Monday, November 11, 2019

Since you have not kept my covenant and my decrees (1 kings 9b-11 note)


1 Kings 9:10-11:43
11: 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.
1.      [9:10-25] What did Solomon give to Hiram? When and why (10-14; Ref. 5:7-11)? Whom did Solomon conscript (15, 20-23)?  To build what (15-19; 25-26)? Why was it necessary (Cf. Exo 35:4-19)? During this time, what did Solomon do for the Lord (25a)? Why (25b)? 
The construction lasted for 20 years, 7 years for the temple, and 14 years for his palace and its associated projects. The project began with a cordial and friendly cooperation with Hiram. Solomon earned his full-hearted backing with a good contract to pay him a hefty sum of 20 thousand cors of wheat and 20 thousand cors of oil (5:7-11). After finishing all the projects, Solomon gave him a piece of land, twenty towns in Galilee. Most likely this was an underdeveloped and sparsely populated piece of land that God gave to Israel. Also, it was noted that Hiram had given Solomon a large sum of gold, 120 talents. Why did he give this piece of land to Hiram? One thing he felt obligated to give him something because Hiram did something valuable—the full support for the entire project of building, supplying all the woods, which was a vital part of this project. In addition, he gave such a large amount of gold.  On receiving the piece of land, Hiram was not happy. He was the most important associated with the project for over 20 years. But in the end, Solomon left Hiram a sour taste. What does this tell us? a) it might be a sign of financial stress, unable to give Hiram more of what he needed and that he had no choice but to give him a piece of land. b) Hiram was not happy with the gift and named it Kabul (nothing or worthless), indicating that the most important relationship in the entire project was getting shaken. c) This seems to serve as an indicator of the early sign of stress in his relationship with the rest of the people.  In other words, he began to have trouble meeting the needs of people; if he could not meet the need of the most important associate, then how could he have met the needs of common workers? This leads to the second part of the stress, the conscription.

But there is a more serious problem than the stress that began to crack the relationship with Hiram. The 20 towns of Galilee were sparsely populated and underdeveloped and it was given to Israel from the Lord and the land was not Israel’s but God’s. And yet he gave it away, not to a member of Israel but to a foreigner. Underneath such effort was his strong will to achieve his goal; to uphold his power and glory, even by compromising God’s word. Or he fell into a situation whereby he had no choice but to give even this land in order to maintain the relationship. In other words, the time has arrived to eat the crops of the wrongs that he had made through the building project, the situation that forced him to go against the Word of the Lord.

Conscription: He had so many projects for a long time; apart from the temple and palace, he built-up four building projects within his personal land: Lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the desert. In addition to these, he built all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses--whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled (v19). All these projects were for his own and came out of his desire (“whatever he desired”) The immensity of his project is in the number of the chief officials (550 total v23)

What does all this mean? He had no choice but to use all foreigners in order to accomplish the whole project, though God taught Israel that they must get rid of all ungodly people of the land (Deut ) This is also against God’s way of building his tabernacle (Exo 35:4-18). Was it for his glory or for the glory of the LORD? If the temple was to be built, it must be voluntary with willing heart: willingness to give and to serve as workers. What about a temple built by hard labors? King is to promote peoples’ hearts toward the Lord for His glory. From the moment when they were forced, there is no heart but hard labor.   Simply the conscription of people speaks of the stress of the people of the nation that was driven by “the desires of Solomon’s heart”.
As we noted, Solomon built the temple and continued on building his palace and other structures (if we take ch 6-7-8 recordings chronologically: temple—palace—furnishing of the temple—the dedication of the temple). After finishing all these, he furnished the temple and dedicated it to the Lord. There was no clear-cut priority on building the temple over his palace or other his personal projects.  All the setup he created to build the temple, i.e., organization of manpower, system to mobilize all the materials, and so on, was used to his personal project; it was his wisdom to complete the immense project efficiently and economically.  

During this time, how did Solomon serve the Lord? Only one verse denotes what Solomon did for the Lord; he did the basic obligation; burnt offering and fellowship offering (Exo 20:24). These are the basic offerings to keep access to the LORD open. What is missing or not mentioned?  Where are the celebrations of three festivals every year and seventh Sabbath years? The author notes that he did this to fulfill the temple obligations. This is a very interesting note; his obligation was not to the Lord but to the temple; Simply he did this out of his duty, not with a thankful and grateful heart.
Where was his heart? The last and final work of Solomon was to get gold from Ophir. Ophir had a rich gold mine.  He mobilized Hiram to get help from his men to operate Solomon’s fleet to get this gold, an immense amount (420 talent). His shrewdness and wisdom were par above all. This one event epitomizes what Solomon had in his heart.

