2 Chronicles 6:32-7:7 Solomon s Prayer of Dedication (Part 2)

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1 2 Chronicles 6:32-7:7 Solomon s Prayer of Dedication (Part 2) Not unlike Jesus when he prays for posterity (you and me) in John 17:20, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word (ESV), Solomon prays for the foreigner or stranger in the land. Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name. (2 Chronicles 6:32-33 ESV emphasis added) Anyone may have (limited) access to the house of God (the Temple). Solomon then prays that the LORD will hear when his people go into battle and they then cry to God that he would maintain their cause. Next the issue of sin is addressed. Solomon must have been taught that if the nation sins the LORD will remove Israel from their land. He then prays that if (that is to say when ) the people sin against the LORD and he becomes angry such that they are carried away to a strange land (near or far), and they repent and acknowledge their sin and turn from it, that the LORD will hear and forgive the people who have sinned against him. Solomon closes his prayer with a plea, O LORD God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember your steadfast love for David your servant. (2 Chronicles 6:42 ESV) There are few things, I suppose, which are as impressive as a demonstration of the LORD s approval. Up to this point, Moses was the only one who had ever experienced speaking with God face to face (remember the burning bush?). Here, the LORD sent fire from heaven which consumed all the burnt offerings and sacrifices and his glory filled the temple such that the priests could not enter. Everyone present bowed with his face to the ground. It must have been an impressive sight. Echoing throughout this event was the refrain from Psalm 136: For his steadfast love endures forever. No expense was spared in the offerings that day: 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. The sacrifices were held outside in the middle of the court of the temple because the bronze altar inside was too small. 1 Kings 8:65-9:9 The LORD Appears to Solomon a Second Time Solomon held a feast and all Israel with him. This would have included people from the far borders of the kingdom: i.e., from the bank of the Euphrates River in the north to the Brook of Egypt to the south. The celebration lasted seven days and then the people were sent to their homes on the eighth day. Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 1

2 A second time Solomon had a vision from the LORD in a dream. In the first vision Solomon had, the LORD granted Solomon s prayer for wisdom. This encounter would be different. And the LORD said to him, 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. 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. (1 Kings 9:3-7 ESV) So this time the vision is a covenant the same old covenant which the LORD has been keeping for hundreds of years. It strikes me that the central issue for the Israelites is that they cannot see God and thus worship him as the heathen worship their gods (which they can see). And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 ESV) The issue has always been about faith. Here again God is insisting that we be unwavering in our faith, but we seldom see with the eyes of faith. As the history of Israel unfolds, the recurring theme is their inability to trust the LORD. A very short trip through the wilderness with the Israelites will demonstrate how quickly faith/trust evaporate, as water in the desert air. [ESV Study Bible Notes p :6 if you turn aside from following me, you or your children. Although the place of the temple as a focal point for prayer has been assured by God, as Solomon had asked (v. 3; cf. 8:27-53), and there was also a favorable response to his request about the future of the dynasty (9:4-5; cf. 8:25-26), the future of the dynasty depends on the obedience of Solomon and of future generations of Israelites. The particular focus here is on the issue of idolatry: the people must not go and serve other gods and worship them. ] 1 Kings 9:10-10:13 Solomon s Deeds / The Queen of Sheba Hiram king of Tyre supplied Solomon with all of the materials he needed to build his own house and the temple. In return Solomon awarded Hiram with twenty cities which proved to be less than anticipated. Hiram complained: What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother? (v. 13 ESV) The amount of gold sent by Hiram was 120 talents, or in modern parlance that would be 9,000 lbs or 144,000 ounces (in terms of U.S. dollars as of August 2011 at $1700 per ounce, the total comes to $244,800,000 j.t.). In any event, the sums here are rather extraordinary. Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 2

