When Were the Books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings Written?

The date of composition, like the author, is difficult to ascertain. Nothing is stated in 1 or 2 Kings that pinpoints an exact date of writing.

Internal evidence, however, indicates the books were written during the exile. One piece of evidence is the last recorded event in 2 Kings, the release of Jehoiachin from prison to live out his life in Babylon. This occurred in the 37th year of his exile (cf. 2Kg 25:27-30; 560 BC). However, there is no mention of the return from Babylon, indicating the book was written while the Jewish people were still in captivity.

A second support for dating the books to the time of the exile is the phrase “to this day,” which appears 13 times throughout the books (cf. 1Kg 8:8; 9:13, 21; 12:19; 2Kg 2:22; 8:22; 10:27; 14:7; 16:6; 17:34, 41; 20:17; 21:15). The phrase is significant because it describes a variety of situations and historical markers that were still in place or practice at the time of the writing. Again a specific date is not given, but internal evidence indicates that the writing had to be sometime after those events occurred, but not so far distant that they were no longer recalled. A date sometime during the exile, but prior to the return, best fits with the events described in 1 and 2 Kings. Therefore, a probable date for the writing of the books is between 560 and 550 BC.

Key dates in Israel’s history are woven into the text: David died and Solomon became king in 971 BC; the kingdom was divided in 930 BC; the northern kingdom fell to Assyria in 721 BC; Judah fell to Babylon in 586 BC. However, an exact coordination of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah can be confusing, despite chronology such as “in the third year that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel . . .” (1Kg 22:2). This can be resolved in some cases by understanding coregency or vice-regency of kings. Also, Judah and Israel used two different systems of determining when the reign began, and even this system was sometimes altered over the years. Finally, Judah and Israel began their calendar years at different times, so the beginning of the new year does not coincide. (For a detailed discussion of this see, Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, rev. ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983.) The accounts of the reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel often alternate throughout the two books of Kings, with more details given about some of the monarchs and very little detail given about others. The dates and years of the reigns of the kings, along with the key parallel passages in 2 Chronicles, are included in the commentary.