20 Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. 2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, “This is what Ben-Hadad says: 3 ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.’” 4 The king of Israel answered, “Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours.” 5 The messengers came again and said, “This is what Ben-Hadad says: ‘I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives and your children. 6 But about this time tomorrow I am going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away.’”
A Syrian, named Ben-Hadad, comes up to Samaria to attack. Samaria is now the capital of Israel and a prime location for any society. It is elevated and Ahab (and his father Omri) have built a magnificent society there. Ben-Hadad attacks Samaria and tells Ahab that he demands all of Ahab’s resources, namely his fortune and his wives, and Ahab readily agrees to this. But Ben-Hadad is a tyrant with low morals. After the agreement is made, he also demands all of the fortunes of Ahab’s officials.
7 The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to them, “See how this man is looking for trouble! When he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him.” 8 The elders and the people all answered, “Don’t listen to him or agree to his demands.” 9 So he replied to Ben-Hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king, ‘Your servant will do all you demanded the first time, but this demand I cannot meet.’” They left and took the answer back to Ben-Hadad. 10 Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful.” 11 The king of Israel answered, “Tell him: ‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’” 12 Ben-Hadad heard this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents,[a] and he ordered his men: “Prepare to attack.” So they prepared to attack the city.
Ahab consults his counselors on this. Note that he didn’t consult them before an agreement was reached, and also note he never consulted God or Baal either. But he consults them and they gave him good advice: don’t give into any of his demands. But Ahab doesn’t listen to him. He says he will comply with his first demand but not the others. Of course, this doesn’t go well with Ben- Hadad. He says he will reduce Samaria to dust. Then he begins to drink with his officials.
Ahab Defeats Ben-Hadad 13 Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the Lord.’” 14 “But who will do this?” asked Ahab. The prophet replied, “This is what the Lord says: ‘The junior officers under the provincial commanders will do it.’” “And who will start the battle?” he asked. The prophet answered, “You will.” 15 So Ahab summoned the 232 junior officers under the provincial commanders. Then he assembled the rest of the Israelites, 7,000 in all. 16 They set out at noon while Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings allied with him were in their tents getting drunk. 17 The junior officers under the provincial commanders went out first. Now Ben-Hadad had dispatched scouts, who reported, “Men are advancing from Samaria.” 18 He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if they have come out for war, take them alive.” 19 The junior officers under the provincial commanders marched out of the city with the army behind them 20 and each one struck down his opponent. At that, the Arameans fled, with the Israelites in pursuit. But Ben-Hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with some of his horsemen. 21 The king of Israel advanced and overpowered the horses and chariots and inflicted heavy losses on the Arameans. 22 Afterward, the prophet came to the king of Israel and said, “Strengthen your position and see what must be done, because next spring the king of Aram will attack you again.” 23 Meanwhile, the officials of the king of Aram advised him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they were too strong for us. But if we fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they. 24 Do this: Remove all the kings from their commands and replace them with other officers. 25 You must also raise an army like the one you lost—horse for horse and chariot for chariot—so we can fight Israel on the plains. Then surely we will be stronger than they.” He agreed with them and acted accordingly. 26 The next spring Ben-Hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.
Meanwhile, a prophet comes to Ahab and says that God will give Ben-Hadad into his hands, so that he will know he is God. Ahab, a polytheistic guy by nature, allows this god his chance, and listens to God. God tells him that his junior officers will start the war. This sounds impossible to Ahab, but we soon discover that God has a trick up his sleeve. Remember that Ben-Hadad was drinking? Well, the invisible hand of God moves and we see Ben-Hadad give a ridiculous order: he says not to kill any of the Israelites. So as the Eremites move forward, the junior officers of Ahab’s army strike and plow down he Aramites, who have orders not to kill. The Aramites runs off and Ben-Hadad gets away to fight another day. As Ahab begins to strengthen his army under the orders of the prophet, Ben-Hadad gets his own advice from his own counselors. They believe that God is a god of the hills and not the valleys. This is a polytheistic mindset of localized gods. So they concoct a plan to fight create an army that can attack in the spring in the valley. Ben-Hadad ends up building an army that is much larger than Israel’s.
27 When the Israelites were also mustered and given provisions, they marched out to meet them. The Israelites camped opposite them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the countryside. 28 The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord.’” 29 For seven days they camped opposite each other, and on the seventh day the battle was joined. The Israelites inflicted a hundred thousand casualties on the Aramean foot soldiers in one day. 30 The rest of them escaped to the city of Aphek, where the wall collapsed on twenty-seven thousand of them. And Ben-Hadad fled to the city and hid in an inner room. 31 His officials said to him, “Look, we have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful. Let us go to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life.” 32 Wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says: ‘Please let me live.’” The king answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” 33 The men took this as a good sign and were quick to pick up his word. “Yes, your brother Ben-Hadad!” they said. “Go and get him,” the king said. When Ben-Hadad came out, Ahab had him come up into his chariot. 34 “I will return the cities my father took from your father,” Ben-Hadad offered. “You may set up your own market areas in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” Ahab said, “On the basis of a treaty I will set you free.” So he made a treaty with him, and let him go. 35 By the word of the Lord one of the company of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me with your weapon,” but he refused.
They came against each other for seven days and fight on the seventh(note the symbolic numbers) and the Israelites end up routing the Aramites again, thus bringing the prophet’s prophecy to fruition. They chase the Aramites to a town where a wall collapses on the remaining army and destroys them. But Ben-Hadad is still alive.
Ben-Hadad realizes he is trapped and he will be killed. But he has heard that the kings of Israel show mercy, so he fits on sackcloth in a display of repentance. He is fighting for his life, for there is no note that he is sorry; he simply wants to save his skin.
The mercy of Ahab comes in a weird way. He calls him brother and invites him into his chariot. They come to a treaty, where Ben-Hadad agrees to return the towns his father took. Then Ahab lets him go.
We will remember that King Asa made a similar treaty with Aram (Syria) that cost him the peace of his kingdom. This treaty doesn’t sit well with God, because God had slated Ben-Hadad to die. Ahab goes away from this news sullen and angry.
36 So the prophet said, “Because you have not obeyed the Lord, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.” And after the man went away, a lion found him and killed him. 37 The prophet found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” So the man struck him and wounded him. 38 Then the prophet went and stood by the road waiting for the king. He disguised himself with his headband down over his eyes. 39 As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, “Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, ‘Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life for his life, or you must pay a talent[b] of silver.’ 40 While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.” “That is your sentence,” the king of Israel said. “You have pronounced it yourself.” 41 Then the prophet quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. 42 He said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die.[c] Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’” 43 Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria.
God was not pleased that King Ahab made a deal with Ben- Hadad. God’s orders were to have Ben-Hadad die. He had one of His prophets set up a situation to see if King Ahab knew what should be done in a similar situation. When the king gave the judgment decree, the prophet revealed himself and told him the same judgment would be on him because he refused to do God’s will.
