We’ve all heard of Solomon’s Temple, but there is a lot more to King Solomon than just that, amazing feat though it is.
We learn most of what we know of Solomon from the Book of Kings & the Book of Chronicles about Solomon the wealthy & wise.
Solomon was the son of King David & therefore the first in that auspicious lineage that would lead eventually to Jesus. He is also the last ruler of a truly united Judah. After his death, the Kingdom of Israel would split from the Kingdom of Judah.
Earlier we talked about the history of King Saul & King David because they are important in understanding the beginning of the history of the kings of the Bible, but we didn’t really enter too much into their family life or how they relate to our world today, & particularly to the work of Makanalani Kids. We hope to remedy that with these further posts.
Part of the reason that we didn’t get into more detail is that, well, there is not that much detail about the personal life of these ancient kings & what there is is not always the family life that we would like today. Things were different & things were difficult in the past, & we must remember that although these monarchs were devotees of the Lord, they did not have the grace of Christ in their lives.
Solomon was the second son of David & Bathsheba. The first died as a punishment for the death of Bathsheba’s first husband, Uriah — we told you things were tough back then & the Lord was unforgiving of sin, even the sin of a great man like David.
But Solomon was a holy man who sacrificed to God & prayed for wisdom. Those prayers were, of course, answered, as all of our prayers are in one way or another. In this case, Solomon was promised great wisdom, a long life & the death of his enemies because he asked for something that would help all of his people, not something for just himself. This is a lesson of prayer & appropriate as we approach the time of Thanksgiving & of the birth of Christ — a prayer that is offered sincerely for the aid of others will be answered many times over. This is certainly something that we have experienced with Makanalani & the beautiful prayers of the many Christian kids who visit us here on Kauai.
But even wise Solomon was not without sin. He allowed himself to be influenced by those he loved & built temples to false gods. The Lord’s punishment for this was to divide the Kingdom of Judah after Solomon’s death, a fate that he revealed to Solomon so that the king would know that all of his hard work was compromised by his misdeeds.
Never are we so big, or so small, that we are not beholden to the Lord. Even great kings can see their work undone by sinning against the will of God.
Here is the passage from 1 Kings 11:30-34 that describes the punishment:
30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][a] forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.
34 “‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees.
Solomon did live to be about 80 years old, & he did reconcile with the Lord, but what might have been a great united family was shattered by his wrong-doing. In holding our families close & keeping our loved ones with us, it is important for us all to always remember the commandments & to listen with our hearts & minds to the Word of God.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
