My Daily Bible Blog

1 Kings 8 and 9

Ch 8
v1-13
Finally, the Temple is built and the Ark is carried in a correct fashion to its final resting place. I can almost hear God (and the people of Israel) give a sigh of relief. All of the studies we have done since David became King, really since the Israelites left Egypt with Moses, culminate at this point.
Times are good in Israel.
v14-21
I like that Solomon starts his prayer with praise, a good example for our own prayer format. There are so many references here to the books of Samuel that I can't cover them all. Needless to say, this prayer of praise recalls so many conversations (or 'convos' as a college girl I know would call them) between David and God. Many promises that have been fulfilled: that's a great thing to be thankful for.
v22-61
In v25 he's asking if God will fulfill his promise to David (see 2:4 - that was repeated to Solomon on David's death bed) but because I’m playing Sunday morning quarterback, I doubt it. Also, Solomon is making some poor choices in regards to women, money, greed, and alliances.
I also like all the desire for forgiveness, grace, and mercy for Israel. I can almost see God nodding his head during this and thinking of His plan to send Jesus to die for our sins...maybe with an "All in good time, Solomon, all in good time". Solomon's heart seems to be so pure, and so dedicated to God in v56-60. I was ‘burying’ him earlier (to use the parlance of our time) but I feel some 'digg' is in order. He shows humility, desire to follow God, and desire for God's word to reach the world - I fell that last part is oft forgotten in his era. He sets forth a difficult charge in v61, but isn't that what we should all desire to do? Fully committed! Live by his decrees! Obey his commands! No grey area there.
v61-66
144,000 head of livestock. That's A LOT of livestock. This temple is such a Huge Deal. I feel it has lost some of its importance in our day. Also, isn't 144 seen other times in scripture? 12 x 12...is that any relevance to the 12 tribes of Israel? Just curious...non issue.

Ch9
v1-9
It's quite a challenge in v4. Solomon has to walk before Him as David did AND do all He commands AND observe His decrees and laws. Side note - Is this implying that David did not?
This reads a little like foreshadowing; only because I am well versed in human nature.
7 "...object of ridicule among all peoples” Harsh, but isn't this how it happens to us to? Israel can be a good metaphor for ourselves or our households and how we honor God's commands and walk before Him in integrity of heart can easily affect our success/failure.
It's sad to already know that v 8-9 will happen, and are happening today. Do we need to reclaim Jerusalem and rebuild the temple? -Just a question for discussion.

v10-28
When I first read the title of this passage "Solomon's Other Activities" I thought 'uh-oh, here we go again'. And my hunch was right.
Fill in your own observations of Solomon's mistakes here (see ch 8 commentary)...and be sure to recognize them in your own life and realize the effect they have on your relationship with God and on your life.

As we have seen, Solomon has asked God for wisdom- but not only this; Solomon asks God for a special kind of wisdom- a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. v 9

In the next verses we will begin to see Solomon's wisdom come to life in a situation and with a resolution that, I'll admit, seems to be torn from prime-time television.

A Wise Ruling

Solomon jumps into the action with an odd situation. Two women come to his palace in order for the king to weigh in on their custody battle.

• Two prostitutes came to the king to settle a matter before him. v 16
  
• The women lived together in the same house and both recently had just born sons.
• During the night one of the woman's sons dies because she rolls over on him while she is sleeping. v 19
• The woman who has accidentally killed her child carefully takes the other woman's baby and for herself and places her dead child at the breast of the other woman. v 20
• When the second woman awakens, she notices that it is not her son and demands her son back. v 22
• The first woman demands that, "No! Your son is dead and mine is alive!" and the whole battle gets thrown before Solomon for his judgment. v 22

Wew! This is perhaps one of Solomon's most famous stories. (In fact, I can remember parodies of it from several cartoons when I was a kid.) One important thing I would like to point out first, is to consider the people in this situation.

