Year 1, Day 345: 1 Kings 4

Results of Having a King

Today as I was reading one of my favorite commentaries on this passage I paused to look up a reference that I had never connected with this passage: 1 Samuel 8:10-18.  As I looked at that passage, I had to remind myself that the passage from 1 Samuel was a warning about what a king would do to the Hebrew people.  God gives the Hebrew people a warning that a king was going to demand supplies, wealth, military service, servanthood, the choice fields, and a bunch of other things.  Boy do we find that true in today’s passage regarding Solomon!

How many charioteers did Solomon have?  How much food did his household require on a daily basis?  How much land did he control?  God’s warning – and let’s remember that it was a warning and not a blessing – certainly came true!

I find this interesting as I reflect back upon the blog post I made yesterday, cracking the door to the great conversation I’ve had in the comments section about “falling away from God.”  Here in this passage we see the first of many fulfillments of God’s warning, and it is Solomon when it comes first.  {For the record, I won’t spend much time on this point but keep in mind this is only the Hebrew people’s third king.  It didn’t take long, that’s for sure!}  God warns that the king will dominate over them and think primarily of themselves and their needs first; and we see it here in Solomon.

I’m going to reflect back for a moment on the stories of David.  I understand that David was a “military general” type king and Solomon is a “wise sage” type king, but I do find it interesting that under David we find none of these passages about the demands David put onto the kingdom.  I know David must have received supplies and he certainly must have placed a burden on the land.  But we just don’t hear about it recorded anywhere.  Yet, we’re only into the third full chapter on Solomon and already here we go with the list of burdens.  It leads credence to my ponderings yesterday that Solomon may not have been the great king-leader that we make him out to be.  Perhaps I am guilty in the past of superimposing too much of David onto his boy.

Furthermore, as we read about his household, notice in 1 Kings 4:20 that we hear the people are eating, drinking, and merry-making.  {I had to chuckle because I cannot combine those three in my head without also subconsciously adding the words “for tomorrow we die.”}  We don’t hear about a hunger, thirst, or enjoyment for the Law of the Lord or even the ways of the Lord.  We hear a blessed enjoyment of God’s material provision.  While it is possible for some to enjoy both spiritual and material prosperity {See Abraham as an example} it is certainly not the norm.  I think in this verse we hear an echo of the coming fall of the kingdom.  The Law of the Lord and His ways are taking a second place or worse to the eating, drinking, and merry-making.

Solomon’s Downfall Begins

Furthermore, we hear about Solomon’s chariots and horsemen.  We are told about the fact that Solomon got his horses from Egypt (1 Kings 10:26-29).  Compare this fact with Deuteronomy 17:16 and reconcile what is really being said about Solomon in this passage – remembering of course that earlier we have been told that Solomon took a wife from Egypt, probably as a part of a political alliance.  While you are open to Deuteronomy 17, read the next verse as well and reconcile it with Solomon.  It is almost as though we look back upon those verses and feel as though they were written specifically for the case of Solomon and his fall.  Clearly the author of 1 Kings is intending for us to recognize that the problems with Solomon’s reign began from the beginning.

I’m going to make one more comparison before finishing today.  Given the daily demands for Solomon’s household, the cabinet he establishes for government, the military he assembles, and all the other parts of this passage I am struck by the fact that I could summarize it all up in one statement: Solomon established one monster of a bureaucracy.  For those readers who are American, it would seem that our current governmental leaders for the past decade or two have much in common with Solomon.  This is a good time to remind everyone that historically speaking when the bureaucracy outgrows the ability of the base to support it – the system topples.  It is one of the main reasons the Mongolian Empire failed.  It is the main reason Rome failed.  It is why the British Empire declined.  And it most certainly is one of the reasons that the Hebrew kingdom splits immediately after Solomon gets out of power.

The more I look at Solomon, the more I find he has in common with the ways of the world.  I find myself sad today, because I was hoping to be wrong about the comments I made yesterday regarding Solomon.  But after reading this passage and the apparent thrust of the author of 1 Kings, I think all the more that I was correct.  Solomon was figuring out whether to lead according to the world or whether to lead according to the ways of God.  Slowly and surely he was pulled more and more to the world’s side.

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