It is a frustrating ride.Īs you read 1 & 2 Kings you have to keep reminding yourself that these are not the enemies of God trying to kill His prophets, this is the people of God the same people that God saved from Egypt, walked through the wilderness, gave victory over Jericho, sent Judges to save every time they got in trouble. The kings often reject the word of God through His prophets, seek advice from other sources, some declare out and out war on their prophets, like Ahab and Jezebel did, and some kings obey. Unfortunately, as we journey through these books, you’ll find that is not the case. God speaks through His prophets to guide and instruct His people, and the kings are to rule God’s kingdom, heeding His words and instructions and doing what is right. One thing I want you to remember when you study the relationship between the prophets and kings is that both represent God. The kings try and kill the prophets, put them in prison, send other false prophets to contradict them, all to stop the word of God! Check out all the crazy interactions as you venture through 1 & 2 Kings. The relationship between prophet and King is a wild and incredibly frustrating ride, and is one of the central themes of the Old Testament. As you study, you can take note of the prophets’ message, warnings, and where they all fit into the historical timeline. This is a great way of seeing which prophets prophesied at the time of the different kings, including Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Remove banner ads and expand your Bible reading experience using our valuable library of more than 40 top resources by becoming a member of Bible Gateway Plus. In trying to keep all of these people and messages clear in my mind, I have put together a list of all the kings and prophets during the period of the divided kingdom (roughly 931-586 BC). Some of these prophets only have their words recorded in Kings or Chronicles, while others have their words recorded elsewhere in the Bible (usually the book name is the prophet’s name).

In the midst of these kingdoms, several prophets are sent by God. What makes it challenging when reading straight through the Bible is that the history is covered in 1 and 2 Kings and then again in 1 and 2 Chronicles. One challenging point in history is the divided kingdoms of Israel (the 10 northern tribes) and Judah (the 2 southern tribes). Owens ( has created the helpful chart below delineating the Old Testament prophets and kings of Israel and Judah:

Bible timeline kings and prophets