Bible Study Lesson on I Kings 1-3

 Lesson for August 3; I Kings 2-3.

There are two separate sections to this lesson: David’s last words to Solomon, and Solomon’s heart’s desire for wisdom.

What happened previously? I Kings 1. David is on his death bed, so his aides get him a young woman to take care of him and lie in bed with him to keep him warm. He did not have sex with her. It was a custom of the time. She was his concubine, which is a low-level wife for sexual and reproductive purposes.

Adonijah, as the oldest living son (but fourth in birth order) believed he should be king, and some agreed and supported him, Joab and Abiathar, David’s general and the high priest. This group followed him and declared him king, despite what David had told Solomon in I Chronicles 22:5-9. Nathan the prophet and Bathsheba approach David on his deathbed and put this before him, with Bathsheba pleading that her and Solomon’s life were in danger if Adonijah was allowed to be king. David declared Solomon king that day publicly, and sent him to the feast of Adonijah’s with the symbols that would show his approval (mule, horn of oil). Adonijah knew he was in trouble then, and asked for mercy from Solomon (for starting a rebellion), which Solomon gave.

I Kings 2:1-4, 5-9.

David counsels Solomon about his kingship; he was commanded to “be a man,” which is a heavy statement. Was Solomon too soft, compared to the warrior king David? He focuses on how he should treat the others in the palace. In that time, Solomon could have killed them all, but this is Israel, not other countries.

Solomon needed wisdom; he was already making bad choices in worshiping on the “high places.” This means he was offering sacrifices and worshiping outside of the prescribed way God had set down, through the tabernacle. They were not to offer sacrifices just anywhere, just any place, and by just any process.

Jesus later said worship had to be done in spirit and truth.

David’s advice to Solomon sounds harsh today. This was a time where the tribe and country was more important than individual rights. In most of the world it is still that way today. One reason Christians are persecuted is that the governments believe Christianity will destroy their society, the same thing the Romans thought, wrongly, of course, because the Christians were good citizens.

2:4: “God promised David that as long as his sons walked in obedience, they would keep the throne of Israel.”

From Enduring Word commentary: “This was an amazing promise. No matter what the Assyrians or the Egyptians or the Babylonians did, as long as David’s sons were obedient and followed God with their heart and with all their soul, God would establish their kingdom. He would take care of the rest.

We may envy the sons of David because they had such a promise, but we have a similar promise from God. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. God promises that if we put Him first, He will take care of the rest.”

In the rest of the chapter, Solomon has to deal with Adonijah again, who wants his father’s concubine as his wife. This was directly against the law of Moses. Bathsheba did not show much discernment. In chapter 1 Solomon showed mercy to former enemies of his father, like Adonijah, if they followed the law from then on. Adonijah didn’t, so Solomon had his executed for treason.

I Kings 3:

I Kings 3:1-4. Solomon’s problem: EXCEPT. Do we have “excepts?” to our love. Solomon’s was to worship his own way (it was sometimes acceptable to worship on the high places, but as King he should have shown an example by worshipping at the tabernacle, and it was excessive to sacrifice a thousand animals. His other “except” was loving so many foreign woman—excessive. The Egyptian princess was not his first wife; Rehoboam was born to his mother, a wife of Solomon named Naamah the Ammonitess (a sign that he would be marrying a lot of non-Israeli women; I have to wonder if the Jewish noble women of the time said, "What am I, chopped liver?")

I Kings 3:5-9. He showed humility and the right heart here, and God gave him wisdom. He did not have the will to do the right thing. We can know the right thing and not do it. We can have wisdom but not love. The New Testament balances the two: speak the truth in love.

Solomon wanted wisdom to reign justly. People could appeal to the king. Kings had a daily stream of people coming to them. We have one major story that has become a cultural metaphor, to show his wisdom. In this case, wisdom was psychological understanding: a real mother would not want her child killed even if someone else were to take him away.

Jewish History.org: “Solomon was an immensely complex and layered personality. For that reason, both the Biblical Record as well as the Oral Tradition exhibit ambivalence toward him unlike that toward anyone else. Solomon is both heroic and anti-heroic. He represents grandeur, nobility, wisdom and piety at the same time he represents base desires, pettiness and self-destructive tendencies.”

One of the effects of having too much knowledge was that he saw himself above the law. The Torah says that a king should not accumulate too much money for himself (Deuteronomy 17:17). Solomon accumulated it anyway (Ecclesiastes 2:8). The Bible said that a king should not have too many wives (Deuteronomy 17:17). Solomon took a thousand wives. . .

“The Bible also said that the king should not have too many horses (Deuteronomy 17:16), which was another way of saying not to have too big of an army. Military expenditures tend to take on a life of their own and become self-perpetuating. The same verse concludes, “And do not lead to people back to Egypt” (Deuteronomy 17:17). Even after its decline, Egypt retained its natural wealth and thus served as the symbol of overindulgence in materialism. God wanted to keep the Jewish people far from the allures of Egypt. Among its allures, Egypt was the horse-breeding capital of the ancient world. Any investment in a military would perforce lead to nation back to Egypt in the sense of trade and compromises, if not physically as well.”

Solomon’s early reign was the high point of the Jewish monarchy in wealth, trade, influence, and his reputation. But his influence was short-lived—the temple was destroyed, the kingdom split in the next generation, and his sons and grandsons rebelled and did not live according to God’s law. Readers of the Bible puzzle over: Where did he go wrong? He only lived 52 years. Did his excess kill him? He was right to ask for wisdom, and he received it, and used it for the good of the community. However, he did not use it to God’s glory. My question: do we use the gifts we have from God for his glory and others’ good?