Solomon obeyed God and kept the covenant. When Solomon asked for wisdom, God blessed him with wisdom in addition to riches and fame. Solomon built a temple to God signifying God’s presence. He was prosperous and successful and so was the nation of Israel. He was famous and known for his wisdom. However, with all his riches and success, he forgot who gave him these blessings. God blessed him with success and riches, yet ultimately these successes and riches led him astray from God. He married foreign wives to have peace with other nations. “Instead of securing the kingdom, Solomon's numerous diplomatic marriages paved the way, following his death, to its division and decline” (Green, 156). These foreign wives came to Israel and introduced their foreign gods and foreign culture. In addition to idols, Israel’s riches made them subject to materialism. In their materialistic pleasure and worship of idols, they forgot about God and eventually rejected Him. Because of these influences, the United Monarchy of Israel was divided after Solomon’s
One of the main themes present in the rise of monarchy in Ancient Israel has to be the concept of royal ideology. Royal Ideology is the practice of believing that the king is considered to be at the same level of power as Yahweh, and vice versa. Throughout our studies of Ancient Israel there are many pieces of evidence to support this idea, and it had a great influence on the monarchal structure that developed throughout the time. Dealing with this subject matter, focusing on Wisdom is undoubtedly one of the prime methods of being able to interpret these Old Testament texts.
The rise and fall of this desired king is one that is unique with a lot to look at and learn from. Saul was a man who won many battles on the field as he defeated the Philistines and others who came against the Jewish
King David had sworn to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, that her son would be king following him. Solomon was a wise man. When the Lord came to Solomon and allowed him to ask whatever he wanted Solomon asked for more wisdom. “Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?” (2 Chronicles 1:10). Solomon ruled with greatness and that was evident in the cities he built, the number of followers he had. Another sign of his greatness was the fact that the queen of Sheba ventured to Jerusalem just so she could lean at his feet and gained wisdom.
Bonnie and sherry both good post. Solomon shows us that even if you’re the wisest person in the world if you are not abiding in the Lord then the vines of the world are going to choke you out. God allowed Solomon to make this choice to disobey as he does with us. “So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.’” (1 Kings 11:11 NASB). God displayed mercy to Solomon for David’s sake “Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.” (1 Kings 11:12 NASB). How faithful and patients God is with us is just amazing.
He served from 1000-961 BCE. He became king when he defeated Goliath, a man who taunted he Israelites for 40 days. People respect to David and David also established the capital of Israel, Jerusalem. David was done in his power Solomon succeeded David. Solomon had bankrupt Israel because he spent too much money on himself.
In his book he refers to when God asked King Solomon in 1 Kings 3 ‘What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!’ Tim Challies explains that Solomon requests more than wisdom as commonly taught. King Solomon answered in 1 Kings 3:9 “Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong.” King Solomon was asking for discernment in knowing how to govern a whole nation. 1 Kings 4 tells us how Solomon reigned over several kingdoms who sent tribute money to him and served him throughout his lifetime. On a smaller scale we read in 1 Kings 3:16-28 of King Solomon’s wise ruling between the women fighting over a baby. God gave him a discernment in knowing how to find out who the child’s actual mother was and was able to resolve the
Solomon was the son of David. When king David died, Solomon became king. Under king Solomon "the kingdom was established" in peace (I Kings 2:12,45-46; I Chronicles 22:9). "Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king" (I Chronicles 19:23) and "built a temple for the name of the Lord" (II Chronicles 2:1). For Jesus to be greater than Solomon He would have to ascend the throne of God and build the house of God, with all His enemies no longer making trouble. Matthew records Jesus the King saying to His disciples "I will build My church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18); later, having ascertained that the Messiah is a Son, the Son of David, Jesus shows that even king David calls the Messiah "Lord" (Psalm 110:1 and Matthew 22:41-45). Jesus is therefore the King of kings.
The bible says, “7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you...12 therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have” (Bible 2 Chronicles 1:7-12). God allowed Solomon to have whatever he wanted and he choose knowledge. This knowledge allowed him to become the richest
1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord,
When King Solomon’s heart was turned away from the living God to idol, and the Lord vowed to take away the kingdom of Israel away from him only living the tribe of Judah to Solomon’s offspring because of his father David (1 Kings 11:4-13). When Solomon died, the united kingdom of Israel was divided into two kingdoms under king Rehoboam’s reign, Solomon’s son. The tribe of Judah and Benjamin became the kingdom of Judah, while the other ten tribes of Israel, became the northern kingdom, and was governed by Jeroboam the son of Nebat who reigned over the ten tribes known as the house of Israel (1 kings 12:1-25).
Solomon may have introduced foreign trade and increased the nation income, but he increased an oppressive policy and grew heavy of the people. Many of the issues that Solomon had were economic such as, building projects, military fortifications, ship construction, and foreign trade which needed men. Different foreigners were used for labor as well as Israelites as military service. Solomon’s pride and selfishness contributed to his issues. He added tax to supply for his “wasteful court.” He wanted to be a king that was admired by all the other kings. Samuel prophecy concerning kingship and was fulfilled in Solomon. Now this wasn’t necessarily a good thing, He put burdensome taxes on the people, he took over the basic sources of wealth and more. The people of the northern tribes wanted to
The nation of Israel was set apart as holy to the LORD. But they When the children of Israel demanded a king, they did so to be like the other nations. The first three kings were Saul, (outwardly tall, handsome and strong—a seemingly good choice for a king, but inwardly arrogant, proud and unrepentant—not God’s choice), David (a man after God’s own heart who repented of his sins and as such was God’s choice), and Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived, but because of covenant disobedience became the catalyst for the division and ultimate exile of Israel.
King David proved to be a wise and effective leader for Israel. However, it can be said that his son, Solomon, made several mistakes during his reign. Many of his problems originated from his Temple, a stucture that was conceptualized by his father to be a deterrent against the paganism, which infested the land. Yet, it seemed as if several of Solomon’s policies actually encouraged paganism rather than deter it.
As long as I can remember, the Bible has been an important part of my life. I began reading Bible Stories as soon as I begam reading at age four. Beginning here and continuing throughout my life, the Bible continued to be my go to when times got tough and provided me with an enjoyable reading experience.