SOLOMON WAS GOD’S CHOICE
The reign of David, the man after God’s heart, was coming to an end and 1 Kings starts with the statement “King David was old and advanced in years” (v1). Taking advantage of this power vacuum, Adonijah, one of his sons, took the opportunity to grasp the throne and take with him some powerful allies in Joab, the army commander and Abiathar the priest (5-8). He did not invite the prophet Nathan and others who he knew were loyal to David and Solomon. Adonijah by age was next in line to the throne and had a lot going for him but he was not God’s choice. The prophet Nathan managed to react quickly to events and with Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, brought the matter to David (v15). David gave orders that Solomon should ride his own mule and Nathan, alongside the priest Zadok, should anoint him as king (v34). This proved a popular coronation and was celebrated with such a great musical rejoicing (v39,40) that the earth “quaked” at their noise.
David’s time to die drew near (2v 1-4) and he was anxious to remind Solomon of his prosperous destiny in God, if he walked in His ways and obeyed Him. Also, he passed on God’s promises that if his heirs were to be faithful “with all their heart” then there would not fail to be a successor on the throne of Israel (v4). Sadly, in the books of the Kings we see that future kings would not live like David and both they and Israel would be, finally, rejected by God and sent into exile. As we read the book, we can discover how and why this happened but for now, We read in 2v12 that Solomon’s throne was soon “firmly established”. Despite earlier leniency, Solomon had to deal, frimly, with Joab, Adonijah and Shimei because they were still a danger to the throne (2v13-34). Abiathar, the last successor of Eli, was banished from the priesthood and, finally, fulfilled the prophecy to Eli (v27). Faithful leaders were appointed to their positions; Zadok became high priest and Benaiah (previously leader of David’s bodyguard) became commander of the army (v35).
BELOVED OF THE LORD
In chapter 3, already, we see the seed of Solomon’s downfall when he made a marriage alliance with Egypt (v1). However, at this stage things were going well for “Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David” (v3). Remember his first name, prophesied by Nathan (2 Samuel 12v25), was Jedidiah, meaning beloved of the Lord, and Solomon was quick to recognise the “great and steadfast love” of the Lord (3v6).
ASKED FOR WISDOM
Solomon used to worship God at Gibeon and it was there that the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said “Ask what I should give you” (3v5). Solomon, as we know, asked for wisdom and discernment to help him govern God’s people (v9). God was pleased because His heart is also passionate about His people and He promised Solomon, that in addition to a unique wise and discerning mind, he would have incomparable riches and honour and a long life if he walked in His ways (v12-14). Solomon’s wisdom is highlighted in the story of the two prostitutes who were fighting over the custody of a child (v16) and the people were in awe of their king as they recognised his God-given wisdom and justice (3v28).
A KINGDOM OF SUCCESS AND PROSPERITY
In chapter 4 we read about his impressive top officials and public administration; his united people were at peace and happy and his empire extended to the Euphrates and the border of Egypt (v21). His army was strong (40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots (v26). His wisdom was great – he composed 3,000 proverbs, over a thousand songs, he was an expert in natural history-trees, plants, animals, birds, reptiles and fish and people from all nations came to hear what he had to say (v32-34).
GOD’S GLORY FILLED THE TEMPLE
David had been told that his son would build a house for his name and this is what Solomon started to build in the fourth year of his reign. The cedars of Lebanon would come from King Hiram of Tyre who was a specialist in timber (chapter 5). Interesting that there were 70,000 labourers (v15), 80,000 stonecutters, 3,300 supervisors and Adoniram was in charge of the 30,000 forced labour (not Israelites v14) who he sent to Lebanon for one month out of three. They quarried out great costly stones (v17) to lay the foundation of the house. Chapter 6 gives details of the structure of the temple and it took seven years to build (v38). We are told the word of the Lord came to Solomon, affirming the promise to David, that He would “dwell among the children of Israel” (v13) if they walked in His ways (v12). Solomon also spent 13 years building his own palace (chapter7). Chapter 8 details the inauguration of the new temple when Solomon assembled all the leaders, together, and the ark of the Lord (v4), along with the old tent of meeting, were brought up by priests and Levites. The ark (which now just contained the two tablets of stone) was installed in its new sanctuary and when the priests came out of the holy place, a wonderful cloud filled the house until the priests could no longer minister because of the glory of the Lord (v11).
