History Literature / BooksOfKings

* DeathByMocking: Possibly in 2 King 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.

* DeathByMocking: In 2nd Kings chapter 2, forty-two boys were torn apart by bears when they made fun of Elisha the prophet, mocking his authority as a God-anointed prophet.

* ConfirmationBias: InUniverse. When Jehosophat suggests to Ahab that they consult prophets before going into battle against Ramoth-gilead, Ahab only consults prophets who agree with him. When Jehosophat asks if there are any prophets of the LORD, Ahab admits there is but doesn’t want to consult him, because “he never prophesies good concerning me, only evil.” And when they do go to consult the prophet Micaiah, he not only foretells defeat but declares that the LORD sent a lying spirit to put lies in the other prophets’ mouths. Ahab ignores Micaiah, [[ShootTheMessenger instead locking him up]], and [[YouCantFightFate is then killed in battle]].

* 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.

* HeroicAmbidexterity:
** In 1st Kings chapter 20, the LORD proves He is the God of both the hills '''and''' the valleys by leading Israel into victory over Syria in both landscapes.
** In a list of famous warriors who served King David, 1st Chronicles 12:1-7 names 23 Benjaminites who "were armed with bows and were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones right-handed or left-handed".

* HenpeckedHusband: King Ahab comes off as rather wimpy in these books, allowing his domineering wife Jezebel to control the country in his name. Then he lets her frame a man for crimes he didn't commit and have him executed, because he wouldn't sell his vineyard to him. Ahab should have told Jezebel that this was against the law of Moses, according to which not even a king had a right force anybody to give up their property. But he could never pick up the courage to do that, thus making him an AccompliceByInaction to Naboth's murder.

* HenpeckedHusband: King Ahab comes off as rather wimpy in these books, allowing his domineering wife Jezebel to control the country in his name. This is taken UpToEleven when he lets her frame a man for crimes he didn't commit and have him executed, because he wouldn't sell his vineyard to him. Ahab should have told Jezebel that this was against the law of Moses, according to which not even a king had a right force anybody to give up their property. But he could never pick up the courage to do that, thus making him an AccompliceByInaction to Naboth's murder.

* {{Polyamory}}: The case for the kings of both Judah and Israel, though for Solomon, it was TurnedUpToEleven, for he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. This eventually came to an end with the last king of Judah, when King Nebuchadnezzar brought King Zedekiah and his royal family to Babylon.

* MemorialForTheAntagonist: David gives a funeral to King Saul out of respect despite the latter trying to murder him multiple times throughout the legend out of jealousy of David becoming a war hero.

* MakeupIsEvil: Queen Jezebel notoriously put on makeup before confronting God's prophet. Unfortunately, it didn't stop her from becoming dog food.

* HenpeckedHusband: King Ahab comes off as rather wimpy in these books, allowing his domineering wife Jezebel control the country. This is taken UpToEleven when he lets her frame a man for crimes he didn't commit and have him executed, because he wouldn't sell his vineyard to him. Ahab should have told Jezebel that this was against the law of Moses, according to which not even a king had a right force anybody to give up their property. But he could never pick up the courage to do that, thus making him an AccompliceByInaction to Naboth's murder.

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.

2 Kings continues the history of the divided nations. Both go into a downward spiral until they are destroyed by foreign nations and their peoples sent into exile.

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]]).

* BossInMooksClothing:
** Invoked by King Ahab of Israel, who enters a battle disguised as an ordinary soldier so the enemy won't recognize him. Unfortunately for him, a "random" arrow shot fatally wounds him anyway.
** King Josiah does the same in 2nd Chronicles chapter 35 when he confronts Pharaoh Necho in battle and gets killed.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Solomon loved monkeys so much he had them imported (1 Kings 10:22)

** In the book of Ezekiel, Israel and Judah are compared to young girls who prostituted themselves in Egypt and were graciously taken as wives by {{God}} (despite their history... or maybe because of it), and given everything they could possibly want and more... only to lust after Assyrian soldiers (that is, desire political alliances with neighboring superpowers instead of relying on {{God}} to protect and provide for them) and go back to their old whoring ways. Both end up being killed "and their names became bywords among women."

* TheTheocracy: The kingdom of Israel, and its successor state, the southern kingdom of Judah, were this until the time of its dissolution when the Babylonians conquered it centuries later, with the reigning king (in ideal, if not always in practice) and his people subject to God's laws. How often they were faithful in keeping those laws depended on the king reigning at the time, although the high places were not removed until the time of King Hezekiah. The ten tribes that broke away and formed the northern kingdom of Israel fell into woshiping the calves erected at Bethel and Dan, and during the dynasty of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, Baal worship until it was stopped by Jehu son of Nimshi.

* TrampledUnderfoot: In 2nd Kings chapter 7, an official of the king of Israel who questioned Elisha's prophecy that "Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria" was also prophesied that "You shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it." And that came to pass when the people raided the deserted Syrian army's camp, and the people trampled the official in the gate, and he died.

* YouWillBeSpared: When King Josiah had his men consult Huldah the prophetess when he heard from the Book of the Law and realized that God's wrath was great against Israel, Huldah tells the king that, though God's wrath will be poured out on Israel and "will not be quenched", the king at least will be spared from having to see it happen during his lifetime.

* DestinationDefenestration: At Jehu's order, Queen Jezebel is thrown out a window to her death.

* 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.

** Jeroboam I's son Nadab is killed by Baasha who succeeds him as king, killing off the family of Jeroboam in the process.

** Jehu son of Nimshi kills off Ahab and Jezebel's family and succeeds them as king.