3 Solomon enslaved the leftover foreigners (? actually non-hebrews) who were not destroyed by the Hebrews when they first entered the promised land. These included the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. These people were conscripted to build (or re-build) the house of the Lord, Solomon s own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer. Hazor is located north of the Sea of Galilee some distance from Jerusalem; Gezer is located west of Jerusalem (maybe 15 or 20 miles); Megiddo, also north of Jerusalem but more famous as the site of the final battle in history Armageddon. The Millo, was a terraced construction on a steep slope on which houses were built (ESV Study Bible p. 550), was a section of Jerusalem in what was known as The City of David (not to be confused with Bethlehem where David was born and which was later designated by Luke in chapter 2 verse 4 as the city of David ). The writer then tells us an interesting story about Gezer. It appears that Pharaoh had sometime earlier captured Gezer and burned it to the ground and killed all the Canaanites therein. Pharaoh then offered it, along with his daughter, to Solomon as a wedding present when Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh. Hiram had little to complain about in light of this. Further information on the Millo. [ESV Study Bible Notes p :9 the Millo Cf. 1 Kings 9:15, 24; 11:27; 1 Chron. 11:8; 2 Chron. 32:5. The Hebrew word means the fill. It was a series of terrace walls, built on a steep slope, supporting the fill behind it in order to create level areas. Houses were then built on these artificial platforms, which were connected by narrow staircases. It was apparently the king s duty to look after this construction. During heavy rainfalls, the fill became heavy and increased the pressure on the terrace walls, thus requiring regular maintenance of these walls. When this construction was neglected, the houses would fall down the steep slope and the city would disintegrate. Remains of these supporting walls have been found on the eastern slope of the city of David. ] All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day. (1 Kings 9:20-21 ESV emphasis mine j.t.) I quote this only because I have an issue about the use of the word unable at the time the Hebrews invaded (my word) Canaan. The LORD had instructed the Hebrews to devote to destruction all the inhabitants of the land. If there were no Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, left when Joshua died, I believe Israel would still manage to commit idolatry. They did just that in the wilderness while the LORD was but a mountain away! It wasn t that the Hebrews were not able to do the job; it was that they did not have the heart (or courage) to do it. Solomon builds a fleet. He and Hiram send seamen off to Ophir (which is believed to be near present day Ethiopia) and returned with 420 talents of gold (or 31,500 lbs.; or 504,000 oz. which at $1,700 per ounce comes to: $856,800,000 in US dollars today). Let s Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 3

4 just say that Solomon was very rich indeed! It is more than probable that this wealth was at the root of his later problems. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:10 ESV) The Queen of Sheba (Sheba is believed to be where modern day Yemen is located) travelled a long distance to meet the man of which she had heard so much. Reports of a great wise man in Jerusalem had travelled far and wide. She had to see for herself. The queen came to Jerusalem but not empty-handed. She brought many spices, much gold (120 talents of gold) and precious stones but more importantly, questions. And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. (1 Kings 10:3 ESV) She was left breathless. And she said to the king, 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, not half was not told me. Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! (1 Kings 10:6-8 ESV) By the way, wisdom was not the only thing that King Solomon imparted to the nameless queen of Sheba, as he will hear later. 1 Kings 11:1-13 Solomon Makes Unwise Choices A couple of problems with great wealth are complacency and a sense of self-sufficiency. The lure of great wealth is that one does not see his own need with respect to God. This, then, becomes the foundation of a pride which does not recognize a need for God. Again, we are brought back to 1 Timothy 6:10 cited above. While Solomon was gifted with so much great wisdom, a measure of pride had also developed within him. It seems to me that if the LORD were to give such a great gift to someone, surely Satan would not let the challenge go unheeded. Solomon, like everyone else, was subject to temptations wisdom is no guarantee against yielding to temptation (sin). Solomon must have been an attractive person on many levels: physically, intellectually, and spiritually. In days of old, alliances between nations were solemnized through marriage. Early on in his reign, Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh which was sealed with Solomon s marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh. Thus begins the trouble. In time, Solomon accrued some 700 wives, and if that were not enough, 300 concubines. The scripture does not tell us who these women were but it is clear that most were foreign ; unfamiliar with Jewish traditions and religious practices. These women introduced Solomon to their gods. Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite 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. (1 Kings 11:1-2 ESV) Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 4

