1 Kings 3-4: “Solomon Assumes His Reign As King And Asks
The Lord For Wisdom”
By
1.INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at chapter 2 of 1 Kings.
1.1.1. David on his deathbed
charged Solomon before the Lord about his responsibility that he now had before
the Lord as king. Then, he gave Solomon
some wise advice about bringing to justice some of the trouble makers in his
kingdom so that he could rid himself of those who might cause him trouble.
1.1.2. In following David’s advice
concerning how to handle a few individuals in the kingdom, we saw that though
Solomon was gracious and gave each of these people (with the exception of Joab)
one chance to change their ways and do good, that they instead ended up showing
that their true motives were bad and Solomon gave each one of them a capital
sentence. Because of the heinous nature
of Joab’s sins he was not given a second chance.
1.2.
In this study, we are going to look at chapters 3 and 4 of 1 Kings.
1.2.1. Now that King David has
passed away, we see the things that Solomon began to do as he assumed sole rule
over
1.2.2. We will see how that though
Solomon starts off well in walking with and loving and obeying the Lord that he
begins to deviate away from following the commandments of the Lord.
1.2.3. We will see that Solomon’s
reign is one of great abundance, peace, and prosperity for all
2.VS 3:1 - “1 Then Solomon formed
a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and
brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house
and the house of the Lord and the
wall around Jerusalem.” - Solomon immediately married
Pharaoh’s daughter to form a political alliance with
2.1.
Here we see that the very first act of Solomon’s after coming to reign
at his father’s death is to make a political alliance with
2.2.
This political alliance with
2.3.
Some have said that since the scripture does not contain a rebuke of
Solomon by the Lord for this marriage that it must be the case that this woman
had become a Gentile proselyte before Solomon married her and thus the Lord
approved of this marriage. However, this
seems more to me to just be a pattern by Solomon which he continues to repeat
with yet more wives and political alliances that he makes.
2.4. The “Second Generation” of
God’s people take the helm :
2.4.1. Solomon was a young man of
around 20 years old at this point in time.
He had always lived in the palace, never fought a war, and had never
known the hard shepherd's life that his father had grown up in, for his life
had always been a life of luxury.
2.4.2. Solomon didn't want to have
war, and his reign was one of peace, and, this was important for the sake of
the building of the temple. However, Solomon sought to achieve peace
himself instead of trusting the Lord for it, and he did this through marriage
after marriage for the sake of creating political alliances. But the Israelites were to make no political
alliances with the Canaanites in the land (Deut. 7:2; Exod. 23:32).
2.4.3. Whereas David had sought to
live a life that was in the world yet separate from the world, Solomon sought
to secularize the nation. He sought to take
2.4.3.1. Quoting from Isaiah 52:11,
the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:16-17 that we as God’s people are to
come out from amongst the heathen peoples in our world around us and live our
lives in holiness to the Lord, “16 Or what agreement has the
temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God
said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their
God, and they shall be My people.
17 “Therefore, come out from
their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.
2.4.4. We will see that Solomon was
given the opportunity to ask for whatever he wished, and he wisely asked for
wisdom to be able to wisely govern God's people as king. However, it has
been said that the wisdom that he prayed for was not wisdom in running his life
in general so much as political savvy to be a great statesman. Because of
how Solomon lived his life someone called him, "The wisest fool there
ever was!"
2.4.5. Although Solomon had asked
for wisdom he immediately began to do all of the things which the law forbid
2.4.5.1. Israelites were told not to
intermarry with the heathen nations in Deuteronomy 7:3-4, “3 “Furthermore,
you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their
sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4 “For they
will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger
of the Lord will be kindled
against you and He will quickly destroy you.
2.4.5.2. In Deuteronomy 17:16-17 the
Israelites were commanded that their kings were not to multiply horses or wives
to themselves, “16 “Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for
himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses,
since the Lord has said to you,
‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 “He shall not multiply
wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly
increase silver and gold for himself.”
2.4.5.3.
Several scriptures taught the Israelite kings not to
take chariots to themselves:
2.4.5.3.1.
Psalm 20:7, “7 Some boast in chariots and some in
horses, But we will boast in the name of the Lord,
our God.”
2.4.5.3.2.
Isaiah 31:1, “1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for
help And rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And
in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One
of Israel, nor seek the Lord!”
2.4.5.3.3.
2 Samuel 8:4, “4 David captured from
him 1,700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers; and David hamstrung the chariot
horses, but reserved enough of them for 100 chariots.”
2.4.6. Solomon always lived in
luxury and he really saw the kingdom as existing for his own benefit. He
spent 7 years building the temple but 13 years building his own palace.
Later, when Solomon's son Rehoboam began to reign the people came to Rehoboam
asking him to release them from the iron fisted oppression under Solomon
(Solomon had made many conscripts for his many projects).
