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August 16, 2009
“Solomon’s Choice”
I Kings 3: 1-15
Sunday, August 16, 2009
We all know that Solomon was the Son of King David who was chosen to be David’s Successor to the throne of Israel. But I want to remind you that Solomon did not ascend to the throne easily or without controversy.
In Royal families, the oldest Son was usually chosen to be the successor to the throne. Solomon was not the oldest. Of David’s 19 sons who are named in the bible, Solomon appears to have been the 10th. Now by the time David was ready to place his successor on the throne, the oldest 3 of his sons had already died, but that means that there were still 6 sons ahead of Solomon in line to be the next King of Israel.
David had already announced to his family that Solomon had been chosen by God and him to be his successor. But as David was declining in health and needed to be replaced as king, he had still not made plans to have Solomon’s coronation. So Adonijah, David’s oldest living son made a move to get himself declared as King. He had the support of the High Priest and David’s chief general Joab.
When David found out about Adonijah’s attempt to become king, David had Solomon’s Coronation ceremony and Solomon was officially recognized as the King of Israel. That did not stop Adonijah from making one more attempt to become king. For that, Solomon had him and General Joab executed and he removed the High Priest from office.
Solomon was now officially the King of Israel, but he had no reason to believe that there would be no further attempts by others in his family or other former advisors to his father to usurp his kingdom. This is probably why we see the new king Solomon, about 20 years old, going to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to God at some festival. With all of the possible threats to his kingdom, he needed God’s help and support.
Incidentally, we find him going to Gibeon for his sacrifices and to worship because that is where the Tabernacle was at that time. The Ark of the Covenant which was supposed to be in the Tabernacle was in Jerusalem awaiting the construction of the Temple, but the Tabernacle was in Gibeon.
While Solomon was in Gibeon for the Holy festival, God came to him in a dream. God said to Solomon “Ask what I should give you.”
What would you do if God asked you what you wanted Him to give you? If almighty God asked you what he could do for you, what would your answer be? Would you claim some favor for yourself or your family? Would you ask for world peace or prosperity for the people of the world? I suppose the answer would depend on what stage of life you were in and what your responsibilities were at the time.
Solomon was the 20-year-old king of a nation that had under his father emerged as a world power. There were a lot of buildings to be built, including a Temple for God’s people to Worship the One True God. There were many people to govern. There were officials to appoint. There were decisions that had to be made, and Solomon felt that he was in way over his head. He was a mere child in a world of skilled and shrewd adults.
Solomon did not ask for a larger kingdom or greater wealth for himself or for his people. He did not ask for a larger or stronger army. He did not ask for wise and influential advisors.
Solomon’s reply to God is given in verse 9, “Give your servant … an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?
Solomon did not ask God for knowledge, he asked Him for understanding. That he would be able to understand the real issues that would come before him and would be able to cut through the surface issues and the special interest groups and the political pressures that all rulers face. And he asked that this understanding would enable him in all things to discern between Good and evil.
Knowledge is a command of the facts. That may not help you to work toward a solution of a conflict. A wise and understanding mind is something else.
Understanding helps you get to the truth. In the later part of the 3rd chapter of I Kings, there is recorded one of the famous early decisions of Solomon. It is the case of the two mothers who claimed the same living baby. Solomon’s solution to the problem demonstrates his way in that case of getting to the proper solution, which was uniting the baby with his real mother. The threat to cut the baby in half was just a way to reveal who the real mother was. This case reveals something else about true discernment: it doesn’t always give us solutions that are repeatable. This solution would only work once. There is always a tendency to take a wise decision and force it on all cases that seem similar. True discernment will consider each case and search for the truth and the Good resolution in each.
As we begin the Sunday School year and the Academic year at our public schools and look toward the beginning of another academic year at our nearby local university, we ought to be praying that teachers will not only convey knowledge, but also display wisdom or discernment. We also need to pray that students will seek and recognize wisdom. That they will be able as students and later as adults to discern between good and evil.
And that brings us to the sad part of our story about Solomon. He went on to be a wise, discerning and famous king of Israel. He wrote 3000 proverbs, 1005 songs, and he studied plant life, and animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. But having the ability to know the difference between good and evil does not always give one the desire to choose the good. Solomon choose many wives who worshipped their own Gods. Solomon worshipped their Gods with them and built just outside Jerusalem temples for some of those other Gods. So Solomon, the young king who asked God to help him be King, became in his later years a polytheist. Wisdom or discernment won’t help you unless you live by it. We can still choose to do wrong.
In this passage we see that Solomon turned to God for discernment or wisdom as he faced the transition from being a 20 year old prince to being the King of Israel. God helped Him. Life is full of transitions. We go from childhood to being teenagers. We go from teens to young adulthood. We become parents of children, then parents of teenagers, then parents of adults. Then we face retirement and later retirement. In each age we have decisions to make. In each age we have to face issues we have not faced before. In each age we need God’s discernment. Discernment is a gift or grace from God. Ask him for it in the age or time of life you are going through. And when you have it, pray for the power to choose to do what you know is right.
And as you pray for discernment for yourself and the members of your family who are going through different ages or stages of life, remember to pray for wisdom or discernment for our political leaders. They commission studies and hold hearings so they can know what the facts are. Pray that God will give them discernment so they can make the right decisions for us and the other people of this world.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at August 16, 2009 01:48 PM