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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 8
20 July 2008
King Solomon, Wise but Not
So Faithful
(Message delivered by Rev Hien
Nguyen at the Worship Service, 2:00 pm, July 13, 08)
Text:
1 Kings 11:9-11
It was really hard, laborious
and time-consuming for King David, a man after God’s own heart, to
rebuild a war-torn nation and turned it into a powerful, wealthy, united
and peaceful kingdom. Truly, it is all by God’s sovereign grace and
goodness, but David’s responsibility cannot be ignored: his wholehearted
trust in the Lord in all things, his devotion, love and zeal for the
Lord and His name, his faithfulness to the Lord and to God’s Word, his
humble and sincere repentance before the Lord for his sins, and his
unselfish sacrifice in serving his generation, and so forth. Today, we
draw some lessons from Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest king, who
enjoyed all the blessings from the Lord and through his father, King
David, but in the end Solomon took them for granted and failed to
maintain his spiritual life in the fear of the Lord and even did evil in
the sight of the Lord due to his selfish life in luxury, his strange
wives and their idolatry; as a result, the powerful and wealthy kingdom
was divided into two and then became weaker and more wicked until the
Northern Kingdom (Israel) was taken into captivity by the Assyrians and
the Southern Kingdom (Judah) by the Babylonians. May the Lord graciously
help you and me acknowledge our weaknesses and humbly seek after Him
every day for His grace and strength to be faithful unto Him and His
Word until the end.
Solomon, the Wisest King
with a Good Start
In his early years, Solomon
loved the Lord and walked in the statutes of David his father (1 Kings
3:3). Surely, the godly presence of the old high priest Zadok and the
old prophet Nathan must have greatly influenced Solomon’s spiritual
life.
When the Lord appeared to
Solomon the first time with the offer “Ask what I shall give thee?”,
Solomon wisely asked the Lord for wisdom and an understanding heart to
judge His people and to discern between good and bad (1 Kings 3:9), and
God gave him much more than what he had asked, saying “I have given
thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee
before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I
have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and
honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee
all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and
my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy
days” (1 Kings 3:12-14) “And God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand
that is on the sea shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of
all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of
Egypt. For he was wiser
than all men” (1
Kings 4:29-31).
With God’s wisdom, Solomon was
able to judge wisely (1 Kings 3:16–28), to wisely establish good
administrative and economic systems (1 Kings 4:1-28), to wisely speak
“three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five” (1
Kings 4:32-33), to wisely maintain good relations with the surrounding
nations (1 Kings 5:1-12) “And there came of all people to hear the
wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his
wisdom” (1 Kings 4:34) and even the queen of Sheba did not mind
travelling long distance to come to Solomon to hear his wisdom (1 Kings
10:1-10). Solomon also wisely fortified key cities for defence (1 Kings
9:15-19), and so forth.
The greatest task that Solomon
wisely fulfilled is to build a magnificent house of the Lord in seven
years (1 Kings 6-7), to dedicate the temple with a humble and fervent
prayer to the Lord (1 Kings 8) and then “the fire came down from
heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the
glory of the LORD filled the house,” so much glory that “the
priests could not enter into the house of the LORD” (2 Chron 7:1-2).
This period might be the highest point of Solomon’s spiritual life.
After that, the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time with a promise
and a warning, “And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father
walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to
all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my
judgments: Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel
for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not
fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. But if ye shall at all turn
from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my
commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and
serve other gods, and worship them: Then will I cut off Israel out of
the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed
for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb
and a byword among all people” (1 Kings 9:4-7; 1 Chron 7:12-22). If
only Solomon had reverently and faithfully kept God’s Word and
maintained his close fellowship with the Lord, then he would not have
deeply regretted his failures and evil deeds later.
Reasons of Solomon’s
Failures
Fail to Appreciate God’s
Blessings:
- God loved Solomon (2 Sam
12:24) and chose him to sit on the throne of His kingdom over Israel (1
Chron 28:5). That is the greatest blessing, but Solomon later did not
remember it and appreciate it as David did, “Bless the LORD, O my
soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Ps 103:2). May the Lord help
you and me always remember and appreciate God’s grace, by which He has
loved us, chosen us, saved us and renewed us to be His children.
- God appeared to Solomon
twice and directly spoke to him with His promise and warning, not to
mention the awe-inspiring incident when God let the fire from heaven
come down and consume the sacrifices and His glory filled the house on
the day of dedication of the temple, but sadly Solomon later forgot
God’s warning and did not appreciate God’s holy presence or seek His
face as his father David did!
