1 Kings
This book tells about what happened after David died. It’s mostly a sad story, because most of the kings disobey God. When the kings disobey, most of the people disobey. That means that God is going to punish them.
Pay attention to chapter 11, because this explains that because Solomon was wicked, the Lord divided his kingdom into two parts. The rest of this book and 2 Kings bounce back and forth between the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah).
A couple of kings of Israel are especially wicked and God takes extra steps to stop them from their idolatry. The first is Jeroboam; his sin is described in chapter 12 and God’s “extra steps” are in chapters 13-14. The second is Ahab. Because he leads the nation to worship Baal, God sends Elijah to bring a drought on the land and then later to have a big contest with the prophets of Baal. Of course, God wins.
The rest of the book is mostly about how Ahab was such a wicked king.
2 Kings
On the one hand, this book tells many stories about disobedient kings. On the other hand, think about how patient God is that he didn’t kill them earlier and cause Israel and Judah to be destroyed.
Notice how the northern kingdom is destroyed in chapter 17. The ten tribes are carried into exile and they never come back. This chapter explains why and it is one of the most important chapters in the book.
The two best kings are Hezekiah (chs. 18-20) and Josiah (chs. 22-23). The two most wicked kings are Ahaz (the father of Hezekiah) and Manasseh (the son of Hezekiah).
The end of the book is very important. God destroys Jerusalem and the people are sent into exile. This is just what God had predicted in Deuteronomy 29! It was also predicted by many prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah, but you haven’t made it to them yet. Just remember that the Old Testament does not go in chronological order, and when you read the prophets, you have to put them back into place in the history that you are reading now. Most of them fit somewhere in the story in 2 Kings.