The King: The Rise and Fall of Solomon Week 2

Good morning, we are in the second week of our series about the life of Solomon. As I mentioned last week, the life of Solomon serves as both, an example to be followed, but also a warning to be heeded. Last week we looked at 1 Kings Ch. 2-3, which had Solomon taking the throne after his dad, King David passed away. God appeared to Solomon in a dream, this is where Solomon asked for Wisdom to rule. We talked about Solomon’s motive for asking for wisdom, how it was not about him, rather, it was all about serving the people of Israel. God then told Solomon he would be blessed, not just with wisdom, but also with riches, honor, and a long life-provided he follow God’s statutes. Let’s go ahead and pray, then we will dive into our text for this week.

PRAY

This week will be a bit different than last. As I mentioned, we covered ch.’s 2 and 3. This week, however, we will be looking at Ch.’s 4-8. That is a lot of material for sure, but there are some common themes throughout the 4 chapters. Additionally, we are advancing in the life of Solomon, the first couple weeks are about Solomon’s rise, while the last 2 are about Solomon getting distracted and taking his eyes off the Lord.

For this week though, Solomon is still being faithful to the Lord, but, we will see the underpinnings of the trouble to come.

Obviously, we are not going to read all of chapter’s 5-8. Rather, I will highlight different sections and point them out as we build this week’s narrative. Let me give you a quick rundown of the overall topic of each chapter

Chapter 4: Lists of Solomon's government officials; list of good required to sustain Solomon’s household; an accounting of all Solomon wrote.

Chapter 5: Solomon begins preparations to begin building the Temple of the Lord; Makes an alliance with King Hiram of Tyre; Solomon begins to use forced labor, in order to build the Temple.

Chapter 6: Solomon begins work on the Temple; the author lists the details and dimensions of the building.

Chapter 7: Work on the Temple continues; the building of Solomon’s home.

Chapter 8: The Temple is complete; the ark of the covenant is brought into the Temple; the glory of God shines; Solomon preaches a sermon.

We open up today with

1 Kings 4: 1

“Now King Solomon was king over all Israel.”

Alright, story told! Everyone say AMEN and let’s go home!

Chapter 4 opens up with the declaration that Solomon is king. This may seem like a captain obvious statement, which I suppose it is, but the Author is simply trying to convey the notion that unlike the very beginning of his reign, where Solomon had to carry out some unpleasantness, in order to secure his throne; by chapter 4, his reign is secure! Solomon has settled in and has begun to establish what he will be like as king. Last week we talked about how different Solomon was from his dad, King David. David was the consummate warrior, while Solomon was, not. That’s not to say that David wasn’t smart or didn’t have a soft heart. He did, scripture makes that clear…but Solomon was still different.

Chapter’s 4-8 include a lot of lists and details about the various building projects that Solomon began to undertake. This may seem inconsequential, but it is not. You see, Solomon’s wisdom did not only affect individual decisions, but it also have him the ability to build some very important things for the nation of Israel.

After the opening in vs. 1, the author begins to list the people who he chose to help with the various building projects he was planning. On down in Ch. 4, 1

1 Kings 4: 29-31

“Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations.”

The author of 1st Kings is driving home the idea that Solomon was indeed a very wise and discerning king. He then lists 4 men to compare the wisdom of Solomon to. These days, that comparison doesn't really give us a frame of reference, as we have no idea who the men are.

We find reference to these men in 3 places (that I could find) in scripture.

Psalm 88

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director; according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

Psalm 89

A Ethan the Ezrahite.

1 Chron. 2:6

“The sons of Zerah were Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Dara; five of them in all.”

These men were probably well known by the author’s audience, and were considered wise in their own right. Apparently Solomon’s wisdom was well known, not just in Israel, but the entire surrounding countries as well. That then rounds out chapter 4.

After I give highlights from each chapter, then we will put them all together and talk about the overall narrative.

1 Kings 5 shifts away from Solomon’s wisdom for a moment and focuses on his political and building activities. In this passage, Solomon obtains the basic materials for the construction of the temple. The text details the trade agreement between Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre, who supplied wood in exchange for wheat and oil

We will get into why the temple is important in just a bit.

1 Kings 5: 12-14

“The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as He promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a covenant. Now King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men. He sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in relays; they were in Lebanon a month and two months at home. And Adoniram was over the forced laborers.”

The kingdom of Tyre was huge. It is in modern day lebanon. According to world history.org, which is a secular site that talks about all the ancient cities of the middle east, they say this about Tyre.

Tyre's Golden Age

Tyre was in its golden age around the 10th century BCE and, in the 8th, was colonizing other sites in the area and enjoying great wealth and prosperity owing primarily to an alliance with Israel. The Tyrian alliance and trade agreement with David, King of Israel, was initiated by the King of Tyre, Abibaal who sent the new king timber from the fabled cedars of Lebanon (as Abibaal's son, Hiram, is said to have done for King David's son Solomon). This alliance resulted in a very lucrative partnership which benefited both parties.

One important thing to understand about Tyre though, is that the city was steeped in pagan worship. Both David and Solomon befriended the nation. The latter part of chapter 5 details how Solomon started using forced labor to build these projects. I won’t take the time to talk about this during this series, but in our upcoming series on “How to read the Bible,” we will talk about how us, as a modern audience, that views forced labor as a very bad things, we will talk about how we should view such things, as one of the main criticism of scripture is stuff like the supposed favorable view that the Bible has on such topics. Not to give too much away, but just because the Bible mentions something doesn’t mean that God ordained it to be good.

Moving on though through 1st kings, we come to ch. 6.

The beginning of 1 Kings 6 details the actual construction of the Temple. All of the preparations have been done and construction began. The book of 2nd Chron. also talks about the construction of the temple…it actually offers up more precise detail

2 Chron. 3: 2

“He began to build on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his reign.”

In ch. 6, the author gives copious details…but about a third of the way through the chapter, the author takes a couple of verses to talk about something else

1 Kings 6: 11-13

“Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying, “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will carry out My word with you which I spoke to David your father. I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.””

This is the second recorded time that the Lord spoke to Solomon, but this time it was about the Temple. Think about all of the people involved in these projects, all of the materials that were used; all of the planning. During times like this, it’s easy to forget the important things, so God wanted to remind Solomon that he must be faithful. We are not sure why God chose this moment to speak with the King; perhaps it was because the Lord was trying to warn him, as God knew what was going to happen. For the most part though, at this point in Solomon’s reign, he was being faithful to the Lord.

In the conclusion of ch. 6, we see the temple being finished up

1 Kings 6: 37-38

“In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all its parts and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.”

So, the actual building was finished, but it was not totally complete, as they still had to furnish it.

1 Kings 7: 1

“Now Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

In chapter 7, Solomon is building his own home, which was very opulent, to say the least. It took 13 years to build, which is about double the amount of time it took to build the Temple. The author take the time to mention that Solomon was using a very skilled worker, whose name happens to be the same as the king of Tyre…Hiram. That can be confusing.

1 Kings 7: 48-51

“Solomon made all the furniture which was in the house of the Lord: the golden altar and the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence; and the lampstands, five on the right side and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary, of pure gold; and the flowers and the lamps and the tongs, of gold; and the cups and the snuffers and the bowls and the spoons and the firepans, of pure gold; and the hinges both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, that is, of the nave, of gold. Thus all the work that King Solomon performed in the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things dedicated by his father David, the silver and the gold and the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.”

So, by the end of ch. 7, Solomon has fully completed both, the temple and his own home. There was only one missing piece for the temple, which will be placed in ch. 8.

To say that Solomon had fancy tastes is an understatement. Again, and I’ll just be honest here, when I look at the extreme excess that was involved in building these 2 buildings, it’s hard for me not to compare it to some of the excess we see today with certain pastors.

Chapter 8 is the last chapter we are covering today, then we will get into some application

The beginning of 1 kings 8 tells us that Solomon and some of the priests and elders brought the ark of the covenant and placed it in the temple. Then starting in vs. 5

1 Kings 8: 5-6

“And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim.”

Can you picture this scene in your head?

(picture of the temple!)

As they place the Ark and are sacrificing animals, God’s glory began to shine.

1 Kings 8: 10-11

“It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.”