1 Kings 16
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu son of Hanani concerning Baasha: 2 “I lifted you up from the dust and appointed you ruler over my people Israel, but you followed the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin and to arouse my anger by their sins. 3 So I am about to wipe out Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat. 4 Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and birds will feed on those who die in the country.”
As we can see in this opening verse, God is using the next king to wipe out the lineage of Baasha just as He has used Baasha to end the rule of Jeroboam. God works this way throughout scripture. Babylon ultimately becomes an implement of justice against Judah just and the Assyrians are used to blight Israel. We could look at this and say God is cruel, but every ruler has an opportunity to follow God or to follow their own rules. When a ruler chooses the path against God, then the ruler is lining up for judgment. In Baasha’s case, he was not part of Jeroboam’s lineage but followed him in a spiritual sense. In the same way God promised Jeroboam’s legacy would be cursed (dogs eating remains signifies a lack of proper burial), and Baasha will receive this same fate.
5 As for the other events of Baasha’s reign, what he did and his achievements, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 6 Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. And Elah his son succeeded him as king. 7 Moreover, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani to Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger by the things he did, becoming like the house of Jeroboam—and also because he destroyed it.
1 Kings 16:2 says that Baasha was “lifted” or exalted out of dust to become the next ruler over Israel. This sacred appointment by God was thrown away by Baasha and God’s patience and mercy were tested. Because “all of the evil he had done in the eyes of the Lord,” the house of Baasha aroused God’s anger.
God’s patience is longstanding. In the story of the kings, it takes over 200 years for God to render a final judgment on Israel. Longer for Judah. This is a component of God’s mercy. Even through the eons God wants the people to collectively come to Him. But there always comes time when God says “that’s enough” and renders His judgment. Baasha’s main problem was that he became much like Jeroboam.
Elah King of Israel 8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years. 9 Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the palace administrator at Tirzah. 10 Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king. 11 As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha’s whole family. He did not spare a single male, whether relative or friend. 12 So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu— 13 because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols. 14 As for the other events of Elah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
Many of the kings of Israel’s reigns are listed inside Asa’s rule in Judah mainly because Asa had such a long reign (41 years) and those kings in Israel had much shorter reigns. During Asa’s rule 5 kings came and went, the last being Ahab, the worst of them all. As we can see, Elah has only a 2 year reign before he is murdered by Zimri. Although we don’t know exactly why Zimri was gunning for Elah, we do know that he was laser-focused on destroying the current king and wiping out the entire family of Baasha, the previous king. This fulfilled the 1 Kings 16:3-4 prophecy.
Zimri King of Israel 15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned in Tirzah seven days. The army was encamped near Gibbethon, a Philistine town. 16 When the Israelites in the camp heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day there in the camp. 17 Then Omri and all the Israelites with him withdrew from Gibbethon and laid siege to Tirzah. 18 When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died, 19 because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and following the ways of Jeroboam and committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. 20 As for the other events of Zimri’s reign, and the rebellion he carried out, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?
Zimri, the man who had masterminded the killing of Baasha’s entire family, lasts but 7 days in power before he is discarded. Once it was discovered that he plotted against the king, the people rose up, selected a new leader and moved to depose this king. In this time period it was common for incoming kings to kill the king in power and his entire family in order to secure there would not be another successor in the bloodline. But Zimri instead retreats to the citadel and he killed himself by setting fire to it. David instead fought to appreciate the king until his time was done. Zimri, however, sensing no way out, instead goes to the citadel and stays there until it implodes.
Omri King of Israel 21 Then the people of Israel were split into two factions; half supported Tibni son of Ginath for king, and the other half supported Omri. 22 But Omri’s followers proved stronger than those of Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri became king. 23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah. 24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built a city on the hill, calling it Samaria, after Shemer, the name of the former owner of the hill. 25 But Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord and sinned more than all those before him. 26 He followed completely the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, so that they aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols. 27 As for the other events of Omri’s reign, what he did and the things he achieved, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 28 Omri rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. And Ahab his son succeeded him as king.
Omri is the fourth king of Israel during Asa’s rule in Judah. When he came into power it was not fully-accepted. The kingdom is divided by civil unrest. So for the first five years Omri had power over part of the kingdom, but after subduing Tibni, he claimed power over all of Israel for 7 years. Although not much is said about Omri, he made the very substantial move to found Samaria. Samaria would be the capital of Israel going forward, a stronghold on top of a hill that would last for hundreds of years.
But even though Omri was tactically brilliant, he lacked spiritual depth. He followed in the footsteps of Jeroboam. This is a clue to how Israel became so corrupt over time: the leaders all took their cues from the original defier of God and built on that foundation. Omri is no different. And his achievements give way to the king who is called the worst of all of them.
Ahab Becomes King of Israel 29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him. 34 In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the Lord spoken by Joshua son of Nun.
Toward the end of Asa’s reign (he is still in power for three years when Ahab comes on the scene), Omri’s son Ahab gains power. It is noted that Ahab was even worse than Omri or any of the others that came before. Why? First, he believed that Jeroboam’s assaults on God’s law were trivial.
Ahab, building on Jeroboam’s foundation, discovers new levels of chaos and disobedience. He marries a Sidonian princess named Jezebel. Jezebel is credited with bringing Baal worship back into Israel and later hunts down the prophets of God. Ahab also builds a new temple dedicated to Baal in the capital and mandates Baal worship as the preeminent religion of the land. Furthermore he begins the worship of Asherah, the fertility god of the Canaanites.
Lastly, in verse 34, we learn that Ahab rebuilt Jericho. This in itself doesn’t seem like a problem, but according to Joshua 6:26, God forbade the rebuilding of Jericho:
At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: “At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
The verse also tells the story of the builder Hiel and how he “laid the foundations at the cost of his sons…” In the Canaanite tradition, a sacrifice to the gods was necessary to “bless” the land. The result of the sacrifice was the burying of the bones at the foundation. Ahab’s command to rebuild Jericho is against God’s wishes and done so by a child-sacrifice, also against God’s heart.
1 When King David was very old, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. 2 So his attendants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.” 3 Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 The woman was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her.
