1 Kings

Finally, we can move on past David, and on to the fun days of Solomon and the subsequent dissolution of the short-lived, united kingdom of the Hebrew people. Lots of good passages to quote here.

1 Ki 1:7,8 - He conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with the priest Abiathar, and they supported Adonijah. But the priest Zadok, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the prophet Nathan, and Shimei, and Rei, and David's own warriors did not side with Adonijah.
What have we here? David is on death's doorstep, and everyone wants to know who will be the next king. Everyone wants the job, but the final decision is God's, apparently. Yet, for some reason, the men who talk with God - the priests - can't agree about David's oldest surviving son, Adonijah. In fact, we appear to be looking at a standard struggle for political power, with the priests fighting to decide who gets David's cool gig.

1 Ki 2:33 - "So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the heads of their descendants forever; but to David, and to his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace from the LORD forever more."
This is Solomon speaking. First off, we see the end result of the power struggle - the eternal cursing of the vanquished. Next, Solomon tries his hand at prophecy, but I think he failed miserably.

1 Ki 4:6 - Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor.
So the holy temple of God was built at least in part by forced labor (otherwise known as slaves!). So far, there have been no passages even questioning the practice of slavery, let alone condemning it. I wonder if this was because the words of God were really words made up by priests who thought slavery was just natural?

1 Ki 8:10-12 - And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness..."
That's odd. I always heard that God was all brightness and light. Apparently, God is into smoke and blackness and the like.

1 Ki 8:29,30 - "...that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive."
I'm not at all certain about this, but it does seem as though this is saying that people who want to pray should do so facing toward the temple. Just like they do in some other religions I could name.

1 Ki 8:46 - "If they sin against you - for there is no one who does not sin - and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near..."
Well, there it is. The first mention of the concept of universal sin. If sin makes God angry, I suspect that God must spend pretty much all of his time being angry. Of course, it's also possible that this is the place how priests get their greatest power - the ability to make people feel guilty.

1 Ki 9:3 The LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and I put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time."
This is mighty strange. God put his name, eyes and heart (we can assume it's a figure of speech) in a church that he (being omniscient) knew would be destroyed, and said it would be there for all time. Notice that it says that it's the house itself involved. Not the city of Jerusalem - just the church!

1 Ki 9:20,21 - All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel - their descendants who were still left in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely - these Solomon conscripted for slave labor, and so they are to this day.
Here's yet another example of a group of people made slaves of a hereditary nature. The Confederate States certainly had lots of support for slavery in the Bible - you know, the "Good Book" Another question occurs to me here - weren't these people all supposed to have been completely wiped out on God's orders? They were actually on Joshua's list of exterminated nations, where nothing was supposed to be left breathing!

1 Ki 10:14 - The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold.
Everyone is familiar with this number. The number of the beast in Revelation. According to a /british apologist I asked about this, the number 6 was considered the number of imperfection or incompletion (being just short of the "perfect" number 7). So 666 was (for the purpose of Revelation, at least) the number of ultimate imperfection. I rather think it's not used in that sense here, though.

1 Ki 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word."
So God is up to his old tricks again, acting through hydraulic despotism. Something is upsetting God (according to Elijah), so he'll withhold rain from the people he loves. Elijah apparently claims to have the sole authority to cause rain (and dew!) until further notice. What a nice guy!

1 Ki 18:21-24 - Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, "How long will you go limping along with two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." The people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, "I, even I only, am left a prophet to the LORD; but Baal's prophets number four hundred fifty. Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it in the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the LORD; the god who answers by fire is indeed God." All the people answered, "Well spoken!"
Well spoken, indeed. In this day of skepticism, I wonder why we couldn't have a "God" contest right now? Of course, there are a fair number of gods out there, all claiming to be the One True God of the Universe™. It could be a big media event, with satellite coverage offered all over the world (it'd have to be live, with some independent agency attesting to the conditions, so no one could be accused of trickery). Lay some sides of beef on some piles of wood, and have some priests or televangelists or rabbis pray for fire. That would be a pretty good advertisement of the existence and power of the true God. It seems here that Yahweh had no qualms about being unambiguous or hiding out in this instance. I wonder just how many "true believers" would be willing to put up or shut up?

1 Ki 18:44-46 - At the seventh time he said, "Look, a little cloud no bigger than a person's hand is rising out of the sea." Then he said, "Go say to Ahab, 'Harness your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' " In a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind; there was a heavy rain. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel. But the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; he girded up his loins and ran in front of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
The drought is over, showing God's power. But he's not finished! As an added bonus, he makes Elijah outrun a chariot, for no adequately explored reason. Yet another stupid God trick? Maybe. Some experts think it very possible that this whole story, like those of Joshua, Moses, and several other important characters in the Old Testament, is the final product of legend conversion that took place rather late in Judaic history, converting Elijah from a pagan sun-god to a super-human hero, to keep the story in line with the later "monotheist" concept we see today.

1 Ki 20:35,36 - At the command of the LORD a certain member of a company of prophets said to another, "Strike me!" But the man refused to strike him. Then he said to him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you have left me, a lion will kill you." And when he had left him, a lion met him and killed him.
OK, so there's this pack of God's prophets walking together. These guys apparently believe that they can say nothing unless God tells them to. At least the first unnamed prophet believed he spoke with the voice of God. But the unlucky second unnamed fellow must not have been privy to this information, and he paid for his ignorance with his life. Maybe he was a rookie. However, upon hearing this, and knowing how serious this situation was supposed to be, the dimwit still ended up leaving his only guarentee of continued life.

On the other hand, it could be just another clumsy story included to try and convince people that if they don't obey God speaking through his messengers, they'll be punished severely.

1 Ki 22:19 - Then Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven standing beside him to the right and to the left of him.
Here's another person who claims to have seen God. Since this prophet, minor to the point of not even having his own book, isn't denounced as a false prophet, it's apparent that the author supports this claim.

1 Ki 22:23 - "So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has decreed disaster for you."
This verse tells of lies coming from God, in order to trick Ahab into a disaster. I don't know how others view this, but I'd be leery of a being that has lied in the past.