Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.
Two days ago, we read in 1 Kings 1-2 how Solomon was appointed king. Yesterday, we read in Psalm 119 about how God is the giver of wisdom. And today, those two streams flow into the same river. It's a good thing that Solomon asked God for wisdom, and we'll get to that in a minute, because he's already started out by killing a few people, maybe righteously, maybe not, and by marrying a foreign woman, which is definitely not a righteous move.
This marriage was for a political alliance, so does that make it any better? No. We don't see it right away, but this eventually causes his kingdom to crumble. What we can see right away is that it suggests he doesn't trust God to act on Israel's behalf. He makes alliances that involve marrying the women God said not to marry. And did you see who he married? Pharaoh's daughter, as in king of Egypt.
As in, the people who enslaved God's people for 400 years and their name is synonymous with everything God tells them to avoid? Just because Solomon's the king doesn't mean he gets a pass on obedience. In fact, he should be the one setting an example. He's the leader. Unfortunately, much like his father David, women are his weak spot. Solomon loves Yahweh, but he also likes to sacrifice to pagan gods. He's got a divided heart.
This wasn't uncommon in this day, or even today, honestly. It's called syncretism. It's where people try to synthesize two religious beliefs. This works well with pretty much every other religion except worshiping Yahweh. In fact, lots of religions encourage worshiping multiple gods, the more the merrier. But they're all on the same team, team darkness and demons. Literally every false religion is opposed to the kingdom of light. Even the false religion of morality that we see in a lot of cultural Christianity today.
Paul addresses this in Galatians 5.4, saying that those who believe in Jesus but rely on their own good works to add anything to their salvation are cut off from Christ. He says, "...you are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law." Yikes! Yahweh doesn't synthesize with anything else, even our personal best efforts at living a good, clean life. And He certainly doesn't synthesize with pagan gods. It's Yahweh or the highway.
Solomon tries to make his syncretism work, so he also sacrifices to God. In fact, he goes up to the great high place at Gibeon, where some of the pieces of the tabernacle, including the bronze altar, were currently awaiting relocation to the future temple. He offered a thousand sacrifices there, presumably to God. Then God shows up to Solomon in a dream and says, "'Ask me for whatever you want, and it's yours.'"
He knows what Solomon is going to ask for. And this is all part of God's plan to use Solomon to lead his people and advance the plan for the birth of the Messiah. Solomon himself knows this is a big deal, and he doesn't trust himself. He's smart enough to know that he's young and foolish. So he asked God for wisdom. By the way, when he describes himself as a little child, that's just hyperbole. He's actually already a dad at this point.
God is pleased with Solomon's request and grants him wisdom and then some. He promised to give him riches regardless, and he promised to give him a long life if he walks in obedience. Then the first test of his newly granted wisdom comes. Two prostitutes are fighting over a baby, and no one knows what to do. Solomon is discerning and a little bit sly, and he calls out the truth. All Israel recognizes that there's a divine wisdom in Solomon—
It's worth pointing out that these two women, who have a lower social status because of their jobs as prostitutes, are even allowed to appear before the king. It shows us how Israel's ancient society valued women far more than most of us are inclined to think. As a newly appointed king, Solomon also sets up his cabinet, the people who will serve him and serve the country on his behalf.
His father David had fought a lot of battles and acquired a lot of land, and now they're enjoying the abundance in the promised land. Not only is Solomon himself rich, but all the people are happy and provided for during this time too. I don't know if you read how much he and his crew ate every day, but it's a lot. More than 130 animals a day.
And the text tells us that he has 40,000 horses. And maybe you started noticing a problem here. Do you remember back in Deuteronomy 17? That's where God forbid Israel's kings from amassing three things, wealth, women, and horses. So throughout today's reading, we've seen little yellow flags about two of those things, wealth and women. But here we see a giant red flag regarding the third thing, horses. So this makes me a little nervous for Solomon as we start off his kingship.
But do you know what comforts me? My God shot for today. Did you notice that right before it says Solomon offered a thousand offerings to God, it mentioned his worship of other gods? And that's what Solomon is doing right before God shows up to talk to him. And then God basically says, Solomon, what is it you want? You know you'll only get that from me, right? Come to me. I've got everything you need. Not those other idols, not those demons, me.
And let's be clear, Solomon doesn't clean up his act and walk in total obedience and perfection from this point on. It's not like it's a turning point for him where he looks to Yahweh and never turns aside. He fails. But we're not here to learn about Solomon's heart. That's not the point of the God shot. We're here to learn about God's heart. And what we see is that God showed up in the place of Solomon's divided heart to say, hey, I'm what you're looking for.
Like all of us, Solomon will forget this and God will keep chasing him down. Solomon will have it all before it's all said and done, wisdom and wealth and women, but it will never get better than the nearness of God, even in the midst of our sins. He's where the joy is.
Tomorrow, we'll be reading the book of 2 Chronicles. We're linking to a short video overview in the show notes, so check that out if you've got a few minutes to spare. And just a reminder, if you're using our plan in the Bible app, this video will also be linked for you tomorrow in the devotional portion above the chapters. You've heard it said that there's no I in team, and that could not be more true than here at TBR. I have an amazing team that spends hours each week producing the Bible recap just for you. Bye.
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