5 [ESV Study Bible Notes pp :1-4 Solomon loved many foreign women clung to these in love. Solomon loved (Hebrew ahab) the Lord, but he also loved (Hebrew ahab) the daughter of Pharaoh and many other women, and he clung (Hebrew dabaq) to them (11:2). Both verbs appear in Deuteronomy (Deut. 6:5; 10:12, 20; 11:1, 22; 13:4; 30:20), where they speak of unswerving human loyalty to God. Solomon s heart, however, was divided (1 Kings 11:4); and in spite of his pious hope that God would always turn Israelite hearts to himself (8:58), the kings wives, in his old age, turned away his heart in the opposite direction, after other gods. 11:5 At ancient Ugarit in Syria the sun was worshiped as Shapash, the moon as Yarikh, and Venus as Astarte. Ashtoreth is the biblical name for Astarte (a deliberate distortion of the original using the vowels of the Hebrew word boshet, shame ). Milcom was a god of the underworld. 11:7-8 The worship of other gods at high places lies at the very heart of the authors concern in 1-2 Kings (e.g., 1 Kings 12:25-33; 14:23; 16:31-33). Chemosh was the chief god of the Moabites, already known in ancient Ebla in Syria as Kamish and probably to be identified with the Mesopotamian deity Nergal, an underworld god associated with famine, drought, plague, and death. Molech is possibly, but not certainly, to be identified with Milcom in 11:5. The biblical authors associate Molech with child sacrifice, which was a prominent feature of at least some of the polytheistic Canaanite religion practiced in ancient times in Syria-Palestine. This sacrificing involved the burning of the victim (e.g., Lev. 18:21; 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; Jeremiah 32:35).] Solomon dived headlong into relationships with these false gods. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. The Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. (1 Kings 11:5, 7 ESV) Naturally the LORD was very angry with Solomon. 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. 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. (1 Kings 11:9-11 ESV emphasis mine) (Sound familiar? See King Saul 1 Samuel 15:28) Commanded him concerning this thing is precisely the message that the LORD had delivered to Solomon after the dedication of the temple. Since this has been your practice indicates that this had been an ongoing problem from early on. The LORD is patient but then the time comes when his patience falls asleep. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (Romans 1:28 ESV) This incident in 1 Kings gives proof of what Paul talks about in chapter 1 of Romans. God gave Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 5

6 Solomon over to a reprobate mind. (KJV) The LORD told Solomon that this fracture of the kingdom will not be done in his life time out of respect to David. 1 Kings 11:14-43 The House Divided The Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite as an adversary to Solomon. The choice here is interesting; of all the enemies to choose, Edom is quite telling. This animus dates back to the time of Jacob: Edom (Esau) is Jacob s brother. For millennia there have been bad feelings between these two nations. David and Joab had intended to strike down every male in Edom, but alas, a few got a way and made it to Egypt where they found great favor with Pharaoh. Hadad was so popular with the Egyptian king that he gave to Hadad his sister-in-law as wife. Hadad finally makes it back to Edom and prepares to mount his campaign against Solomon. Hadad was not the only one chosen as adversary to Solomon, Rezon, king of Damascus, loathed Israel because he was a victim of David s wars against Hadadezer, king of Zobah. And thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, God raised up Jeroboam, an Israelite to sever the nation. Jeroboam lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the Millo and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. The Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. {Again with the torn garments! j.t.} And he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem) (1 Kings 11:27-32 ESV) The LORD proposes the very same covenant with Jeroboam as he had with David and then with Solomon, i.e., walk in the LORD s ways, observe his statutes and ordinances and rules and in return the LORD would establish Jeroboam s kingdom. And, oh yes, NO IDOL WORSHIP! [ESV Study Bible Notes p :26-33 Solomon s most important enemy, Jeroboam the son of Nebat was to be found right on his doorstep. He was the former superintendent of the forced labor of the house of Joseph, those who had been helping with the construction work in Jerusalem (vv 27-28). He was approached outside the city by the prophet Ahijah (v. 29) with a prophecy concerning the kingship. The scene is reminiscent of the rejection of Saul in 1 Samuel 15; in both passages an outer garment is torn as a symbol of the fact the God is tearing the kingdom away from the reigning king (cf. 1 Samuel 15:27-28; 1 Kings11:11). The garment here is divided into 12 pieces, of which ten, symbolizing 10 northern tribes, are given to Jeroboam (vv ). One tribe is to remain for the sake of David and Jerusalem (i.e., Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 6

