Year 1, Day 344: 1 Kings 3

DISCLAIMER: I’m going to take a radical and contrary approach to this passage – at least compared to traditional thought.  I’m going out on a limb here, and I confess it up front and openly.  If you don’t like straying from traditional thought, this might not be the blog post for you to read this morning.

How We talk About Solomon

I think we should be really careful talking about Solomon as someone who “loved the Lord” at the beginning and then fell away.  And yes, that is a moment of confession for me.  Because I am often one of those people who is guilty of speaking of Solomon as having it all right in the beginning and losing it in the end. 

Functionally, I think we need to be careful about this teaching because I think it leads to dangerous thoughts.  It leads to the possibility that a person can know God fully and then end up losing touch with God in the end.  I don’t personally think that is possible.  I don’t honestly believe that anyone who truly knows God, who has truly been touched by His Spirit, and who has truly dedicated themselves to God ever falls away from God.  Yes, people fall in and out of sin all the time.  And yes, there are many people who are outwardly righteous who seem to fall away from God.  But I honestly don’t think someone who truly is in communion with God ever falls out of communion with God.  Yet when we teach that Solomon was truly in a relationship with God and then we get to the end of the story; well, that’s what we end up preaching is that we can completely fall out of a relationship with God after knowing its fullness.

Rather, I think the healthier perspective is to see Solomon’s life as a pursuit of choosing between God and the world.  Solomon never really fully commits to God.  He does great things for God, but God’s righteousness is not where he is fully committed.  Solomon spends most of his life trying to figure out if he will devote himself to God or not.  And unfortunately, we know where he ends up once he has actually made up his choice. 

For the record, I think that this is true about all of us.  I think many of us spend a great deal of our life trying to decide whether or not we really are sold out for God.  We may appear to be sold out on the outside … but inside the struggle rages.

A Deeper Look at Solomon

Let me explain a little about why I think we should be cautious about Solomon’s true faithfulness here.  And please, don’t anyone read that I am judging Solomon.  That’s God’s place, not mine.  I just want to challenge us today about true faith.  What happened between Solomon and God is ultimately up for God to decide. 

First, let’s look carefully at what is said about Solomon. 

• It says that Solomon loved the Lord.  Now, this word love is the Hebrew word “aheb.”  Its uses are as wide and varied as the English word “love.”  It certainly can mean a deep relational connection.  But it can also mean an internal desire, a brotherly affection, a kinship, a friendship, etc.  It is a word that is hard to nail down. 
• We also know that Solomon walked in the statues of God.  However, even before this is said we know that the author began this story by asserting Solomon’s marriage to an Egyptian.  This was a political marriage – and as we will see it is the beginning of Solomon clearly not walking in the statutes of God with respect to marriage. 
• Then, we see that the text makes it clear that Solomon worshipped at the high places rather than the tabernacle.  It seems that Solomon would respect neither the marital commands of the Lord nor the commands for worship.  I’m not saying that Solomon didn’t love the Lord.  But I am saying that we should see Solomon realistically.  Solomon’s love for God was flawed and full of areas where Solomon preferred his own methods rather than the Lord’s ways.  Solomon was in the process of choosing how much he was willing to give to the Lord out of his life.

Second, we often think that the Lord’s gift to Solomon was a blessing for Solomon’s faithfulness. 

• If we are careful to read the text in 1 Kings 3 I don’t think we can make that case at all.  God comes to Solomon with a simple proposition.  God simply wants to bestow a gift upon Solomon.  Certainly Solomon’s desire pleases the Lord, and the Lord ends up being quite generous to Solomon.  Solomon not only becomes wise, but he becomes wealthy and popular.  But, let’s stop and think for a moment.  Are these things truly gifts from God?  Or are these tools God uses to reveal Solomon’s true nature?  Look at Solomon’s wisdom as written in the book of Ecclesiastes.  Does that book sound like a man who is content with a life full of wisdom?  Does Solomon’s popularity have anything to do with the vast harem he collects – and that through his harem he is eventually turned away from God to worship foreign Gods?  Had Solomon not been popular, would his heart have had access to be turned away as greatly?  Does Solomon’s wealth play any part in women wishing to be his wife and having sway over him and his influence?  You see, God is indeed generous, but I think we can make a case here that Solomon is not receiving a blessing as much as he is receiving a test.  Solomon is not being granted a blessing out of his faithfulness as much as God is desiring to know Solomon’s character – and more importantly, to reveal Solomon’s character to Solomon.

Third, we must take heed to God’s own words. 

• God says to Solomon, “If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked…”  God tells us that the book is not yet written on Solomon’s righteousness.  God does not look at Solomon here as someone who should receive the rubber stamp of “faithful” or “righteous.”  God knows that a person is not judged in the beginning when things are easy but in the end when we can look backwards over our life and see how we handled success and difficulty.  Since God does not give Solomon the rubber stamp of approval, I think we should be careful to not do so as well.

The Book on Solomon

I think Solomon is a person who was taught the right things to say.  I think Solomon learned “how to play the game” from his father.  I think Solomon knew how to give all the appearances of being righteous.  But I will not be so quick to give him the label of being righteous. 

For the record, I expect to be treated the same.  Do not give me the label of righteous, either, until my years have played out and we can see the fruit of my life – whether it is pleasing to God or not!  Solomon had a great set-up and was certainly primed to have a great rule as king.  But I do wonder how much of it was genuine, especially since I know how the story ends. 

Solomon’s Wise Decision

To close, I will look very briefly at the story of the prostitute’s child and the wisdom of Solomon.  I personally find this story very intriguing and as much as I hate to say it I can see it happening.  Here we have the true love of a parent – willing to let love go so that life can continue.  We also have the ugliness of jealousy – willing to watch something be destroyed so nobody can partake of a good thing.  We have the pettiness of humanity – willing to stoop to unrighteousness to get one’s way.  We have self-mongerism – a willingness to want for oneself without thinking about other people, especially the child.  We have the willingness to lie – to simply speak untruth for the benefit of one’s own agenda.  All of these things are present in this story, and all of them are used in ways that I readily see them occur in the humanity around me!

Solomon does give a wise approach to the problem.  Solomon endeavors to find a way to bring out the true depth of passion for the child without letting the women know that he is doing so.  Once he finds out which one is more genuinely passionate, Solomon knows the route to take.  For me I think that is the brilliance in this story.  When making a decision, a person’s inner passion really tells a lot about who they are and what they will do.

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