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KingsSurvey of the Old Testament: The ProphetsFall 2005 |
Table of Contents |
The book of 1 Kings begins in the last days of King David's life. He is so old that he can not stay warm. So David's servants seek out a beautiful virgin to be his nursemaid and keep him warm. David does not have relations with Abishag the Shunammite girl, but her relationship with the king will become important later in the narrative.
David is at his deathbed, and everyone knows it. After consulting with Joab, David's general, and Abiathar the priest, David's eldest living son, Adonijah, decides to assume the throne before his father's death. Adonijah “exalts himself” (1 Kings 1:5) with a parade through the city and by offering sacrifices. Unlike his father, David, Adonijah is making an arrogant grab for power which will result in his downfall (1 Samuel 2:3).
Adonijah, however, has not consulted with Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, nor Benaiah and David's other mighty men . Nathan approaches Bathsheba and asks her to go to David and tell him of Adonaji's plot to take the throne. Evidently Nathan and Bathsheba knew that David had intended for Solomon, Bathsheba's son, to succeed him, but had not taken steps to ensure that this would happen.
When David learns of Adonaji's plot, he calls Zadok and Nathan and tells them to anoint Solomon as the king and to parade him around Jerusalem on David's own donkey, led with a trumpet and the shouts of “Long live King Solomon.”
In Israel, the rule of the nation was divided among three offices: the king, the priest, and the prophet. Here all three have come together to ensure the succession of Solomon. The prophet, priest and king were the “check-and-balance” of the governance to ensure that no one group gained too much power.
When Adonijah and his followers learn that David had made Solomon the king, the become concerned for their lives. Adonijah goes to Solomon and begs for his life, which is granted to him on the condition that “no wickedness is found in him.”
As David is about to die, he calls for Solomon to give him some last words.
First, David calls on Solomon to walk in the way of the Lord and to keep the Law. He reminds his son that if he obeys the Lord, that the throne will remain with him and his sons. David is reminding Solomon of the Davidic covenant that the Lord had made with him in 2 Samuel 7. This is a reiteration of the theme of the book of Kings, that if the king disobeys God, there will be consequences for the nation.
Secondly, David tells Solomon to kill his enemies. Namely, Solomon is to kill Joab, not because he sided with Adonijah, but because in 2 Samuel 4, Joab murdered Abner in cold blood. Furthermore, Solomon is to kill Shimei the Benjamite for having cursed David. David had promised not to kill Shimei at the time, but now Solomon could bring judgment for having cursed the Lord's anointed.
Then David died, having reigned 40 years over Judah and 33 years over the rest of Israel.
After David's death, Adonijah came to Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, and asked her to request that Solomon give Abishag the Shunammite as his wife. Bathsheba took the request to Solomon, who became enraged at the request.
When Absalom slept with David's concubines (2 Samuel 16:21) it was a statement that he was now the king. It seems to take the king's concubines is a way to proclaim that you have inherited the king's authority. As such, David sees Adonijah's request for Abishag as an attempt to undermine Solomon's authority as king.
Solomon therefore kills Adonijah for his act of rebellion. In addition, Solomon has Benaiah kill Joab and Shimei, as per the wishes of his father. As a result of these deaths, Solomon has removed all the threats to his throne.
Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon. (1 Kings 2:46b)
Solomon began his reign, following in the footsteps of his father David. He loved the Lord and obeyed His law. However, Solomon did sacrifice to God in the high places, which was inappropriate, for all sacrifices were to take place at the tabernacle. Nonetheless, while offering a sacrifice at the high places, God appears to him in a dream, and offers to Solomon to grant him whatever he desired.
Solomon responded first by praising God for his lovingkindness to David. He then asks that God would grant him wisdom so that he could be just and fair judge of God's chosen people.
Solomon could have asked for long life or wealth or the death of his enemies. But because Solomon selflessly requested the wisdom necessary to be a righteous judge, God granted him his request for wisdom, and also promised him that he would have wealth and fame. God then reiterates the theme of the book by telling Solomon that if he keeps the commandments of the Lord he would also have the blessing of long life.
The narrative then tells of a story which demonstrates that God fulfilled his promise of wisdom to Solomon. Two prostitutes present a custody case regarding a small baby they both claim as their own. Solomon, in his wisdom, says that the baby should be cut in two and half given to each of them. The true mother of the child cries out and relinquishes her claim on the baby rather than see him killed. Solomon thus determines who the true mother is and grants her custody.
