The Bible in Poetry: The Kings

Extracted from the Bible In Poetry

From Genesis to Revelation

The first king of Israel was a man whose name was Saul,

Out searching for the donkeys he then received his call;

He started the journey well but then became a terror,

Unable to hear from God he sought the witch at Endor.

Against his own command, he disobeyed his rule,

Confessing he erred exceedingly he did play the fool;

He was killed in a battle one very sorrowful day,

And his and his son’s heads were hung up for display.

Next was David the Psalmist, youngest son of Jesse,

Slayer of a bear and lion and the giant Goliath slew he;

Like King Saul before him he ruled for many a year,

But unlike King Saul before him, he displayed godly fear.

Saul, David and Solomon completed a common share,

Each of them finished their reign in their fortieth year;

David drew the temple plan for Solomon to complete,

Taking all of seven years this building was quite a feat.

At the temple’s dedication the glory of God came down,

And none could even enter, His glory shone all around;

The people remained in their tents and viewed it from afar,

Cognizant of the fact with God none could be on par.

David would’ve been proud that Solomon was his son,

He reigned with understanding and many hearts he won;

He was a very wealthy king and wise in all his ways,

But was overcome by vanity toward his latter days.

The Kingdom Divided

 

After Solomon’s lengthy reign the kingdom was rent in twain,

Few of the kings were really good, the others were insane;

Judah comprised two of the tribes and Israel the other ten,

The days of Israel’s one king rule was certainly at an end.

Here are some of Judah’s kings, I’ll mention just a few,

Kings Rehoboam and Abijam, rotten through and through;

Kings Asa and Jehoshaphat were two of the better kings,

They paid especial attention to most of the godly things.

I could end with Zedekiah regarded as David’s son,

He ruled under Nebuchadnezzar down there in Babylon;

Of Judah’s twenty kings, seven of them came clean,

But those that were reckoned bad numbered up to thirteen.

Israel was worse it seems regarding their king’s bad rule,

All of them were wicked, like Saul they played the fool;

Of their nineteen kings, Jeroboam and Nadab were first,

And for the things of God neither had shown a thirst.

I could mention King Ahab, the worst they ever knew,

For when he joined with Jezebel evil just grew and grew;

Last there was Hoshea, but nothing much had changed,

All the kings of Israel were demented and deranged.

Stewart Russell © 2013