41. The book of the acts. The Hebrews kept official records of state. Thus David had a scribe and recorder (2 Sam. 8:16, 17; 20:24, 25), with the records of his reign preserved in “the account of the chronicles of king David” (1 Chron. 27:24). The accounts of the later rulers of Israel were kept in a volume known as “the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel” (1 Kings 14:19; 15:31; 22:39; 2 Kings 10:34), and those of Judah in “the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah” (1 Kings 14:29; 15:7, 23; 2 Kings 8:23). Other records for the reign of Solomon were “the book of Nathan the prophet,” “the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite,” and “the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Chron. 9:29). For the prophet Iddo there was yet another volume entitled “Iddo the seer concerning genealogies” (2 Chron. 12:15). The prophets here appear in the character of annalists. The narrative as given in Kings is evidently a compilation drawn from various sources. Every confidence can be placed in the historical accuracy of the material in Kings, based as it is on complete, original, and official sources, and brought into final form under divine inspiration.