1 & 2 Kings by Albert Mcshane
Albert McShane’s commentary on First and Second Kings follows his earlier commentary on First and Second Samuel, published in 1990 under the title “Lessons for Leaders”. Both works capture Mr McShane’s unique style; those of us who were familiar with his preaching and teaching will almost hear his voice as we read them.
The two books of the Kings cover a period of around 400 years in the history of God’s people, almost the entire time when the nation was ruled by kings. At the beginning of the period, David is “old and stricken in years” (1 Kgs 1.1) and at the end of the period, what is left of the nation “was carried away out of their land” (2 Kgs 25.21). The first half of First Kings records the glory of Solomon’s reign as the high point of the nation, then documents his descent into idolatry and the resulting division of his kingdom because of the immature arrogance of his son Rehoboam. The remainder of First Kings and the whole of Second Kings record the intertwined history of these two divided kingdoms until the northern kingdom of Israel was carried away captive by the Assyrians. Over one hundred years later, the southern kingdom of Judah suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Babylonians. It is the story of God’s patience with His unfaithful people.
Mr McShane’s commentary focusses on the key lessons to be learned from this history, not just lessons for leaders, but lessons for all of us as Christians. It is not a verse-by-verse commentary, nor is it a technical or critical commentary. Issues such as chronology (which can be difficult to unravel) are not dwelt upon. Mr McShane treats the text as it stands as the Word of God and gives his attention to practical matters that impinge upon our lives as believers. This is where the benefit lies. He also points out how the roles of the kings and the prophets (and, indeed, the priests) were intertwined in the nation of Israel, and how important these counterbalances were for the spiritual health of the nation. He explains that the history of the kings was not written by the kings themselves, but by the prophets. As a result, it is not simply about their triumphs and victories but also about their failures and mistakes.
This commentary follows the order of the text of First and Second Kings. Mr McShane has divided the two books into seventeen reasonably distinct parts. Within these, he deals with the text section by section and provides various short technical notes for each. Following the main part of the commentary there are four brief and helpful appendices which provide information on the chronology of the kings, the nation’s problem with idolatry, the role of the prophets and the major adversaries to Israel.
This commentary is a welcome resource for an important part of the Bible which is, surprisingly, unfamiliar to many Christians. If you haven’t been in the habit of reading in this area of the Old Testament, this commentary will encourage you to begin. It is a very readable, and I happily recommend it.
