Divided and Exiled

Israel had asked for a king "like the nations." By the time these two books close, that king - and thirty-nine of his successors - have led the nation from the height of Solomon's glory to the ashes of Jerusalem. Divided and Exiled is the seventh volume in a continuing devotional commentary series drawn from more than a decade of daily Quiet Time writing and Sunday School classes at First Baptist Church in Dallas. It follows Beginnings (Genesis), Deliverance (Exodus), Consecrated and Tested (Leviticus and Numbers), Remember (Deuteronomy), Conquest, Failure, and Redemption (Joshua, Judges, and Ruth), and Anointed and Established (1 and 2 Samuel) into the books of 1 and 2 Kings - four centuries of kings, prophets, and the single throne in heaven that outlasted every one of them.

Part One, 1 Kings, traces Solomon's meteoric rise and slow apostasy, the kingdom's fracture into Israel and Judah, and the rise of Elijah to confront the house of Ahab and the worship of Baal. Part Two, 2 Kings, follows Elisha's ministry of mercy, the fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria, the reforms and failures of Judah's kings - Hezekiah's faith, Manasseh's apostasy and repentance, Josiah's rediscovery of the Law - and the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon. Eunmi's voice is woven throughout, often quieter and more personal, alongside Eugene's.

Each chapter includes:

• A close, readable walk through that section's text, grounded in careful study but written for everyday readers
• Honest engagement with the hardest parts of these two books - Naboth's murder, the bears of Bethel, the fall of two kingdoms - without flattening them into easy answers
• Cross-references tracing how a theme in Kings echoes through the Psalms, the Prophets, and the words of Christ
• Reflection and discussion questions after every chapter, sized for a 45-60 minute group session