Solomon’s Splendor (and Some Cracks)

1 Kings 9-10

            In response to Solomon building the temple, the Lord reiterates His promises. However, unlike 2 Samuel 7, here the Lord’s promises are very much couched in the language of the Sinai covenant: remain faithful and you’ll be blessed; prove faithless and you’ll be cursed. So, the Davidic line seems to operate under both covenants. On the one hand, the ultimate fulfillment of David’s line is Jesus, who is the great blessing for humanity, who fulfills the promise made to Abraham, and who reigns at God’s right hand forever. On the other hand, the kingdom is an institution tied to Moses’ covenant, and after Jesus does His work, it’s no longer necessary. Which is good, because despite Solomon’s splendor, we have serious notices that all is not well.

            And Solomon does have splendor. These two chapters spend a lot of time describing Solomon’s wealth. Units of weight were not consistent across the ancient world, but a good guess for a talent is about 75 pounds. So Hiram and the queen of Sheba delivered about 9 tons of gold between them and Solomon brought in roughly 25 tons of gold annually. I remember reading my children’s Bible when I was a boy and being fascinated by Solomon’s throne with its lions and the statement about apes and baboons. It was truly a golden age for Israel!

            Unfortunately, we have indications of cracks in the foundations. In chapter 3, we read that Solomon had made an alliance with Egypt and had married Pharaoh’s daughter to seal it. Also in chapter 3, when Solomon asked for wisdom, he was at the high place at Gibeon, not before the ark of the Lord. In today’s chapters, we read that Solomon had a huge force of conscripted, slave labor and that he had a huge force of chariots and horses. All of these show us that Solomon was falling into the ways of kingship common in the world around him, accumulating power, wealth, and security, just like all the non-Israelite kings. As Lord Action once famously noted, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” More on this tomorrow!