Kings 1 begins with the end story to David’s rule. David is old now, so old that he can’t keep himself warm. This sounds like a decrepit man, but if we do the math (David took the throne at age 30, ruled for 40 years), David is 70ish. His condition may be worsened because he has lived a hard and brutal life, but also because he may have carried many burdens with him along the way. One of them could be how 2 Samuel ended. If you recall, David attempts to take a census, but God is not in favor of it. It is a prideful move from David. There are no wars, no reason to take one except that David wants to realize the full capacity of his kingdom. Because of this prideful move, God gives David a choice in his consequence: 3 years of famine, 3 months running from his enemies or 3 days of plague. David, realizing his error, chooses the plague. This is a very humbling move for David, because the first two he can wait out as a king if he wanted to. In other words, he could avoid the consequence. But he chooses the plague, and this choice means that the plague could touch him too. He can’t avoid God. 70,000 people die as a result of the plague. This, along with other items, could contribute to his bad health. But before that story ends, we see David again moving toward God. He buys a patch of land (same land where Jacob saw the ladder to heaven and where Isaac was to be sacrificed). This land will ultimately be where his son, Solomon, will build the temple. But back to Kings. The first item we talked about was that David, unable to keep himself warm, was given a fine young virgin. This sounds strange to us for a number of reasons. In the ancient world this was a common practice. It was believed that the young could help the old with body warmth. In fact, the historian Josephus refers to this as a medicinal practice of the times and even goes so far to call the people tending to David during this last leg of his life as physicians.
5 Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses[a] ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6 (His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.) 7 Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David’s special guard did not join Adonijah.
In verse 5 we see another one David’s sons popping up. His name is Adonijah and he is the 4th son of David. Amnon was the first in line for the throne, then Absalom, there was another who died young, and then Adonijah. You will notice that Adonijah simple calls himself king. He takes a very similar route as Absalom did, with portraying very kingly (politician) types of posturing (chariots, fifty men). As we see this new threat arise, we also have a very interesting passage regarding David. It says that David never rebuked Adonijah. This is important because once again we see David’s poor fathering coming to light. See Proverbs 29:17. Scripture time and time again calls us to correct our children. There is a two-fold development: We raise a children who grows into a person who respects and is respected and it gives us an easier future as parents. Doesn’t mean the road may not be bumpy at times, but it is always a matter of returning to the foundation you lay...that’s where a child will return to when they are building their own lives. Adonijah is never corrected, so his path is built on the foundation his brother set, not his father.
7 Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David’s special guard did not join Adonijah. 9 Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, 10 but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.
Adonijah then recruits some of David’s high command. He gets Joab, the leader of David’s army, and Abiathar, David’s faithful head priest. Joab and Abiathar have always been faithful to David, but an easy answer to why they would go with Adonijah may be because David is simply old and Adonijah is the next in line of succession. So Adonijah begins to sacrifice cattle and creates a party for himself proclaiming himself as king.
11 Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king, and our lord David knows nothing about it? 12 Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13 Go in to King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: “Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ 14 While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and add my word to what you have said.” 15 So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him. 16 Bathsheba bowed down, prostrating herself before the king. “What is it you want?” the king asked. 17 She said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the Lord your God: ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’ 18 But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it. 19 He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. 20 My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.” 22 While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived. 23 And the king was told, “Nathan the prophet is here.” So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground. 24 Nathan said, “Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne? 25 Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite. 27 Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
Bathsheba and Nathan realize that Adonijah’s proclamation is both presumptuous and dangerous. First of all, his route to kingship is not proper. He hasn’t gone through the king and hasn’t invited Nathan the prophet. That tells us that Adonijah is subverting David and subverting God. Not a good way to start things out. Furthermore, Nathan and Bathsheba realize their lives, as well as Solomon’s, are in danger. David is the only example of a king so far who hasn’t slaughtered all of his adversaries when taking the throne. Adonijah will most certainly sever any opposition. So they devise a plan: tell the king what is happening. Bathsheba goes in first and Nathan second. Their stories will correlate so that David understands this is a real threat.
28 Then King David said, “Call in Bathsheba.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him. 29 The king then took an oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 30 I will surely carry out this very day what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.” 31 Then Bathsheba bowed down with her face to the ground, prostrating herself before the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!” 32 King David said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king, 33 he said to them: “Take your lord’s servants with you and have Solomon my son mount my own mule and take him down to Gihon. 34 There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35 Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.” 36 Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so declare it. 37 As the Lord was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!” 38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon mount King David’s mule, and they escorted him to Gihon. 39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” 40 And all the people went up after him, playing pipes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.
David understands the threat and remembers that he and God have a covenant (1 Chron 22). Solomon has been promised as King. So David gets his royal mule out, gets the priest and trucks Solomon down to Gihon. There he is anointed King in the proper fashion, through the King and in congruence with God, and when he is brought back up to Jerusalem the shofar is sounded and Solomon is proclaimed King.
41 Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they were finishing their feast. On hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab asked, “What’s the meaning of all the noise in the city?” 42 Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news.” 43 “Not at all!” Jonathan answered. “Our lord King David has made Solomon king. 44 The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites, and they have put him on the king’s mule, 45 and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon. From there they have gone up cheering, and the city resounds with it. That’s the noise you hear. 46 Moreover, Solomon has taken his seat on the royal throne. 47 Also, the royal officials have come to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make Solomon’s name more famous than yours and his throne greater than yours!’ And the king bowed in worship on his bed 48 and said, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.’”
The funny thing about all of this is Solomon is made king in such quick fashion that Adonijah’s dinner party isn’t even finished when the trumpet sounds and they are disturbed by the noise in the city. Jonathan comes up the hill and rubs it in, letting Adonijah know that Solomon is king and that he’s in big trouble now.
49 At this, all Adonijah’s guests rose in alarm and dispersed. 50 But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Then Solomon was told, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” 52 Solomon replied, “If he shows himself to be worthy, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die.” 53 Then King Solomon sent men, and they brought him down from the altar. And Adonijah came and bowed down to King Solomon, and Solomon said, “Go to your home.”
So like rats, his party guests get out of there. They are all in big trouble, because a new king means cleaning house is in order, especially for enemies. Adonijah himself runs for it, not for the hills but for a temple. He grabs “the horns of the altar”, which basically means that he is claiming sanctuary from the temple. Solomon tracks him down and issues him mercy, but it is as sharp as a sword: Adonijah is to be spared, but if any evil is found in him he will die. This means that Adonijah, even though he tried to usurp power from the true king, is given a chance to clean up his act. But he can’t step out of line or else it’s curtains. We’ll see the way Adonijah deals with this with this in chapter 2.
