Defining Moments of a King!

Defining Moments of A King!
1 Kings 3

King Solomon was a young king over a people group that was without number. The background for this study begins in the first chapter of 1 Kings.

Solomon’s father David has had declining health and will eventually turn the kingdom over to his successor. Meanwhile David’s fourth son, Adonijah, has seized the moment and gained notoriety among David’s former colleagues and has set himself up as king. God had promised before hand that Solomon would be taking on that role and so right from the start Solomon walks right into a conflict that is left over from his father’s mistakes/sins. As David found out that Adonijah had set himself up as his father’s successor, David moved quickly then with the Prophet of God to instate Solomon as a God-ordained King. The reality of this situation is there is two coronation ceremonies going on within the same family to rule over the same people.

As Adonijah understood that he had a rival that was ordained by God and his father, he ran to the tabernacle and grabbed onto the horns of the altar in desperation begging for his life. Solomon left him live under the order that he was to show himself a worthy man. Adonijah bowed himself before his brother indicating his allegiance to him.

Eventually Solomon has Adonijah put to death because he asked a favor of Solomon regarding the woman that had been David’s servant to keep him warm as he aged. That was too much for Solomon and he ordered Adonijah killed.

For the sake of national security Solomon was ordered by David to carry out the judgment for various offenders of David’s that he hadn’t dealt with.

The Quest for Wisdom

To begin with, I would like to look at the Laws that were given by Moses for when Israel would receive a king. Deuteronomy 17:14-20
Now as we come to the text of our study 1 Kings 3, we see Solomon as an established, though young king. From the start of his reign he gets mixed up with foreign women, largely due to the various affinities he made with various kings.

It is here that he begins to go wrong. In order to see what was controlling his heart, let’s dissect this account together and see where Solomon’s heart was.

First of all, what is an affinity? According to the Strong’s Concordance, affinity is to give a daughter away in marriage, to contract affinity by marriage. So then what is an affinity? It is a relationship that is bonded through a marriage. The modern definition of this is forming a treaty through a marriage.

Solomon began his reign by creating a relationship with the king of Egypt through the marriage of Pharaoh’s daughter. What did this affinity mean for the kingdom of Israel? Egypt and Israel were both powerful nations at this point and basically this maneuver was creating an alliance between them similar to the alliance between Great Britain and the U.S.. 2 Corinthians 6:15 This type of alliance between Egypt and Israel was different though in the sense that Israel was designated a nation of God’s People, who were holy. Egypt, however was on a cultural path of destruction, through their idolatry, and ignorance of God. So as this plays out, we have a people set aside to be holy; whose king makes an alliance with a people who is unholy. Can this end anywhere but in a mess? 1 Corinthians 15:33

I see this episode, as a lack of trust on Solomon’s part. As an ally, they were bound to each other to stand in for each other in battle.

What do you have an affinity with? In Genesis 6 this gets played out in the spiritual realm as the sons of God saw the daughters of men and married them and through that alliance, giants were born. Today, if we allow the alliance between ourselves as holy children of God and the spirits of this world, the inevitable will happen and giants will be born within our soul.

The worship experience of Israel in those days was to worship in high places. The tabernacle was the original designated place of worship and at this point it was located in Gibeon. Even though the Tabernacle was in Gibeon, the ark of the Covenant (which represented God’s Presence) was in Jerusalem. For some reason God blessed Solomon’s worship in the high place at Gibeon even though it was still set up as a high place. This worship in high places was more than just building an altar such as Abraham, Samuel, and David had done; but was a complete worship center with groves, and whatever else was common in those types of settings. This was not true worship for it was forbidden by God, and was a form of idolatry.

What are our high places? Can we set up a spiritual high place, where by appearance we are worshipping God, but we are doing so in disobedience, and have set up our place of worship whether physical or spiritual as an idol before the Lord. Isaiah 29:13/Matthew 15:8 Are we following the practices of the heathen around us when we worship the Lord?

Now, after all this, Solomon goes to worship the Lord in Gibeon where the tabernacle is residing. This is the official place to meet the Lord for the Israelites. It is here in Gibeon, that God meets Solomon and offers him; no strings attached, whatever he wants.

Note that though Solomon loved the Lord, his devotion to the Lord was not his full devotion. He was distracted from giving the Lord his full devotion.

Solomon’s heart is toward the Lord at this point, and he knew that the job he had been called to do was bigger than he was. He was young, and inexperienced needing God’s wisdom for this undaunting task of leading God’s people on the right way. James 1:5

What is the difference between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God? The wisdom of this world is often viewed as philosophy including a wide spectrum of circumstances, and scientific theories; while the wisdom of God is having the understanding of life from God’s perspective. The only true way to understand life is through the wisdom of God, for God gives life, and He gives life meaning. If you try to understand life with a worldly wisdom, there are many areas in life when answers will fail you and life will cease to have meaning, judgments will be narrow sighted, and the future will be bleak.

