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.

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

We learn from this passage that King David had left Solomon a unified country with no enemies threatening it.  King Solomon was able to build upon this and maintain the peace for which his father had fought.  King Solomon established a bureaucracy which allowed him to spend time studying many other things without having to spend all of his time governing. It seems that this study did not just generate useless knowledge since the kings of many nations sent envoys to learn from King Solomon.

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.

I noted yesterday that Shimei was one of the people who refused to support Adonijah’s bid to become King David’s successor.  Yet here in today’s passage we see Solomon ordering Shimei to never again leave Jerusalem, and having him executed when he eventually does so.  David’s instructions to Solomon regarding Shimei in this passage makes one wonder why David had been so angry with Abishai over Abishai’s wish to kill Shimei for cursing King David.  The only conclusion that I can reach is that Shimei controlled a political faction or trade which was essential to the well being of the kingdom of Israel. I would also note that there are hints here, and elsewhere, that Shimei may have worked to undermine King David’s attempts to consolidate power.

I always debate about writing about Solomon responding to God by asking for wisdom, or his decision between the two women.  Today, I am going to try to combine them.  When God told Solomon to ask him for whatever he wanted God to give him, Solomon asked for the discerning heart needed to properly govern God’s people.  This was consistent with the wisdom which Solomon showed in recognizing that Adonijah’s request to marry Abishag was a second attempt to steal the throne (Solomon had given Adonijah the benefit of the doubt on his first attempt as Adonijah could claim he thought the throne would come to him as the elder son), and in giving Shimei an opportunity to live out his life, despite Shimei’s apparent attempts to undermine the power of the throne.  Then in his judgement between the two women Solomon shows his true wisdom.  Usually I here people who comment on this judgement say that Solomon showed great wisdom in determining which of the women was the boy’s biological mother.  In fact, Solomon did not determine which was the child’s biological mother.  Instead, he determined which woman loved the boy in the way that a mother ought to love her son.  Solomon did not care which woman had given birth to the boy.  He sought to determine which woman would be mother to the boy, and the answer to that question was the one who would rather give up her claim than see the boy harmed. Let us judge people as Solomon judged these two women and let us treat others as the woman who was willing to see another benefit at her expense rather than see someone else come to harm.

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