1 “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, 3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go 4 and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’
Before David dies, he gives a charge to Solomon. This directive is meant to guide Solomon in his life as well as direct Israel in the proper ways to honor and follow God. 1. Be Strong, Act like a man This directive is meant for Solomon to be strong and confident in his decision-making. We can also connect the dots and figure that David is probably looking back on his own reign. David is calling for Solomon to perhaps be stronger than David ever could be, especially in regards to the sins that allowed David to falter. He is also eluding to the special problems Solomon will encounter in his reign. 2. Walk in obedience to God We’ve heard this before and will hear again in scripture. You may remember it from 1 Sam 12: 13-15, when Samuel addresses Israel due to their desire to have a king. He tells Israel that it is good to have a king, and if the king sets the example of following God, then Israel will follow and thus Israel will be blessed. It is imperative that Solomon put God first in his life. It is the only way that he will succeed in his kingdom and Israel will have a succession of kings from David’s bloodline, thus keeping the Davidic promise of God to David. God promised this to David unconditionally, but Solomon’s condition is conditional: he and the subsequent kings must follow God in order to secure the dynasty. Although we have many OT examples of Kings gone bad, we see a constant theme: put God first and our paths will be straightened. We see this in countless examples of scripture (Heb 12:13, Pro 4:26-27, Pro 3:6, Luke 12:31). This message flows through the OT, through the stories of Saul and David and now again with Solomon. But how do we apply it in our own lives? What does it look like. The best analogy I can give you is that of a relationship. Have you been in a relationship where one person does all of the work? If you are that one person, what ultimately happens? You get tired and you give up. God, the ever present, hopeful God who is waiting for us never truly gives up, but does fade away. He lets us do our thing while he patiently waits. And if we do our thing long enough, he will eventually turn and move away, allowing us to live our lives independent of him. But is always eager to welcome us back into his arms. A relationship is built on two working towards each others (James 4:8). So, in order to put God first takes effort, sacrifice and a commitment. The first step towards a deeper relationship with God is to read and study deeper. So we are going to begin to read more outside of church and bible study. You will see a box below that says “Weekly Reading” . This is a chapter that I would like all of us to read throughout the week, every day, and think on it. It will correspond to what we are studying that week, and we will weave it into the study to help us with the deeper aspects of scripture.
3. Follow God’s rules and regulations This applies to his following of the levitical laws as drawn out from God to the Israelites.
5 “Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. 6 Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace. 7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom. 8 “And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’ 9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.” 10 Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. 11 He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.
David also has some items that are left over from his administration that weren’t taken care of. In verse 5 we are reminded of Joab’s treachery and how he has murdered two innocent men. David says that Solomon must take care of this in his term, and not to let Joab’s gray head go to the grave in peace. This is an essential place for Solomon to begin his reign. In justice, not revenge. Joab was a guy David could never quite corral, but Solomon doesn’t have the same hang ups with Joab as David did. We could argue, too, that Joab perhaps knew that his days were numbered with the house of David and that could be one reason why he joined Adonijah in an attempt to secure the kingship. The second request of David is for Solomon to extend mercy to Barazillai’s sons. You may remember that Barazillai was the old guy who helped David when he crossed the Jordan when David fled from Absalom. Barazillai was too old to cross into the kingdom with David, so he asked that David extend the invitation to his sons. Here, David calls that Solomon continue the mercy. Third, David requests that Solomon take care of the scoundrel Shimei. Shimei was the guy who threw rocks at David as he left the kingdom and then manipulated David as he returned to the kingdom. He brought 1000 Benjamites with him and begged for forgiveness and David agreed not to kill him. These three items Solomon is to take care of to close out David’s reign and bring in his own. David then dies and is entombed in the City of David and Solomon’s rule is established.
5 “Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. 6 Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace. 7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom. 8 “And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’ 9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.” 10 Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. 11 He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. 12 So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.
But we see Adonijah making waves again. If you recall, he rushed into the temple and asked for mercy and Solomon gave it to him. He let him live, but if there is any evil seen in him, he will be killed. Adonijah, ever sneaky, has a plan: he wants Abishag the Shumanite, and instead of asking the king he instead goes to his mother because he knows the king will not refuse her. But this request is treasonous because Abishag is a concubine of David’s, and by default now belongs to Solomon. In this culture you can’t mess with the king’s stuff, and Abishag is certainly one of the king’s possessions. Solomon orders Adonijah’s death for this and he is brought down.
26 To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father’s hardships.” 27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.
Solomon then deals with Abiathar, the priest who also sided with Adonijah. Siting his loyalty to David, Abiathar’s life is spared, but he is stripped of the priesthood and sent home.
28 When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar. 29 King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, “Go, strike him down!” 30 So Benaiah entered the tent of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” But he answered, “No, I will die here.” Benaiah reported to the king, “This is how Joab answered me.” 31 Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my whole family of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed. 32 The Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because without my father David knowing it he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them—Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army—were better men and more upright than he. 33 May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord’s peace forever.”
Joab hears of this and knows he is next on the chopping block. He hightails it to the temple and tries the same thing Adonijah did, grabbing onto the horns of the altar, but it won’t work for him because he is plainly guilty (EX21:14). He too is struck down in the temple. Shimei must also be dealt with, but Solomon chooses mercy. He allows Shimei to live, but he is not allowed to leave Jerusalem. Shimei regards this as gracious and lives there for a long time, but when a few of his slaves escape, Shimei follows and retrieves them, thus blowing his parole. Solomon deals with him severely and kills him.
34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried at his home out in the country. 35 The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest. 36 Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else. 37 The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head.” 38 Shimei answered the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time. 39 But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran off to Achish son of Maakah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, “Your slaves are in Gath.” 40 At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath. 41 When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, 42 the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warn you, ‘On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die’? At that time you said to me, ‘What you say is good. I will obey.’ 43 Why then did you not keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you?” 44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the Lord will repay you for your wrongdoing. 45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain secure before the Lord forever.” 46 Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and he died. The kingdom was now established in Solomon’s hands.
These all seem like extreme cases of brutality, but they were necessary for Solomon to end the last lingering aspects of David’s reign and begin his own. The last verse in this chapter tells us that a new beginning is at hand: The kingdom is now established in Solomon’s hands.
1 Kings 3
Beginning in Chapter 3 we find Solomon making an alliance with Egypt and actually marrying Pharoah’s daughter.
1Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. 3 Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
First, why is Solomon making an alliance with Egypt? The alliance to Egypt was very important for both parties. It was most likely made with the Egyptian Pharoah Siamun, who ruled right in the same period as Solomon. Simaun, it is important to note, was ruling Egypt during a period where Egypt began to lose ground. Egypt, during the whole of the books of Moses, and even as far back as Genesis, was the chief superpower in the area. Like Rome or Greece, they wielded all of the power. But Egypt’s reign is precarious and it is fading, and for that reason Egypt is aligning itself with a new growing powerhouse: Israel. So why is this alliance important? When we look at 1 Kings 9:16 we get an idea. That verse tells us that the land of Gezer, which is in Canaan, was conquered by the Pharaoh and given to his daughter as a dowry. As we dig a little further we see that this area is incredibly important to both nations. It lies inside Israel, but is tactically needed by Egypt, due to the crossing of two important trade routes. A trade route in western Gezer is used by Egypt. A trade route in northern Gezer leads to the sea (Joppa) and is essential to Israel for the building of the wall, palace and temple that Solomon will be building. So what about the marriage? In that time period it was a political custom to use a daughter as a keepsake to insure there wouldn’t be ugliness to the alliance. Basically a king isn’t going to attack a nation where his daughter is held up. So it keeps the peace between the two nations until the alliance is done.
