Jerusalem, Samaria, and the wilderness — a kingdom that split and a prophet who survived it.
1 Kings has a large cast spread across more than a century. The Solomon section features the court of the united kingdom — the king, his foreign wives, the craftsman Hiram of Tyre, the Queen of Sheba. The divided-kingdom section moves fast through a succession of northern and southern rulers. The Elijah cycle narrows to three figures: the prophet, the king, and the queen.
David's son by Bathsheba, the last king of the unified kingdom. Forty-year reign. Builds the temple. Asks for wisdom and is given that and everything else. Marries seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. Dies leaving a kingdom that splits the day after his funeral.
Goes to Shechem to be confirmed by the northern tribes, takes the young men's advice over the elders', and tells the north his little finger will be thicker than his father's loins. The northern tribes secede. He reigns in Judah for seventeen years. His mother is Naamah the Ammonitess.
Solomon's official, chosen by the prophet Ahijah to receive ten tribes. Sets up golden calves at Bethel and Dan. Becomes the template against whom every subsequent northern king is measured. His son Abijah dies as a sign of Ahijah's oracle against the house.
Commander of the army who seizes the throne after Zimri's seven-day coup. Buys the hill of Shomron and builds Samaria as his capital. Father of Ahab. The Deuteronomistic historian judges him harshly; the Assyrian records call Israel "the house of Omri" for a century after his death.
Son of Omri, king for twenty-two years. Builds the temple of Baal in Samaria. Marries Jezebel. Sulks over Naboth's vineyard. Fights three wars with Ben-hadad of Syria. Dies in battle at Ramoth-gilead — struck by an arrow shot at random; the dogs lick his blood at the pool of Samaria, as Elijah said.
Appears without introduction in chapter 17 and announces a drought. Fed by ravens and by the widow of Zarephath. Confronts the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and calls down fire. Hears God in a sound of thin silence at Horeb. Confronts Ahab in Naboth's vineyard. Anoints Elisha as his successor. Taken up in the chariot of fire in 2 Kings.
Called at Abel-meholah, where Elijah throws his mantle on him while he is plowing. Slaughters his oxen, boils them with the plowing wood, and follows. Appears briefly in 1 Kings; his ministry dominates the first half of 2 Kings, where he receives a double portion of Elijah's spirit.
Meets Jeroboam in chapter 11 outside Jerusalem, tears a new cloak into twelve pieces, and gives him ten. The cloak is the kingdom. By chapter 14 he is blind but still sharp: when Jeroboam's wife comes disguised to ask about the sick child, Ahijah knows her at the threshold and delivers the oracle that ends the house of Jeroboam.
Comes to Jerusalem with spices and gold and hard questions. Tests Solomon's wisdom and finds no more spirit in her when she has seen everything. The chapter is the peak of Solomon's international prestige. She is unnamed in 1 Kings; later traditions give her names and elaborate her story.
The Sidonian princess who marries Ahab and brings Baal worship to Samaria. Persecutes the prophets of the Lord. Writes the letters that procure Naboth's death. Sends the death threat that drives Elijah into the desert after Carmel. The political will that Ahab lacks.
The Phoenician king who supplies cedar and fir timber from Lebanon for the temple and palace, in exchange for wheat and olive oil. Also sends a craftsman of the same name — a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali — to cast the great bronze furnishings of the temple, including the two pillars Jachin and Boaz.