History Literature / BooksOfKings

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: There's a theme running through these books: if you belong to the "right" religion, you're a hero; if you belong to the "wrong" religion, you're the villain. But it never becomes more obvious than with antagonist Jezebel and protagonists Elijah and Jehu. As soon as she begins a persecution of Jahve's prophets, this is treated as proof of how evil Jezebel is. Which would have been fair... Except for that when Elijah and Jehu start killing off Baal's prophets, ''this'' is portrayed as awesome acts of badassery!

** The town of Samaria, [[Main/TheSiege besieged]] by the Syrians, suffers a penury of food leading some to resort to cannibalism. It ends when Elisha prophesies about a great amount of food that will be sold at dirt-cheap prices, which is fulfilled when God causes the Syrian army to flee from their camp with all their stuff and food supplies behind.

** King Joash of Judah after Jehoiada the priest died. He was a faithful follower of the Lord from childhood and helped to restore the Temple with the money the people brought in, but after the priest's death he turned against the Lord and eventually suffered because of his rebellion. Some Bible students blame this on Jehoiada failing to pass on his faith in the Lord to the king that he acted as a co-regent of.

** Athaliah (Jezebel's daughter) is said to have had all her grandkids killed. Only one of her grandsons survived, so she almost destroyed David's royal line.

* AntiVillain: King Ahab is [[TakeOurWordForIt said]] to be the most evil of all the kings of Israel, but can fairly easily come across as one of the most sympathetic instead when judged by how he acts in his "onscreen" appearances. Some of this is due to Values Dissonance (the narrator's main complaint against him is that he was tolerant of other religions, which many modern secular people will not think was ''that'' evil), but he also has many traits that would seem positive even at the time. For example, he is a capable soldier and statesman, brave in battle and yet magnanimous in victory (sparing the defeated Aramaeans and making an alliance and trade agreement with them instead of slaughtering them), and dies heroically fighting for his country. (Outside of Literature/TheBible, other old records also show that he was one of the leaders of TheAlliance against the Assyrians, TheEmpire of the day.) In fact, other than his liberal religious policy, the only unambiguously evil things his regime is ever really shown to do aren't even initiated by Ahab, but are either done [[LadyMacbeth at Jezebel's instigation]], or even done by her [[PsychoSidekick behind his back]]--and after her major atrocity (the judicial murder of the innocent farmer Naboth), Ahab is [[VillainousBSOD terribly regretful and ashamed]] about this. ''As the king'' he is still ultimately responsible for everything (and never punishes Jezebel for any of the evil things ''she'' does), but his characterization is very far from the cackling villain he is sometimes {{flanderized}} as in adaptations. Even God himself seems to agree, modifying Ahab's punishment to grant him a MercyKill so he won't have to personally witness the [[RulingFamilyMassacre total destruction of his family line]].

'''1 Kings''' tells of Israel's GoldenAge under Solomon, but he also sows the seeds of rebellion which leads the nation to divide into Northern Israel and Southern Judah.

* GeneralRipper: General Jehu can come across as a very early example: an undisputed FourStarBadass, he is also a [[KnightTemplar fanatical fundamentalist]] who launches a MilitaryCoup to root out the kingdom's ungodly leadership when a prophet tells him to, and then a [[ThePurge violent purge]] of all supporters of the old regime, as well as everyone who followed the religion of [[WarGod Baal]] and [[LoveGoddess Astarte]]. He is a [[GoodIsNotSoft heroic]] example, however, since (according to the narrator, at least) [[TheExtremistWasRight God really did approve of everything he did]]. Although, when all was said and done, Jehu only got rid of the Baal worship and not also the idol worship that was instituted by the first King Jeroboam, and thus his dynasty only lasted until the fourth generation, the longest-lasting dynasty in the kingdom. (According to the prophet [[Literature/BookOfHosea Hosea]], God thought that Jehu may have gone a little too overboard in his zeal for purging out both the royal family of Ahab and Baal worship.)

* BearsAreBadNews: Elisha summons two bears to maul 42 young bandits for mocking his bald head (and possibly implying that they would send him to heaven, i.e., kill him, although the phrase could also mean "why didn't you go up to heaven [like Elijah did]"?).

* DeathByMocking: Possibly in 2nd Kings Chapter 2. Forty-two young males (either boys or young men) are attacked by two she-bears when they make fun of Elisha the prophet, mocking his authority as a God-anointed prophet. Though the text doesn't state whether they were killed or mauled.

* EnfantTerrible: Quite possibly the group of young boys that harassed Elisha in 2nd Kings, telling him to "Go up, you baldy!" On whom Elisha called down a curse, and a female bear came and attacked the little brats.

* YesMan: King Ahab is surrounded by a bunch of prophets who act like this when he asks them whether he and King Jehoshaphat should attack Ramoth Gilead or refrain, with all of them saying, "Go ahead and attack, for the Lord will deliver them into your hand." Micaiah son of Imlah, the only true prophet of the Lord present, tells the king that the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouths of those other prophets in order to get him to fall in the battle.