Solomon's wisdom is also illustrated by his literary accomplishments: he wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32). Furthermore, he had great knowledge of biology as he could describe the various species of plants and animals (1 Kings 4:33).
Solomon set up a government with deputies in charge of the various bureaus of government (1 Kings 4:1-6). In addition, he set up twelve regional districts, each with a governor to help with the administration of his kingdom (1 Kings 4:7-19). These districts also provided an simple means of taxation to support the tremendous needs of the court (1 Kings 4:20-28). As a result of this administration, Judah and Israel experienced a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity (1 Kings 4:20)
In addition, Israel lived in safety from all its neighboring countries. Israel had expanded geographically from the Euphrates river to Egypt. This territory was controlled through a large standing army with 40,000 chariot horses and 12,000 horsemen.
Finally, Solomon furthered this peace by entering into treaties with neighboring nations and then marrying the daughters of the neighboring kings. He first did this with the Egyptian Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings 3:1), but then continued the practice with Moab, Edom, Ammon, Sidon and the Hittites (1 Kings11:1). While at first this seemed to be good foreign policy, it would later cause problems for Solomon.
Through this peace, Solomon grew tremendously wealthy. Each year he earned 25-tons of gold from taxation. In addition, Solomon was an arms merchant with a monopoly on chariots and horseman. This trade brought even more wealth to him.
Solomon's throne was made of ivory and overlaid with gold. All his drinking cups were made of pure gold. He imported from Spain all sorts of goods, including apes and peacocks.
Solomon's wealth brought prosperity to all of Israel.
The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland. (1 Kings 10:27 NASB)
Solomon's wisdom was well known and people from all over the earth would come to hear his wisdom (1 Kings 4:34). Probably the most famous individual to come and hear his wisdom was the Queen of Sheba, who came to see if the stories of his wisdom were true. The queen arrived with quite a “retinue,” bringing spices and gold. Solomon was able to answer all her questions and was struck by his words and his wisdom, as well as by his wealth. As a result, she praises Yahweh for the blessings he has granted to Solomon and to Israel.
Solomon's greatest accomplishment was the construction of a temple to Yahweh. Up to this point, the center of the worship of Yahweh was in a tent which had been constructed when the nation was wandering in the desert. King David first brought the tabernacle to Jerusalem, and then intended upon building a permanent temple. But God told David not to build the temple. Now Solomon would fulfill his father's greatest wish and was ready to build the first great temple unto the Lord.
The materials of the temple included, first, cedar wood from the great forests of Lebanon. King Hiram of Tyre provide the cedar, which was floated down the coast and then hauled up to Jerusalem, in exchange for wheat and oil. The temple was built out of great stone blocks which were hewn into perfect fitting blocks at the quarry, so that no noise would be heard at the building site. Finally, the interior of the temple was overlaid in gold paneling.
However, to construct this great temple, Solomon had to draft laborers. It took 30,000 men to go to Lebanon to harvest the cedar. It took 80,000 men to quarry the stone and another 70,000 to transport it to the building site.
After seven years of construction, the temple was complete. It was one of the amazing construction projects of the ancient world. While not particularly large by modern standards, the riches it contained and the detail of its decoration were unmatched.
The real glory of the temple, however, is not the gold and cedar, but the presence of the God himself in the temple. Upon the completion of the temple, Solomon gathered all of Israel together for a dedication service. It began with the ark of the Lord being moved by the Levite priests from the tabernacle into the holy of holies and placed beneath the cherubim.
When the ark was placed in the temple, the glory of Yahweh filled the temple, and a great cloud filled the temple so that the priests were unable to remain in the temple. This is exactly what happened upon the completion of the tabernacle in Exodus 40. The glory of God filled the tabernacle such that not even Moses could enter. God's glory had filled both the tabernacle and the temple as a sign of God's pleasure with the people and as a sign that he dwelled among them as his people.
This visual image of the glory of the Lord filling the temple is an important motif throughout the Old Testament, and represents God's presence among the people. Solomon understood this and said,
The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.
I have surely built You a lofty house, A place for Your dwelling forever.