• The women in this argument are two prostitutes. v 16

Historically, most prostitutes were slaves in this time period. Many times they were poor women or women who had lost their husbands and had been sold into slavery. As many of you may know as with Mary Magdalene, these women were considered the lowest of the low. Pay special attention to Solomon's ruling on this situation.

Then the King said, 'Bring me a sword.' So they brought a sword for the king. v 24

If you were these women, what would you be thinking he was going to do at this point. My money would be on the bet that he was just going to strike them both down right there for for troubling him. Let's see what he does:

Cut the living child in two and give one half to one and half to the other. v 25

Wow! Not exactly what they were ready for! (If I had not passed out at this point- I probably would have been cleaning out my ears to make sure I heard him right!)

Asking for Wisdom

First, I would like to get a few key terms defined:

knowl·edge -noun

1. acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition: knowledge of many things.
2. familiarity or conversance, as with a particular subject or branch of learning: A knowledge of accounting was necessary for the job.
3. acquaintance or familiarity gained by sight, experience, or report: a knowledge of human nature
4. the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth; clear and certain mental apprehension
5. awareness, as of a fact or circumstance: He had knowledge of her good fortune
6. something that is or may be known; information: He sought knowledge of her activities.
7. the body of truths or facts accumulated in the course of time
8. the sum of what is known: Knowledge of the true situation is limited.

wis·dom –noun

1. the quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.
2. scholarly knowledge or learning: the wisdom of the schools.
3. wise sayings or teachings; precepts.
4. a wise act or saying.

in·tel·li·gence - noun

1. capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity;
2. aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.
3. manifestation of a high mental capacity: He writes with intelligence and wit.
4. the faculty of understanding
5. knowledge of an event, circumstance, etc., received or imparted; news; information.

dis·cern·ment - noun

1. The act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.
2. Keenness of insight and judgment.

I believe it is important to recognize how these very similar words are not exactly interchangeable as we might thing. Rather, I believe that they compliment each other and in fact, it is possible to have each independent of each other.

• Solomon has made an alliance with the Pharaoh of Egypt through marrying his daughter. This alliance with the provisions for continued worship compromised his devotion because his people did not have a place to worship within Jerusalem. v. 1-7 (Faith In Action, pg 494)

• Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father , David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incenses on the high places.

It was imperative that the people of Jerusalem have their own place to worship, (they are currently offering sacrifices and burnt offerings on a high place) so as we will see, Solomon works to build a temple for his people.

However, I would like to emphasize the fact that he "showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father". For me, that is a very amazing thing- remember his father's charge to his before he died,

Be strong, show yourself a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and where ever you go... (v 2-3)

What an amazing charge to a son. A call to action! To me, it is important to see that even though David had screwed up many times in the past, we still held on to his desire to 'get right with God'. David asks Solomon to do this so that the Lord may keep his promise to him- so that he will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel. A noble goal in itself, but, but to go further, David seems as if he doesn't just want Solomon to walk with the Lord for the future of his country, he wants him to walk with the Lord so that Solomon will not make the same mistakes David did in the past.

• So how is Solomon to do this? Here is the big question:

If you could ask God for anything, what would you ask for?

Perhaps you would ask for the financial means to do whatever you want? It seems that many of us (myself included), are always asking for God to bless us with prosperity- maybe not outright, but for success at work. Prayer for that promotion, for that raise, or even just a job that will put us in a better position for the future. I'll admit, that personally, I often forget to ask God for the tools to accomplish his will. That is what is interesting about Solomon's request. Solomon asks for "a discerning heart."

• Solomon asks for discernment- remember our definition: The act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.

David gave Solomon the charge of walking in the way of the Lord. When we learn to walk in the ways of the Lord we make his desires our own. It's interesting how our priorites begin to change when we start aligning ourselves with what God wants for us.

An intersting thing about discernment is that it is not the defintion of wisdom. Although both contain the ability to have knowledge of what is true, true wisdom goes beyond jsut knowledge. it has the discernment to do what is right. It is not jsut a measurement of what is right and wrong- rather, it is the ability to choose what is right. Solomon asked for this and recieved the gift of wisdom and discerment from the Lord.

