The field covered by the present volume has been practically unworked hitherto. The author knows only of a brochure of less than a hundred pages on the Hebrew kings and treating but of the kings of Judah as types of Christians when the subject permitted.
The volume in hand was begun several years ago but laid aside in the hope that someone better qualified might take up the work. As nothing has appeared since, the writer resumed his work, and the result is now before the reader.
No claim whatever is made to what is called scholarship, though references to Hebrew, etc., in the body of the book, might suggest, to some, the contrary. Scholarly help has, however, been freely used, the principal of which is Strong's "Exhaustive Concordance" (English, Hebrew, and Greek); Fausset's "Bible Cyclopedia" (a work too little known); J. N. Darby's most excellent translation of the Old Testament (designated N.Tr.); also, Josephus, and the already mentioned little volume on the kings of Judah; besides, of course, the indispensable, and best-beloved authorized version of the English Bible. This last has been quoted from freely, though not always fully, and the reader is therefore urged upon to read the passages for himself in their entirety, both in Kings and Chronicles, as referred to under each one of the thirty-eight kings named at the head of their separate biographies.
The Author's Introduction was found to be the most difficult part of the undertaking, and is, of course, open to criticism, correction, or amplification. Someone of more leisure and competency may someday, it is hoped, undertake this improvement. If, under God, the present effort shall lead to further researches, and fuller development of the subject, the author shall feel amply rewarded for what he has, from the beginning, sought to make "a labor of love," as also "a work of faith."
May our Lord, the "King eternal," be pleased to use it for the blessing of His people.
C. Knapp. Bethlehem, Pa., 1908.
