Bible Devotion

Meditative Reflection
The Fall of Solomon (I)

“At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings — the temple of the LORD and the royal palace.” (1 Ki. 9:10)

Both 1 Kings 9:10 and 2 Chronicles 8:1 point out that Solomon used a total of 20 years to construct the temple and his palace complex. Twenty years is a long time, especially when one considers that Solomon reigned only for 40 years (1 Ki. 11:42). In other words, he spent half of his reign on these two major projects.

By Solomon’s own admission in Ecclesiastes, he did not just commission such great projects, he basically used his wisdom and engaged himself in these projects, consuming his time and his energy to see to their completion (Eccl. 2:4ff). To say that in the first twenty years of his reign, these two main projects (perhaps including other smaller ones) occupied a good part of his time would not be an exaggeration.

It was only after the completion of these projects did we read of his falling into sins (which we shall reflect upon later in the week) — being obsessed with women, having 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Ki. 11:3).

Of course, one should not depend on work, almost like a workaholic, to avoid moral failure, but the fact remains, having too much time in one’s hand is always harmful to one’s soul, and I am thinking of the potential harm of summer vacation to students and the retirement years to the senior.

Meditative Reflection
The True Fame of Solomon

“When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the LORD, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.” (1 Ki. 10:1)

The story of the visit by the Queen of Sheba is legendary, but certainly not a legend. It is factual history as recorded in the Book of 1 Kings. In this biblical account, the purpose is not just to show the success and fame of Solomon, but rather, through the mouth of the Queen of Sheba, to point out the source of Solomon’s success and its purpose. Such emphases are made plain by the following verses:

- Verse 1 points out that the queen of Sheba did not just hear of the fame of Solomon, but also “his relationship to the Lord”. In other words, Solomon had not been shy to attribute all his successes to the Lord in public, to the point that foreigners like the Queen of Sheba were attracted to seek out who that God of Israel was;

- Verse 8 points out that the happiness of Solomon’s people and officials was based on the privilege of continually hearing the words of wisdom from Solomon. This verse follows the preceding verses 6-7 in which the wisdom, wealth and achievements of Solomon were praised, and yet, the queen only mentioned wisdom as the basis of their happiness. The spiritual implication is very clear in that while wealth and achievements may be blessings from God, they are not the source of happiness, only wisdom is. As we know, true wisdom comes from the fear and the knowledge of the Lord (Prov. 9:10) and that was what Solomon exemplified.

- Verse 9 shows that through this visit, she had come to understand that not only was the source of Solomon’s success from the Lord his God who had delighted in him and placed him on the throne, but that, as a queen, she also understood that his successes, which were a gift from God, had a much higher purpose and that was for Solomon to “maintain justice and righteousness”.

Although, many modern scholars dispute that Sheba was the modern-day Ethiopia, but the fact that to these days, many Ethiopians are of Jewish origin and they worship the Lord sides with the view of the famous historian Josephus of the 1^st century (Ant. viii, 6, 5). It is indeed not far-fetched to believe that the queen had indeed taken the belief of the Lord of Israel back to her home country.

Meditative Reflection
Solomon’s Splendor

“King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.” (1 Ki. 10:23)

In describing the splendor of Solomon, the Bible employs language that has caused some scholars like G.H. Jones to doubt their authenticity and even call them “dubious”. Among other things they opine that the annual revenue of Solomon in gold which amounted to 666 talents (the equivalent of 25 tons or 56,000 lbs.) was excessive, and to say that “King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth” was a gross exaggeration.

Well, based on today’s value, for a nation to have a reserve of  $48 million (US) in gold is really not that excessive, and given this being a history of over 3,000 years ago, these scholars really do not have any solid evidence in world history to disprove its authenticity.

On the other hand, the Bible has given us proofs of Solomon’s prosperity in citing example after example of his extravagant use of gold instead of silver “because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days” (1 Ki. 10:21). Apart from the annual revenue of 25 tons of gold, the Bible cites 500 ornamental shields (big and small), royal goblets and royal household items all made of gold, not to mention the imposing ivory throne which was overlaid with fine gold (1 Ki. 10:18-21).