The Egyptian wife is also troubling. The Israelites were specifically warned to not intermarry the people in the land of Canaan. Although there is nothing explicitly against marrying an Egyptian, it does go against the tenants of a king as stated in Deuteronomy 17. And we know, plunging forward into the scripture (1 Kings 11:1-8) that Solomon struggles with an abundance of foreign women who ultimately turn his heart away from God. But this is first wife, right? Not so. 1 Kings 14:21 tells us that he is already married to at least one other woman named Naamah. This is the mother of Rehoboam, who will take the throne after his father. So early on we see Solomon dedicating himself to following the tenants set out by David, but already struggling with following God completely.
4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
Next we see Solomon burning sacrifices and incense at “high places”. High places are the sacrificial spots usually on mountaintops or hills, designated as places of sacrifice to different gods. To understand this concept we must recall the law of Moses. God would ordain certain areas for the Israelites to build places of worship. But there were also many places still hanging around from the idol worshippers of the land of Canaan. The idea is that Solomon was mostly doing it right, but he was also brought up in the mixed-motivations of the culture.
6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. 7 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
But for his shortcomings, Solomon is a man, like his father, after God’s own heart. He goes to Gibeon and sacrifices 1000 animals to God at his ceremonial party as king. There all of the heads of the nation witness this almost gaudy display. God notices it too. God comes to Solomon in a dream that very night and tells Solomon, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon first thanks God for his tremendous mercy to his father and himself and doesn’t ask for wealth or honor or vanquishing his enemies but asks for a “discerning heart” to govern the people. You may note that this is a very specific type of wisdom. Like his father David he would struggle with women and sort of bypass that part of his life, but as we learn that is the element that actually turns his heart away. God tells Solomon that he is pleased that he didn’t ask for wealth or honor, so since he prayed for wisdom (see James 1:5) God will give him the trappings of success as well.
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” 15 Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.
A Wise Ruling 16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. 19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.” 22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.” But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king. 23 The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’” 24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” 26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!” 27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.” 28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
In verse 16 we read about one of Solomon’s wise (and most famous) rulings. It concerns two women who come before him. One woman’s baby has died and she accuses the other of swapping the babies. There are no other witnesses so they come before the king and Solomon says to split the baby in half. The real mother pleads for the baby’s life, even though it will go to the other woman, while the other woman tells Solomon to go ahead and cut the baby in half. Solomon declares that the woman who was willing to give up the baby is the true mother, and Israel is astounded at the new king’s wisdom. Solomon from there sets up a very structured arrangement of officials and governors. This is important because we see that Solomon is actually setting up a viable government. And in that Israel reaps the benefits of his success. Israel moves into a golden age with Solomon, an age of abundance and opportunity. His wisdom draws the other nations toward him and he is able to secure many other peaceful alliances.
1 Kings 4
1 So King Solomon ruled over all Israel. 2 And these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok—the priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha—secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud—recorder; 4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada—commander in chief; Zadok and Abiathar—priests; 5 Azariah son of Nathan—in charge of the district governors; Zabud son of Nathan—a priest and adviser to the king; 6 Ahishar—palace administrator; Adoniram son of Abda—in charge of forced labor.
King Solomon was a wise ruler and this list of officials shows us, in part, this wisdom. Rulers, and leaders of any kind, can’t do an effective job by themselves. Solomon surrounds himself with able men who all have a purpose in guiding and creating a systemic wisdom. First, we see priests on the list. This is important, for one of the guiding themes of Kings is this: if the king follows God and the people follow the king, there will be a blessing on the land. Solomon is beginning well by making God’s Law a cornerstone of his rule.
The next notable name is Jehosaphat. He was a former member of David’s reign. This shows us some of the wisdom of Solomon in picking people who were wise and revered in the past to offer counsel in the present.
Although most names are of unknown people, we can safely assume that there was forethought and prayer that went into all appointments.
7 Solomon had twelve district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year. 8 These are their names: Ben-Hur—in the hill country of Ephraim; 9 Ben-Deker—in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh and Elon Bethhanan; 10 Ben-Hesed—in Arubboth (Sokoh and all the land of Hepher were his); 11 Ben-Abinadab—in Naphoth Dor (he was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon); 12 Baana son of Ahilud—in Taanach and Megiddo, and in all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah across to Jokmeam; 13 Ben-Geber—in Ramoth Gilead (the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan and its sixty large walled cities with bronze gate bars); 14 Ahinadab son of Iddo—in Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz—in Naphtali (he had married Basemath daughter of Solomon); 16 Baana son of Hushai—in Asher and in Aloth; 17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah—in Issachar; 18 Shimei son of Ela—in Benjamin; 19 Geber son of Uri—in Gilead (the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and the country of Og king of Bashan). He was the only governor over the district.
Solomon appointed 12 governors to essentially tax the individual regions they were in charge of. These governors were responsible for supporting the central government with provision, meaning grains, livestock and riches from their lands. Each governor had this responsibility to supply the kingship once during the yearner a month at a time.
Solomon’s Daily Provisions 20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. 21 And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life.
Solomon’s reign was marked by peace. It was also the largest area Israel would ever possess (from the Euphrates all the way to northern Egypt). One of the ways peace was achieved was that there were fair trade agreements made between nations. Solomon traded for supplies from both Syria and Egypt, causing those nations to favor Israel. Once again we see the principle that Kings teaches us: if the King is aligned with God, and the people follow the king, there will be peace. Later on, when we see other kings after Solomon rise, we’ll see the reverse. When the king goes not follow God, there is famine, war and restlessness.
22 Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.
This is Solomon’s allotted provision for his household and it is quite a bit. Even though Solomon’s house was large, the provision here seems excessive. The flour amounts to around 50+ gallons every day. The acquisition of animals, in biblical times, displayed one’s wealth.
24 For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. 25 During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree. 26 Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses. 27 The district governors, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king’s table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. 28 They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.
This shows the expanse of Solomon’s kingdom. The borders weren’t only expanded but the people on all sides of Israel were peaceful. It created a great insulation in Israel, a golden era of peace, prosperity and fellowship. In fact, the term “under their own vine and under their own fig tree” refers to an OT expression of peace (Isaiah 36:16).
Verse 26 tells us of Solomon’s might: 4,000 stalls for chariot horses plus 12,000 horses. This is a large and formidable amount even if the times are peaceful. But this passages also tell us of the undercurrent of problems in Solomon’s reign. As Solomon does great things for God, he is also beginning down a road of fractured alliance.