Having assessed the full scope of his work, now God sent Queen of Sheba to give Solomon full appraisal of his works.

2.      [10:1-29] When and why did the Queen of Sheba come to see Solomon (1)? What did she see and test Solomon of (2-5)? What did she come to believe (6-7)? How were the people of Israel blessed (8-9a)? Why (9b)? Discuss what did she mean by 9b? Describe and discuss the extent and focus of the wealth of Solomon (14-29).
a)     God sent the queen of Sheba to reveal the truth on Solomon’s glory and prosperity (10:1-13):
The purpose of the queen of Sheba was clear; to test if what she heard was true; she heard of Solomon’s fame and behind him was the LORD who made him so great. After testing out Solomon, she was overwhelmed by her finding for his wisdom and wealth was far exceeding the report that she heard. She concluded her testimony in v 8-9.

8 How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD's eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness."
She said that all of his people should be very happy to hear his wisdom while not making any comment on his wealth. We know that Solomon got his wisdom from the Lord. She tributes all these blessings for his people to the LORD their God. In other words, she recognized that overwhelming wealth and wisdom was God’s blessing. God made him king and has kept his delight in Solomon for the purpose of maintaining justice and righteousness. This is the direct offense against the injustice that he did through the process of building so many things for his sake, conscription being the central focus of that injustice.  In this way, she pointed out that God’s primary purpose of all these blessings in and through Solomon was to maintain justice and righteousness (Ref. 2 Chr 9:8). In the previous paragraph, the author listed facts that testify to the lack of justice and righteousness. Now through this queen, like Melchizedek, the king of Salem, to Abraham (Gen 14:18-20), through her God gives a warning; be thankful to the Lord and to sure to do what is right and just in the eyes of the Lord.
Such lack of justice and righteousness is a tangential blame for his lack of shepherd heart for God’s people. His father David fiercely defended God’s people and was recognized by the ten tribes as their shepherd. The lack of shepherd heart was the root cause of the success of Jeroboam’s rebellion. God rejected all other princes because they did not share the spirit that David had. Solomon was the best to carry the spirit that David had. Yet, even knowing so well of his father’s faithfulness, Solomon failed to follow him.     
b)     Solomon accumulated his wealth and upheld his glory and power.
At the outset of his note on Solomon’s accumulation of wealth, the author says that Solomon received 666 talents of gold (25 metric tons). This is an immense quantity of gold. Yet this is not the total amount of gold he received but the amount that he received a yearly.  The focus of this statement seems to be the fact that he received this from many kings. The number six is man’s number. Triple six indicates fullness or completeness or perfectness (E.W. Bullinger Number in scripture p282). In other words, the respect and honor from all those kings to Solomon was the next to none, implying that Solomon was the greatest king in the eyes of men.  Such respect was not a one-time recognition but was on-going throughout Solomon’s tenure the king of Israel. The wealth that he received from these kings was far greater than he could amass from trades or in addition to what he could get from the trades of Arabian kings and lords. Here we see that the greatness of Solomon and the respect and honor that he received was measured by the amount of gold or by the amount of the things that he could accumulate.
Where and how was this used? He used the gold for making shields, large and small. He decorated his throne with gold and made goblets and household items with gold. The palace and the temple of the Lord were side by side. The glory of the palace and all the things in it were far glaring in comparison to the temple. In denoting these facts, the subject of the sentence is repeatedly Solomon or the king. By upholding the name Solomon, the author alludes that there was little or none that he did for the nation or for the people of the nation.
All these says one thing; Solomon violated the Lord’s command:
16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. (Deut 17)
20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. (Deut 17)

3.      [11:1-3] Whom, how many, and how did Solomon love as his wives and concubines (11:1,3)? What does this tell us about his heart (2, 4-8; Deut 7:1-3; Ref. Ps 72; Eccl 7:23-29)? Discuss the nature of sexual ungodliness and idol worship in their relationship (ref. Gen 6:1-2, 5-6; Rom 1:24-25, 26-28)
The last and final indictment of the wrongs of Solomon is his love for foreign women. The writer pointed out his wrong on three accounts: First his love for Pharaoh’s daughter was quite on the par with his love for the Lord. Such an attitude was revealed when he built a palace for her along with his soon after building the temple. Second, the law forbids marrying a pagan woman, esp. the inhabitants of the promised land (v1-2; Deut 7:1-3). Against this, he married women of his choice. Third, he held fast to them in love. The implication is that God’s command was not heard in his heart or his love for these wives neutralized the power of God’s commands through God’s warning was unambiguously clear (Deut 7: 4).
Eventually, these wives (one thousand of them) was powerful enough to turn his heart from the Lord. A husband and his wife are one body. There is nothing hidden between them. If there is an ideological difference, this is the first place where that war will break out and where one’s belief will be tested and tried out whether his or her faith is genuine or not or for the Lord or not. At the beginning of his tenure as king, he deeply recognized God’s grace given to him through the Lord’s trust in his father David (3:6-9). His faith was as good as his father David’s. But in the course of time, he made a number of ungodly choices, the number one of them being his love for women. The final toll of this wrong choice fell on him hard as he could not overcome the ungodly forces of his foreign wives. His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord and followed the gods of Sidonians and Ammonites. The final word of God’s judgment is delivered
6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
Before moving on to the discussion on God’s judgment, it’s good to stop for a moment and think about what drove him to take a thousand wives and what might be the effect of holding on to the love of women.

