AUTHOR: It is not known for sure who was the author of the books of the Kings, the final compiler must have lived after the fall of Judah in the year 596 BC, since he records the deliverance of Jehoiakim, around 560 B.C. [2 Kings 25:27]. According to the Jewish historian Flávio Josefo, the book would have been written by Jeremiah, corroborating with the Jewish tradition, which attributes anonymous works to famous religious leaders of the time. However, authorship has still been attributed to Ezekiel, while other authors point to Isaiah or even an unknown prophet of the Babylonian captivity.

ORIGIN OF THE NAME: This name was given to these books due to the first words with which the first of them begins, "Wehammelek" which in Hebrew means "Being the king", as the books deal with of the dominion of the kings of the two kingdoms, that of Israel and that of Judah.

THEME: The books of Kings are the continuation of the books of Samuel. The events described in 1 Kings range from the death of David to Jehoram's reign over Israel, covering a period of 120 years. The book spans four centuries of Israel's existence, beginning with Solomon's reign and ending with the Babylonian captivity. The first half records the glory of the Solomonic kingdom, its wealth, wisdom and the greatest of its exploits: the construction of Solomon's temple. However, his disobedience in uniting with foreign women led Solomon to idolatry and resulted in the division of the nation into two kingdoms: the North, which retained the name of Israel, and the South, which was named after the dominant tribe, Judah. In later days, the two books of Kings became a warning to the remnant of God's people, providing a practical lesson that rejection of covenant with God, a sinful and rebellious act, can only provoke divine punishment.

COMPILATION: Written between 590 and 570 BC, the original Hebrew 1 and 2 Kings formed a single book. When translated into Greek, they were divided among the translators because Greek required a third more space than Hebrew, and the scrolls on which they were written were of limited size. It consists of 22 chapters and 816 verses.