This past week I found myself watching curling with my son. Michael was a bit interested in the Olympics and we had the options of watching something that was called “ice dancing” or curling, so we chose curling. Now, for those of you who don’t know what curling is, I am sorry, but I am unable to explain it. I know that I’m unable to explain it because I already tried. In fact, when I first sat down at my computer to try to write out what curling was, I wrote, “Curling is a cross between shuffleboard and horseshoes, only it’s on ice, using big round stones, and little brooms.” That was the best brief description I could come up with. So, if you know what curling is, then you will quickly agree that I am quite incompetent in my ability to explain it to those who don’t know what it is. And, if you don’t know what it is, suffice it to say it’s a cross between shuffleboard and horseshoes, only it’s on ice, using big round stones, and little brooms.
Now, I watch curling for about one week every four years, when the winter Olympics happen. If it comes on television sometime between the Olympics, I am unaware of it. So I get my fix of this sport about every four years. And as Michael and I sat watching it this year I began to remember what I had been thinking when I watched this sport four years ago. I remembered what I had thought when I first saw it because the thought came racing back to my mind again. And this thought was, “This seems like it would be really easy.” After all, how hard is it to push a big stone down some ice and get it to hit some other big stones? I mean, doing a backwards flip and landing on a four-inch beam – that is something I don’t mind saying I could never do. Pushing a big stone on some ice so that it hits some other big stones – sign me up. Yet all week long, I would watch as players would push the stone, sweep in front of it like crazy, and hit a rock they were trying to miss or miss a rock they were trying to hit.
So, I’ve come to two conclusions about curling. The first is that curling must belong in the same category as getting your picture taken while trying not to show what decade it is. In principle, getting your picture taken while trying not to show what decade it is, is an easy task, yet we all seem to fail at it without exception. Look at any family photo from the seventies or eighties, and you’ll probably agree. There will be a dozen things in that picture that show you what decade it is when at the time you thought there were none. It’s one of those things that seems quite easy, but is much harder than it looks. And, I’ve concluded that curling is the same; it’s much harder than it looks.
The second conclusion I’ve come to about curling is that there are a number of details that are hard to see that make the difference between a really good shot and an atrocious shot. They’re not things that are easily seen. I cannot tell the difference between a really good shot and a really bad shot three seconds after the rock has been released by the person throwing it. But the commentators can. I’ve sat there and watched closely as the guy throws the rock down the ice, and right as I’m thinking to myself, “That’s exactly like he did it last time when they had a good shot,” the commentator is instantly saying something like, “Oh, good grief, Jim. He really pushed that one, didn’t he? And that’s a shame since he’d released it so well on his last throw.” Or, they’ll say, “Why did they wait so long to start sweeping?” when the entire throw lasts about five seconds. How can you term a time period within a period of five seconds “so long?” So, I finally stopped asking these questions and have concluded that the little details that most of us can’t see make the difference between beauty and disaster.
The difference between a life well-lived and a life that ends with one being hardened to God, unbelieving of the gospel, and utterly deceived is often also found in the details. After all, how many times have we walked through discipline with someone in the church and said, “Well, it’s obvious exactly where this rebellious course of life started.” Rarely. Most of the time we’re saying something like, “Well, we started running after this person in order to restore her at this point, but clearly that was not where this road of walking away from the Lord started.” Rather, a disastrous life of rebellion from one who seems to have been running so well begins in the unseen details. Perhaps it’s a decision that seems so minor and yet begins the process of searing the conscious. Perhaps it’s the refusal to deal with a certain sin because it seems like no big deal. Perhaps it’s a willingness to do something that your conscious screams at you is wrong, but you can’t really understand why. Perhaps it’s a number of things. But I would dare say that without exception, the person who at one time walks so well and ends up walking away from the Lord and his people first starts down that destructive path by doing something or allowing something that probably seems small, unimportant, or is unknown to anyone around. I am reminded of what Carl Trueman once said as he spoke to us on a Wednesday night, namely, that not everyone who lusts ends up committing adultery, but everyone who finds himself caught in adultery first began by excusing his lust. Again, it is what we do with the small details of life that determine whether our lives end up showing a heart that is hardened to God and unbelieving of the gospel or whether ours are lives well-lived.
But I don’t just want to declare that to you this morning. I want to show it to you in the text. Specifically I want to show it to you in the life and reign of David’s son, Solomon. His life and reign are chronicled in 1 Kings 3-11. Now, for some of you who have not been with us for long, this seems ridiculous to look at nine chapters, and there is indeed a challenge in approaching the text this way. Believe me, I feel a difference heading into a week when the sermon text is five verses versus when it is nine chapters. But there is an advantage in both approaches. Therefore, we will vary our approach in preaching, sometimes looking at the text more narrowly (as we went through Galatians in fifteen messages) and sometimes looking at a text more broadly (as we will go through 1-2 Kings in eight messages).
