In Depth:  Dale Ralph Davis

Double folly

The end of 1 Kings might remind you of a home carpentry project. Imagine having finished. You are collecting your tools and replacing them in their assigned resting places.

You stash left-over materials away for potential future use. Finally, you sweep up the sawdust and shavings and bent nails into the dustpan to flip into the trash. This last passage of 1 Kings may strike you as very much like those sweepings from a workshop floor. Here is no fascinating narrative, no connected story, but only bits and pieces about two kings. A dull way to end a book.