wicked plan. The idea of the king taking a young woman into his bed for the purpose of arousing his fading vitality should shock us. It is all too reminiscent of the day David took Bathsheba and lay with her for his own selfish purposes (2 Samuel 11:4).

So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. (v. 3)

Verse 3 indicates (without saying so) that King David agreed to the plan. At least he did not object. If the plan was pathetic and wicked, what does that tell us about David?

The search was undertaken (presumably in the name of the king) "throughout all the territory of Israel" to find the most "beautiful young woman" in all the land (v. 3a).

It is difficult not to be reminded again that the greatest disaster of David's life had begun when the younger king had spied a "very beautiful" woman from the roof of his palace (2 Samuel 11:2).

The winner of the Miss Israel beauty contest was from the northern town of Shunem. Her name was Abishag.

King David's Frailty (v. 4)

When they brought Abishag to King David's bedroom,

we are told that indeed "The young woman was very beautiful" (v. 4a). She did what was expected of her: "she was of service to the king and attended to him" (v. 4b). This reproduces some vocabulary from verse 2, but leaves to the reader's imagination what she actually did. We are simply told, rather anticlimactically, "but the king knew her not" (v. 4c) — the wellknown Biblical idiom meaning he did not have sex with her.

Some readers have thought that this last phrase is reassuring, as though the narrator had said: Don't get the wrong idea. This was not about sex. Abishag was just a rather attractive hot water bottle.

But I don't think so. The last verse of the episode echoes the first. The bedclothes had failed: "he could not get warm" (v. 1). Now the more audacious plan had also failed: "the king knew her not" (v. 4). David was too old. He was too weak. He was too cold. The servants' pathetic plan to arouse the king and revive his strength had failed. He was simply no longer up to it.

As we prepare to read the story that 1 Kings will tell, think about this bleak scene: the frail and fading King David, beyond human help, beyond human hope.

All of us who are permitted to live long enough will experience something like this. Our strength of body and mind will wane. We will lose our independence. Whatever we have been, we will become but a shadow of what we once were, as David did. And we will know that death is approaching, as it was for David. Visit a nursing home and spend some time with frail old people. It is difficult to imagine what they have been and what they have done when they were young, fit, and healthy. We all find this confronting. None of us likes to think about this reality, but reality it will be for all of us — unless, of course, we suffer the even greater tragedy of premature death.

The Bible does not ignore this reality. Looking at King David, near the end of his life, quivering under his blankets, unresponsive to the beautiful young woman beside him, we are confronted with human mortality. David had been one of the greatest and best men to have ever lived. For many years he had been the one who led Israel to victory over enemies. He had been the "shepherd of [God's] people Israel" (see 2 Samuel 5:2). But his goodness and greatness were not only undermined by his wickedness and weakness (as we have noted) — he grew old, weak, and cold. Human power at its best does not last long. Nothing human lasts forever. What hope could there be for Israel when their great king was now so weak that he could not even get warm? What hope can there be for the world when every human ruler, every human power, every political system, every scheme to make a better world will sooner or later fade away — just like King David?

There is more. David had been God's king, whose throne, God had promised, "shall be established forever" (2 Samuel 7:16). How is it possible to believe God's promise when we see his chosen king frail and fading away? What would it take for God's promise to be fulfilled?

These are the kind of questions raised by the frail and fading king we see in the opening scene of 1 Kings. Was this God's king? Had God really promised that his kingdom would be "made sure forever before me" (2 Samuel 7:16)? How can that be?

God's promise to David gives us a clue: "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you ... and I will establish his kingdom" (2 Samuel 7:12). In our next chapter we will meet one of David's offspring who would very much have liked to be thepromised one.

Before we meet Adonijah let us turn our eyes from the day they tried to warm old King David with blankets and a beautiful Shunammite girl to the day, centuries later, when Jesus was hanging on a cross outside the same city in which old David had trembled with cold. Perhaps Jesus was cold. He was thirsty (John 19:28). He was weak. The sign above his head must have seemed like a cruel joke: "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS." He was certainly beyond human help. However, even more powerfully than shivering old King David, Jesus on the cross reminds us of the promise of God. Unlike Adonijah, Jesus was the promised offspring of David (Matthew 1:1; Romans 1:3; 2 Timothy 2:8). God has now established his kingdom forever by raising him from the dead (see Matthew 28:18; Acts 13:32, 33; Romans 1:4; Ephesians 1:19–22). The apparent hopelessness of old King David is like the apparent hopelessness of the crucified Jesus. But in that hopelessness, if we remember God's promise, we see the hope of the world:

... we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. (1 John 4:14)

CHAPTER 2

An Up-and-Coming King: "But It Shall Not Be So among You"

1 Kings 1:5–10

Jesus said:

You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles [nations] lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:42–45)

Who do you think he had in mind when he mentioned the "rulers of the nations"? Perhaps it was the Roman authorities of his day. Or was he (as I suspect) thinking of Old Testament Israel's desire to have a king "like all the nations" (1 Samuel 8:5, 20)? He may have had in mind Samuel's devastating critique of the ways of a king like all the nations: "He will take ... he will take ... he will take ..." (1 Samuel 8:10–18).

Jesus said, "But it shall not be so among you."

