Visit From the Queen
Today we
get the famed visit from the Queen of Sheba.
The queen comes because she has heard of Solomon’s wisdom on
splendor. She wants to come and see it
for herself; she wants to make an alliance if the reports that she had heard
are true. In a way, this is a sad
story. It shows humanity’s desire to
align ourselves with the rich and famous.
No doubt the Queen of Sheba wanted to associate with Solomon to try and
benefit from having a powerful friend, a profitable trading partner, and a wise
counsel. I’m not trying to judge the
queen, but merely learn what I can from her actions.
As human
beings we have a tendency to value our relationships with the powerful and the
prestigious. How many of us “name drop”
from time to time when it is to our advantage?
But whose names do we drop?
Certainly we name drop the names of the famous, the wealthy, and the
powerfully connected. How many of us name
drop the local homeless person with whom we shared lunch, the local teenager
who nobody knows exists, or the common working man in our churches?
But who is
it that Jesus sends us out to meet? We
are to go to the whole world, not just the rich and famous. We are to value all relationships and to see
every person as someone important to the kingdom of God. God cares no less for the local homeless
woman than He does for the highly paid actress - although keep in mind He cares
no less for the actress than He does for the homeless woman, too! We are to value all people for what they can
be with God.
Solomon’s Priorities
As we look
specifically at Solomon, let’s take a glance at the two places that his wisdom
and wealth are mentioned in this chapter (verses 7 and 23 respectively). Notice that the Queen of Sheba reports on Solomon’s
wisdom and prosperity yet in the latter verse we hear about Solomon’s riches
and wisdom. I may be making a mountain
out of a molehill, but I think it is intentional that these words are switched
in order. As Solomon grows wealthy,
receives visits from other nations, grows his harem, and all the other things I
believe his desire for wealth dominates his appreciation of wisdom. This is the danger of wealth. When we are wealthy, we focus on maintaining
and increasing our wealth.
In fact,
as this chapter winds down we hear about the ways that Solomon increased his
wealth through the other nations. I
think we should be careful here. Solomon
is increasing his own wealth rather than being prospered by the Lord. In fact, from verses 14 through 29 we only
have one mention of the Lord, and that reference is specific to the wisdom that
God put in Solomon’s mind. Again it is
my belief that this is an intentional point.
Solomon has fallen so much in love with his prosperity that he has begun
to focus on increasing his own wealth above and beyond what God provided. In a nutshell: Solomon loses his focus. {And let’s not forget about the spiritual
significance regarding the fact that Solomon’s yearly income was 666 talents of
gold! Numbers in the Bible are usually
chosen more for spiritual significance than for scientific fact.}
If we look
to Matthew 6:28-29 we hear a sharp criticism from Jesus upon Solomon. Solomon was a wealthy man and he was arrayed
in great splendor. But anyone lacking
the splendor of God is less than something arrayed by God’s splendor. Jesus isn’t saying that the lily is more
beautiful than Solomon; Jesus is saying that anything touched by God’s hand is
more beautiful than something clothed by the efforts of mankind. We should hear this loud and clear as we
close the book on Solomon today and tomorrow.
Our focus and our dependence should be upon God and God’s provision
rather than our own provision.
Remembering God’s Command
Finally,
in preparation for tomorrow, I will refer us all once more to read Deuteronomy
17:16-20. There we have a list of advice
for the kings of the Hebrew people.
Compare this to Solomon’s account:
- Don’t go back to Egypt to get horses.
- Don’t acquire many wives.
- Don’t acquire excessive gold or silver.
- Write the law out, keep it by your side, and study it.
- Do the law in such a way as to not lift yourself above the people around you.
What do
you think? Did Solomon set himself up to
succeed or to fail with respect to God’s ways?
Is there any surprise that tomorrow’s text usually contains the section
header of: Solomon turns from the Lord?
What does
that passage in Deuteronomy say to us about avoiding the mistakes of
Solomon? Do we return to our old ways
for material gain? Do we desire a life
other than how God has structured it? Do
we perceive the accrual of money as the solution to our troubles? Do we focus on God’s Word like we
should? Do we elevate ourselves above
our neighbors?
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment