Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 11-12.

The passage tells us that King Solomon had many wives from nations which God had told the Israelites they were not to intermarry.  The passage also tells us that they turned his heart to other gods, in particular, Ashtoreth, Molek, and Chemosh. Worship of the latter two gods involved human sacrifice.  While the worship of Ashtoreth involved sexual actsWhich tells us that when the passage tells us that Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, it was not just referring to the fact that he worshiped other gods.  It is referring to what actions Solomon took as part of that worship.   The result of this behavior was that God allowed opposition to rise against King Solomon, both foreign and domestic.  I am not sure what to make of the fact that Egypt’s Pharaoh supported at least two of Solomon’s opponents even though Solomon was married to Pharaoh’s daughter (although it is likely that the Pharaoh who supported Solomon’s opponents was not the one who was Solomon’s father-in-law).

I find it interesting that the heading the translators gave this section was “Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon”.  Yet, all the passage tells us is that a prophet told Jeroboam that God would give him ten of the tribes to be ruler over and that because of this Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam.  In addition, before this, King Solomon had put Jeroboam in charge of the labor he levied from the tribes of Joseph (technically, this would mean the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, but I suspect it means all of the tribes other than Judah and Benjamin).  This fact about Jeroboam being charge of Solomon’s labor force becomes significant when Jeroboam leads the tribes which ask Rehoboam to reduce the burden which Solomon had placed upon them.  This suggests that Jeroboam was genuinely interested in reaching a deal with Rehoboam, even though he had the message from the prophet telling him that God would take the ten tribes from Solomon’s son.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 9-10.

When Solomon had completed building the Temple and his own palace, God appeared to him a second time (the previous time being when Solomon asked God for the wisdom to rule over His people).  God responded to Solomon’s prayer dedicating the Temple.  God told Solomon that His eyes and heart would always be present there.  Then God told Solomon that if he, or his descendants turn away from God, the Temple would become a ruin which would stand as a monument to their unfaithfulness (and, as a corollary of that a monument to God’s faithfulness).  I want to note that when God referred to Solomon He used the second person plural pronoun, meaning that He was talking not just to King Solomon, but to all of the people of Israel.  I think it is worth noting that the Temple is indeed a heap of rubble which stands as a monument to this day.  Yes, the Temple was rebuilt twice after being destroyed by conquerors, but I still think that its current status represents a memorial to God’s promise to King Solomon, and reminder to all of us of the dangers of turning our backs on God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 4-6.

We learn from this passage that King David had left Solomon a unified country with no enemies threatening it.  King Solomon was able to build upon this and maintain the peace for which his father had fought.  King Solomon established a bureaucracy which allowed him to spend time studying many other things without having to spend all of his time governing. It seems that this study did not just generate useless knowledge since the kings of many nations sent envoys to learn from King Solomon.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 2-3.

I noted yesterday that Shimei was one of the people who refused to support Adonijah’s bid to become King David’s successor.  Yet here in today’s passage we see Solomon ordering Shimei to never again leave Jerusalem, and having him executed when he eventually does so.  David’s instructions to Solomon regarding Shimei in this passage makes one wonder why David had been so angry with Abishai over Abishai’s wish to kill Shimei for cursing King David.  The only conclusion that I can reach is that Shimei controlled a political faction or trade which was essential to the well being of the kingdom of Israel. I would also note that there are hints here, and elsewhere, that Shimei may have worked to undermine King David’s attempts to consolidate power.

I always debate about writing about Solomon responding to God by asking for wisdom, or his decision between the two women.  Today, I am going to try to combine them.  When God told Solomon to ask him for whatever he wanted God to give him, Solomon asked for the discerning heart needed to properly govern God’s people.  This was consistent with the wisdom which Solomon showed in recognizing that Adonijah’s request to marry Abishag was a second attempt to steal the throne (Solomon had given Adonijah the benefit of the doubt on his first attempt as Adonijah could claim he thought the throne would come to him as the elder son), and in giving Shimei an opportunity to live out his life, despite Shimei’s apparent attempts to undermine the power of the throne.  Then in his judgement between the two women Solomon shows his true wisdom.  Usually I here people who comment on this judgement say that Solomon showed great wisdom in determining which of the women was the boy’s biological mother.  In fact, Solomon did not determine which was the child’s biological mother.  Instead, he determined which woman loved the boy in the way that a mother ought to love her son.  Solomon did not care which woman had given birth to the boy.  He sought to determine which woman would be mother to the boy, and the answer to that question was the one who would rather give up her claim than see the boy harmed. Let us judge people as Solomon judged these two women and let us treat others as the woman who was willing to see another benefit at her expense rather than see someone else come to harm.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 19-21.

In yesterday’s passage we were told that King Hezekiah did what was pleasing in God’s sight, just as David had done.  I believe that Hezekiah is the only king of Judah about whom the writer says that.  In today’s passage we see the reason he wrote that about Hezekiah.  When Hezekiah faced trouble he turned to the Lord.  When the King of Assyria threatened Jerusalem, Hezekiah turned to God.  When his health was bad, Hezekiah turned to God.

The response which God gave to Hezekiah through Isaiah regarding the King of Assyria contains much for us to consider.  The King of Assyria was proud of his successes, and with good reason, but he credited himself with those successes and gave no credit to a higher power.  For all that he had done, the King of Assyria only had that success because it accorded with God’s plan for him to do so.  It was God’s plan that allowed the King of Assyria to rise to such heights.  The King of Assyria was convinced that no power could stop him from doing that which he chose to do.  He probably died believing that to be true.  Yet, when he chose to attack Jerusalem, something happened so that the attack never took place.  How often do we see God’s hand at work in things that do not happen?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 17-18.

Israel’s last king was less evil than his predecessors, but he still did evil in God’s sight.  Important note: being less evil is not the same as doing good.  As we read through the account of each of the kings of Israel it would be easy to miss the extent of the people’s sin.   The writer makes that extent clear here in today’s passage.  They adopted the practices of the people whom God had driven out of the land and worshiped idols, setting up pagan shrines in all of their settlements.  I want to note that the writer makes a distinction between following the practices of other peoples and idolatry.  Yes, idolatry was practiced by the people to whom the writer refers, but by listing it as a separate sin from following their practices he makes it clear that they had other practices which were detestable to God.  As the writer summarizes the various forms of idolatry they practiced, he singles out sacrificing their own children as going above and beyond other forms of idolatry.

After the conquering Samaria and taking many of the people in the Northern Kingdom into exile, the King of Assyria settled peoples from other lands in that territory.  These peoples had problems with lions attacks, which led them to conclude that they did not know the proper customs for worshiping God.  I think this suggests that there were Israelites remaining in the land, but those who had been educated (in particular about God’s laws, but also everyone who had been educated) had been exiled.  How else would the new people in the land know there were different customs for worshiping God than what they knew?  In any case, once a priest was brought back from among those who had been taken into exile, these new immigrants began to worship the Lord.  But, they did not give up their worship of other gods, the gods they had worshiped in their homeland.  From what is written here it seems likely that the compiler of this book was a post-Exile Jew.  His understanding of the worship practices of those who were in the land when the Exiles returned certainly colored his understanding of what he wrote here from the stories he collected into this document.