The ways of God's King are very different from the ways of human politics and power. This is not a lesson that we find easy to learn. Certainly it is very difficult to practice. However, when we see a Christian following Jesus in this regard (seeking not to be served but to serve) we recognize the goodness of it. On the other hand, when we see (as we frequently do) someone behaving like "the rulers of the nations," we can often see the ugliness of it.

As I write these words the newspapers in my part of the world are full of yet another battle between our political leaders. It is ugly. Power plays, arrogance, selfish ambition, dishonesty, manipulation, suspicion, greed, cynicism, malice, anger, self-righteousness can all be seen (compare Colossians 3:5–11). There is not much compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, trust, love, or forgiveness on display (compare Colossians 3:12, 13).

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "1 Kings"
by .
Copyright © 2018 John Woodhouse.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

A Word to Those Who Preach the Word,
Preface,
Abbreviations,
Introduction: Fourteen Kings of Israel and "The King of the Jews",
Part 1 POLITICS OR PROMISE? HOW THE KINGDOM WAS ESTABLISHED (1 — 2),
1 A Frail and Fading King: What Hope Can There Be? (1:1–4),
2 An Up-and-Coming King: "But It Shall Not Be So among You" (1:5–10),
3 The Right Side of History (?3?1:11–40),
4 Sooner or Later ... (1:41–53),
5 Good Government — What Would It Be Like? (2:1–12),
6 The Bible's Disturbing News (2:12–46),
Part 2 THE WISDOM OF GOD: HOW THINGS WERE PUT RIGHT (3 — 4),
7 It's Complicated (3:1–3),
8 What a Complicated World Needs (3:4–15),
9 The Wisdom of God to Do Justice (3:16–28),
10 What a Kingdom! (4),
Part 3 THE GOAL OF HISTORY (5 — 8),
The Most Important Building in the History of the World (5 — 7),
11 A Chosen and Precious Stone (5),
12 A True Perspective on the History of the Whole World (6),
13 The King Who Will Build (7:1–12),
14 The Truth about Everything (7:13–51),
The Church of the Living God (8),
15 King Solomon's "Church" (8:1–11),
16 Excited about Church? (8:12–21),
17 "Whatever You Ask in My Name" (8:22–53),
18 The Joy of God's Blessing (8:54–66),
Part 4 NOT YET (9 — 12),
19 What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (9:1–9),
20 Are We There Yet? (9:10–28),
21 "All the Treasures of Wisdom" (10),
22 The Failure of King Solomon (11:1–8),
23 There Are Consequences (11:9–25),
24 What Hope Can There Possibly Be? (11:26–43),
25 Power in Unworthy Hands (12:1–24),
26 The Terrifying Prospect of Actually Trusting God (12:25–33),
Part 5 THE POWER BEHIND EVERYTHING: THE WORD OF THE LORD (13),
27 The Word of the Lord versus Human Religion (13:1–10),
28 The Word of the Lord versus Human Lies (13:11–24),
29 The Word of the Lord and Human Hope (13:25–34),
Part 6 POWER POLITICS PLAYED OUT (14 — 16),
30 Deceiving God (14:1–20),
31 Do You Dare to Hope? (14:21–31),
32 Where Is the Promise? (15:1–24),
33 Power Politics in Perspective (15:25 — 16:34),
Part 7 THE ULTIMATE QUESTION: WHO IS GOD? (17 — 19),
How the Drought Began (17),
34 Does Your God Rule the Rain? (17:1–7),
35 Is Your God Too Small? (17:8–16),
36 Can Your God Beat Death? (17:17–24),
How the Drought Ended (18),
37 The Troubler (18:1–19),
38 Religion for Dummies (18:20–29),
39 Decision Time (18:30–40),
40 The God Who Answers (18:41–46),
Not Quite What We Had Hoped (19),
41 There Is No Plan B (19),
Part 8 THE FAILURE OF POLITICAL POWER (20 — 22),
42 King Ahab Did Not Destroy the Enemy (20),
43 King Ahab Did Not Put Things Right (21),
44 King Ahab Hated the Truth (22:1–14),
45 King Ahab Did Not Have a Listening Heart (22:15–28),
46 King Ahab Died (22:29–40),
47 The Hope of the World and the Legacy of King Ahab (22:41–53),
Notes,
Scripture Index,
General Index,
Index of Sermon Illustrations,

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“John Woodhouse’s commentary on 1 Kings is scintillating. It is characteristically full of sharp and original insight, searching application, and a refreshing, insistent focus on Jesus and his gospel as foreshadowed in the book of Kings. I am confident it will inspire many teachers and preachers to engage God’s people with the gospel treasure of this neglected part of Scripture.”
—Kanishka Raffel, Anglican Dean of Sydney

“With his usual precision and profound insight, Woodhouse digs up the treasures and wisdom of the gospel in this commentary. Readers will not only learn to expound the narrative of 1 Kings, but will also have their own hearts expounded and edified by the truth and hope of the gospel. Eight hundred pages full of treasures have shown me the glorious promise we have in Jesus Christ more clearly, more truly, and more deeply than I have seen it before. It is a joy to recommend this book to all fellow servants of Christ.”
—Hank Lee, Assistant Minister, Enfield & Strathfield Anglican Church, Strathfield, Australia