When I was praying over, and putting this series on Jars of Clay
together, I knew from the beginning that this story of King Solomon needed to
be part of it, but because it’s such a hard story, I left it to the end of the
series. There are such deep cracks here in Solomon’s soul, and it seems so hard
to understand how these cracks were able to become so deep. The great King
Solomon ends up bowing down to gods made of wood and stone, how can that be?
King Solomon becomes known for his wisdom around the world. He
received this wisdom from God when he first became king. When God tells Solomon
to ask for whatever he wants, Solomon replies, “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant
king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know
how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have
chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a
discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and
wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” Solomon chooses
wisdom to help him lead Israel well and becomes so wise that people like the
Queen of Sheba travels a long way to come see this incredibly wise king. God
also gives Solomon wealth and power because he’s so pleased with Solomon’s
choice.
Solomon begins as a wise
king, caring deeply for his
people, working hard to make wise decisions to complicated disputes that leads
to the people marveling at his wisdom and compassion. An example of Solomon’s
wisdom is shown when 2 mothers are fighting over the same child. Solomon proposes
to cut the child in half, but then chooses the woman willing to give the child
to the other woman in order to save its life even though she had to give the
child away. People are struck by Solomon’s wisdom. Things are going well in
Solomon’s life and kingship.
Question: what impresses
you most about Solomon’s wisdom?
The historian who wrote 1
Kings describes how Solomon slowly turned
away from God, from being a young king fiercely committed to following God’s
will and being a good wise king, to becoming a foolish king worshipping idols
made of stone and wood who demanded Solomon’s loyalty and worship even though
they weren’t even alive. Rabbi Telushkin describes how Solomon declined in his
faith. Solomon enters into a number of ‘diplomatic marriages’ with the
daughters of other kings and princes, beginning with Pharaoh’s daughter. The
world’s wisdom says these are wise marriages but God’s wisdom says different,
Deuteronomy 17:17, “He,
the king, must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must
not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.” Paul approaches it slightly differently, 2
Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be yoked together
with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?”
Marriage is a key
relationship in our lives and
shapes us deeply. Too many Christians approach marriage too lightly, believing
that “true love conquers all” and if the person you love doesn’t follow
Jesus, it will work out in the end because of love. These marriages more often
end up with both of them not belonging to a church drifting further and further
away from Jesus.
The world’s wisdom says to
gain lots of wealth for
security. God’s wisdom says that the king is not to accumulate large amounts of
silver and gold; Jesus teaches us to be aware of where we put our trust in
Matthew 6:24, “No
one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or
you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God
and money.” Solomon grows in love
with wealth; his goblets and utensils all made of gold to show off his wealth.
Solomon begins raising taxes and institutes forced labour even though Israel’s
history is rooted in being slaves in Egypt. This does not make Solomon a
beloved king. Solomon begins to trust in the same things other kings did; large
armies, lots of horses, wealth and strategic marriages, all against what God’s
wisdom says is wise.
Rabbi Telushkin describes
this part of Solomon’s life as the “unwisdom”
of Solomon. Solomon “loved many foreign women besides
Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They
were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not
marry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.”
God knows our hearts, how quickly we can turn away from him. Solomon’s wives lead
him away from serving and loving God alone.
Question: what are some
things that pull you from God?
Solomon has no excuses; God
has met him twice in his life time. Most of us can say we’ve experienced God, Jesus or
the Holy Spirit at some time or another, but God actually met with Solomon
twice. God is angry! God wants what’s best for
us; to be the people he’s created us to be. This is why he gives us his
commands, this is why Jesus came to teach us how to live: love God and our
neighbour, showing us his love by taking our place on the cross for our sin and
rising from the grave three days later to give us new life washed clean of our
sin. So often we think that Jesus’ way of living is for others; that we don’t
really need them. We get so easily distracted from God; worshipping the
blessings he’s given us, making them the center of our lives instead of him. We’re
just setting ourselves up to fail and fall.
Solomon puts God’s wisdom
aside and builds pagan temples so his
wives can worship their own gods and then, over time, Solomon actually begins
to worship and bow down before his wives’ gods. Idolatry is the worst kind of
foolishness! Solomon joins his wives in following some of the cruelest gods at
that time, gods that demanded human and child worship, gods that reveled in all
kinds of immoral behaviour. “Solomon did ‘the evil’ in
the eyes of the Lord.” Solomon doesn’t just do evil, the writer calls it
“the evil,” which is lost in the NIV. Solomon
does the worst kind of evil, the worst foolishness; he turns his back on God
for idols.
Solomon no longer believes
he needs God. Solomon has become so
used to doing his own thing, relying on his own wisdom, that he no longer feels
like he needs God any more. Solomon no longer uses the wisdom God has given him
to distinguish between good and evil. Solomon made me think all week about
the things in my life, the blessings and gifts God’s given me. I read through
Ecclesiastes and heard Solomon’s lament that everything is meaningless; he has
everything and yet life has become dull. Solomon’s biggest problem is that he
let all the good stuff of life disconnect him from God. Over the past three
weeks I took a course called Embodied Discipleship in a World That Has Gone Virtual. I’ve discovered how easily we can
become disconnected from each other and God, especially when technology is our
main means of connecting with each other. The main thing I’ve learned is that
it takes effort to keep connection, and discipline to keep healthy relationships
and not fall into the trap of mindlessly scrolling through my phone or tablet.
God demands more from us, an intentional worship of him.
Question: how much work
do you think you need to put into a healthy friendship or relationship? Is it
worth it to you?
Solomon’s problem was that he stopped putting effort into
his relationship with God and got drawn into the sin of worshipping his wives’
gods because it’s easier. We have so much and sometimes it becomes a barrier to
God. Our days are so filled with God’s blessings that life is easy and we don’t
see God anymore or how much we need him. We begin to worship the blessings
instead of the one who blesses us, commit the evil Solomon
did, though we would never call it that.
Life’s not meaningless. God wants our entire hearts and lives.
Jesus has called us to build his kingdom here, to help our world catch a
glimpse of what Jesus’ kingdom is like, shaped by healthy relationships,
justice, peace and grace, forgiveness, of blessing others so that everyone is able
to develop the potential God has placed in them.
Giving yourself totally
to God as he demands means
we need to stay connected to God and we have the ability right at our
fingertips. I was introduced to the Pray as You Go app this week, it
helps me to slow down and simply spend 5-10 minutes a day to pray, the Bridge
app has an audio Bible that you can have reading the Bible to you while you
are in your craft room, in your workshop, while sitting on the deck or while
walking. As we enter into summer, take time to reconnect with God, with members
of our Bethel church family, and with yourself after a stressful ever-changing
time: connect to our God who never changes his commitment to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment