Moses in 1-2 Kings

Moses is mentioned 10 times in Kings, and there are some tantalizing connections with the 10 Words that Moses delivered to Israel. For instance:

1. 1 Kings 2:3: David exhorts Solomon to guard the Lord’s commandments and walk in his ways, using a 7fold description of the law. This is an exhortation to cling to Yahweh above all other gods, to keep the first commandment.

2. 1 Kings 8:9: There was nothing in the ark placed in the temple other than the tablets of stone – i.e., no visual aids or graven images, but only the 10 words.

3. 1 Kings 8:53: Throughout his prayer at the temple dedication, Solomon speaks of the temple as a “house for the Lord’s name.” In this verse, Israel is described as the people separated as Yahweh’s inheritance, as Moses spoke, separated as the people who maintain the house of the Name.

4. 1 Kings 8:56: Solomon blesses the Lord because he “has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised” through Moses.

5. 2 Kings 14:6: Amaziah is commended for enforcing Mosaic justice and not putting sons to death for the sake of fathers’ sins, or vice versa.

6. 2 Kings 18:4: Hezekiah crushed the serpent Nehushtan that Moses had made. Perhaps there is a connection with the sixth commandment because the serpent that had been forged to heal Israel had become an instrument for false worship, which leads to death.

7. 2 Kings 18:6: Hezekiah “clung to Yahweh” as Israel’s covenant bridegroom by keeping the commandments of Moses.

8. 2 Kings 18:12: This passage summarizes the case against the Northern Kingdom, which did not listen to the Lord or obey the covenant He made through Moses. There is no evident connection with the eighth commandment.

9. 2 Kings 21:8: Yahweh had promised to settle Israel in the land if they observed the covenant law of Moses. The connection with the ninth commandment is not evident to me.

10. 2 Kings 23:25: The narrator commends the perfect law-keeping of Josiah, who did all that the Lord commanded through Moses with his whole heart. Perhaps the emphasis on his obedience from the heart connects this commendation with the tenth commandment.

Even if we cannot make such specific correlations, the general correlation between the Mosaic references and the 10 commandments is deliberate.