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We might need a quick refresher on where we are in the big picture story the Bible tells. The Bible starts in the Garden of Eden. We saw how God made Adam and Eve to be in a perfect relationship with Him. However, they chose to ignore God’s rule to not eat from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and as such, they brought sin into the world. This resulted in a broken relationship between humanity and God, and as a result, people could no longer be in God’s presence without being consumed by His wrath against sin. As God cast Adam and Eve out of His presence in the garden, He promised that one day, one would come who would crush the head of the serpent, a symbolic way of promising that one day someone would come who would undo the curse of sin.
As the story progresses, the Bible progressively answers the question of who this person will be. In Abraham’s story, we learn that this person will be a man of faith. In the story of Jacob, we learn that this will be a man from the nation of Israel. In the story of Israel’s escape from Egypt, we learn that this man will be a person who delivers Israel out of slavery. In Israel’s wanderings in the desert, we learn that this man will bring God’s people into a new land of abundance, like a restored Eden. In the Tabernacle, we see that this man will be God’s presence living among His people. In the priestly sacrificial system, we see that this person will reconcile people to God through sacrifice. In the book of Judges, we see that this man needs to be a king who can lead his people to do what is right in God’s own eyes. In the book of 1 Samuel, we see that this man needs to be a king, quite unlike the nations have. In 2 Samuel, we see that this man needs to be a king after God’s own heart.
When we meet King David, at first, he seems to be exactly the kind of king to bring about God’s plan for restoration. However, as we saw, David still had the same problem all of us have: he had a heart that was corrupted by sin. He himself was sinful, and so he could not be the kind of king that was needed to fulfill God’s rescue plan. However, God did promise David that one of his descendants would reign forever on Israel’s throne (2 Samuel 7:16). We learn then that God’s rescue plan would be fulfilled through David’s offspring.
The story continues in the books of 1 and 2 Kings, which chronicle the life and times of the kings that succeed David.
1 Kings opens with David passing on the mantle of kingship to Solomon. As David meets with Solomon, he charges Solomon with these words:
1 Kings 2:2-4
2 “As for me, I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and be a man, 3 and keep your obligation to the LORD your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees. This is written in the law of Moses, so that you will have success in everything you do and wherever you turn, 4 and so that the LORD will fulfill His promise that He made to me: ‘If your sons take care to walk faithfully before me with all their heart and all their soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’”
This kind of instruction should by now be familiar to us because we have seen it a few times before. On the border of the promised land, just before Moses died, Moses gave a similar charge to Israel – to obey everything that was written in the law. (Deuteronomy 31). In the same way, when Joshua, Moses’ successor, was about to die, he too called Israel together and gave them the same warning:
Joshua 23:6-8
6 “Be very strong and continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn from it to the right or left 7 and so that you do not associate with these nations remaining among you. Do not call on the names of their gods or make an oath to them; do not serve them or bow in worship to them. 8 Instead, be loyal to the LORD your God, as you have been to this day.”
Then later, when the people of Israel transitioned to being ruled by a king, Samuel the prophet gave them the same warning: “Above all, fear the Lord and worship Him faithfully with all your heart; consider the great things He has done for you. However, if you continue to do what is evil, both you and your king will be swept away.” (2 Samuel 12:14ff)
Sadly, Israel ignored every one of these warnings: they worshiped the gods of the Canaanites, they turned away from God, and they did not worship Him faithfully. So, will Solomon listen to David’s charge to stay true to God?
Israel didn’t have a good track record when it came to staying true to God, and as Solomon’s reign starts, we get a hint that it might not go well for him either. Solomon’s first act as an established king is to make an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, by marrying his daughter.
The problem with this is that in every case in Israel, when an Israelite married people from other nations, they invariably ended up worshiping the gods of the other nations. For Solomon to marry an Egyptian hinted at serious problems in the future, since the very thing that set Israel apart as a nation is that they had been delivered out of Egypt! So, Solomon’s reign starts with a number of questions hanging in the air. Will he be a godly king?
The second thing Solomon does as the newly established king is to ask God for wisdom. God appears to Solomon in a dream, and God offers Solomon anything he wants, and he asks God to give him godly wisdom – a request that pleases God. God responds by telling Solomon that since he didn’t ask for riches or for a long life, but for wisdom, he would grant him a long life and riches nonetheless. In fact, God promises that Solomon would be the greatest of all the kings alive during his lifetime!
Solomon immediately starts his reign displaying his great wisdom. The first case he hears as king is that of two prostitutes who come before him. They both claim that the other’s son had died in the night and that the living child was their own. With his God-given wisdom, Solomon realizes that the true mother would do anything to protect her own child, and so orders one of his guards to cut the child in half and give each mother half. Naturally, the true mother would rather see her son alive, even if it meant giving her child to another, and tells the king to give the baby to the other woman. In this way, Solomon discovers who the true mother is and orders the baby to be given back to her. When the people hear about this episode, they recognize that God had given Solomon great wisdom, and so apart from marrying Pharaoh’s daughter, Solomon is off to a great start.
Solomon’s great reign continues as he starts the construction of the great Temple of Jerusalem. The temple would replace the Tabernacle as the place of worship for Israel. It would serve as the location of God’s presence among his people, and as it was when God gave Moses instructions on how to set up the Tabernacle, so too here the narrative stops to give us a detailed description of what the Temple looked like. It would take too much time to describe the temple in-depth here, and you can read it for yourself in 1 Kings 5-9, but it is worth noting that the temple was decorated with imagery that hinted at a restored Garden of Eden. The Ark of the Covenant, which represented God’s presence, was there. It was surrounded by cherubim, which evoke the heavenly throne room of God. The temple was decorated with depictions of trees and fruits, reminding us of the trees of Eden. The inner parts were covered with pure gold, pointing to the purity and richness of God’s presence among his people. It was a place of immense beauty and spiritual significance, especially when you consider that God’s rescue plan involves returning to an Eden-like existence. The completion of the Temple shows us Solomon at his best.
Again, we are left to wonder: is Solomon the promised king?
Sadly, our suspicions about Solomon quickly prove to be true. After finishing the construction of the temple, we start reading about Solomon’s downfall. 1 Kings 9 mentions three specific things Solomon acquired for himself: an Egyptian wife as co-ruler, a large number of horses and chariots, and a lot of gold. This may seem like an insignificant thing to mention; however, there was only one portion of the Law of Moses that applied specifically to the king (Deuteronomy 17). In this section, God specifically forbade three things: you guessed it! A foreign ruler, lots of horses – especially ones from Egypt, and great wealth. Solomon failed on all three counts.
Solomon continues his moral downward spiral by marrying hundreds of other women, who eventually lead Solomon to start worshiping other gods. Solomon falls for the same trap Israel has fallen for countless times before. He toyed with other gods and eventually became enslaved to them. The result is that 1 Kings 11:6 describes Solomon in this way: He “did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done”.
In the end, God tells Solomon that because of his wickedness, Israel will be split in two. How will that happen and which part of the kingdom will produce the king of promise? That is a story for next time…