Solomon spread out his hands to heaven (v22) and acknowledged the Lord God’s unique greatness, His covenant promise and His love to those who “walk before you with all their heart”. He knew that “even heaven and the highest heaven could not contain God, much less this house (v27). His prayer was that the Lord would hear the prayers of His people towards this place and, when they confessed their sin, He should forgive them, even if they should be carried away into captivity as a result of their sin (v46). It was the place of which God had said (v29) “my name shall be there”. Solomon’s prayers were absolutely on target and in chapter 9 God appeared to Solomon a second time and said “I have heard your prayer and your plea” (v3). God had consecrated the house and promised to put His name there for ever. His eyes and heart would also be there for all time and Solomon’s successors would continue on the throne of Israel if he walked before Him, like David had.
Sadly, it was the following warning (v6) which would become history: “if you turn aside from following me, you or your children” disobey and follow other gods the future would be different. Israel would then be cut off from their land and the house, consecrated for His name, would be cast out of his sight and become a heap of ruins. Chapter 10 is about the visit of the queen of Sheba who had heard of the God-given fame of Solomon and she came to test him with hard questions. He answered them all, to which her response was, “your wisdom and prosperity far surpass the report that I had heard” (v7) and led her to praise the Lord, God (v9) who had delighted in Solomon and loved Israel for ever. Silver became as common in Jerusalem as stones (v27) and all his drinking vessels were of gold. Among the many spices and precious stones that were brought to him, we read (v22) that ships also brought “apes and peacocks”.
SOLOMON LOVED MANY FOREIGN WOMEN
Chapter 11 tells us that King Solomon loved many foreign women, including those from nations that the Lord had prohibited, saying, “for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods” (v2). Among his wives were 700 princesses and 300 concubines and we read that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. That special love relationship with his Lord was replaced by misdirected human passions. Looking back at Deuteronomy 17 v17 God warned that a future king should not acquire many wives for himself or else his heart would turn away; or silver in gold in great quantity. The Lord was angry (v9) because Solomon had, blatantly, disobeyed the special words given to him in dreams. Ahijah prophesied (v31) that Israel was going to split again from Judah and would be given to Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam, but only after his death. Solomon died with no extension to his life (for good behaviour) and his son Rehoboam succeeded him (12v1).
KINGDOM FALLS APART AND BECOMES ISRAEL AND JUDAH
The great kingdom, established by David, was beginning to fall apart. At the end of Solomon’s life, his enemies began to trouble him (chapter 11) and it is clear from chapter 12 v4 that there was a harshness to his reign, “your father made our yoke heavy”. Jeroboam and the people requested that his son Rehoboam lighten their load but, disregarding the advice of Solomon’s experienced advisors, he decided to add further repression (v14), “I will discipline you with scorpions”. In fact, it was the Lord who brought this about to fulfil prophecies to Solomon and Jeroboam, and so Israel decided to go their own way again and rebel against Judah, the house of David. Rehoboam mustered an army to fight back but, happily, he listened to a prophecy given by Shemaiah that this was all God’s plan and they should go back to their homes (v24).
KING JEROBOAM AND HIS GOLDEN CALVES
Jeroboam established the independent Israel around the capital town of Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim (v25), and began to sense that continued trips to the temple in Jerusalem might encourage his people to rejoin Judah. So he, sadly, decided to set up two alternative worship centres for his people by making golden calves and placing them in Bethel and Dan (v29). He organised independent festivals and appointed alternative priests of the high places who were not Levites.