2.4.7. Eventually, all of the
compromises that Solomon made, especially those regarding the political
alliance marriages ended up causing his heart to be taken completely away from
the Lord and he worshipped the gods of the nations, the gods of his many
wives. At the end of his life Solomon was a complete failure and died a
reprobate.
2.5. These things which Solomon
did are the very things that the “second generation” of God's people are always
tempted to do. Every movement in church history has ended up making
parallels with the things that Solomon did, after the death of its leader. Every individual church also has the same
propensity when the “second generation” takes over. We in every church and ministry that exists
must be careful of this “second generation” phenomena occurring over time.
2.6. VS 3:2-4 - “2 The people were
still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the
name of the Lord until those days.
3 Now Solomon loved the Lord,
walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned
incense on the high places. 4 The king went to
2.7.
Since the temple was not yet built it was not possible for God’s people
to perform the sacrifices in the temple that the Law of Moses prescribed. Plus, the
2.8.
We see here that Solomon at least had a good start in his reign as king
and walk with God, for it says here that he ‘loved the Lord’ and that he
was ‘walking in the statutes of his father David, except the high places.’
2.8.1. I might mention that this
political alliance marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter might be considered one of
Solomon’s compromising sins at this time.
However, as was mentioned, there is disagreement about whether or not
the Lord accepted this marriage.
2.8.2. Like Solomon, many have
started their Christian life well only to be a huge failure in the end. We must end our Christian walk well and be
sure to persevere faithful unto the end, otherwise we shall have run our race
in vain.
2.9.
We see that Solomon was very zealous at this point in time for the
worship of the Lord, so much so that he makes 1,000 burnt offerings on the
altar.
3.VS 3:5-14 - “5 In
3.1.
The night after Solomon made all of the sacrifices to the Lord, the
Lord appears to him in a dream and asks Solomon this question. It appears that since Solomon didn’t have a
Nathan or a Gad in his life, like his father David, so that he could receive a
word from the Lord, that the Lord spoke to him in a dream at times.
3.2.
Solomon could have asked for many selfish and self-serving things from
the Lord when he was given the chance to have a wish granted. However, being only 20 years old and humble
at this point in his life he realized that he was but ‘a little child’
in his understanding and therefore was not adequate in himself for the task of
governing over God’s people. Solomon
therefore asked for wisdom from the Lord that he would need to govern the
people wisely.
3.2.1. None of us are adequate for
serving the Lord and thus we need to appropriate for ourselves all of heaven’s
resources that are available for us. We
need the power of the Spirit, the giftings of the Spirit, and the leading of
the Spirit in our lives.
3.3.
As was mentioned, though Solomon did have a love for the Lord it wasn’t
as strong as the love that his father David had for the Lord. Solomon asked for wisdom here not so much for
himself and so that he might be a wise person in his conduct and actions before
the Lord, but rather wisdom for the governing of God’s people. In other words, Solomon wanted to become a
great statesman and politician and therefore he asked for wisdom to handle
these responsibilities.
3.4.
Solomon also asks for an ‘understanding heart.’ It was believed in Solomon’s day that wisdom
was a matter of the heart and thus he desired an ‘understanding heart.’
3.5.
Solomon’s selfless request pleased the Lord for it was a good thing in
the sight of the Lord for him to have wisdom in his governing over God’s
people.
3.6.
Because Solomon’s request was unselfish the Lord chose to also give him
riches and honor. Receiving riches and
honor would involve a stewardship from the Lord for Solomon to handle
responsibly. Solomon went on to have
greater riches than perhaps anyone in history has amassed. However, it appears that he squandered most
of them upon himself.
4.VS 15 - “15 Then Solomon
awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to
4.1.
This dream in which the Lord spoke to him was so real to Solomon that
he thought that it was real until he woke up.
4.2.
After waking up, Solomon came to
4.3.
Solomon was so thankful that the Lord had spoken to him that he also
made a big feast for all of his servants.
5.VS 3:16-28 - “16 Then two women who
were harlots came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman
said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth
to a child while she was in the house. 18 “It happened on the
third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and
we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of
us in the house. 19 “This woman’s son died in the night, because she
lay on it. 20 “So she arose in the middle of the night and took my
son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and
laid her dead son in my bosom. 21 “When I rose in the morning to
nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the
morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” 22 Then the
other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your
son.” But the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the
living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king. 23 Then the
king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the
dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is
the living one.’ ” 24 The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they
brought a sword before the king. 25 The king said, “Divide the
living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then
the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was
deeply stirred over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child,
and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor
yours; divide him!” 27 Then the king said, “Give the first
woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” 28 When
all
5.1.
A case is brought before Solomon to judge. There were two prostitutes. Both of the women had given birth to a child
within three days of each other. One of
the women had laid on her child in the middle of the night and the child had
suffocated. The woman went and took the
child of the other woman and placed her dead son in the other woman’s
arms. Then, when the women woke up in the
morning the woman with the dead child looked at the child closely and realized
that it was not her child it was the other woman’s child. Both women claimed that the living child was
their’s and evidently the case had not been able to be decided in the regular
civil courts. Solomon would have to rely
upon some other worldly wisdom in order to decide the case.
5.2.
Solomon realized that a woman has an instinctually great love for her
children such that she is willing to sacrifice almost anything for them. Therefore, Solomon decides to tell a man to
come and take a sword and cut the child in half and give ˝ to each of the
women. The real mother would tell him to
not harm the child but to give him to the other woman. In this way, Solomon would know who the real
mother of the child was.
5.3.
Solomon’s plan worked just as he had devised and the real mother of the
son said to not harm the child but to give him to the other woman. Therefore, Solomon ordered that the child be
given to the woman who was willing to give the child to the other woman rather that
the woman who thought that it would be a good idea to divide the child in
half. We don’t know what justice was
carried out against the woman who had lied and kidnapped, but some sentence was
surely delivered by Solomon.
5.4.
We see here that Solomon now gained a reputation all throughout
6.VS 4:1-19 - “1 Now King Solomon
was king over all
6.1.
Solomon was wise in that he had learned to delegate leadership to
others instead of try and do everything himself.
6.2.
Some of the officers of the new kingdom under Solomon were from his
father David’s regime: Zadok, Benaiah.
6.3.
Abiathar the priest is mentioned is mentioned however Solomon had
previously defrocked him of all of his priestly and political powers because of
his following Adonijah in his coup attempt to become king over Israel (instead
of Solomon).
6.4.
Solomon’s household was so big and he lived in such luxury that 12
deputies from all over
7.VS 4:20 - “20
7.1.
Peace and prosperity described the nation of
8.VS 4:21-24 - “21 Now Solomon ruled
over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and
to the border of
8.1.
It appears that Solomon might have ruled over all of the kingdoms
within the entire land originally promised to Abraham.
8.2.
Solomon had incredible prosperity.
The incredible number of those sustained by Solomon in his palace can be
seen in the provisions needed for each day:
8.2.1. 300 bushels of flour (30
kors of fine flour translates to 300 bushels).
8.2.2. 600 bushels of meal (60 kors
of meal translates to 600 bushels).
8.2.3. 10 fat oxen.
8.2.4. 20 pasture fed oxen.
8.2.5. 100 sheep.
8.2.6. Deer, gazelles, roebucks,
and fattened fowl.
9.VS 4:25 - “25 So Judah and
Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan
even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.” -
9.1.
Safety and prosperity was enjoyed by all Israelites. Each man even had his own fig tree that he could
enjoy.
10.VS 4:26 - “26 Solomon had 40,000
stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen.” - Solomon obtained 40,000 horses, 12,000
horsemen and many chariots
10.1.
The Lord had specifically commanded that the kings of
10.2.
Solomon is typical of all of God’s people who try to live their lives
for the Lord in the power of their own strength rather than in the strength of
His might.
11.VS 4:27-28 - “27 Those deputies
provided for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his
month; they left nothing lacking. 28 They also brought barley and
straw for the horses and swift steeds to the place where it should be, each
according to his charge.” - The deputies provided for
King Solomon and all who came to his table
12.VS 4:29-31 - “29 Now God gave
Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand
that is on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of
all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of
12.1.
The ‘east’ was where the world considered that the wisest men
lived, yet we see here that Solomon’s wisdom exceeded those of the east as well
as those in ‘
12.2.
Solomon had more wisdom that all of those whom the world considered
wise at this time.
13.VS 4:32 - “32 He also spoke
3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.” -
Solomon created many proverbs and wrote many songs
13.1.
In the book of Proverbs there are only about 600 individual proverbs
that are attributed to Solomon, so the rest of the 2,400 proverbs that Solomon
wrote are lost forever.
13.2.
Solomon also wrote 1,005 songs, however in the scriptures we have only
the Song of Solomon, and perhaps two Psalms which are attributable to Solomon.
14.VS 4:33-34 - “33 He spoke of trees,
from the cedar that is in
14.1.
Solomon not only was a great and prolific song writer and had great
wisdom, he was also quite a scientist for his day. He studied many areas of science and many
came from all ends of the earth to hear his wisdom even on these subjects.
14.2.
J. Vernon McGee has written that because of Solomon’s study in these
scientific fields that Solomon was really a pioneer in many areas, for he was a
“dendrologist,” a “zoologist,” a “ornithologist,” and “entomologist,”
and an “icthyologist.”
15.CONCLUSIONS:
15.1.
We Christians must learn from Solomon’s example and not trust in our
own strength, intellect, wisdom, and abilities in order to be successful for
the Lord and fulfill His plans He has for us.
15.2.
We in the church must be careful not to allow the “Second Generation”
phenomena to ruin the work of God that we have poured our hearts and lives
into.
15.3.
Solomon began to deviate from the commands of scripture regarding what
kings were and were not to do and this became his downfall. We need to be careful to be obedient doers of
all of God’s commands in His word, for in doing so shall we honor the Lord and
be successful and fruitful in all of our service to Him.