Lessons of Wisdom from Foolish Kings
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
Better a poor and wise youth Than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more.
For he comes out of prison to be king, Although he was born poor in his kingdom.
I saw all the living who walk under the sun; They were with the second youth who stands in his place.
There was no end of all the people over whom he was made king; Yet those who come afterward will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
Solomon’s proverb pits what one would think is the desireable person with an undesireable.
In our youth-infatuated culture, we automatically think its better to be young than to be old; however, the people of the Bible times had the opposite view. Prov 16:31
The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness.
Obviously it’s better to be a King than to be poor. That’s being powerful, influential, and rich, instead of poor, insignificant, and weak.
However, wisdom changes the normal calculus - it’s better to be wise, even if you have nothing else, because the end result of wisdom is riches, honor, and power Prov 8:10-11, 17-21.
Receive my instruction, and not silver, And knowledge rather than choice gold;
For wisdom is better than rubies, And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.
I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.
Riches and honor are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver.
I traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice,
That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.
The Word “Admonished” זְהַר can men to rebuke, but also simply to “warn.” In other words, this isn’t necessary a really negative conversation, just a warning of some kind. So the old, foolish king is one who no longer listens to warnings, not necessarily from God, just from people that are in a position to give good advice.
Now while Solomon is talking hypothetically here, his oddly specific language shows he is generalizing from real life situations, rather than just imagining the results. Therefore, it is instructive to examine real life Bible characters to see how being a old foolish King is worse than being a poor wise youth. So today we’ll be looking at four Bible characters, two foolish kings, and two poor youths, to see how things worked out for them just as Solomon said.
For each person we’ve got several questions to guide our study.
How did they get that way?
How did they reveal their character?
What was the result?
However, it turns out that we are not likely to have the time to get to all four, so today we’ll only be looking at two foolish Kings. The first king is likely someone Solomon had in mind; the second, he almost certainly didn’t think about but definitely fits.
I. The First Foolish King Saul
I. The First Foolish King Saul
A. How did he become King?
A. How did he become King?
We first meet Saul after God gives a King to Israel out of permission. They wanted a King to “lead them like all the nations.” It wasn’t wrong to want a King, but it was wrong to want that King to be just like every other ANE King. Thus, the person God choose for them was exactly what they wanted.
He looked every inch a King (1 Sam 10:23-24)
He was a man of action, not careful reflection ( his loss of the Donkeys and his fruitless search for them that brought him to Samuel)
God had to do quite a lot of arranging to get Saul to be King
He arranged it so that the donkeys would be lost at the right time, and that Saul’s intended search pattern would not work and he would be close enough to Samuel’s place for them to ask the prophet before going home.
He revealed to Samuel that Saul would be coming, so Samuel could prepare events to convince Saul -
a sacrificial meal at just the right time so that Saul would be made the guest of honor at an event he didn’t even know was happening.
After discovering that God was appointing Saul King, Saul had to meet (1) a group of prophets carrying specific things, who would say specific things to him, and (2) God dramatically imparted his Spirit to Saul, so that the largely irreligious Saul prophesied. (1 Sam 10:2-6)
Even after Samuel revealed God’s choice to Saul, nothing would have happened, since Saul didn’t want to be King and kept it a secret. So, God had to then arrange a public unveiling of Israel’s new King, and reveal to Samuel Saul’s hiding spot.
Even after Saul was publicly crowned King, still not much would have happened unless Saul was prepared to actually lead an army and fight. So,
God allowed the city of Jabesh-Gilead to be nearly defeated by Nahash, a city that Saul’s family had ties to because of the near destruction of Benjamin several centuries earlier.
Thus, when Saul heard about it, he was greatly angry, and God’s Spirit empowered him to fight well, so that he was able to raise a huge army and defeat the enemy.
Only after Saul demonstrated an ability to actually do what they primarily wanted the King to do - lead an army - was he truly recognized as King.
Therefore, Saul became King, because God allowed the people of Israel to have the exact sort of King they thought they wanted. However, Saul was truly King at God’s command, he didn’t want or seize power for himself.
B. How did he reveal his character?
B. How did he reveal his character?
On several occasions Saul demonstrated that his idea of worshipping God was primarily about keeping the correct sacrifices and rituals demanded by the Law. Indeed, he felt free to obey or ignore whatever commands of God didn’t seem to suit him at that moment.