(1 Kings 8:12-13 NASB)
Solomon then addresses the people, offering a blessing to all of Israel. He also blesses Yahweh, the God of Israel. For when David desired to build a house to the Lord, God responded by instead building David's house as an everlasting royal line. Now Solomon has been able to demonstrate his thanksgiving for the unconditional promises of the Davidic covenant by building the temple his father desired to see.
Solomon then offers a very powerful and theologically important prayer to Yahweh in front of all the people. He begins by proclaiming, “there is no God like You,” for he is a God of lovingkindness who fulfills his promises. Secondly, Solomon proclaims that, while the temple was built as the dwelling place of God, that Yahweh doesn't live in a temple made by human hands.,
"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! (1 Kings 8:27 NASB)
Solomon understands the transcendence of Yahweh, who dwells not in temples. Yet this transcendent God has chosen to bless this people and this family among all those in the world. This is the great paradox of the true God, who is all powerful and yet full of lovingkindness.
While Yahweh does not live in the temple, for no temple can contain God, Solomon does ask that Yahweh see the temple as the place where He meets the people of Israel. Solomon asks God to make the temple the physical focus of Israel's worship, such that when they pray there, he might hear them from his true temple in heaven. The temple is to be the focus of Israel's worship, for it is there where the glory of God dwells.
The purpose of the temple is to provide the people a place to meet and pray to God. Therefore, if one sins against his neighbor, he can go to the temple and pray for forgiveness (vs. 31). When Israel is defeated by foreign armies because of their sin, they can come to the temple to repent (vs.33). When God sends a drought, or pestilence, or plagues of locusts, the nation can come and repent of their sins by making supplication at the temple (vs. 35-40).
Finally, when, because of their sin, Israel is delivered unto an enemy and taken captive far off from the land, the captives are to stop and understand that this is a result of the sin of the nation. They are to repent and return their heart to the Lord and they are to pray facing the promised land, facing Jerusalem, and facing the temple of the Lord. Then the Lord will hear their prayer in heaven, he will forgive them, and he will return them to their land.
All of these take place in the time of the kings. In the days of Elijah, God sends a drought. In the days of Joel, there is a plague of locusts. Finally, in the days of Jeremiah, the people are carried away into captivity because of their sin. Solomon, in his prayer, is calling upon the people to repent of their sins when these punishments come upon them and to set their eyes and their hearts towards Jerusalem and towards this temple, and repent of their sin. The temple is to serve as the focal point of Israel's repentance from their sin.
Through the record of Solomon's prayer, the author if Kings is calling upon the people of exile to repent of their sins, turn their hearts to the Lord, and to pray towards the location of the temple, where the glory of the Lord dwells .
Finally, Solomon concludes his dedicatory prayer by asking Yahweh to bless Israel and to not leave or forsake his people. However, as the theme of Kings reminds us, God will not remain with His people if they disobey his commandments. So, Solomon asks that God “incline our hearts to Himself,” (8:58), so that they might obey his commandments and the Lord might remain with them.
Solomon does not ask this merely for the benefit of Israel, but he desires that the entire world might know that Yahweh is God and that there is no other God. The obedience of the nation is of importance not just to Israel, but so that they can serve as the light among the nations and spread the truth of who God is to the whole world.
"May the LORD our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances… so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no one else. (1 Kings 8:57-58, 60 NASB)
Solomon's prayer of dedication is a beautiful statement of theology and an important call for Israel to follow after the Lord. However, Solomon does not head his own prayer, and in the end of his life he falls away from the Lord.
It begins with his marriage to foreign women. These marriages themselves are a violation of God's commandments, for the people of Israel are not to marry foreign women. Solomon marries 700 women, along with 300 concubines!
God prohibits marrying foreigners for they will lead the nation astray and towards the worship of other gods. That is exactly what happens to Solomon. In an effort to please his wives, he builds temples to their foreign gods and he offers sacrifices at these temples. Solomon's heart was not fully devoted to Yahweh, his God. His heart was divided between God and his wives and it resulted in idolatry.
As a result of Solomon's sin, the Lord tells him that the kingdom would be torn away from his family. However, because of the Davidic covenant, God would not take the entire kingdom away from him. Ten tribes would rebel, but the tribe of Judah would remain with Solomon's son.
So God raises up enemies for Solomon as part of the punishment. Hadad the Edomite, who was exiled in Egypt, now has Pharaoh's favor and comes back to harass Solomon. Rezon, the leader of Aram also began fighting against Israel.