But since we are looking at the text more broadly this morning, I want to focus on some of the advantages of looking at large chunks of Scripture in one setting. I will name two. First, looking at large chunks aids us in becoming biblically literate. Now, there’s nothing wrong with taking ten years and studying a book like Romans. I can assure you that there is great benefit in that. However, if as a community of believers, we simply do not know much content of the Bible, the approach of spending ten years in Romans, for example, means that you probably will not get to looking at a number of biblical books even if your ministry in a church lasts thirty to forty years. You could conceivably only cover three books in thirty years with such a detailed approach. Whereas, taking the text in larger sections allows us to become familiar with biblical books and provides for us time and opportunity to proclaim not just a section of the Bible but the whole counsel of God in a reasonable time frame.
Second, looking at broader sections allows us occasion to look at an entire narrative or an entire life-history of someone. That is, our approach this morning, as we examine not just one aspect of Solomon’s reign but his entire recorded reign in 1 Kings 3-11, so that we might see what we can learn from his entire life and reign, beginning to end.
Before we dive into the specifics of Solomon’s reign this morning, however, let me first briefly walk us through each of these nine chapters, noting the content of each. First, in chapter 3, Solomon, whose reign over Israel has been established, asks for wisdom, receives it, and demonstrates it in the well-known case of deciding which woman was a baby’s rightful mother. In chapter 4, we are given an overview of his government, the officials who labor under him, and are reminded of his dominion, peace on all sides, and wealth. In chapter 5, we read of his preparation to build the temple as Hiram of Tyre provides all kinds of costly supplies to Solomon. In chapters 6-7, we read of Solomon building the temple, his own palace, and furnishing the temple and the beauty and cost of each of these. In chapter 8, Solomon dedicates the temple to the Lord, prays powerfully to the Lord, and the Lord fills the temple with his glory. In chapter 9, the Lord appears to Solomon, approving of the temple and warning him of idolatry, and we are again given an overview of Solomon’s government. In chapter 10, the queen of Sheba comes to visits Solomon, is amazed that Solomon’s wisdom and wealth are greater than she’d even heard, and the reader is reminded again of Solomon’s wisdom and wealth. Then, chapter 11 records the end of Solomon’s life and reign, and it notes how the Lord brought great judgment on Solomon in tearing most of the kingdom out of his hands.
So the Bible provides for us a record of Solomon’s life. But there are two things I want you to note before we begin to look at how we might benefit from looking at Solomon’s life. The first is that there was actually more recorded material concerning Solomon’s life and reign. In 1 Kings 11:41, the author writes, “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?” Therefore, these nine chapters are not the only material that has been written concerning Solomon’s reign. The second thing I want you to note, however, is that this is all that the author of 1-2 Kings has provided for us concerning Solomon’s reign. Therefore, I think it is safe for us to conclude that the author was intending something very specific for his readers to understand when he decided to include the material concerning Solomon’s reign that he did and when he arranged this material as he did. And that lesson is what I want us to see this morning. Therefore, I want to approach this text by showing you the beauty and glory of Solomon’s walk with the Lord, recorded in chapters 3-10, then I want to show you the disastrous end of Solomon’s reign, as his heart was turned from the Lord in chapter 11, and then I want us to examine what happened and what we might learn from this recorded history of Solomon’s reign. So, first, let’s look at Solomon’s glorious walk with the Lord.
One of the first things we see in the text is that Solomon truly loved God. In 3:3, we read, “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the status of David his father.” And this is the best thing that can be said about Solomon. Perhaps he is more remembered for his wisdom, which we’ll speak of soon. But the greatest command God is given is not that we are wise or wealthy but that we love him. And the text tells us that Solomon did. Here, even the OT reminds us that living a life unto the Lord is not limited to our external actions but must also include a heart that has affection for our God. I would suggest that affection for God is the key difference in knowing about God versus knowing God. In talking about this different of knowing God versus knowing about God, Packer has written, “We need frankly to face ourselves at this point. We are, perhaps, orthodox evangelicals. We can state the gospel clearly; we can smell unsound doctrine a mile away. If asked how one may know God, we can at once produce the right formula: that we come to know God through Jesus Christ the Lord, in virtue of his cross and mediation, on the basis of his word of promise, by the power of the Holy Spirit, via a personal exercise of faith. Yet the gaiety, goodness, and unfetteredness of spirit which are the marks of those who have known God are rare among us—rarer, perhaps, that they are in some other Christian circles where, by comparison, evangelical truth is less clearly and fully known. Here, too, it would seem that the last may prove to be first, and the first last. A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about him.”1
Now, Packer would hardly say that orthodox, evangelical belief is unimportant. But he rightly notes the importance of truly knowing God, of walking with him, of having affection for him. And Solomon was said to be one who loved the Lord. Perhaps this note concerning Solomon alone will cause some of us to pause, reflect, and pray that God might grant us greater affection for him, after all, the greatest commandment is that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
And Solomon’s love of God led him to ask for good things. So, we read in chapter 3, that the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you” (3:5). Solomon responded, “Give your servant . . . an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (3:9). And, the author tells us, “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this” so the Lord responded, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days” (3:10-13).