• Solomon wanted a discerning heart for what purpose? "to govern God's people." (v 9)

Here is the next interesting thing about Solomon's request: he did it not so that he may gain more power from knowledge, or even to be more well respected amongst his people. He did it so that he may govern God's people.

One of my favorite passages in this chapter:

...but I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my
duties. Your servent is here omong the people you have chosen , a
great people to numerous in number to count. So give me a discerning heart
to govern your people and to distinguish beteween right and wrong. (v 7-8)

Solomon knows that alone, he cannot govern a nation in the way his father David challenged him to do. much in the same way, we begin to realize that there are things we of our own strength and ability we cannot do without God.

Again, when we begin to align ourselves with the Lord's will, we begin to think less about our needs and more about how we can serve others and thus, serve God. The nation of Isreal needed a strong leader to continue after David and Solomon asks for the tools to make it so.

• Lord, develop in me the tools and abilities that I need to glorify your kingdom and create in me the will to make it so.
  

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and anot for long life or wealth for
yourself, nor have you asked for the death of your eemies but for
discernemnt in administering justice... I will give you what you have not asked for- both riches and honor- so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. (v 10-14)

• Notice, however that there is a stipulation of sorts:

And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David
your father did, I will give you a long life. (v 14)

.

Solomon's Officials

This is a listing of Solomon's primary officials he has designated to reign over the various functions of his kingdom. He appointed 12 "District Governors" who also supplied provisions for the king and his household on a monthly basis- essentially on a rotation that took care of food, animals, and taxation.

Thoughts:

• Solomon has been blessed with wisdom and discernment as we have seen before in chapter 3. He was also blessed with the amazing abilities of a resource manager. (I could only hope to be this organized!)
  I believe this gives us an insight into the mind of Solomon and really an idea of just how God gives us natural talents and abilities that can be used in different areas of our life. For me, it is interesting to hear these stories of how Solomon handles situations both creatively and practically (such as his method of determining the correct mother of the child in 1 Kings 3:16-28.)
  
• If you were ever curious where the name "Ben-Hur" came from look in v 8.
  

*We see that some time has passed through the completion of this list as in v 11 and 15 show that two of his officials are his sons-in-laws and that Solomon has a daughter.

• Although there were many people in Judah and Isreal- "as numerous as the sand", they ate, drank, and were happy! v 20-21. people from all over brought tribute and were his subjects for years and years to come.
• The man had 4,000 stalls for chariot horses and 12,000 horses!

In verses 29 through 34 we see the amazing depths of knowledge Solomon was blessed with and that truly he was one of the wisest men to ever live.

• God gave Solomon "Wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the sea shore." v 29
• He was a man of many talents and of wisdom of every kind- from composing 3000 proverbs to a 1005 (1000 + 5 bonus?) songs, he described plant life and described all the animals and the birds. v 30-33
  
• Men from all over came from all over the world to listen to his wisdom. v 34
  

• However, does living by biblical wisdom assure us of prosperity?

I would say no based on the fact that we have seen numerous people of God who were said to have knowledge fall short on many occasions. From David from 1 and 2nd Samuel all the way back to Moses. Granted, we have not seen Solomon fall yet in the readings, we almost certainly know it is on the way. God gives us resources, talents, and gifts that we can use to either further his kingdom or ourselves.

He blesses some of us with charisma and an amazing speaking ability, some of us with administrative skills, other with the ability to create wonderful works of art, and still some with a heart that simply lends itself to those that just need someone to listen to them. It is up to us to choose how we use those gifts as we were created with free will.

1 Kings was most likely written between 560 and 550 BC, during the Babylonian exile of the Jews.

"The books of 1 and 2 Kings were originally one book, the author of which is unknown... and were originally written for the Jews living in exile in Babylon to preserve a detailed history of Isreal and Judah. First Kings includes the history of the united Kingdom under Kigd Solomon as well as that of the first 80 years of the divided kingdom." - Faith In Action Study Bible