Comments on Solomon in 1st Kings

Comments on 1 Kings 3:16-28; 4:29-34; 10:1-9; 11:1-8; 18:17-46; 19:1-18; 2 Kings 2:1-14

Biblical Literacy, pages 109-117

There are gifts and then there are the ways we use them. There are gifts and then the way the culture expects us to use them. For example, in a particular culture, leaders are expected to be uncompromising, never wavering in their judgments, always supporting the people who promoted them, and unwilling to upset the way things have been done in the past.

When we were children, and heard the story of a lamp that, when rubbed, produced a genie who would grant us three wishes, we plotted out what OUR wishes would be if we ever found that lamp. Maybe we would ask for more wishes, since three seems like a very small bucket list. God thought Solomon might ask for a long life, the defeat of his enemies, and unimaginable riches. Instead, Solomon asked for right judgment or wisdom, since he admitted he didn’t know how to rule this vast nation called Israel.

So that’s what he received, and the story of the two prostitutes claiming rights to one living baby proved that this king could not be deceived. Moreover, the Scripture continues, God gave him immense wealth and a long life besides. We, interpreting these stories many centuries later, have since equated great wealth with God’s favor. And we interpreted the baby story as a clever ruse to prevent compromise in situations far removed from the horrendous idea of cutting a child in half!

The Queen of Sheba (from today’s Yemen) came to see for herself, and probably wanted to conclude some trade agreements with this new king. Solomon was now in charge of a federation of nations that had to be reckoned with. She was also rendered breathless at the depth of his knowledge. And he did build a glorious temple out of cedar and cypress.

But to follow Solomon’s story to the end in the Book of Kings is to discover that his great wisdom needed to be salted with a LOT more discernment. It must be very difficult to be wealthy and discerning; to be powerful and still ponder carefully the consequences of your actions. It may be nearly impossible to resist the expectations of your culture. The prophets, like Nathan and Elijah and Elisha did that.

Solomon forgot the prohibitions of Deuteronomy 17: 16-17. He took too many wives, even if the number (700 princesses and 300 concubines) was exaggerated to befit his exalted status, and even if many of these unions were necessitated for political alliances. He bought too many horses, constructed an over-the-top golden throne, and worst of all, he married foreigners and constructed altars for his wives to sacrifice to their gods.

So that was the end of the unified kingdom. Will it be the end of our equating wealth with God’s blessings?

Rev. Richard Rohr, in a recent blog ), describes a Jewish prayer that counts up all their gifts, one by one, and then answers each one with a word that he translates as: “How much is it going to take for us to know that God is with us?” Many of us are shy about enumerating our gifts. But if we approach each day listing the wealth of good things within and around us—such as health, our senses, the air we breathe, the friends and family we can count on, the food, and on and on—we can come to a kind of wisdom, a kind of content in the knowledge that the Lord is with us.

If, on the other hand, we dread each day, the idea from wisdom is to look past our fears, our obligations, our illness and pain and worry, and to count instead the one, two, three, or a hundred good things that might truly be called Blessings. And then we can feel we are breathing in the richness of God.