SS Lesson October 29th, 2006 1st Kings 3(3-14)
SOLOMON (ssahl’ oh mahn) Personal name whose meaning is variously interpreted as “his peace,” “(God) is peace,” Tenth son of David and the second son of Bathsheba, Solomon became the third king of Israel and reigned forty years about 1000 B.C.
Old Testament Solomon was born to David and Bathsheba after the death of their first son (2 Sam. 12:24). Although not the oldest living son of David, he was crowned king after his mother and Nathan the prophet intervened with David and secured David’s decision to have Solomon succeed him (1 Kings 1–2). Solomon is remembered most for his wisdom, his building program, and his wealth generated through trade and administrative reorganization.
Solomon was remembered as having three thousand proverbs and a thousand and five songs in his repertoire (1 Kings 4:32). Thus, it is not surprising that Proverbs and Song of Solomon in the Bible are attributed to Solomon. (Prov. 1:1; Song of Sol. 1:1) as are several apocryphal and pseudepigraphal books. See Apocrypha; Pseudepigrapha. His wisdom is also illustrated in the Bible by the accounts of the two harlots who claimed the single surviving child (1 Kings 3:16) and by the visit of the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10).
While Solomon’s Temple was the most famous of his building projects (1 Kings 5–8), it was by no means the only one. Solomon fortified a number of cities that helped provide protection to Jerusalem, built “store-cities” for stockpiling the materials required in his kingdom, and established military bases for contingents of charioteers (1 Kings 9:15-19). The Temple complex in Jerusalem was composed of several buildings including Solomon’s palace, the “house of the forest of Lebanon,” the “hall or porch of pillars,” the “hall or porch of the throne,” and a palace for one of his wives, the daughter of the pharaoh of Egypt (1 Kings 7). See Archaeology; Gezer; Hazor; Megiddo; Temple.
Solomon divided the country into administrative districts that did not correspond to the old tribal boundaries (1 Kings 4:7-19) and had the districts provide provisions for the central government. This system, combined with control of vital north/south trade routes between the Red Sea and what was later known as Asia Minor, made it possible for Solomon to accumulate vast wealth. This wealth was supplemented both from trading in horses and chariots and from trade carried on by a fleet of ships (1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:26-29). See Eloth; Ezion-geber.
The Bible clearly notes that Solomon had faults as well as elements of greatness. The “seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines” came from many of the kingdoms with which Solomon had treaties (1 Kings 11:1). He apparently allowed his wives to worship their native gods and even had altars to these gods constructed in Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7-8). This kind of compromise indicated to the historian a weakness in Solomon not found in David. Rebellions led by the king of Edom, Rezon of Damascus, and Jeroboam, one of Solomon’s own officers, indicates that Solomon’s long reign was not without its turmoil.
New Testament Solomon was an ancestor of Jesus (Matt. 1:6-7) (note from RB: He was an ancestor through Joseph, legally, but not according to blood) and is mentioned in Jesus’ teaching about anxiety (Matt. 6:29; Luke 12:27). Jesus noted that the queen of Sheba came a long way to see Solomon and that “something greater than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42; Luke 11:31). Jesus walked in “Solomon’s porch,” a part of the Temple area (John 10:23; compare Acts 3:11; 5:12). Stephen noted that though David sought to find a place for God, it was Solomon who “built a house for him” (Acts 7:47).
Joe O. Lewis
—Holman Bible Dictionary
3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
HIGH PLACE. An elevated site, usually found on the top of a mountain or hill; most high places were Canaanite places of pagan worship.
Heathen Worship at the High Place The average high place would have an altar (2 Kings 21:3; 2 Chron. 14:3), a carved wooden pole that depicted the female goddess of fertility (Asherah), a stone pillar symbolizing the male deity (2 Kings 3:2), other idols (2 Kings 17:29; 2 Chron. 33:19), and some type of building (1 Kings 12:31; 13:32; 16:32-33). At these places of worship the people sacrificed animals (at some high places children were sacrificed according to Jer. 7:31), burned incense to their gods, prayed, ate sacrificial meals, and were involved with male or female cultic prostitutes (2 Kings 17:8-12; 21:3-7; Hos. 4:11-14). Although most high places were part of the worship of Baal, the Ammonite god Molech and the Moabite god Chemosh were also worshiped at similar high places (1 Kings 11:5-8; 2 Kings 23:10). Scripture speaks negatively about these heathen places of worship; still they played a central role in the lives of most of the people who lived in Palestine before the land was defeated by Joshua. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of high places at Megiddo, Gezer, and numerous other sites.