First, in verse 22-23, we saw a great allotment of food per day. Second, we see this great military presence. Although we could say the first is result of his great work for God and the second is practical, we also see that Solomon is moving away from God in little ways. Deuteronomy 17:16 clearly states that a a king shall not attain horses for himself. Why? Because this is vanity and it begins to turn the focus away from God and to the king’s own power.
If Solomon is aware of the scriptures, then he is turning away from them. If he is not, then he has not taken the charge of following God seriously. Either way, he can turn back to God by abolishing the practices of sustaining his wealth. But wealth, like power, is alluring and often gets us into trouble. Remember, Solomon asked for wisdom but God gave him power also (1 Kings 3:13-14). It is up to Solomon how he is to handle what was given to him.
Solomon’s Wisdom 29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.
Solomon’s God-given wisdom is extraordinary and it is well-known across Israel. Ethan and Heman are names mentioned here, and both are authors of Psalms (Heman for Psalm 88 and Ethan for Psalm 89). His wisdom goes beyond the Israel borders though and is known, and desired, across the known world. As the nations clamor over his wisdom we will see Solomon give generously.
32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
Solomon wasn’t only wise, but his wisdom bled into different areas. He wrote a large portion of the book of Proverbs; he wrote a variety of songs; he also had interest in the physical world and applied his mind to understanding what made the world turn. The cedar and the hyssop is an interesting way to rank his knowledge. In the ancient days of Israel, the cedar was regarded as the most complex plant structure and the hyssop the least. This is a fancy way of telling us that his knowledge of plant life was all-inclusive.
This wisdom and knowledge attracted people to him. Leaders from surrounding nations wanted to understand what made Solomon tick.
1 Kings 5
1 When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: 3 “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’ 6 “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
Here we see one of Solomon’s alliances, this one born out of a relationship with his father, David. The Sidonians were much revered for their ability in cutting down and turning trees into workable timber.
Solomon understands some of the limitations put before David in building the temple, even though he may not have understood that the building of the temple would be solely left to him (1 Chronicles 28:3). Because David was too warlike, God took the building of the temple away from him, gave it Solomon, even though David gathered much of the supplies for it (1 Chronicles 22:4).
7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.” 8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.” 10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted, 11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors[ of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
The treaty between Hiram and Solomon was sealed with a trade. Hiram, the ruler of the Sidonians (Lebannon), supplied Solomon with the wood he needed and Solomon supplied Hiram with food for his household. This struck a peaceful relationship between the two nations during Solomon’s rule.
13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
First, we can see some of Solomon’s wisdom the way he works his people. He sends them to Lebanon in shifts, thus not stressing the entire workforce at once. There is more time at home than away.
15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
This massive force could only be achieved by a prosperous and peaceful Israel. Without wars being fought, the men of Israel could indulge in the work that Solomon demanded. By this passage we can see that Solomon demanded the finest stone materials for the temple, even in the foundation. The foundation stone was “high-grade” and “dressed”. Even in the most fundamental way, Solomon was using the finest materials for the temple of God.
1 Kings 5
1 When Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. 2 Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: 3 “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. 5 I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the Lord my God, as the Lord told my father David, when he said, ‘Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’ 6 “So give orders that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. My men will work with yours, and I will pay you for your men whatever wages you set. You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”
Here we see one of Solomon’s alliances, this one born out of a relationship with his father, David. The Sidonians were much revered for their ability in cutting down and turning trees into workable timber.
Solomon understands some of the limitations put before David in building the temple, even though he may not have understood that the building of the temple would be solely left to him (1 Chronicles 28:3). Because David was too warlike, God took the building of the temple away from him, gave it Solomon, even though David gathered much of the supplies for it (1 Chronicles 22:4).
7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.” 8 So Hiram sent word to Solomon: “I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and juniper logs. 9 My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea, and I will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household.” 10 In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted, 11 and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors[ of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year. 12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, just as he had promised him. There were peaceful relations between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
The treaty between Hiram and Solomon was sealed with a trade. Hiram, the ruler of the Sidonians (Lebannon), supplied Solomon with the wood he needed and Solomon supplied Hiram with food for his household. This struck a peaceful relationship between the two nations during Solomon’s rule.
13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
First, we can see some of Solomon’s wisdom the way he works his people. He sends them to Lebanon in shifts, thus not stressing the entire workforce at once. There is more time at home than away.
15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. 17 At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
This massive force could only be achieved by a prosperous and peaceful Israel. Without wars being fought, the men of Israel could indulge in the work that Solomon demanded. By this passage we can see that Solomon demanded the finest stone materials for the temple, even in the foundation. The foundation stone was “high-grade” and “dressed”. Even in the most fundamental way, Solomon was using the finest materials for the temple of God.
1 Kings 6
1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.
This chapter, which details the technical building of the temple, is very interesting from both an engineering standpoint and a spiritual standpoint. First, the author of 1 Kings gives us a date that the temple was built: 4th year of his reign in the month of Ziv. Solomon’s reign began about 971 BC. That mean that the temple began being built in 967.
But this date is a little more descriptive than at first glance. The temple’s building also began 480 years after the Israelites came out of Egypt during the Exodus. If the temple was built in 967 and the Exodus happened 480 before that, it means that the Exodus (which is undated in the Pentateuch) happened in approximately 1447 BC.
2 The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high. 3 The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple. 4 He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. 5 Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms. 6 The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls.
The ancient system of measurement is quite different from our modern day method. A cubit of measurement is approximately 18 inches and derived from he distance between the crook of an elbow and a fingertip. So, when the author describes the portico ( the covered entranceway of the temple) as extending the width of the temple (20 cubits) and projecting 10 cubits from the front of the temple, we have to do some math to figure out the exact measurements:
The portico: 20 x 18 = 360 inches. 360 inches / 12 inches = 30 feet Length of the temple: 60 x 18 = 1080 inches. 1080 inches = 90 feet Lowest floor: 5 x 18 = 90 inches. 90 inches = 7.5 feet Middle floor: 6 x 18 = 108 inches. 108 inches = 9 feet Third floor : 7 x 18 = 126 inches. 126 inches = 10.5 feet
Although it isn’t apparent yet, the temple was built as a permanent representation of the tabernacle. It will contain a main room and the Holy of Holies as the tabernacle had.
7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. 8 The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third. 9 So he built the temple and completed it, roofing it with beams and cedar planks. 10 And he built the side rooms all along the temple. The height of each was five cubits, and they were attached to the temple by beams of cedar.
Solomon builds his temple in two ways. First, he dresses all the rocks at the quarry, meaning that the work of chiseling the stone out of the rock and preparing it was done somewhere else. Second, the temple is erected in a type of silence that is quite different from normal construction. Those building it receive the stone that is ready to be placed at the temple. The reverence is noteworthy: Solomon is creating something quite different, a new construction for God on sacred ground. It will not be built of shoddy product and will not be built in the customary way.