Furthermore, the prophet Ahijah is sent by God to Jeroboam to tell him that he would receive part of the kingdom after the death of Solomon. Jeroboam had been Solomon's head of all the forced laborers. When Solomon learned that Jeroboam had been anointed by the prophet, Solomon then sought to kill Jeroboam, causing Jeroboam to flee to Egypt.
Upon the death of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam became king. With the change in king, Israel approached the king to request relief from the heavy taxation and forced labor that Solomon had demanded of the nation. While Solomon had brought great wealth and beautiful temples to the nation, it came at the cost of heavy taxation.
Rehoboam first consulted his father's advisors, who told him that if he granted them relief, he would gain the loyalty of the nation. However, Rehoboam also asked his friends, young men who grew up with him, and they responded that he should not show weakness, but should rule with a firm hand.
'Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'" (1 Kings 12:11 NASB)
The result was that, as Ahijah the prophet had predicted, the ten most northern tribes of Israel rebelled against the house of David, choosing Solomon's chief of forced labor as their king. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained with Rehoboam.
This incident invites the age-old theological question of free will and God's sovereignty. For God had told Solomon that his son would not reign over all the tribes of Israel. Yet it was Rehoboam's own foolish policies which cost him part of the kingdom. Had Rehoboam taken the advise given by his father's advisors, would he have lost Israel, and thereby the prophecy of Ahijah not come true? Just as in all choices of human free will, Rehoboam is responsible for his choices, and he can not blame God for forcing him to make a decision which cost him the kingdom. However, God had already preordained that the kingdom would be taken from the house of David due to the sin of Solomon. Both are true, and thus lives on the paradox of free will and the sovereignty of God.
Rehoboam's foolishness did not end with his taxation policies. He also led the nation of Judah into idolatry. Under his reign Judah fell into idolatry and committed atrocities in the high places. As a result, God sent Shishak, the king of Egypt to Jerusalem where he attacked the city and stole some of the treasures found into the palace, including the shields of gold made by Solomon.
Jeroboam moved his capital to Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim. Because the temple of Yahweh was in Jerusalem, which was still under Rehoboam's control, Jeroboam became concerned that if the people made their regular pilgrimages to the temple, that there loyalty would be turned back to Rehoboam. So, Jeroboam built two temples to Yahweh, one in Bethel and one in Dan.
These were indeed temples to Yahweh. However, this was a corruption of the true worship of the Lord. First, sacrifices to Yahweh were to be made only at the temple. Secondly, Jeroboam set up his own priesthood, and these priests did not come from the tribe of Levi as required by the law. Third, Jeroboam set up statues of golden calves in the temples in Bethel and Dan, stating that these statues represented the God who brought them out of Egypt. This should remind us of the golden calf set up by Aaron in Exodus 32, where Aaron told the children of Israel that the calf represented Yahweh, the God who brought them out of Egypt. This image was clearly a violation of the second commandment not to set up graven images to represent God.
Jeroboam's sin is that he co-opted the worship of the true God for his own purposes. He took the proper worship of God and corrupted it slightly, mixing it with the religion of the surrounding nations.
Because of the corruption of the worship of Yahweh, God sent prophets to tell Jeroboam that the kingdom would be taken from his household. The first prophet, who came from Judah, confronted Jeroboam at the temple in Bethel. As Jeroboam yelled out for the prophet to be seized, his hand was shriveled up. The king became convinced that this was a true prophet of God and asked him to restore his hand, which he did. He also asked him to return home with him and to dine with him, which the prophet did not, for he had been told by the Lord not to.
Another prophet living in Bethel, heard of the incident and sent messengers to the prophet from Judah, asking him to eat with him. He would not, for the Lord told him to return without eating. The prophet from Bethel then lied and told him that he had received a word from the Lord, and that it was okay for him to eat with him. As a result, the Judean prophet ate with him and then was killed by a lion on the way home. This narrative illustrates the corruption in Israel was not just with the priesthood and the king, but with the prophets as well.
A final prophecy came from Ahijah, the same prophet who told Jeroboam that he would become king. Ahijah proclaims that Jeroboam's family would suffer violent deaths as the nation rebelled against them. Furthermore, Ahijah prophecies that the nation of Israel would be exiled to a land across the Euphrates due to their idolatry. This is referring to the Assyrian captivity which would take place three centuries hence.
[Next: The Reign of King Ahab]
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