This is really a devotional commentary. It is helpful but neither detailed nor expansive which it does not claim to be. The author uses many helpful personal illustrations. His spiritual applications to us living in the 21st century are both helpful and illuminating. If you require more detail you will have to consult the larger, more academic commentaries. This would be useful for both personal and family devotions.

The Old Testament For Everyone series by John Goldingay is proving to be a more than fitting addition to Tom Wrights New Testament For Everyone series. These really are fantastic and simple commentaries that work in a multitude of settings from individual study to group study, from beginners to those preparing sermons. This particular one on 1 & 2 Kings provides a great insight into books that contain a wealth of material that is not always easy to access and understand being tied up with the complicated history of Israel from Solomon onwards to Elijah and further. Goldingay however manages to contextualise these stories in mirroring stories of our own times and political intrigues, by broadening the scope of our understanding by using easy to understand imagery and insights and yet at the same time remaining true to the historical basis of the time and really explaining the situation at hand in the bible. A wonderful blend of serious OT scholarship with rich modern understanding that opens the bible to many in a delightfully insightful and simple way.