11 The word of the Lord came to Solomon: 12 “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”
In the book of Kings, we will see this promise throughout. It is given to Solomon and subsequent kings as both reminder and warning. There is a covenant here, an implication of duty: if the king follows God and the people follow the king, then the kingdom will be blessed by prosperity, health and dominion. God will be close to them and they close to God. But the opposite is also true: if they choose to live on their own strength and abandon God, there will be restlessness, war, famine and pestilence.
14 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. 15 He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of juniper. 16 He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. 17 The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. 18 The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.
The interior walls were lined with cedar, a very costly and valuable wood. This wood came from the north from King Hiram, the ruler of Tyre and Sidon. The region was well-known for men who worked with timber. Solomon would sanction only the best for the temple.
19 He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. 21 Solomon covered the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. 22 So he overlaid the whole interior with gold. He also overlaid with gold the altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary. 23 For the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim out of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing five cubits—ten cubits from wing tip to wing tip. 25 The second cherub also measured ten cubits, for the two cherubim were identical in size and shape. 26 The height of each cherub was ten cubits. 27 He placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple, with their wings spread out. The wing of one cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the other touched the other wall, and their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
Solomon gave the inner sanctum ( the Holy of Holies) special attention. The room was overlaid with pure gold and intricate carvings surrounded the future home of the Ark of the Covenant. This room, separated by gold chains, underlaid the fact that it was not accessible to all. It was only reserved for the high priests. Not even Solomon was to enter it.
29 On the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers. 30 He also covered the floors of both the inner and outer rooms of the temple with gold. 31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors out of olive wood that were one fifth of the width of the sanctuary. 32 And on the two olive-wood doors he carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. 33 In the same way, for the entrance to the main hall he made doorframes out of olive wood that were one fourth of the width of the hall. 34 He also made two doors out of juniper wood, each having two leaves that turned in sockets. 35 He carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers on them and overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings. 36 And he built the inner courtyard of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams. 37 The foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv. 38 In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it.
The intricacy, the carving, the gold, the wood from Sidon, and all of the appointments to the temple took seven years of work.
Solomon’s temple is an interesting metaphor for how we should approach our work with God. First, Solomon used the finest materials to build his temple. In our walk, it is important to give the best we have God. Oftentimes we don’t do this. We give our leftovers. We make concessions like this: if I have enough time, at the end of the week, I will go to church or read the bible, but only if I have time and it works for my schedule. We do this, right? We shove God into a corner. When everything else is done, then perhaps we will make time. When we’ve exhausted everything else, then we’ll make time - if it lines up right. This isn’t what a relationship is.
First fruits is an important concept to understand. Proverbs 3:9-10 give us an introduction:
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
But what are first fruits? First fruits refers to the very best you have as a sacrifice to God. Back in the time of Moses, the sacrifice was a very literal one. Leviticus 23:10-14 says:
“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
What this means is that the first fruit offering, the offering of the Israelite’s very best animals, was what God desired. But why? Why does God want our very best? Because it is a two-fold relational covenant. First, we are surrendering our best to show our trust in God. Second, because we trust God by giving our best to Him, He offers the provision and protection we desire. But nothing happens until we trust him with our best.
Solomon could have built structures and homes and palaces for himself and his people, but instead he used the very best to build God’s temple. In the same way, God desires our very best. In our lives, we tend to give the very best time, energy and focus to things other than God. If we are doing that, then we are putting the relationship in an inferior position. In Solomon’s case, at least at this point, he is putting his relationship with God first.
We note this with all of the details inside and outside the temple. From the solid gold overlays to the carvings and attention to detail in every aspect. If we are moving forward in our relationship with God then we are moving in sync with him. We are understanding and growing in what He desires. That understanding commits us to action. When we go into action, we desire the same things that God does.
1 Kings 7
1 It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.
In 1 Kings 6:38 we learned that it took Solomon 7 years to build the temple of the Lord. It takes nearly double the time for him to complete his palace. This may seem lie a minor point, but it is very important to understand that Solomon took nearly twice as much time building a luxurious palace for himself than he did the temple of God! This is a subtle way the writer shows us that Solomon perhaps is being seduced by the great riches around him.
It is difficult for a king or a man of power to turn away from the trappings of great wealth. Even though Solomon was given this by God (1 Kings 3:13), it is still up to Solomon to use it wisely.
2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. 3 It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. 4 Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. 5 All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other. 6 He made a colonnade fifty cubits long and thirty wide. In front of it was a portico, and in front of that were pillars and an overhanging roof. 7 He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. 8 And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married. 9 All these structures, from the outside to the great courtyard and from foundation to eaves, were made of blocks of high-grade stone cut to size and smoothed on their inner and outer faces. 10 The foundations were laid with large stones of good quality, some measuring ten cubits and some eight. 11 Above were high-grade stones, cut to size, and cedar beams. 12 The great courtyard was surrounded by a wall of three courses of dressed stone and one course of trimmed cedar beams, as was the inner courtyard of the temple of the Lord with its portico.
Solomon’s palace is built with many of the same materials as the temple, but on a grander scale. The Palace of the Forest of Lebanon was built with so many planks of fine timber from Tyre that it resembled a forest. The palace was larger than the temple, grander, and Solomon continued to build another house of residence and for his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh. The subtlety of these verses is interesting, because again we find a very small mention of a large point. Solomon created a palace for who? For Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married. This is the beginning point for one of the central problems of Solomon’s sins. Even though it isn’t mentioned until chapter 10, Solomon begins to collect wives throughout the entire time he is serving God. This is in violation to what God says in Deuteronomy 17. The women, as we will see, becomes the reason he turns away from God, but his turning away is the result of many small steps of bad judgment that he takes over a long period of time. Here, we see his opulence, his self-absorption, as well as his weakness for collecting women.