In Christian Bibles it is followed by 1 & 2 Chronicles, which provides a more PoliticallyCorrectHistory counterpoint to Kings, focusing exclusively on the southern Kingdom of Judah to inspire the Jews exiled to Babylon and emphasizing the more positive qualities and achievements of the Davidic dynasty. Most of the Prophets preached during this period, so they will be discussed here also. In the Jewish Tanakh, it is followed by the Book of Isaiah. (Chronicles is relegated to the ''Ketuvim''[[note]]Recall that "Tanakh" is an acronym for'' '''T'''orah'' (the Torah),'' '''N'''eviim'' (the Prophets), and'' '''K'''etuvim'' ("writings"). Kings is considered a prophetic book as several prophets figure prominently.[[/note]]). In some older Catholic and Orthodox bibles, the books are called '''3 Kings''' and '''4 Kings''' (due to the Literature/BooksOfSamuel changing names).

In Christian Bibles it is followed by 1 & 2 Chronicles, which provides a more PoliticallyCorrectHistory counterpoint to Kings, focusing exclusively on the southern Kingdom of Judah to inspire the Jews exiled to Babylon and emphasizing the more positive qualities and achievements of the Judean kings. Most of the Prophets preached during this period, so they will be discussed here also. In the Jewish Tanakh, it is followed by the Book of Isaiah. (Chronicles is relegated to the ''Ketuvim''[[note]]Recall that "Tanakh" is an acronym for'' '''T'''orah'' (the Torah),'' '''N'''eviim'' (the Prophets), and'' '''K'''etuvim'' ("writings"). Kings is considered a prophetic book as several prophets figure prominently.[[/note]]). In some older Catholic and Orthodox bibles, the books are called '''3 Kings''' and '''4 Kings''' (due to the Literature/BooksOfSamuel changing names).

In Christian Bibles it is followed by 1 & 2 Chronicles, a LighterAndSofter rehashing of Kings focusing exclusively on the southern Kingdom of Judah to inspire the Jews exiled to Babylon. Most of the Prophets preached during this period so they will be discussed here also. In the Jewish Tanakh it is followed by the Book of Isaiah. (Chronicles is relegated to the ''Ketuvim''[[note]]Recall that "Tanakh" is an acronym for'' '''T'''orah'' (the Torah),'' '''N'''eviim'' (the Prophets), and'' '''K'''etuvim'' ("writings"). Kings is considered a prophetic book as several prophets figure prominently.[[/note]]). In some older Catholic and Orthodox bibles, the books are called '''3 Kings''' and '''4 Kings''' (due to the Literature/BooksOfSamuel changing names).

'''1 Kings''' tells of Israel's GoldenAge under Solomon but he also sows the seeds of rebellion which leads the nation to divide into Northern Israel and Southern Judah.

* NamesTheSame: In-universe, Jeroboam II is a descendant of Jehu, not Jeroboam I.

* AntiVillain: King Ahab is [[TakeOurWordForIt said]] to be the most evil of all the kings of Israel, but can fairly easily come across as one of the most sympathetic instead when judged by how he acts in his "onscreen" appearances. Some of this is due to Values Dissonance (the narrator's main complaint against him is that he was tolerant of other religions, which many modern secular people will not think was ''that'' evil), but he also has many traits that would seem positive even at the time. For example, he is a capable soldier and statesman, brave in battle and yet magnanimous in victory (sparing the defeated Aramaeans and making an alliance and trade agreement with them instead of slaughtering them), and dies heroically fighting for his country. (Outside of Literature/TheBible, other old records also show that he was one of the leaders of TheAlliance against the Assyrians, TheEmpire of the day.) In fact, other than his liberal religious policy, the only unambiguously evil things his regime is ever really shown to do aren't even initiated by Ahab, but are either done [[LadyMacbeth at Jezebel's instigation]], or even done by her [[PoisonousFriend behind his back]]--and after her major atrocity (the judicial murder of the innocent farmer Naboth), Ahab is [[VillainousBSOD terribly regretful and ashamed]] about this. ''As the king'' he is still ultimately responsible for everything (and never punishes Jezebel for any of the evil things ''she'' does), but his characterization is very far from the cackling villain he is sometimes {{flanderized}} as in adaptations. Even God himself seems to agree, modifying Ahab's punishment to grant him a MercyKill so he won't have to personally witness the [[RulingFamilyMassacre total destruction of his family line]].

* TheUsurper: Queen Athaliah of Judah, who, when her son was dead, decided to kill all his heirs so that she could have the throne to herself. She would be removed from the throne several years later when the heir who was rescued from her, Joash, was rightfully made king.

** Ironically, one of the common interpretations is that Elijah's career ended for the same reason. Escaping from Ahab and Jezebel's persecution, Elijah complains to God that all of his deeds done to glorify God's name were for nothing, since the Israelites are too wicked to listen to him. God then does a whole light show involving storms and earthquakes, with God explicitly said not to be in any of them but implied to be in the following "sheer silence" (that is, trying to tell Elijah that his devoutness is not measured in rage, flashy miracles or displays of power). Elijah repeats his complaint verbatim, showing that he had learned nothing. God then gives him his next orders, ending with "anoint Elisha as prophet [[FiringDay in your place]]."

* AesopAmnesia: Prior to overthrowing a wicked king of Israel, God sends a prophet to explain why the king will be overthrown ([[RulingFamilyMassacre and his family killed]]). Still, the next king will institute the same blasphemous practices of his predecessor and suffer the same fate. More specifically, Ahab witnesses God’s miraculous victory over Baal at Mount Carmel and the subsequent slaughter of Baal’s priests. Yet when he flees back to Jezreel and reports what happened to Jezebel, he consents to her plan to have Elijah killed.