Personally, I have no problem accepting these biblical accounts as true, because they are the very Word of God, and they are recorded as historical narrative, not in the form of poetry. One has to remember that the biblical author does not seek to glorify Solomon, but the Giver of all these splendors, the Lord.

As we read the rest of the history of Solomon’s reign, the message becomes very clear and that is few can handle excessive wealth and power without being morally corrupted by them — not even Solomon could. In the course of using his wealth and power to seek all “the delights of the heart of man” and become “greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem” before him, he thought he could still retain his God-given wisdom in the process (Eccl. 2:8-9). The truth of the matter was: he didn’t.

Meditative Reflection
The Fall of Solomon (II)

“He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.” (1 Ki. 11:3)

Many scholars blame the fall of Solomon on his “family of origin”. This is what one noted preacher says:

“How could it have happened? How could a man with so much promise hit the skids so dramatically? You see, it’s extremely difficult to shake off our home…the way we were brought up — especially if we were given free reign. The time may come, later on, when life loses its challenge and boredom sets in, often when enjoying mid-life prosperity. At the height of Solomon’s career, I believe he became bored. It’s difficult to imagine Solomon going down the wrong path with such a clear leading from God, twenty years on the throne, the heritage of David and the whole nation hanging in the balance. However, with the words of God still ringing in his ears, Solomon ‘loved many foreign women’ (11:1) from the nations with which God had told him not to associate. All his pagan wives brought with them all of the gods of their pagan roots. Influenced by their background in high-level idolatry and low-level morality, Solomon began to traffic in the most incredible extremes of immorality we could ever imagine.” (Charles Swindoll)

As much as I agree with much of what Swindoll says, the Bible never lays blame on David for the sins of Solomon. On the contrary, the Bible time and again points out that Solomon's heart “was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father has been” (11:4); “did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done” (11:6). In other words, being born into David’s family, Solomon should have picked up the godly example of his father.

It is true that David failed once miserably in committing adultery with Bathsheba, but upon his repentance, he continued to walk with God. This post-repentance life was witnessed by Solomon in the home.

Even if David was not the perfect husband and father, and though this “family of origin” might influence the lives of his children, it could not dictate their character which was their choice. Abraham did make a huge mistake in taking Hagar as his wife (Gen. 16:4) and we know that he also took another wife by the name of Keturah and had other concubines (Gen. 25:1, 6). Yet, Isaac had only one wife, Rebekah. In other words, although Isaac lived in a home of polygamy, he turned out to be a “one-woman-kind-of-husband”. It was after all his choice.

I know many believers who grew up in families not unlike Isaac’s, but they did not follow the footsteps of their fathers, because “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

Meditative Reflection
The Ungrateful Agent of God

“I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.” (1 Ki. 11:38)

I do not admire Jeroboam in that as much as he was appointed by God directly as king over 10 tribes of Israel, he was, in a sense, the spoiler of the promise of God made to David. How should he respond to this appointment?

Well, if he had the heart of Moses, he would not aspire to become great himself at the expense of the house of David whom God has chosen to be an everlasting dynasty. He would have interceded on behalf of Solomon and reminded God of His promise to David and the potential damage to His name (Exod. 32:10ff and Num. 14:12ff). However, it takes a man of God to empathize with the heart of God, and Jeroboam was not a man of God.

However, since he knew very well the reason why part of the kingdom was given to him and was warned by God to follow David’s footsteps of obedience to God’s command, the least he should have done was to assume his role in fear and trembling. As it turned out, in an effort to strengthen his own reign and to prevent God’s will of reverting the reign back to the house of David (1 Ki. 11:39) he turned to idol-worship, plunging the whole northern kingdom into sin together with him (1 Ki. 12:26ff).

His was a classic case of “ungratefulness” in that he was ungrateful to Solomon who raised him from a son of a widow to be an important official in his court, in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph (11:26-28); and he was ungrateful to the Lord who gave him the reign not only as a temporary punishment of the sins of Solomon, but also as a tool or agent to restore the promise God made to David.

Meditative Reflection
The Fall of Solomon (III)

“Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father.” (1 Ki. 11:42-43)

As we come to the close of the life of Solomon, we cannot help but reflect on his life and I can only come up with one word to describe it, “pitiful”!