Solomon’s love for a woman of beauty or standing was well revealed in what he did, building a palace, for his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh (7:8). This one little breaking of God’s command opened a flood gate of an unrestrained pursuit of his passion and care for women. Nevertheless, to our common knowledge, Solomon’s desire for having a thousand wives is beyond our normal understanding of humanity. Whenever the scripture puts up an unusual fact of life, it is worthy to look into it for God’s speaks for a truth that is hidden in this excessiveness of human desire for women. What I mean is that simply excessive lust or care for women could not explain fully what Solomon did.  God gave Solomon wisdom. He wrote Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes, the word, ‘search’ appears seven times.

Ecclesiastes 7:25 So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.
Ecclesiastes 7:28 while I was still searching but not finding-- I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. 7:29 This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes." (NIV)

Ecclesiastes 8:17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it. (Ecc 8:17 NIV)
Ecclesiastes 12:8 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!" 9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails--given by one shepherd.
Solomon had wisdom that was far above all men. But rich wisdom was not helpful for him to have or to develop faith. Exercising exhaustive use of the wisdom that God gave, he searched for the truth of life (the ‘efforts to understand’ appears quite often in the Proverbs).  Eventually, he confessed that it is not wisdom but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pro 9:10). Having so many wives might be one of those searches to know about himself and about womanhood in relationship to his own needs.

This is well revealed in Eccl 7:23-29
23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said, "I am determined to be wise"-- but this was beyond me. 24 Whatever exists is far off and most profound-- who can discover it?
26 I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare. 27 "Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have discovered: "Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-- 28 while I was still searching but not finding-- I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. 29 This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes."
V23-24 is about his effort to live wisely with his wisdom, particularly in regard to dealing with his wives or women. Wisdom is something of an intellectual realm to understand things correctly. Being wise is doing things right. Wisdom is not translated directly into being wise. The problem he found was that he wanted to do according to his wisdom but he realized that he did not do things wisely. Here is a gap between his knowledge and his actions. He says that what lies in between these two is beyond his ability to perceive. Here Solomon starkly reveals the finite nature of wisdom or right and just living has little to do wisdom and knowledge. (Cf. Rom 7:15)

This wisdom is rooted in his extensive experience in handling women. In v 26, he confesses that his desire for the care and love of woman is a snare and trap that he could not get out. Once his care for a woman rises up in his heart, it is unbreakable. All men are in such a trap when one gives his heart fully to a woman. Also, no man can get out of it by his own strength unless he gives his heart to the LORD. He continues what he was doing. He was constantly searching for men or women who are upright. One might find one righteous among a thousand men. But not one among women was upright. Was Solomon looking for a woman of upright heart who would accompany him?  Here we see that he had an intense desire for one who is upright. He searched among men and also among women. His efforts were totally frustrated because there was none. 1) he ran his life with an intense search of someone who was upright. It is more than possible that he hoped to find ‘uprightness’ in the tenderness or love of women. But this frustrated him again and again. 2) His mind was void of ‘uprightness’ and searched intensely for such a person, with whom he could relate and find solace. But there was none. His experience speaks powerfully: the need for what is in the depth of man’s heart can never be quenched by what a woman has or can give.
Can anyone declares such an audacious statement without such an overwhelming experience in life?  When one speaks out of such overwhelming experiences, how do we have to take his word?

What truth does this lead us to? I remember the day when I proposed to then my dear loving friend Reb. I was thinking that if I have a loving wife, my search for the life-in-happiness and meaning could be at least half-fulfilled. The most intense need of man is the need of a loving wife. But Solomon’s experience speaks powerfully that even with a loving wife, the need of man’s heart is never quenched. More often then not, the need for comfort and sense of good and righteousness becomes more intense because these things are not there within the relationship in marriage, the place where it is expected that the need for life is quenched and fulfilled.

The most common theme of blessing for a marriage is for the couple to live happily ever after. Solomon’s life denies this positively and convincingly. Did he find the love that could satisfy him? He said that there was none upright in women. All are searching for a scheme of things for their own good.
When a man understands his life with his wife properly and truthfully, he set his life in a high way to success and meaningful life. But one’s heart is snared by desires for women, then this would be the beginning of his downhill toward the travails of life and futility. The life of Solomon speaks powerfully of this truth.

