Books of the, canonical books of the Old Testament, embrace three portions of sacred history, viz., the reign of Solomon, the parallel histories of Judah and Israel in their divided state after his death, and the history of Judah till the beginning of the captivity. Originally they formed one book, and were first divided by the Seventy, by whom they are classed as III. and IV. Kings. This arrangement obtains in the Vulgate. The name of the book gives a very inadequate idea of its contents, unless the theocratic position of the Jewish monarchs be borne in mind, with all its anomalous relations to the prophetic power. There was present in the nation an element to be found in no other human society; and hence the peculiar lights and shadows of the recorded history. To realize this, it is only necessary to contrast the history of Jezebel in the land of the theocracy, as given by the sacred penman of this book, with that of her cousin Dido in the classic pages of Virgil. The unity of the book has been denied by few. Jeremiah is the only prophet who may be reasonably named as its author; and it is certain there is throughout a considerable resemblance to his style. In compiling the history the author refers to certain works not admitted into the canon, and not now extant. The nature of these books has occasioned considerable variety of opinion, but it seems probable that they were authentic and official documents publicly known and accessible to the nation. There are few commentaries on Kings. The most satisfactory is that by K. F. Keil, Commentar über die Bücher der Könige, 8vo, Mosau, 1846.