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. Sequence of the first book where the path of disobedience is reported. The events described in 2 Kings span a period of 308 years, from 896 B.C. to 588 B.C., from the reign of Jehoram in Judah and of Ahaziah in Israel. It records the fall of Israel by Assyria in 722 B.C. to the deportation of Judah to Babylon in 586 B.C. We have here a history of apostasy and idolatry. Although this was a great prophetic period for Israel, the message of the prophets was not heard. The reforms that took place under kings like Hezekiah and Josiah were not sufficient to turn away the already determined wrath of God [ 2Ki 21:10-15 ][ 2Ki 23:25-27 ].

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 25 chapters and 719 verses.