- Solomon neither fought for
nor built up the kingdom from the bottom, but just inherited all from
his father David: a powerful kingdom with all the tribes united, the
worship order set up, the ark of the Lord brought up to Jerusalem, the
priests and the Levites appointed, all the surrounding nations subdued,
faithful and godly men sent to help Solomon (the high priest Zadok, the
prophet Nathan, and the commander in chief Benaiah– 1 Kings 1:44-45),
and good materials in abundance prepared for the building of a house for
the Lord (1 Chron 28:11-21; 29:1-5). David also carefully instructed his
son Solomon with encouragement, warning and prayer (1 Chron 28:9-10).
But sadly, Solomon failed to appreciate God’s blessings through his
faithful father David and failed to be faithful to God and His Word
until the end. We have witnessed many fundamental churches and Bible
colleges which were established by the godly founding pastors or
principals with much labour and sacrifice, but the younger generations
just inherit their labour and achievements and then are not faithful to
the Lord and His Word!
Fail to Always Rely on the
Lord with Full Submission:
Unlike his father David, who
wholeheartedly relied on God, trusted in Him and sought Him for
instruction, guidance, protection and provision, Solomon failed to
always depend on the Lord with his full submission. He might have
trusted in his wisdom rather than the Source of all wisdom, even the
all-wise God, who had given him the wisdom. Solomon could write the
words of wisdom in the book of Proverbs and advised others to fear God
and depart from all evil (Prov 1:7; 3:7; 8:13; 9:10, et al), even from
strange women (Prov 2:16; 6:24; 7:5; et al), but he himself failed to do
what he taught others, “But king Solomon loved many strange women,…
And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully
after the LORD, as did David his father” (1 Kings 11:1, 6).
Dear friends, it is not enough
for you and me to know what is good and what is evil, we do need the
Lord and His holy life in us so that we may have His power to do good
and overcome evil. The apostle Paul shared his experience, “For the
good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do”
(Rom 7:19) and then cried out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom 7:24). Thank God that
the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is able to help Paul, you and me,
“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 7:25). May the Lord
help us realize our weaknesses and our totally depraved nature so that
we may always rely on Him with full dependence and submission like the
branch on the Vine as our Lord Jesus says, “I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Fail to Faithfully Read and
Keep God’s Word: We
are not sure whether Solomon did write a copy of God’s law for himself,
but we know that he failed to faithfully read it and to keep all the
words of the law all the days of his life as commanded by the Lord,
“And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that
he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is
before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he
shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear
the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these
statutes, to do them:” (Deut 17:18-19). As a result, Solomon did
what was contrary to God’s Word and made Him angry, “And the LORD was
angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of
Israel, which had appeared unto him twice” (1 Kings 11:9).
God commands, “But he shall
not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to
Egypt”
(Deut 17:16), but Solomon married a daughter of the Egyptian king and
purchased a lot of expensive horses and chariots from Egypt (1 Kings
3:1; 10:21-29). David did not do such a thing and said, “Some trust
in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the
LORD our God” (Ps 20:7).
God commands, “Neither
shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away”
(Deut 17:17) and forbids His people to marry unbelievers (Exod
34:11-16), but Solomon “loved many strange women, together with the
daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites,
Zidonians, and Hittites… And he had seven hundred wives,
princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his
heart” (1 Kings 1, 3).
God commands, “Ye shall
walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments,
and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him,”
(Deut 13:4), but Solomon “clave unto these (his wives) in
love” (1 Kings 11:2). May God help us cleave to Him always and not
to anyone or anything else.
God commands, “neither
shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold” (Deut 17:17),
but Solomon, who was born in purple, did not have sympathy with his
people or wanted to serve them like David his father. Solomon built the
house of the Lord for 7 years but his own house for 13 years and he just
enjoyed his selfish life in luxury: “I gathered me also silver and
gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces” (Eccl
2:8), and “Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year
was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold, And king
Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of
gold went to one target. And he made three hundred shields of beaten
gold; three pound of gold went to one shield:… Moreover the king
made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.
And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the
vessels of the house of the
forest of Lebanon were of pure
gold” (1 Kings
10:14-21) while his people had to pay high taxes and murmured (1 Kings
12:4)! May the Lord Jesus, the King of kings, help us to humbly follow
Him and to serve others as He did.
Conclusion
Dear friends, even King
Solomon, who was given wisdom, honour, wealth and riches from God, and
inherited the powerful and peaceful kingdom from his father David, but
he failed to appreciate God’s blessings, to rely on Him, to faithfully
read and keep all God’s words. He started well but ended shamefully, as
he shared after his repentance, “Better is the end of a thing than
the beginning thereof… Let us hear the conclusion of the whole
matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty
of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret
thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Eccl 7:8;
12:13-14). May the Lord graciously help you and me appreciate His
blessings, love Him, fear Him, rely on Him, cleave unto Him, serve Him,
read and keep His Word faithfully all the days of our life till He comes
back again. Amen.
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