Proverbs 3:7-26

John 15:16 We do have the same opportunity to ask God for whatever we will, but with one stipulation though. We need to ask in Jesus name. What does that mean? When Jesus abides in us, and the spirit of God moves through us, our request is not selfish, but for the good of the Kingdom of God. As a child of God, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, our greatest goal is to want God’s for ourselves and others what God has designed for us.

Solomon’s heart was distracted from giving God his full devotion. What about us? Are we distracted in our devotion to the Lord. Is our Faith radical? Have we given our complete trust to the Lord?

We have been given the position to lead in one way or another. Are we asking humbly God for wisdom to lead in the area we have been called?

Solomon’s request to God was also for an understanding heart. An understanding heart is one that hears, not just in passing or as one who is distracted when someone else is talking but one who really hears. Solomon wanted a heart that would really hear God when He was talking. A comparison to this spiritually would be in Ephesians 1:18.

The Gift of Wisdom

The speech pleased the Lord! What about Solomon’s speech pleased the Lord? Solomon had humbled his heart before the Lord, and a broken or humble spirit God will not turn away. God promised Solomon that he would be given wisdom and an understanding heart. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says that if a man understand all mysteries and doesn’t have love, he is nothing.

While on one hand Solomon had humbled himself and God had promised him wisdom and an understanding heart, Solomon was still living in disobedience to the Lord through his allegiance to Egypt through his marriage, and his continued worship in the various high places. The wisdom and understanding had proved to be disregarded in his personal life while at the same time he enabled others to benefit from it.

As part of Solomon’s blessing for choosing wisdom and understanding, God also blessed him with riches and honor. The Old Covenant was a physical covenant in which many times the faithful were rewarded physically as well. Many of the faithful under the Old Covenant received riches and honor as a blessing from God for their faithfulness. Under the New Covenant, however, which is spiritual, the blessing may not necessarily be physical. The faithful under the New Covenant will be rewarded with spiritual riches and when the day arrives when God calls his servants home, their reward will be so much greater than anything physical could possibly be.

After Solomon awake from his vision, and realized all that God had promised him, he went and stood before the Ark of the Covenant and offered up burnt offerings, worshiping God, and offering Peace offerings. Solomon was, as it were, standing in the throneroom of God before the mercy seat of the Almighty in humble submission.

The Results of Wisdom

I have often wondered what woman would be so hard as to say to cut a child to pieces. I mean you could see the child, yet that is what happened in this account. Solomon was able to see through her pretentious fascade and chose to use the method of threatening to do this as a means of determining who the real mother was. I can’t go on from here without saying that many of today’s mothers are doing exactly that. They are taking the place of that second woman and are having their unborn child torn apart or drugged so they die. Many real mothers and fathers are MIA (missing in action) when it comes to being there for their children.

In this case, though, the real mother’s heart yearned for her child and she couldn’t bear to see it destroyed. Isaiah 49:15.

Solomon’s wisdom that he showed in this case further solidified his place as a worthy ruler and his subjects were slow to disobey him because of his discernment. In the same way, when we trust the Lord, and do righteously, many people will respect us for it.

The contrast that came before Solomon was selfishness and compassion. This is what Solomon was choosing between.

The original plan for Israel was to be a nation of priests which would draw the world to God. Israel was located strategically between two major civilizations and would be right on the trade route. If Israel could maintain their spirituality, God would continue to bless them physically and nations would be in awe of them. Today as people of the New Covenant, God has blessed us not necessarily with physical things, but spiritual; and if we continue to live in faith the people of the world will be drawn to God through us. This will not be an automatic wave of people coming to God, but nevertheless, people will come.

Solomon used God’s wisdom well when applying it to the lives and needs of others, but when it came to applying it to his personal life, he was severely lacking. Truly applying wisdom will affect your personal life. Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10

Wisdom:
Delivers us from the ways of evil men Proverbs 2:10-13
Delivers us from immorality 5:1-3
It gives us the right words to say 10:31,32; Luke 21:15

Delivers us from evil and brings us to humility 16:16-18
It builds up and brings us strength and safety 24:3-6
Disciplining brings wisdom to children and to all whom God disciplines 29:15
Prepares men for Leadership Acts 6:3
Enables us to determine God’s will Colossians 1:9
True wisdom is gentle, pure, and merciful James 3:1

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