The glory of the Lord was so thick, that the priests could not perform their duties…can you imagine just how intense this moment was for Solomon and the people of Israel. The rest of the chapter is Solomon giving a speech; recounting God’s faithfulness and detailing the covenant that God made with Israel, through the line of Solomon’s father, King David.

1 Kings 8:14–20

Then the king faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hand, saying, ‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.’ Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

Solomon knew the significance of the moment. David had desired to build a temple, but God held him off, but promised that his son would one day build the temple. This event was God’s word coming true. Similar to much of our story today, this same account can be found in 2nd Chron. Ch. 6.

The next section of ch. 8 has Solomon blessing the people of Israel and asking God to remember His people going forward, even in the event that they turn from Him.

1 Kings 8: 49-50

“then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them”

After the prayer, Solomon then concludes with more sacrifices; and that is the end of chapter 8.

We covered a lot of material; and there is a ton of directions we could go in applying these passages to our lives. Quite frankly, I could do an entire series on the significance of the Temple, and how you and I are now considered the Temple of God, according to

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

There are some really great parallels between the building of the Temple and our life with Christ. Perhaps we will explore that in the future. For today though, I want our focus to be more about the life of Solomon.

So, between last week and this week, we’ve had Solomon take the throne of Israel, God appears to Solomon in a dream; Solomon asks for wisdom, which God grants him, along with many other blessings. God commissioned Solomon to build the Temple, so Solomon surrounds himself with capable people and successfully builds it. God shows up in a big way when Solomon dedicates the Temple.

Solomon’s reign hasn’t been perfect, but God has blessed it abundantly.

What I want to focus on for the next few moments is something that we don’t always associate with the reign of Solomon…and that is the far reaching consequences of his actions, and how Solomon’s choices ended up affecting an untold amount of people, up to this very day. In other words, Solomon’s choices affected more than just himself, his good choices were the source of blessing, while his bad choices would end up (eventually) causing Israel to split.

Like Solomon, our choices affect more than just our lives.

I’m sure most of you know who this guy is.

(picture of Albert Einstein)

On Nov. 24, 1915, Albert Einstein appeared before the Prussian Science Academy and presented his General Theory of Relativity. Ten years prior he had presented a form of this theory, known as the Special Theory of Relativity. Except, the special theory did not answer all of the questions that plagued Einstein's mind. Einstein’s first theory was only valid under certain conditions…but his second, general theory represented a new way of explaining why certain things in our universe happen.

For example, when we open a door or we pop open a bottle of water, we are the force that makes an object move. But what is the force that causes the Sun pulls on the Earth, that pull is exerted across space—empty space. There is no direct contact. So what invisible hand is at work executing gravity’s bidding? That is what the theory of General Relativity answered.

If it weren’t for Einstein’s desire to share his wisdom with the world, we wouldn’t have half of the scientific discoveries we have today. The way in which we perceive problems and live is due partly to Einstein’s scientific revelations and advancements in understanding physics. In a similar way, Solomon’s use of his God-given gift of wisdom (i.e., his biblical writings), has also affected the world even after his death. This great scientist once was quoted saying:

"I want to know how God created this world. I'm not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are just details."

Or what about this lady:

(PICTURE OF ROSA PARKS)

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, the buses were segregated by color. Certain seats were for white folks and certain seats were for black folks. Well on this particular day, the white section filled up, so the buss driver ordered Rosa to get up, so a white person could sit in her chair. Parks refused to get up and was arrested for her trouble. This caused most sensible people to stop and think about the “separate but equal” claim of segregation.

The decision of Rosa parks that day has affected everyone in her wake. She didn’t freak out and scream, she didn’t resist arrest and make a fool of herself. She simply refused to be a part of a system that treated certain individuals as though they were “less than.”

Those are just a couple of individuals whose choices have changed the way we see the world. Both of those were special moments in history. When King Solomon took the throne of Israel, he could have decided to walk his own path and not obey God. It’s for sure that many kings after him did so. Instead, Solomon asked for wisdom, he was obedient in building the temple, which in turn, fulfilled the promise that God gave to Abraham hundreds of years prior.

Genesis 17: 7-8

“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.””

I’ll use my dad as an example.