At the first recorded battle with the Philistines, he quickly lost his army when the Philistines showed up with a massive display of force. The poorly equipped army of Saul was no match for the Philistines, and the Israelites largely deserted out of fear. However, even after losing 80% of his army, Saul still had twice the force that Gideon had, to overcome a foe smaller than the one Gideon fought.
Saul was understandably greatly concerned with this situation, but rather than call on his remaining army to trust God and fight, he chose to break Samuel’s specific instructions. Samuel had told Saul to wait seven days, and that on the seventh day he would come to help. However, on day seven, Samuel still wasn’t there, so Saul offered a sacrifice without a legitimate priest. He overstepped his authority as King, because he wanted to consult God and thought it was better to offer a sacrifice contrary to the Law, rather than obey God’s instructions.
Samuel, in fact, did arrive that day, just after Saul finished with the sacrifice. Saul’s action was foolish
He blamed everyone but himself for what happened 1 Samuel 13:10-12.
Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash,
then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”
Samuel told him “you have done foolishly,” as he thought that he could selectively obey the commands of God, as long as there was a sacrifice. Samuel warned him severely, that his kingdom would now not continue. Saul, however still could have received a blessing in his lifetime if he repented. Alas, he did not. 1 Samuel 13:13-14
And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
On a second occasion, Saul made a rash oath forbidding the people from eating food while they were pursuing the Philistines. Jonathan had started a great victory, purely by trusting in the Lord and allowing God to work a victory. To ensure the army would fight, Saul made that oath, however, this was exactly the wrong thing to do. the men became faint due to lack of food, and Jonathan accidentally broke the oath since he didn’t hear Saul say it. Jonathan rightly stated 1 Samuel 14:29-30.
But Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.
How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”
Due to the men’s hunger, when the sun set and they could eat, they were so hungry they didn’t process the animals properly, and ate them without draining the blood. This was contrary to the law, but the temptation to break the law wouldn’t have happened in the first place if Saul had made a more sensible vow.
Saul, to his credit, did stop them from doing that, and had the animals sacrificed properly. This, however demonstrated that religion was primarily about the external observance for him, as that altar was the first, and only altar he ever built.
Once Saul discovered that Jonathan had broken his vow, Saul went way too far in keeping his vow by trying to kill Jonathan, because he cared a bit too much about what people thought of him. Fortunately, the people stopped this rash judgment; however, Saul didn’t learn from this event.
A final display of Saul’s folly was in his fighting of the Amalekites
God commanded Saul to punish the Amalekites for their behavior during the Exodus 500 years before. The entire group was to be put under the ban, meaning everything was to be dedicated to the Lord, and must be destroyed or given to the tabernacle. In ancient Israel, this was not a popular idea as armies were paid through the spoils they collected. Putting everything under the ban means nobody is collecting anything.
Saul started well. As he usually did, he collected a massive army more than sufficient to defeat the Amalekites. He first asked the Kenites to leave since they were not under the ban, and this also gave any Amalekite the chance to escape, since they could suddenly become “Kenites” and escape.
However, Saul gave into pressure from his army, since he really wanted people to like him. He allowed the people to take the best of the flocks and herds. He also wanted a trophy, so he saved Agag the leader.
Again, Saul blamed everyone except himself. He claimed to have kept God’s commands, it was just the people who took the plunder, and that they only took the plunder “to sacrifice to the Lord.” He didn’t even recognize that saving Agag was the most obvious way to violate the ban possible. 1 Samuel 15:13-21
Thus, Samuel’s severe warning 1 Samuel 15:22-23
So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
Saul’s apparent repentance was only an attempt to save some face in front of the people 1 Samuel 15:24-30.
C. What was the result of the King’s Folly?
C. What was the result of the King’s Folly?
God removed his Spirit which enabled Saul to rule properly. God also sent an Evil Spirit to torment Saul, thus causing Saul to rave with uncontrollable madness on occasion. This madness further came out by him repeatedly trying to throw a spear at whoever he was really, really angry at.
He tried to kill David twice
When Jonathan tried to intervene on David’s behalf, Saul tried to spear his own son, because Jonathan wouldn’t ever be King if David lived. Um, he also wouldn’t ever be King with a spear sticking out of his chest!