And God did give his wisdom, wealth, and honor. Later in chapter 3 we see his wisdom demonstrated in a ruling concerning which woman was the baby’s mother so that all wisdom stood in awe of him and knew “that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice” (3:28). In 4:20-21, we are told that Solomon ruled over so many people that they were as numerous as the sand by the sea, that they were happy, and that his servants brought tribute to him. In 4:24-25, we are told of his dominion: “For he had dominion over all the reign west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. And he had peace on all sides around him. And Judah and Israel lives in safety, from Dan to Beersheba . . . all the days of Solomon.” In 4:29-34, we read, “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt . . . and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. . . . And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.” In chapter 10, we read that the queen of Sheba came to Solomon to witness his wisdom, “And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her” (10:3). Therefore, she said to him, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard. Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness” (10:6-9). Then, as somewhat of a summary statement of Solomon’s wealth and wisdom, we read in 10:21 and 23-24, “All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. . . . Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.” Therefore, Solomon loved God, asked for wisdom, and was given more wisdom than any man had. Yet, God was so pleased with his request for wisdom that he gave him more riches than others.
Yet, his good desires were not limited to his request for wisdom. Solomon also knew that God had declared to David that Solomon, David’s son, would build the temple. Therefore, we read in chapter 5 how Solomon made preparations, by getting Hiram, king of Tyre to supply him with materials and in chapter 6 how he built the temple so that it seems every part of it was overlaid with pure gold. References to Solomon having something “overlaid with gold” or “pure gold” occur ten times in chapter 6 alone. And in chapter 7, he builds his own palace and furnishes the temple, again, putting in it numerous gold items and other items of great value so that he finished the temple in 7 years and his own palace in 13 years.
But chapter 8 perhaps shows his holy desires most clearly as he brings the ark into the temple and the Lord fills it with his glory. Thus, we read in 8:10-11, “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.” Furthermore, Solomon prays a prayer of dedication concerning the temple that is found in 8:22-53 and is a powerful prayer that further displays Solomon’s intimate knowledge of the Lord. And God responds to his prayer immediately, appearing to Solomon a second time, saying, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time” (9:3).
Therefore, as we walk through chapters 3-10, we get a picture of the beauty and glory of Solomon’s relationship with the Lord. He loved God. His love for God led to good desires such as the desire for wisdom, the desire to build the temple, and the desire for the Lord to consecrate the temple and allow it to bear his presence. God, in turn, blessed Solomon with unheard of wisdom, wealth, honor, and blessing. And God responded to Solomon’s prayers and gave him the desires of his heart, even his presence in the temple. Such is the beautiful and glorious picture we have in chapters 3-10. However, chapter 11, which tells us of the end of Solomon’s reign, provides a drastically different picture.
Chapter 11 shares with us Solomon’s tragic disobedience and judgment. Just as Solomon’s recorded reign in chapter 3 began with the statement that Solomon loved the Lord, chapter 11 begins, “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women … from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” And the author adds, “Solomon clung to these in love. . . . And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father” (11:1-4).
Therefore, Solomon did was evil, did not wholly follow the Lord, built high places to other gods, and did all of this for his wives who made offerings (11:6-8). Then, we read in verses 9-13, “And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.’”
And all the rest and peace and dominion and honor that God had heaped upon Solomon so that he had no challengers on any side, God began to take away. We read, beginning in verse 14 that God raised up adversaries to Israel all around. In verse 14, we read, “And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite.” In verses 23 and 25, “God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah. . . . He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, doing harm as Hadad did. And he loved Israel and reigned over Syria.” In verse 26, “Jeroboam, . . . also lifted up his hand against the king.” And chapter 11 concludes with the story of Ahijah the prophet telling Jeroboam that one day the kingdom will be ripped out of the hand of Solomon and that he would reign over the ten tribes of Israel (11:29-39). It was all of the sudden very clear that the blessing on Solomon and his peaceful reign was not due to Solomon’s abilities but to the Lord’s mercy, mercy the Lord now seemed to be removing.