As I was reading the splendor of his life, and the obvious “God-given” blessings that he enjoyed, I cannot help but wonder if those were really blessings or curses. The biblical accounts highlight three things that he was known for: wealth, power and wisdom. I wonder which one was responsible for his eventual downfall!

Wealth, especially excessive wealth like that of Solomon, can easily become one’s god, and one will never have enough of it. However it did not appear to be the temptation that brought Solomon down. It appeared that his wealth just kept increasing even without him trying.

Power, especially absolute power, corrupts and that we know very well. However, the Bible never paints Solomon in that light. It appeared that he was able to maintain justice and righteousness for as long as he was king.

Wisdom obviously has a way of making one proud. But the reading of Ecclesiastes leads us to know Solomon as a humble person. Listen to these words of Solomon, the wisest man of his time: “I said, 'I am determined to be wise'— but this was beyond me. Whatever exists is far off and most profound — who can discover it?” (Eccl. 7:23-24). In other words, as much as he could solve all the riddles and answer all the hard questions put before him, he knew there were far more mysteries in life and in the universe that he would not understand. That is humility, not pride!

Perhaps, it was the combination of all the above—wealth, power and wisdom—that had given him the opportunity and caused him to let down his guard in yielding to the greatest temptation of his life, lust.

Wealth had obviously enabled him to indulge in all kinds of enjoyment, including, as he himself admitted, the seeking of all kinds of pleasures, and especially women whom he called “the delights of a man’s heart” (Eccl. 2:1, 8).

Power obviously led to the voluntary alliance of many of the neighboring nations who were formerly enemies of Israel, and in those days, the best alliance was through inter-marriage. And thus, we read that Solomon had 700 wives of royal birth, meaning that those were all political marriages (1 Ki. 11:3).

The saddest thing is, while availing himself to the temptation of lust, Solomon still thought that “In all this my wisdom stayed with me” (Eccl. 2:9). That was his big mistake, because he did not know the power of lust as Hosea so clearly points out, “prostitution (or adultery), old wine and new wine take away their understanding” (Hos. 4:11).

As with most moral failures, it does not happen overnight. While Solomon allowed himself to drown in adultery, he never expected himself to spiral downward into idolatry!

Meditative Reflection
The Most Evil King of Israel

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—while I was still searching but not finding—I found one upright man among a thousand.” (Eccl. 7:27-28)

One wonders why God would choose Jeroboam as the agent to chastise Solomon for his sin by raising him to split the united kingdom of Israel into two after the death of Solomon, because as it turned out, Jeroboam had done “more evil than all who lived” before him (1 Ki. 14:9).

His sins were such that the Bible repeatedly blames the evil of all subsequent kings of the ten tribes (the Northern Kingdom) on him, except Shallum who reigned only for one month. Twenty five times, the “sins of Jeroboam” were mentioned as the most heinous of all the evils committed by successive kings of the Northern Kingdom.

I believe the heinous nature of the sins of Jeroboam lay in his plunging his entire nation into idol-worship by the building of the calves in Bethel and Dan to prevent his people from going to God’s temple in Jerusalem to worship. He thought that by cutting off the tie with the temple of God, he would prevent any likelihood of reunification with the house of David (12:27).

In so doing, he learned from the example of Aaron, although he knew full well that Aaron had aroused immense anger from the Lord to the point that He did not wish to lead the people personally any more (Exod. 33:3). In building the calves, he dared to repeat almost verbatim the words of Aaron, “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” (1 Ki., 12:28; Exod. 32:4). In essence, he was fooling his people, saying “this is no new religion, but this is the form of worship which our fathers used in the desert, with Aaron himself leading the way” (Schmidt, quoted by K&D, 139).

While making Dan in the northernmost part of the land, and Bethel at the southern border with Judah as the centers of worship, Jeroboam sought to make it convenient for his people to worship “God”. The latter location obviously carried spiritual significance to the people in that it was where God revealed Himself to their forefather Jacob who built an altar for the Lord right there (Gen. 28:10ff). The implied message was clear: God could reveal Himself to them, the descendants of Jacob in Bethel, just as He did in the past to Jacob.

As we learn from the rest of the history of the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam’s disguised impiety opened the floodgate to blatant idol worship in the land which eventually met with the judgment of the Lord—the destruction of the Northern Kingdom (2 Ki. 17).