1 Kings

To evaluate Israel's kings by their covenant faithfulness - particularly whether they maintained pure worship at Jerusalem - and to show why the kingdom split and eventually fell.

Solomon is established as king, asks for wisdom, builds the Temple, and dedicates it with a great prayer — the high point of Israel's worship life.

The Temple's construction and dedication represents Israel's zenith — God's presence dwelling in the midst of His people in all His glory.

Solomon's heart turns from God through his foreign wives; after his death the kingdom splits under Rehoboam, and the northern kings from Jeroboam onward lead Israel into entrenched idolatry.

The division of the kingdom and the northern tribes' institutional idolatry set the historical stage for Israel's eventual exile.

The prophet Elijah confronts Ahab and Jezebel, calls down fire on Mount Carmel, flees into the wilderness in despair, and is re-commissioned by God — a dramatic battle for Israel's covenant loyalty.

Elijah stands as the representative prophet of Israel's entire spiritual crisis — willing to confront the most powerful, capable of the deepest despair, and dependent on God's sustaining grace.