GOD TO GIVE UP ON ISRAEL ALREADY
In chapter 13 (v1) a dramatic entry is made by a man of God from Judah who came to Bethel and prophesied that a future king, called Josiah, would bring judgement on the altar there. When Jeroboam called his servants to seize the prophet, his hand withered up (v4). In another incident (14v1-14), Jeroboam asked his disguised wife to consult Ahijah (now living in Shiloh) about a sick son of his. This time it was not to be good news and Ahijah declared that, despite God’s appointment, he had done (v9) “evil above all those who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods, and cast images, provoking me to anger, and have thrust me behind your back”. For this the house of Jeroboam would be totally cut off. In fact, there happened to be something pleasing to the Lord in the sick child (v13) and he would die but he would also be the only family member to be buried in a grave; the rest would be devoured by dogs or birds. God would in fact “give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam” (v16), root them up out of the promised land and scatter them beyond the Euphrates (v15).
JUDAH NOT DOING SO BAD
Life in Rehoboam’s Judah was not much better as he also “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” and committed many abominations (v22-24). Life in both Israel and Judah was in decline, a decline which would end up in exile, and most kings were to follow in the sins of their fathers with the occasional good one who stemmed the evil tide for a while. Judah, after a poor start, had a good king in Asa who reigned for 41 years (15v9) at a time when the Israel kings were going from bad to worse and inevitably not lasting long in power. Eventually, we read in chapter 16 (v29) that Ahab son of Omri began to reign in Israel and he did evil “ more than all who were before him” and to make matters worse he married Jezebel who loved Baal worship (v31).
ISRAEL AND ELIJAH AHAB AND JEZEBEL
Prophets were becoming the main way in which God intervened in the life of his people but this time God brought in someone very special, Elijah, who in his first message prophesied a three-year drought (17v1). Elijah was divinely fed at the brook Kerith (v4) and then by a widow at Zarephath (v8) where he raised her son to life (v22). He was also divinely protected from Ahab and Jezebel who killed many prophets and especially sought to kill him (18v10). It was on Mount Carmel that Elijah had his greatest hour in a miraculous display of the power and fire of God which inflicted a great defeat on the prophets of Baal (ch18 17-40). Elijah then prophesied the rain to come back, which it did, but on the run from Queen Jezebel, who threatened to kill him, he seemed to fall from the Carmel spiritual high into depression. He asked to die (19v4) but God spoke to him in a “still, small voice” (v12) for he still had some important work for him to do. There were a couple of kings to anoint before he passed his own ministry over to Elisha, who was to follow him as prophet. God was still on the side of his people and even Ahab won some great victories against King Ben-hadad of Aram (chapter20) when, for once, he listened to a prophet. This was the occasion when God proved that he was the God of the hills and also of the valleys (20v28). Ahab reached an all-time low, even for him, in the way he treated a good man called Naboth (ch21) who owned a vineyard near to his palace. For this evil deed, dogs were prophesied to lick up his blood (v19) just as they had Naboth.
THE END OF AHAB
When Asa died, another good king, his son, Jehoshaphat, took over as king of Judah (22v41) but he, somewhat foolishly, joined forces with Ahab against the king of Aram (v4) and was almost killed in battle (v32). They had asked the 400 prophets for God’s direction (v6) but a lying spirit among them prophesied victory. Only Micaiah prophesied the true word of God and, for his pain, was locked up in prison on reduced rations of “bread and water” (v27). To make himself inconspicuous, Ahab put on a disguise in battle but, you cannot hide from the Lord and he was randomly wounded by a stray arrow (v34). Ahab bravely propped himself up in the chariot to face the Arameans but died later in the evening. True to prophecy they washed his chariot in the pool of Samaria and dogs licked up his blood (v38). Not much was to change because the last two verses of 1 Kings mention that Ahaziah, son of Ahab, walked in the way of his father and provoked the Lord.