My dad was raised in a very poor family in Muncie, Indiana. My grandfather worked at a wire mill. Getting an education was never even thought about, it was never even considered. You got a job in a mill or warehouse, got married young, had kids, and that’s just what you did. That is exactly what my father intended to do. He got married at 19, my mom was 17; he worked at a machine shop and my mom worked at Burger Chef. They adopted Kara, as my mom was told she can’t have kids, but God gifted them with me shortly after they got Kara. If my dad were telling you the story, he would say that twice in his life has he felt that God gave him a dream. In the dream he saw himself in a classroom, he was looking at the professor, who was writing something on the blackboard. He had this dream a few times and felt that God was calling him to go to school. Again, this did not happen in his family. Regardless, dad applied to go to Ball State there in Muncie. Dad ended up graduating with a degree in music. During this time, Dad worked full time, had two kids and was part-time staff at our church.

After graduating, dad was offered to work at a gas station, with the possibility of rapid advancement to management. Well, God saw to it that dad did advance. Eventually, Dad made it all the way up to work in the corporate office, where he because the executive vice-president of Human Resources. Dad was very successful financially; they build a beautiful home in Plain field, Illinois and was living very well. Mom and dad were always super faithful to the church and dad normally served part time wherever we were attending.

All of that would change though, as Dad began to once again felt the Lord prompting him to make a change. This was the second time that God spoke with my dad in a dream. Except this time, dad saw himself not in school, but in the role of a pastor. Long story short, dad ended up leaving the security of his well paying vice-president job and took a full time position as an executive pastor at a smaller church in Bolingbrook, Illinois. This was a huge risk, as dad would be taking a massive pay cut, plus, he had no idea if the church would grow or not.

The church ended up exploding, and for a few years, was the fastest growing AG church in Illinois. He ended up retiring some years later, after the church grew from 200 people to over 1000.

My dad’s decision to be obedient and step out in faith to go to school changed the entire course of not only his life, but the countless people that dad has affected over the past forty years. No doubt, you can look back in your life and see how God ordered your steps, but you might also be able to look back and see times where you maybe weren’t obedient.

One of the biggest mistakes we make in life is forgetting how much our actions influence the people around us. Every day you are tempted to make decisions that may seem best for you but could have a devastating effect on the people around you. If you want to make wise decisions, you need to ask,

How will my choice affect those around me?

That’s the opposite of our culture. Our society teaches us to think only of ourselves. But God wants you to think about others, not just yourself. In fact, the Bible says that one day you’re going to be judged by God on how your decisions affected other people.

Romans 14:12-13

“So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way.”

Mature people limit their freedom for the benefit of others. Not because you’re afraid of what other people think, but because you’re motivated by love. In situations where there is no clear right or wrong, you have to ask yourself, “How will my decision affect other people?”

Think about just 2 decisions in scripture that ended up affecting all of humanity, for eternity.

Adam & Eve’s decision to sin

Romans 5: 12-14

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

Through Adam, sin entered into the human race, everyone born since then has a sinful nature and are separated from God. Adams and Eve’s choice held major consequences, that goes without saying! But thankfully, God made a way, and the first part of that was to establish a covenant with His people…specificily through the line of King David, through which would come the savior of all mankind.

Christ’s Sacrifice

Romans 5: 19-21

“For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

when Solomon was dedicating the Temple, he had no idea that what he was doing was a pre-cursor and just a small sample of what Christ would do generations later. Christ would become not only our king, but also our high priest and the sacrifice all in one, through Christ the concept of the temple and sacricies were made perfect. Just as sin came into the world through Adam, and we’ve suffered the conseqeunces of that, we have also gain access to Christ. Christ chose to obey, and as a result, you and I have access to His righteousness

In our daily walk, we make (it’s said) upwards of 2000 decisions, from when to get up, to when to go to bed. Many of those decisions will affect others. This is why we are instructed to “Consider others over ourselves,” as none of us are an island unto our selves.

Next week we will begin to explore the negative aspects of Solomon’s choices, as people can either be blessed or not by our decisions.

My challenge to you this week is to be intentional about your choices. Remember the many examples we talked about today. Remember that, according to proverbs, the steps of a righteous man are ordered of God; but we must live that out daily.

Let’s Pray!