Saul refused to accept God’s declaration that he had chosen another. Consequently, Saul became very suspicious of anyone who was getting a bit too successful. When David became instantly famous due to killing Goliath, Saul began to be paranoid, thinking David was going to try to get him.
Thus, Saul spent many years chasing the completely innocent David, wasting Israel’s resources in the pursuit of injustice, and largely ignoring his other duties as King. When he thought the men of the priestly town of Nob got in his way, he had the entire town slaughtered, which is the exact opposite of his job.
After David confronted Saul twice about his unjust attempt to kill an innocent man, Saul both times broke down emotionally, but fundamentally still did not accept God’s revealed will, and therefore made no change.
After something like a decade of refusing to accept God’s will, Saul finally died an ignominious death as the hands of the Philistines. God had refused to help him in his hour of need, since Saul had long since stopped listening to God. Saul, therefore broke the sacred worship of God to contact a Necromancer to bring up Samuel so he could have some advice. That only made matters worse. Saul and three of his four sons died that day, all due to Saul’s folly. Saul’s remaining son was assassinated five years later after a failed attempt to restore Saul’s kingdom.
II. The Second Foolish King, Solomon
II. The Second Foolish King, Solomon
Now I don’t think Solomon was referring to himself when he wrote these words. Quite possibly Solomon had yet to commit the folly of his later years when he wrote these words. Still, Solomon is indeed a perfect illustration of the principle Solomon wrote about.
A. How did he become king?
A. How did he become king?
Solomon succeeded David, but he was not David’s firstborn. Rather, Solomon was the first surviving child of David’s wife Bathsheba. After God judged David by allowing the firstborn child of Bathsheba to die when only 7 days old, the second son of David and Bathsheba was specially blessed by God. It specifically says the Lord loved him, and that God specifically told David this through Nathan, the very prophet that had predicted the death of Solomon’s older brother. Thus Solomon was nicknamed “Jedidiah” which means Loved by Yahweh 2 Samuel 12:24-25
Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Now the Lord loved him,
and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.
David revealed that God had actually predicted the birth of Solomon around the time of the prophecy of the Davidic Covenant 1 Chron 22:9-10. Thus David ended up promising Bathsheba that Solomon would be the next king, despite the fact that he wasn’t the firstborn.
Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days.
He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
Once David was old, David’s friends had to arrange things to make sure David’s promise to make Solomon king was kept. Adonijah was making a run at the throne, but David was so old by that point that he was not particularly aware of what was going on. Therefore Bathsheba and Nathan had to carefully plan their presentation to David, so he would understand the gravity of the threat from Adonijah. First Bathsheba came in and reminded David of his oath that Solomon would sit on the throne, and told him about Adonijah. Then Nathan the prophet came in and said the same thing.
The plan worked, and David commanded that Solomon be made king, Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the acting commander of the army took some servants loyal to David, and the King’s mule, and went down to Gihon, there they blew the horn and proclaimed, Long Live King Solomon!
The ceremonial spectacle worked, and Solomon became King. Adonijah’s revolt was defeated.
Again, Solomon was not just king by inheritance, he was specially chosen for the role by God out of all of David’s many sons. God blessed the young King from the beginning.
B. How did he reveal his character.
B. How did he reveal his character.
Now obviously, Solomon’s early reign was filled with immense wisdom, not folly. Even before he received his gift of wisdom, he showed himself to be a wise man, who capably defeated all of the threats to his throne without unjustly killing anybody.
And because he was a wise man, Solomon was aware of just how lacking in wisdom he was to do this great task. That’s why he asked God for wisdom. He demonstrated also great loyalty to the Lord.
Thus, the early part of Solomon’s reign was filled with grandeur, unparalleled wealth, and matchless wisdom. But Solomon also demonstrated some unfortunate concessions to the kind of King people expected him to be.
He spent enormous amounts of energy building great projects, spending the first twenty years building the temple and his own huge palace complex.
He worked hard to bring in massive quantities of gold, silver, and other rare and exotic luxury goods, something the law warned him not to do.
But his wealth wasn’t what got him in the biggest trouble. 1 Kings 11:1-8
Rather it was his choice of women. Solomon married a thousand wives and concubines, specifically from the nations that God had commanded Israel to avoid. And the reason God ordered Israel not to marry people from the surrounding nations, was that they would turn their hearts away from God. Solomon flagrantly violated this order, so his heart was turned away from God, just as God warned might happen.
