50 Fun Facts About 1 Kings

Which birds brought Elijah bread and meat twice a day while he hid by the brook Cherith?

Ravens were an unlikely choice of waiter: the law of Moses lists them among the unclean birds that Israelites were forbidden to eat.

What did Solomon call for when two women each claimed to be the mother of the same baby?

A sword was never used: Solomon's order to cut the living child in two made the real mother give up her claim to save him.

The queen of which land came to Jerusalem with camels of spices to test Solomon with hard questions?

Sheba's queen went home saying the reports had not told her the half of it, and left Solomon 120 talents of gold.

On which mountain did Elijah challenge 450 prophets of Baal to call down fire on a sacrifice?

Mount Carmel heard Baal's prophets shout from morning until evening without an answer before Elijah took his turn.

At Horeb, after a wind, an earthquake and a fire, how did God finally speak to Elijah?

In a still small voice, as the King James Version puts it, came the presence that three louder spectacles had lacked; Elijah covered his face with his cloak before answering.

Whom did Elijah find ploughing a field and call as his successor by throwing his cloak over him?

Elisha burned his bridges at once, slaughtering his plough team and cooking the meat over the wooden gear to feed his neighbours.

Whose vineyard beside the palace in Jezreel did Ahab want to turn into a vegetable garden?

Naboth refused because the land was his family inheritance, and the refusal cost him his life when Jezebel had him falsely accused of blasphemy.

How many wives of royal birth does 1 Kings 11 say Solomon had, besides 300 concubines?

700 wives and their foreign gods are the book's explanation for the kingdom's breakup: Solomon built hilltop shrines for them outside Jerusalem.

Rehoboam said his father had disciplined Israel with whips; what did he threaten to use instead?

Scorpions was the answer his young friends drafted for him, and it split the kingdom: the northern tribes walked out and crowned Jeroboam.

Which two foods never ran out for the widow of Zarephath who fed Elijah during the drought?

Flour and oil were all she had left: when Elijah met her she was gathering sticks to cook a last meal for herself and her son before starving.

Which son of David declared himself king while his father lay dying, only to lose the throne to Solomon?

Adonijah threw himself a coronation feast, but the cheering for Solomon's anointing reached his guests before the meal was over and they fled.

Which young Shunammite woman was brought to the palace to keep the aged King David warm?

Abishag later cost a prince his life: when Solomon's older half-brother asked to marry her, Solomon read it as a claim on the throne.

Which wife of David reminded the dying king of his oath that her son Solomon would reign?

Bathsheba later received royal honours herself: Solomon rose, bowed to her and had a seat placed for her at his right hand.

Which prophet, who had once rebuked David over Uriah's death, helped put Solomon on the throne?

Nathan coached Solomon's mother on what to say to the old king, then walked in on cue to confirm her story.

Which priest anointed Solomon king at Gihon while the rival priest Abiathar feasted with another prince?

Zadok took the horn for the anointing from the sacred tent, and his reward was the top priestly post: Solomon banished his rival to Anathoth.

On which animal, King David's own, did Solomon ride down to Gihon to be anointed king?

A mule was what David's sons rode, so seating Solomon on the king's own animal showed Jerusalem whom David had chosen.

Which veteran commander of David's army was struck down beside the altar on Solomon's orders?

Joab had murdered two rival generals in peacetime, and David's deathbed advice to Solomon was not to let his grey head go down to the grave in peace.

How did God appear to Solomon at Gibeon when Solomon asked for wisdom rather than riches?

In a dream God told Solomon to ask for anything, and was so pleased with the request that he added the wealth and honour Solomon had not asked for.

Which king of Tyre, a lifelong friend of David, supplied the cedar timber for Solomon's temple?

Hiram was paid in food: Solomon sent 20,000 measures of wheat to his household every year in return for the timber.

The cedar logs for Solomon's temple were cut in which northern land and floated south by sea?

Lebanon was worked by 30,000 Israelite conscripts in monthly shifts, so that each man spent one month in the forests and two at home.

According to 1 Kings 6, which sound was never heard at the site while Solomon's temple was being built?

Hammers stayed silent because every block was cut and finished at the quarry, then carried in ready to fit.

Which winged figures, carved in olive wood and overlaid with gold, stood in Solomon's temple sanctuary?

Cherubim there stood about fifteen feet tall, with wings that spanned the room from wall to wall and met in the middle above the ark.

One great pillar at the entrance of Solomon's temple was named Jachin; what was the other called?

Boaz shared its name with Solomon's great-great-grandfather, the husband of Ruth, and both pillars rose about 27 feet before their capitals.

The huge cast-metal basin called the Sea in Solomon's temple rested on twelve statues of which animal?

Oxen faced outward in four groups of three, one group for each point of the compass, under a basin about fifteen feet across.

When the ark was carried into Solomon's temple, what was the only thing inside it?

Two stone tablets, placed there by Moses at Horeb, were all it held, though Hebrews 9 also lists manna and Aaron's staff among its contents.

Solomon repaid the king of Tyre with twenty towns in which region, a gift the king disliked?

Galilee's twenty towns pleased him so little that he nicknamed the district Cabul, a name the book says stuck.

Solomon's great throne, set above six steps and overlaid with gold, was made of which material?

Ivory came to Solomon by sea: the same chapter says his trading fleet returned with a fresh cargo every three years.

Besides gold and silver, which exotic animals did Solomon's trading ships bring home every three years?

Apes and peacocks is the King James reading of two rare Hebrew words; some modern translations make the second animal a baboon.

A prophet from Shiloh tore what into twelve pieces, handing Jeroboam ten for the tribes he would rule?

A new garment made the point in cloth, and the pieces held back stood for what would stay with Solomon's son for the sake of David.

Which king of Egypt sheltered the fugitive Jeroboam and later carried off the treasures of Jerusalem's temple?

Shishak took the gold shields Solomon had made, so Rehoboam replaced them with bronze copies for his guards to carry.

At which ancient city did all Israel gather to make Rehoboam king, only to reject him?

Shechem then became the rebels' first capital: Jeroboam fortified it and lived there after the northern tribes broke away.

What did Jeroboam set up at Bethel and Dan so that his people would stop travelling to Jerusalem?

Golden calves kept worshippers, and their loyalty, inside his borders, and he introduced them with words that echo Aaron's at Sinai.

What happened to King Jeroboam's outstretched hand when he ordered the arrest of a prophet at Bethel?

It withered so that he could not draw it back, and the king had to ask the man he was arresting to pray for its healing, which he did.

Which future king of Judah did a prophet name at Jeroboam's altar, about three centuries before his birth?

Josiah would one day burn bones on that very altar to defile it, the prophet said, and 2 Kings 23 records him doing so.

Which animal killed the disobedient man of God from Judah on his way home, yet left his body uneaten?

A lion stood beside the body and the dead man's donkey without touching either, and passers-by carried the strange news into town.

Which blind prophet at Shiloh knew Jeroboam's wife at his door although she was pretending to be someone else?

Ahijah had been told by God that she was coming, so he called her Jeroboam's wife as soon as he heard her footsteps and said her sick son would die when she got home.

Which king of Judah stripped Maacah of her rank as queen mother because of an idol she had made?

Asa cut down her Asherah pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley, earning the book's rare verdict that a king did right as David had.

Which king of Israel ruled for just seven days before burning the royal palace down around himself?

Zimri was a chariot commander who murdered his drunken king, then found that the army would not follow him and had his capital under siege.

Which king of Israel, the father of Ahab, bought a hill and built the capital Samaria on it?

Omri paid two talents of silver for the hill and named the city after its seller, Shemer; Assyrian records later called Israel by his name.

Jezebel, the wife of Ahab who promoted Baal worship, was a princess of which people?

Sidonians were ruled by her father Ethbaal, and the marriage brought a temple of Baal to Samaria, built by Ahab himself.

In Ahab's reign, Hiel of Bethel lost his eldest and youngest sons rebuilding which city that Joshua had cursed?

Jericho came with Joshua's warning that its rebuilder would lay the foundations at the cost of his firstborn and hang the gates at the cost of his youngest.

Which official in charge of Ahab's palace secretly hid a hundred prophets in caves from Jezebel?

Obadiah split them into two groups of fifty and kept them fed, yet was terrified when Elijah asked him to announce the prophet's return to Ahab.

Before praying for fire in his contest with Baal's prophets, what did Elijah have poured over his sacrifice?

Water went on three times, enough to soak the wood and fill a trench around the altar, and the fire that fell dried up even the trench.

What did Elijah's servant spot rising from the sea on his seventh look, no bigger than a man's hand?

A cloud that size was enough for Elijah, who sent word to Ahab to harness up and leave before the downpour trapped him.

Who twice woke the despairing Elijah in the wilderness and told him to eat bread baked on coals?

An angel found him asleep under a broom tree, where he had prayed to die, and the two meals carried him forty days to Horeb.

Which king of Aram, the KJV's Syria, besieged Samaria with thirty-two allied kings and lost twice to Ahab?

Ben-hadad lost the second battle after his advisers decided Israel's God ruled only the hills and moved the fight to the plain.

According to Elijah's curse, which animals would lick up Ahab's blood and devour Jezebel at Jezreel?

Dogs did both in the end: they licked up the blood rinsed from the king's chariot at the pool of Samaria, and 2 Kings 9 tells Jezebel's fate.

Going into battle at Ramoth-gilead, what did Ahab do while telling Jehoshaphat to wear royal robes?

Wore a disguise, and it nearly got his ally killed: enemy captains ordered to target only Israel's king chased the robed Jehoshaphat until he cried out.

Which prophet did Ahab say he hated for never prophesying anything good about him?

Micaiah alone contradicted some 400 court prophets, predicted the king's death in battle, and was sent to prison on short rations for it.

How was King Ahab fatally wounded in his last battle against the Arameans at Ramoth-gilead?

A stray arrow, loosed without aim, found a gap in his armour, and he stayed propped up in his chariot facing the enemy until he died at sunset.