THE FIRST BOOK of the KINGS, OTHERWISE CALLED THE THIRD BOOK of the KINGS.
THE author of the following two books of Kings is unknown; but they are generally supposed to have been compiled by Ezra, from the public records of the Jews. They are evidently the work of one author. Le Clerc is of opinion, that they were written after the captivity; and that though we find in them the remainder of ancient memoirs, upon which they were formed, yet it can never be certainly known who was the author that compiled them. Calmet observes judiciously, that he was in all probability a priest, as he does not seem so much concerned to write a political history, as to describe what concerns the temple and religion. The first book of the Kings comprizes a history of one hundred and nineteen years, from the year of the world 2989 to 3108, containing an account of the death of David, the reign of Solomon, his building of the temple, his wisdom, magnificence, and fall: the division of the kingdom under Rehoboam; together with a summary of the reigns of four kings of Judah, and eight kings of Israel. See Le Clerc's Sentimens de quelques Theol. sur la Critique du P. Simon, Leviticus 7 and our Introduction to the first book of Samuel.