In literary form, the books of Kings offer an interesting study. The 11 chapters concern ing Solomon's reign centre in the description of the building and dedication of the Temple. To this central part are prefixed the account of the king's accession and notices of his wisdom, power, and wealth, and there are appended further notices of his wisdom and splendor and of his apostasy and adversaries. The histories of the divided kingdom are most skil fully interwoven so that the contemporary events are kept in close connection and yet the distinction between the two kingdoms is made clear. From the downfall of Israel in 722 s.c., the compilers' task was comparatively simple as they dealt with the records of Judah alone.
The brief epitomes of many of the reigns afford little scope for literary art, but the fuller narratives concerning Elijah and Ahab are among the best told and most inspiring stories of antiquity. Other narratives which show the vigor of Israel's early prose concern the wars with Damascus (1 Kings xx, xxii). The sections in which the compilers pass their judgment upon Solomon or Israel are marked by the solemn earnestness and rhythmic speech so characteristic of Deuteronomy and of the writers influenced by its noble style and pro found convictions. Even the monotonous
formula, condemning all the kings of Israel for walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, gives some thing of the impressiveness of the tolling of a deep toned bell, that adds its own element to the effect of the whole work.
Bibliography.— Corn ill, ' C. H., (Introduc tion to the Canonical Books of the Old Testa ment' (London 1909); Creelman, H., (Intro duction to the Old Testament' (New York 1917); Driver, S. R. (Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament' (New York, revised ed., 1914);