Now the reason for his marriage wasn’t lust, they were political marriages. By marrying women from the most important families around, he would help to ensure none of them would want to attack him, and he could maintain peace.
However, since they were political marriages, he couldn’t demand that the wives worship his God. They would expect to be allowed to carry out the worship of their people, so he ended up building many sites for the worship of false gods.
Unfortunately, this practice didn’t just spring up out of nowhere, but was the result of his earlier character choices.
He had earlier married Pharaoh’s daughter, and had also provided for her as well 1 Kings 3:1; 7:8. So this practice actually began at the very beginning of his reign, and never stopped.
Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem.
And the house where he dwelt had another court inside the hall, of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken as wife.
It was the extension of what David had done. David had 18 wives, including Abigail, the former wife of the most prominent man among the descendants of Caleb. Now I think David made the honest attempt to have a God-honoring home after his sin with Bathsheba, but still, he couldn’t just divorce his wives, that would be wrong. Unfortunately, while Solomon learned to avoid adultery, he didn’t learn to avoid this sort of Polygamy, and indeed took it way farther than David ever thought of doing
God tried to warn Solomon away from this evil behavior, but Solomon refused to listen 1 Kings 11:9-10 God didn’t even tell him to divorce all these women, just to stop worshipping other gods. But he wouldn’t, he had practiced this evil behavior so long that he was past the point of repenting of it.
So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded.
C. What was the result?
C. What was the result?
Solomon’s foolish pursuit of political alliances through marriage had tragic results.
First, the Lord allowed adversaries to creep up against Israel
Hadad the Edomite had escaped when David had fought Edom and destroyed them because the Edomites had brought the conflict on themselves. However, some of the King of Edom’s servant escaped with the infant Hadad and he lived with Pharaoh and married the Pharaoh’s wife’s sister. When Hadad heard that David and Joab were both dead, he departed for Edom and began working towards becoming king of Edom and being independent of Israel.
Rezon the son of Eliadah was a run-away servant of the King of Zobah in the far north. David had fought Zobah because the Syrians from Zobah had helped the people of Ammon
Second, Israel was divided into two nations, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. God sent Ahijah from Shiloh to Jereboam to deliver the message that he was tearing the Kingdom away from Solomon’s son and giving 10 of the twelve tribes to Jereboam instead. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak (very expensive when all clothes were made by hand), and tore it up into twelve pieces, giving 10 of them to Jereboam. However, he told Jereboam that this would not happen in Solomon’s lifetime, because of David. When Solomon died, Rehoboam refused to listen to the complaints of the Northern Kingdom and in a breathtaking display of arrogance, told them he would be even worse then his father. This caused the northern Kingdom to leave and appoint Jereboam as their new King.
The division between north and south was much worse than making the two nations weaker by political division. Jereboam did not trust God and deliberately set up false idol worship so the Israelites wouldn’t keep going to Jerusalem to worship and possible defect back to Judah. The division was permanent, with the two nations being exiled at different times without reconciliation ever happening. The prophets have foretold that the two nations will be reunited, and in effect, they are, since the Northern Kingdom of Israel effectively ceased to exist, and was absorbed into the Judean exiles, if indeed there were still some left to do that 140 years after the exile of the Northern Kingdom.
Conclusion
An essential part of the Christian life is developing and valuing wisdom. In fact, a minimum amount of wisdom is necessary for saving faith 2 Tim 3:15.
and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
However, a newly saved Christian is usually not yet particularly wise. Eph 5:15
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
There is a kind of worldly wisdom that appears clever but is actually folly 1 Cor 3:18-20
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”;
and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
This is because all wisdom ultimately comes from God, so any cleverness that leaves God out is ultimately foolishness 1 Tim 1:17
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
So how do you become truly wise, then?
The starting point of wisdom is the fear of the Lord
You have to want to be wise Prov 2:1-6
My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,
If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
You must be teachable Prov 9:9
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
You must search for wisdom where it may be found
In the Scriptures Heb 5:12-14
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
From the experiences of others Prov 24:30-34
I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding;
And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down.
When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction:
A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest;
So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.
With prayer James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.