God’s Hatred of the High Places When the Israelites came into the land of Canaan, they were ordered to destroy the high places of the people who lived in the land (Ex. 23:24; 34:13; Num. 33:52; Deut. 7:5; 12:3) lest the Israelites be tempted to worship the Canaanite false gods and accept their immoral behavior. The Israelites were to worship God at the tabernacle at Shiloh (Josh 18:1; 1 Sam. 1:3).
An exception to this practice existed in the years between the destruction of Shiloh by the Philistines and the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Solomon. During this short period Samuel worshiped inside a city (possibly Ramah) at a high place dedicated to the worship of the God of Israel (1 Sam. 9:12-25), and a group of prophets of God worshiped at the “hill of God” (1 Sam. 10:5, probably Gibeah or Gibeon). David and Solomon worshiped the God of Israel at the high place at Gibeon where the tabernacle and the altar of burnt offering were located (1 Chron. 16:1-4,37-40; 21:29; 2 Chron. 1:3-4,13).
False Worship at High Places in Judah After the Temple was constructed, the people were to worship God at this place which He had chosen (Deut. 12:1-14), but Solomon built high places for the gods of his foreign wives and even worshiped there himself (1 Kings 11:1-8). Because of the seriousness of this sin, God divided the nation by removing ten tribes from the kingdom of his son Rehoboam (1 Kings 11:9-13,29-38). Following this, each new king that ruled in the Southern Kingdom of Judah and in the Northern Kingdom of Israel was evaluated in the books of Kings and Chronicles according to what they did with the high places where false gods were worshiped. In Judah, Asa is called a good king because he removed the Asherah, idols, and sacred prostitutes but, unfortunately, he did not destroy the high places (1 Kings 15:9-14; 2 Chron. 15:17; initially he may have destroyed them according to 2 Chron. 14:2-5). Jehoshaphat was a man of God who followed the ways of David by seeking after God, but he followed a pattern similar to Asa of initially removing the high places (2 Chron. 17:1-9) but not totally eliminating them from Judah (1 Kings 22:43; 2 Chron. 20:33). This policy may have made it easier for his son Jehoram to build new high places which caused the people of Judah to worship other gods (2 Chron. 21:11). The Judean kings Amaziah (2 Kings 14:3-4), Uzziah (2 Kings 15:3-4), Jotham (2 Kings 15:34-35), Ahaz (2 Kings 16:3-4), and Manasseh (2 Kings 21:2-7) allowed the people of Judah to continue worshiping at their high places. Although several are called good kings, their obedience was incomplete. Only Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:3-4) and Josiah (2 Kings 23:4-15) had the courage to destroy the high places in the land of Judah. Only these two kings brought major revivals to the land of Judah.
False Worship at High Places in Israel When Jeroboam created the new kingdom of Israel after the death of Solomon, he put two golden calves at high places at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28-32). An unnamed man of God came to Bethel and pronounced God’s curse on this high place (1 Kings 13:1-3), but the following kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel followed in the ways of Jeroboam and did not remove the high places where the false gods were worshiped. This involved following the cultural and religious practices of the nations surrounding Israel rather than keeping the covenant stipulation of having no other gods (Ex. 20:3-6; Deut. 5:7-10). Because Israel built high places in all their towns and set up sacred pillars and Asherah under the trees on their hills, God sent the Assyrians to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 17:8-22).
The Israelite prophets also condemned the high places of Moab (Isa. 15:2; 16:12), Judah (Jer. 7:30-31; 17:1-3; 19:3-5; 32:35), and Israel (Ezek. 6:3,6; 20:29-31; Hos. 10:8, Amos 7:9) because they were places of sin where false gods were worshiped. See Asherah; False Worship; Golden Calf; Prostitution.
—Holman Bible Dictionary
High Places
Some assume that every time the Bible mentions worshipping at a high place that it involved idolatry, but I do not think that is right. There is no mention here of idolatry in Solomon’s manner of worship at this time. Other good Kings of Judah also worshipped in the high places. What it seem to be is a good intention which turns out to be totally wrong. God had directed the Israelites to worship at the Tabernacle. (The Temple had not been constructed as yet) Consider these verses to understand the commandment: Deuteronomy 12:13-14 “Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest: 12:14 But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.” Joshua 18:1 “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.” 2nd Samuel 6:12 “And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness.” These three verses demonstrate that God directed there be one central place of worship. That place was first at Shiloh, but then later moved to Jerusalem. The selected place to worship at this time would’ve been at Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was. These high places seemed right to the human mind, but they were contrary to the directives of God. There are folks who are committing the same false deed today. They worship in a way which appeals to the flesh. It seems right, but if the Bible teaches a contrary way then we should walk in the Bible way.
5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee
Not idol worshipping
This is the strongest proof that Solomon was offering sacrifices to Jehovah and not to other Gods at this time. If Solomon had been guilty of idol worship God would certainly not have appeared unto him and commended him. God would not have said “Ask what I shall give thee” to someone who was living in rebellion to His law. Solomon fell into idolatry at a later time due to the influence of his foreign wives, but at the time of this Scripture, he was still loyal and faithful to Jehovah.
Dreams
God has used and I believe still uses dreams to communicate with men and women today. We know Joseph received the gift of interpretation of dreams and gave Pharaoh understanding of the future. Daniel also interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar by God’s insight. I also believe God can reach men today by dreams, but we must be very careful about this thing. If the dream is contrary to Scripture; it is not from God. Many cults are started by people who supposedly have revealing dreams. Many false so-called Messiahs have dreamed and founded new religions. These dreams were contrary to God’s revealed Word and therefore have no divine sanction.
.6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
Good Characteristics for Blessing
Solomon demonstrated some good attitudes for blessing in these verses. Notice in this verse he gives credit to God for establishing the Kingdom of his father and not to David’s own methods. He is thankful for the overseeing of God. He understands without God they would not be safe and prosperous. Do you understand that in your life also? It is only by the mercy of God that we are alive today. It is only by Him that we have the things we possess. Our daily bread comes through Him. My happiness rests upon His existence and presence in my life. Have you thanked Him today? Thankfulness leads to more blessing!
7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. 8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
Humility
If Solomon had been haughty with God he would’ve received nothing. God hates a proud look, but He is kind and merciful to those who are of a humble spirit. If you want to receive of God you must humble yourself before Him. Pride and forwardness are hurtful to the child of God and prevent blessing. When you think about it, what can you do without God helping you? The answer is nothing! We must rely on Him for strength and wisdom to get by. Consider this Scripture: James 4:6-10 “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
Solomon’s wish
Consider this illustration. We’ve all heard the stories of the genie that appears and grants three wishes; well in this Scripture, the Almighty God appears and grants one wish. Now I know we’ve all done it. We have all thought about what we would wish for. A billion dollars! To be King of the World! To have super powers! Solomon could’ve asked for those things, but he was wise enough to ask for what is needful to be a success in this life; wisdom. Do you realize you might be given the billion dollar wish, but without wisdom you would lose it all! Many books have been written about lottery winners and almost all of them endure misery and degradation before they are finished. Wisdom teaches us how to use money. A foolish rich man will end up poorer than a wise poor man. Real wisdom is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we are wise enough to do that; we possess Godly wisdom!
11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. 14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
Added blessings
Do you know why Solomon got more than he asked for? Let me show you a timeless principle from the Word of God: Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Would you like peace in your life; seek God and you will find it! How about prosperity; seek God and you will have enough. I am not promising that you will be extremely rich, but God will meet your needs and be a bountiful supply for you. How about love; seek God and you will know love like never before. Some would like assurance of eternity; seek God and you will be able to know for sure you are saved! Seek Him and all of these good things will be added to your life. Solomon sought wisdom instead of long life, power, wealth, and fame. God gave him wisdom like no other and also gave him long life, power, wealth, and fame. You might not be as wise as Solomon, but if you are endued with enough wisdom to live for the Lord, that’s all you need!
(New Living Translation, recommended as a commentary only) 3 Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship.4 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings.5 That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”6 Solomon replied, “You showed faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued your faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.7 “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around.8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted!9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.11 So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—12 I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have!13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life!14 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”
THANKS FOR STUDYING WITH US THIS WEEK. OUR LESSONS CAN BE FOUND EACH WEEK ON OUR WEBSITE WWW.ADDISONCHURCH.COM. BE SURE TO SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK WHEN YOU VISIT. WE ALSO WILL EMAIL THE LESSON DIRECTLY TO YOU BY REQUEST AT ADDISONFWBCHURCH@BLUESTARR.NET. YOU WILL NEVER BE ASKED FOR CONTRIBUTIONS, NOR WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE GIVEN OR SOLD TO ANY OUTSIDE SOURCE. SEE YOU SOON!!!!
PASTOR RICK BARCUS
