ges describes the course of
affairs in the Hebrew commonwealth before the existence of a central
kingly government; in the books of Samuel we learn how such a central
government was established, and how under the reign of David the nation
was raised from the deep degradation of servitude to the summit of
worldly power. But the Theocracy was only a preparatory, and therefore a
temporary form of God's visible earthly kingdom. From the days of David
and Solomon it began to decline in outward power and splendor, and it is
with the history of this decline that the books of Kings are occupied.
In the view which they present of the divine plan they are in perfect
harmony with the preceding books of Samuel; but in respect to the manner
of execution they differ widely. The books of Samuel give the history of
Samuel, Saul, and David, with great fulness of detail, and never refer
the reader to other sources of information. The books of Kings, on the
contrary, give professedly only certain portions of the history of the
people under the successive kings, always adding, at the close of each
monarch's reign after Solomon, that the rest of his acts may be found,
for the kings of Judah, in "the book of the Chronicles of the kings of
Judah;" and, for the kings of Israel, in "the book of the Chronicles of
the kings of Israel." The Chronicles referred to are not our present
books of Chronicles, as has been already shown, Chap. 15, No. 8, but a
larger collection of writings, from which the authors both of the books
of Kings and Chronicles drew materials, in part at least, for their
respective works. The history contained in the books of Kings may be
conveniently divided into three periods--(1) the reign of Solomon over
all Israel; (2) the history of the coexisting kingdoms of Judah and
Israel; (3) the history of the kingdom of Judah after the extinction of
the kingdom of Israel.

16. The history of the _first_ period opens with the reign of Solomon,
which excelled that of David in outward magnificence, as it did that of
every succeeding king. 1 Kings 3:13. The great event of his reign,
constituting an epoch in the history of the Theocracy, was the _erection
of the temple_ on Mount Moriah, which took the place of the ancient
tabernacle constructed by divine direction in the wilderness. Thus
Solomon added to the public services of the sanctuary an outward
splendor and dignity corresponding with the increased wealth and glory
of the nation. B