After Solomon's reign, the kingdom of Israel became divided. At first, it was divided when Rehoboam, Solmon's son became king and decided to make things tougher for the people who anointed Jeroboam king instead, and only the people of Judah followed Rehoboam and the house of David. Still, it was through David that God had promised a Messiah, and his people could not really be divided into two camps. We as followers of Christ today cannot be divided if we are to successfully represent God. We are told of the prophets who often stood in opposition to the kings and were often in danger or killed because of it. We especially are told of Elijah and his contest with the four-hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, of his victory over them because He represented the true God, and of their destruction. It may not always be in this lifetime, but those who follow God will always be victorious over the people who do not, no matter how badly they may outnumber us. Of course, we are also told of Elijah's lack of faith at times when he was ready to die, but God always provided for him and at one time for others because of him as well. If we have doubts, God is still never going to leave us, and we still need to do what He tells us to do by faith. There are other prophets who God worked through as well, but the important thing is that God was still always at work amongst His people, just as he is today. There were also many kings, some good and some bad in both kingdoms, and it seems as a general rule that the bad kings didn't rule as long as the good kings. What we can be certain of is that there is but one King for the followers of Christ, and that is Jesus Christ Himself. He will always be the good King, and He will reign forever. There are many more things that 1 Kings teaches us, but we will stop here. Next, we will look at 2 Kings.
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