Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 4-6.

King Solomon inherited a kingdom at peace, and was able to maintain that peace (for the most part, a later passage touches on some of the disturbances which happened later in his reign).  Solomon maintained peace in his kingdom by delegating authority to well chosen subordinates.   As a result, King Solomon was able to dedicate time to becoming knowledgeable about many different subjects.  This passage shows the important connection between wisdom and knowledge.  Wisdom will lead us to seek the knowledge necessary to make wise decisions, but knowledge does not make us wise.  I wrote above that King Solomon maintained peace by carefully delegating authority.  However, another element in maintaining the peace within his kingdom was the fact that he built the Temple.  The passage tells us that Solomon was able to build the Temple because he had peace, but it also allowed him to maintain that peace.  By focusing the practice of worshiping God in Jerusalem, he brought the people of Israel together.  They came from all parts of his kingdom with a common interest in worshiping God.  That connection made them feel like one people, and it caused them to have a unified understanding of what it meant to worship God.  It should encourage us to gather with other Believers so that we can both learn from them what God has revealed to them and teach them what God has revealed to us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 2-3.

On his deathbed King David asked Solomon to settle some scores that he, David, had never been able to settle.  David asked Solomon to make sure that Joab and Shimei did not go into the grave in peace, but he also asked Solomon to care for the sons of Barzillai.  I find it interesting that King Solomon did not take action against Joab or Abiathar until after Adonijah asked to marry Abishag, King David’s final concubine.  It is clear that Solomon considered Adonijah’s request to marry Abishag as an attempt to position himself to take the throne from Solomon, a study of the history of dynastic wars shows Solomon to have reason to believe this to be the case.  So, did Solomon take action against Abiathar and Joab at that point because he believed that they had conspired with Adonijah to make this move?  While the passage does not tell us that they had so conspired, they may well have done so.

The passage then goes on discuss King Solomon’s wisdom.  When Solomon had a dream of God telling him to ask God for whatever he wanted God to give him, Solomon responded by requesting discernment in order to better govern the people of Israel.  God was so pleased by Solomon’s request that He promised to grant Solomon discernment, wealth, and a long life.  The writer is not even trying to be subtle in praising King Solomon for his wisdom.  If we ask God for wisdom, He will always grant it to us.  That wisdom may lead us to wealth and a long life, but even if it does not, we will still have wisdom.  On the other hand, if we seek wealth and/or a long life as our first priority, the pursuit of those things will not lead to wisdom, nor the joy which comes from wisdom.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 20-22.

There are many lessons we can learn from reading the account of Ben-Hadad’s assaults on Israel given here.  First we see that Ben-Hadad got himself into trouble because he overreached.  King Ahab and the people of Samaria were willing to give tribute to Ben-Hadad rather than risk fighting against his army.  However, when Ben-Hadad increased his demand to allow his troops to sack the city, the people of Samaria decided to fight.  Ben-Hadad demonstrates his over confidence several more times in ways which led to his defeat.  Then, Ben-Hadad and his advisers made the mistake of thinking their defeat was because God was a god of the hills and that they could defeat Israel in the plains.  And once again they suffered defeat.  This second defeat occurred for two reasons, two closely related reasons. Ben-Hadad and his advisers refused to accept that their first defeat resulted from their own mistakes, mistakes which were caused by their arrogance.  This led them to their second mistake.  Since their first defeat could not possibly have been their own fault, it must have resulted from the power of the God of Israel.  That could have been the start of wisdom.  However, they concluded that God was limited and they could outmaneuver Him.  God’s power is not limited and He caused them to repeat their mistake.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 18-19.

I am always struck by Elijah’s showmanship in this passage.  The prophets of Ball put on a great show as part of their worship, but Elijah manages to upstage them.  As a first step, Elijah let them go first.  The prophets of Baal sang and danced and  shouted.  They even began to cut themselves to work the people up.  Then comes the key to Elijah’s part of the show: he began to make people aware that for all of the show put on by the prophets of Baal, nothing happened.  Finally, when people were starting to think about dinner, after waiting all day for the sacrificial feast, Elijah calls them over to him.  Elijah starts his part of the show by making sure the people know he did not have any fire hidden in the altar.  Then, instead of a complex ritual to inflame the people’s passions, Elijah prayed a simple prayer which amounted to “God, show Your power!”  I will note that this approach has psychological power to effect people’s emotions.  Elijah put on this show to demonstrate that true worship does not need to be big and showy, that something simple and focused on God can be more meaningful.