Man’s sin begins with uncontrolled or misguided relationships with women. The author of this book signaled the beginning of this by noting on Solomon’s building of a palace for his Egyptian wife (7:8). He pointed out this again at 11:1. This is followed by indictment on taking many foreign wives, even from those nations that God forbid (11:1b-3). This is followed by full apostasy (4-6). Ungodly pursuit of women is the early sign or the beginning of the fall of man. This leads to open apostasy and rebellion, and then to violence and all kinds of depravity. This sequence of event is found in the life of Cain’s decedents (Gen 4:17-24), just before the flood (Gen 6:1-6).  Paul points out the sins of men in the same manner; sexual immorality and then depravity (Rom 1:24-31)
Sexual impropriety is ubiquitous in this nation. Staggering number of divorces and sexual violence as well as the story of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking involving top political figures of this nation speak powerfully how this nation is downward spiral to full apostasy.

4.      [11:4-13] How was God’s anger progressed (2, 6, 9)? What was the verdict (10) and delivery of judgment (11)? Even with such an outright violation of the Lord’s command, why did He give such a favor (12-13; ref. 2 Sam 7:14-15)?
Solomon went against the word of God: you must not intermarry with them(2a). But he stayed unrelenting and without repentance. Instead, he held fast to them in love (2b). He was led astray by his wives (3) His heart was turned his heart after other gods (4). He followed the detestable god of the Ammonites (5). All these lead to the final verdict: So, Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
His uncontrolled desire or lust to meet his need led him to outright disobedience to the LORD.
He did not follow the LORD completely as David his father had done.: in the process of handing down kingship of David, the main question was who has the spirit of David. Solomon was the one because he knew so well of David’s humble heart to the LORD (3:6). It is because Solomon’s life was built in or the product of David’s repentance and belief in God’s forgiveness. No other children had such spirit built in their being. Nevertheless, he fell short of the faith of his father David. This has two implications: first God’s discipline will begin according to the promise he made to David (2 Sam 7:14). Second, in spite of his discipline, he would not take the throne from David (2 Sam 7:15). The rest of the history of the kingdom is to be understood on these two promises of God.

According to His promise, God spoke directly to Solomon of his sin and his punishment. The ground for his punishment is God’s covenant. As we noted previously, the kingdom is absolutely under the Law of Covenant. As the punishment for the violation of the law of Covenant, He will tear the kingdom away from Solomon, implying that any king who violate the law of Covenant shall stand as king in His kingdom. Nevertheless, He would do two favors for him on behalf of David. First. He would not tear apart the nation during Solomon’s tenure as king. Second, He would leave one tribe for Solomon’s descendant. Here two things are at work: the law of Covenant and God’s promise in His grace.

5.      [11:14-43] Whom and how did the Lord raise up against Solomon (14-25; Ref 2 Sam 8:3-8, 13-14; Cf. 2 Sam 8:14b)? Who and how did the Lord raise the third adversary (26-40)?  Discuss how each of these three posed a threat to Solomon’s kingdom and the purpose of God in it. Compare the last days of Solomon with David’s (41-43; 1 King 2:1-12)

God raise up three adversaries: Hadad, an Edomite, Rezon son of Eliada;
a.      Hadad established his kingdom in the south—married a sister of Pharaoh; Edomite
b.      Rezon established his force in the north-Sidonia (Zobah)
c.      Jeroboam was established as king within the kingdom;
In three fronts, God raised Solomon’s adversaries.

Jeroboam (26-40)
a.      from the tribe of Ephraim, a northern clan. A widow’s son. His mother was a harlot?   
b.      All these adversaries were raised by God’s hand or by His permissive will to challenge
c.      he was in charge of the labor force for the building project.  “28 Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph.” What it means that he did his work well is not clear—he got things done effectively? Or the ability to handle people well?  Later we know that he earned the respect of the ten tribes. Possible he had compassion and care for the people in the midst of ‘hard labor’ and that earned him respect. Because of a compassionate heart, that was lacking in Solomon, he might have demonstrated through his oversight on labor forces.
d.      God gave him the same principle that was given to David and Solomon
                                       i.           33 I will do this because they have 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.
                                     ii.           37 However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel.
38 If you do whatever I command you and walk-in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.
                                   iii.           39 I will humble David's descendants because of this, but not forever.'"—What God was doing for him was in part to humble the descendants of David. Also, he had not abandoned his promise to David. He will surely restore David’s dynasty.

Solomon did not have anything to hand down to his son Rehoboam, as David did for Solomon. 

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