7 Judah). Benjamin is not included in the math here (cf. 12:21), perhaps because this tribe was regarded simply as Jerusalem s own territory, on the analogy of the Canaanite citystate; this territory came with the city, and needed no special mention. ] Solomon seeks to do what Saul did before him: kill the opponent. Thus Jeroboam flees also to Egypt (as did Hadad above). He remains in Egypt until the death of Solomon. Solomon dies; Rehoboam, his son, succeeds him. 1 Kings 12:1-20 Rehoboam s Folly Rehoboam was faced with an important choice immediately upon his coronation: Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you. (1 Kings 12:4 ESV) So Rehoboam consulted with the old men who suggested to the king that he lighten the load imposed upon the people by his father and thereby win them over to him. Rehoboam also sought the counsel of the young men who gave the opposite advice: make the burdens greater and the punishments worse than Solomon s. Unfortunately Rehoboam followed the advice of his age group (the young men) and unleashed a disaster which will never be healed. So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. (1 Kings 12:15) And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David. (1 Kings 12:16 ESV) It was a short step from here to electing Jeroboam king of the 10 tribes. Jeroboam was instrumental in moving Rehoboam to come to a decision albeit the wrong one. The people of the ten northern tribes appreciated Jeroboam s leadership and therefore followed him. And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only. (1 Kings 12:20 ESV) 1 Kings 12:21-33 Rehoboam / Jeroboam The most natural thing to do in a case like this is to try to stem the rebellion and bring the rebels into line. In that vein, Rehoboam mustered an army of 180,000 to go against Jeroboam and Israel, that is until something else happened. But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me. So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 7

8 again, according to the word of the LORD. (1 Kings 12:22-24 ESV) Rehoboam is off to a good start! Actually, Jeroboam doesn t fare much better. King Jeroboam wants to keep what the LORD has given him (i.e., Israel) but the problem is tradition. It was the custom, indeed the mandate, that all of the chosen people worship in Jerusalem. Here Jeroboam s covenant with God comes at odds with what is expedient. The LORD made it quite clear to Jeroboam through Ahijah that in order for Jeroboam to succeed he would need to follow all the commandments of God. What is the second of the ten commandments? You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6 ESV) Jeroboam s fear was that once the people went to Jerusalem they would be seized with sentimentality and remorse and then seek to be rejoined to Judah. So Jeroboam came up with a brilliant idea: set up high places in Israel and decorate them with, of all things, golden calves, for the people to worship before. His plan was to set one up in Dan (the far north) and one in Bethel (the southern border) to keep the Israelites in Israel (where they belonged). Jeroboam then reorganized the entire calendar and created an order of priests who did not go to Jerusalem. He abandoned anything that would remind the people of Jerusalem and Judah. This policy was carried out unbroken throughout Israel s history until their defeat by the Assyrians. [ESV Study Bible Notes p :27-28 two calves of gold. Fear that the presence of the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem will lead northern Israel to return to Rehoboam leads Jeroboam to invent his own worship system, central to which are these calves. His words to the people about them Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt are almost exactly the words with which the people greeted the construction of the calf by Aaron (Ex. 32:4). These bull icons were unacceptable as representations of the LORD, since Mosaic religion requires a clear distinction between the Creator and the created. The worship of bull icons as representations of other gods was more unacceptable still. It blurs the distinction between the LORD and other gods, a blurring already in evidence in 1 Kings 14:15. The high god of the Canaanite pantheon, El, is frequently called the bull in ancient texts from Ugarit in Syria, and his son Baal-Hadad (the biblical Baal) is himself also represented as a bull. The bull is further associated in Sumerian and Akkadian texts with the worship of the moon god Sin, and in Egyptian texts with the high god Amon-Re. A cult site from c B.C. has been found on a hill in northern Samaria. Among the remains was a bull figurine with well-defined genitalia, representing fertility and potency. Baal worship Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 8

9 was probably occurring at this high place. Judges 6:25 reveals that a rogue Baal cult was in practice among Israelites. ] Writing Group August 30, 2011 Page 9