In a way, the second part of this passage tells the same message on a more personal level.  Elijah had just put on the show of his life, getting the people of Israel to see the contrast between God and Baal.  Yet Jezebel was still Queen and more determined than ever to have him killed.  So, Elijah fled to Mt Horeb (where Moses received the Ten Commandments.  It is not clear if Mt Sinai and Mt Horeb are the same mountain, or if they are across a valley from each other).  There God appeared to him, but not in a loud, showy way.  God appeared to Elijah in a quiet whisper.  Then when Elijah complained that he was the only one of God’s prophets left, God told him to go and anoint Elisha as his successor (indicating that there were indeed other prophets of God remaining).  Further, God told Elijah that there were seven thousand in Israel quietly living their lives and worshiping Him, completely rejecting Baal worship.  Not all of us are called to loudly and brashly proclaim God as Elijah was.  Some of us are called to quietly live our lives, proclaiming our faith in God by our refusal to take part in the idolatry going on around us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 15-17.

We learn something about Rehoboam and his son by reading between the lines when the passage discusses Asa, Rehoboam’s grandson, taking the throne.  It tells us that Asa brought into the Temple the articles which had been dedicated to God by his father.  While this does not directly tell us anything about Rehoboam, it seems unlikely that Asa’s father would have dedicated items to the Lord, if his father before him had not worshiped the Lord along with the other gods he worshiped.  This fact does not redeem Rehoboam, since God does not accept worship if the worshiper also worships other gods, but it explains how the early kings of Judah were different from the kings of Israel.  This helps explain how Judah managed to have some righteous kings while the kings of Israel became ever more wicked.  In this passage we see the effects of having an unrighteous government, as kingship changed hands by violent overthrow in Israel as often as it passed peacefully from one king to the next.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 13-14.

We can learn an important lesson from the man of God who prophesied against Jeroboam’s altar.  When offered reward from Jeroboam to violate a command which God had given him, the man of God refused.  I want to note that when Jeroboam made the offer he did not know that God had commanded the man of God to turn down any such offer.  Yet, a short time later, the man of God allowed someone who claimed to be a prophet to convince him that God had given the prophet a different command than the one He had given the man of God.  The prophet claimed that God had told him to bring the man of God back to his home and feed him.  The passage tells us that the prophet lied when he said this, but even if what he said was true, it does not change the fact that God had given the man of God a different command.  We must be careful not to allow those who claim to speak on behalf of God to convince us to do that which God has commanded us not to do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 11-12.

The passage tells us that King Solomon had many wives from nations which God had told the Israelites they were not to intermarry.  The passage also tells us that they turned his heart to other gods, in particular, Ashtoreth, Molek, and Chemosh. Worship of the latter two gods involved human sacrifice.  While the worship of Ashtoreth involved sexual actsWhich tells us that when the passage tells us that Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, it was not just referring to the fact that he worshiped other gods.  It is referring to what actions Solomon took as part of that worship.   The result of this behavior was that God allowed opposition to rise against King Solomon, both foreign and domestic.  I am not sure what to make of the fact that Egypt’s Pharaoh supported at least two of Solomon’s opponents even though Solomon was married to Pharaoh’s daughter (although it is likely that the Pharaoh who supported Solomon’s opponents was not the one who was Solomon’s father-in-law).

I find it interesting that the heading the translators gave this section was “Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon”.  Yet, all the passage tells us is that a prophet told Jeroboam that God would give him ten of the tribes to be ruler over and that because of this Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam.  In addition, before this, King Solomon had put Jeroboam in charge of the labor he levied from the tribes of Joseph (technically, this would mean the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, but I suspect it means all of the tribes other than Judah and Benjamin).  This fact about Jeroboam being charge of Solomon’s labor force becomes significant when Jeroboam leads the tribes which ask Rehoboam to reduce the burden which Solomon had placed upon them.  This suggests that Jeroboam was genuinely interested in reaching a deal with Rehoboam, even though he had the message from the prophet telling him that God would take the ten tribes from Solomon’s son.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 9-10.

When Solomon had completed building the Temple and his own palace, God appeared to him a second time (the previous time being when Solomon asked God for the wisdom to rule over His people).  God responded to Solomon’s prayer dedicating the Temple.  God told Solomon that His eyes and heart would always be present there.  Then God told Solomon that if he, or his descendants turn away from God, the Temple would become a ruin which would stand as a monument to their unfaithfulness (and, as a corollary of that a monument to God’s faithfulness).  I want to note that when God referred to Solomon He used the second person plural pronoun, meaning that He was talking not just to King Solomon, but to all of the people of Israel.  I think it is worth noting that the Temple is indeed a heap of rubble which stands as a monument to this day.  Yes, the Temple was rebuilt twice after being destroyed by conquerors, but I still think that its current status represents a memorial to God’s promise to King Solomon, and reminder to all of us of the dangers of turning our backs on God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.