Then, just before the record of Solomon’s death, we read in 11:40 that Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. It is almost easy to imagine at this point that we are talking about Saul, a man who knew that God had appointed another to reign in his place and yet fought against that man and against the will of God. And then, in verse 43, we read that Solomon died.
So, what in the world happened? How does the Solomon of chapters 3-10 become the Solomon of chapter 11? I think that answer is found in something we noted earlier, namely, that the author of 1-2 Kings crafted this story in such a way, including the details he included in the order he included them, because he had a point to make. The first thing we note is that throughout the narrative of Solomon’s reign, again and again there are reminders that Solomon is to obey all that God had commanded and that blessing was dependent on obedience.
Just after God told Solomon that he would give him wisdom, wealth, and honor, he said to him in 3:14, “And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” Then, as Solomon was building the temple, we read in 6:11-13, “Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, ‘Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.’” And again, as the Lord appeared to him a second time in chapter 9, he said to Solomon in verses 4-9, “And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.' But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?' Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”
Therefore, throughout the text we have these constant reminders that God expects Solomon not to compromise concerning holiness. That is, don’t excuse sin just because you can point to other good things. Rather, fight sin. Don’t let it have a hold in his life. Yet, that seems to be exactly what Solomon did.
I mentioned earlier that Solomon’s reign begins in chapter 3 with a declaration of his love for God, and that is true. But just prior to that, the author begins his record of Solomon’s reign, writing, “Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem. The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD” (3:1-2).
I, therefore, think the author begins this section with this note and ends this section, noting how these actions led to him marrying many foreign women and actually constructing high places for sacrifices to false gods in order to show us that Solomon’s subtle compromise in regard to sin even early in his life led to a great turning of his heart and ultimately facing the judgment of God against his kingdom. What do we, then, learn from Solomon’s reign?
The author of 1-2 Kings, I believe is showing us something very clearly. It is that sin is never acceptable in the life of God’s people. Sin has no place in our lives. And if you allow sins to linger, excuse them, and refuse to address them, they will indeed have destructive consequences. As we began the sermon, the details of our lives are crucial, for ultimately the difference between a life well-lived and a life taking a disastrous turn is often found in how we deal with subtle sins. Again, as Carl Trueman reminded us, not everyone who lusts ends up committing adultery, but the one who commits adultery can no doubt trace it back to a refusal to go to war against the sin of lust.
But we see it even amongst ourselves, don’t we? Everyone with whom we have walked through discipline, ultimately removing them from the church, could give testimony of the fact that it began with their compromise concerning subtle sins and their refusal to go to war against sin. Therefore, for believers, sin must have no place in our lives. We must never get to the point that we think it acceptable to allow certain sins to linger unaddressed. Solomon’s life and reign scream to us this morning, “Do not excuse your sin and let it linger unaddressed, no matter how big of a deal you think it is.”
And the reason we cannot do this is because Hebrews 3:12-14 tells us that sin is deceitful and hardening. It has a deceptive appearance that makes it seem acceptable, and as we allow it to go unaddressed, it hardens our hearts so that we lose even more our ability to recognize it. Why does Hebrews 3:12-14 tell us that detail? It is because the author is exhorting his readers to exhort one another every day so that we do not fall prone to sin’s deception and hardening work. He is reminding these believers that holiness is a corporate task. There are simply going to be times that we are blinded to our own sin and need one another to point it out to us, exhort us to holiness, and help pull us out of our deception.
So, we might say, “Okay. We need to make war on all sin in our lives, and we need to commit ourselves to helping one another in our fight for holiness. But what do we do when we do sin, for we no doubt will this side of eternity.”
We are reminded of the answer to that question in this story of Solomon’s reign as well. I titled the sermon, the sin and obedience of David’s son for one reason because we were going to take time to look at the obedience and the sin of Solomon. But I titled it that for another reason as well. I titled it that so that we might see that 1 Kings 11 is written to say to us, “Solomon was not the promised one from David who would come and rule forever. Look for another.” And we know that another Son of David did come – Jesus of Nazareth. We know that though Solomon sinned, this other Son of David never sinned. Yet he ended up dying for sin. But it was not his own. He died to pay our sins and was raised as our righteous king. Therefore, what do we do when we sin? We look to this Son of David, his obedience, and trust in him, knowing that his perfect righteousness, his perfect obedience, has been credited to us, that he has paid our penalty for our sin in full, and that he was raised so that God might already declare us righteous before him, even now, as we believe. When we sin, we remind ourselves that because of the work of Christ, we are forgiven before God, righteous before him. And once we see that truth, we turn and ask God to help us to make war on sin so that we might bring honor to one who has demonstrated his love for us by sending his Son. May God then be honored in our lives this morning, even as we remember the work of his Son as we come to the table. Amen.