Once More on the Idealized Solomon

2 Chronicles 8-9

            The Chronicler wants to highlight the good that the Davidic kings did. I talked about this a few days ago, He’s not being deceptive; he’s keeping the Eighth Commandment and explaining everything in the kindest way. In Solomon’s case, we hear again about his splendor, wealth, and wisdom. He overwhelms the queen of Sheba with it all. She gives him gifts and he gives her even more in return. (Sheba would have been in the Arabian Peninsula somewhere; it was representative of exotic nations in far away places. See Isaiah 60.) Here’s the significant thing: there is no mention of Solomon’s many wives nor of their misleading him into idolatry. The Chronicler gives us hints that he knows the dark secrets of the kings whose stories he tells; he just doesn’t tell them. And here he wants to emphasize one last time that Solomon, the great son of David, was the great patron of the temple and the worship that happened there.