The Temple’s Furnishings
13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,14 whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him. 15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference. 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars; each capital was five cubits high. 17 A network of interwoven chains adorned the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for each capital. 18 He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. 20 On the capitals of both pillars, above the bowl-shaped part next to the network, were the two hundred pomegranates in rows all around. 21 He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz. 22 The capitals on top were in the shape of lilies. And so the work on the pillars was completed. 23 He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubits to measure around it. 24 Below the rim, gourds encircled it—ten to a cubit. The gourds were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea. 25 The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. 26 It was a handbreadth in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths. 27 He also made ten movable stands of bronze; each was four cubits long, four wide and three high. 28 This is how the stands were made: They had side panels attached to uprights. 29 On the panels between the uprights were lions, bulls and cherubim—and on the uprights as well. Above and below the lions and bulls were wreaths of hammered work. 30 Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles, and each had a basin resting on four supports, cast with wreaths on each side. 31 On the inside of the stand there was an opening that had a circular frame one cubit[s] deep. This opening was round, and with its basework it measured a cubit and a half.Around its opening there was engraving. The panels of the stands were square, not round. 32 The four wheels were under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half. 33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels; the axles, rims, spokes and hubs were all of cast metal. 34 Each stand had four handles, one on each corner, projecting from the stand. 35 At the top of the stand there was a circular band half a cubit deep. The supports and panels were attached to the top of the stand. 36 He engraved cherubim, lions and palm trees on the surfaces of the supports and on the panels, in every available space, with wreaths all around. 37 This is the way he made the ten stands. They were all cast in the same molds and were identical in size and shape. 38 He then made ten bronze basins, each holding forty baths and measuring four cubits across, one basin to go on each of the ten stands. 39 He placed five of the stands on the south side of the temple and five on the north. He placed the Sea on the south side, at the southeast corner of the temple. 40 He also made the pots and shovels and sprinkling bowls. So Huram finished all the work he had undertaken for King Solomon in the temple of the Lord: 41 the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; the two sets of network decorating the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; 42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two sets of network (two rows of pomegranates for each network decorating the bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars); 43 the ten stands with their ten basins; 44 the Sea and the twelve bulls under it; 45 the pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls. All these objects that Huram made for King Solomon for the temple of the Lord were of burnished bronze. 46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the plain of the Jordan between Sukkoth and Zarethan. 47 Solomon left all these things unweighed, because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined. 48 Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in the Lord’s temple: the golden altar; the golden table on which was the bread of the Presence; 49 the lampstands of pure gold (five on the right and five on the left, in front of the inner sanctuary); the gold floral work and lamps and tongs; 50 the pure gold basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and censers; and the gold sockets for the doors of the innermost room, the Most Holy Place, and also for the doors of the main hall of the temple. 51 When all the work King Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver and gold and the furnishings—and he placed them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.
The long list of artistic work done by Huram of Tyre is impressive. The mere opulence of the bronze works is mind-boggling. The two pillars cast (v.15) were given the names Jakin and Boaz. Jakin means “He shall establish” and Boaz “in strength” (2 Chronicles 3:17). Although the symbolic meaning is not known to us, some believe they were freestanding and others a supporting element of the portico.
Sea of bronze: This was the central area used for ceremonial washing. It was about 15 feet in length. Along with this was made 10 lavers containing 40 baths. In all there were 2,000 baths.
Table of gold for the showbread: In this passage (48) they are described as one unit where the bread of the presence is kept. But in 2 Chronicles 4:8 they are described as 10 separate tables.
When Solomon was finished: Verse 51 tells us that all of these articles were placed in the temple.
David’s contribution: David collected items for the temple even though he was not permitted to build it (1 Chronicles 29:1-30).
1 Kings 8
1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. 2 All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
After the tempel was constructed in the seventh month of Ethanim (1 Kings 6:38), Solomon gave Israel a time of rest before the dedication. Nearly a year later he dedicated the temple, knowing that true worship couldn’t commence until the ark was in its place. This was a momentous event, bringing all of Israel’s tribes to the Jerusalem for the dedication.
3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 4 and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, 5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted. 6 The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. 8 These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
In Exodus,God gave very precise instructions on how to carry the ark. Solomon took these instructions to heart, making sure that the proper process of caring for the ark was adhered to. In 2Samuel 6:1-8, David did not adhere to God’s procedure on transportation which resulted in the tragic death of Uzzah.
All of the furnishings were brought from the tent of meeting. The tent of meeting was the temporary place for the temple. When the Israelites were in the desert, they were instructed by God to build a moveable temple by His specifications. The tent of meeting served as the proper temple of worship until Solomon began the permanent one. This permanent temple was to stand as the Jews proper place of worship for millennia. In Solomon’s zealousness for God, he sacrificed innumerable amounts of sheep and oxen for the dedication.
In Exodus 16:33, Numbers 17:6-11 and Exodus 25:16, it is noted that there were three items in the Ark of the Covenant. One was a golden pot filled with Manna, the substance that fell from heaven to feed the Israelites. The second was Aarons staff that budded, that showed whose God’s favor fell on during the rise of Korah. The Ten Commandments, or tablets of the covenant, was the third item inside, but by the time of Solomon is the only item remaining. The bible does not give us any information as to what happened to the first two.
10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple. 12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”
The temple was a place of special dwelling and connection with God, so much so that the priests could not conduct their ceremonies because of the overwhelming presence. Solomon is correct: this place, which he has built, is special and a place where God can dwell amongst man forever.
14 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. 15 Then he said: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, 16 ‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’ 17 “My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18 But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. 19 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’ 20 “The Lord has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21 I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon recognizes that the promise of God has been fulfilled. It began long before his generation a good 500 years before, but the promise is fulfilled in the completion of the temple and the communion of God with his people. He recognizes David, who yearned to build a temple but was not allowed to. The responsibility fell to his son.
22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven 23 and said: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
In the tradition of his time, Solomon spread his hands and prayed. His prayer begins with remembering that God kept His promise to His people.
25 “Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ 26 And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.
Solomon first prayed in remembrance of what God had done. He now prays that God will continue his promise into the future, asking Him to fulfill the promise he made to David that there would always be a successor in the bloodline to the throne ( 2 Samuel 7).
27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29 May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
Solomon’s humility is displayed in these verses. He has built a beautiful temple, and understands the presence of God dwells in it, but also knows that God is much bigger than this temple. He asks for mercy toward all the people who pray toward the temple. Inside the mercy s a plea for forgiveness. He knows this is what Israel needs most of all.
31 “When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, 32 then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.
The temple was a proper place to take an oath, but Solomon asks God that the temple be a place that people could swear an oath by with all the eternal implications therein. If people were to swear before the temple, the God of the universe, who sees into a man’s hearts and motivations, could be the true judge of the matter.
33 “When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, 34 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.
Solomon fights for Israel’s sinful nature. The nature of sin, inherent in man, is something that cannot be ever fully conquered in the flesh. But his plea is for God, as the merciful God, hear the honest cries of anguish and forgive the sin of those truly repentant.
35 “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 36 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance. 37 “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 38 and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple— 39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), 40 so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
Solomon first addresses outright sin against God. When people sin willingly, but come to a point when they turn back to God authentically and turn from their sin, Solomon asks that God forgive them. This is different from glibly saying you’re sorry and continuing in sin. This is a full life change, a putting on of a new self (Colossians 3:1-17). Only then is Solomon asking for God to forgive.
The second part (v.37) is when circumstance rolls into one’s life. When circumstance overrides the relationship and sin occurs, Solomon asks for forgiveness in those moments too. God is the only one who knows the heart, the motivations, and the weaknesses of his creations. The forgiveness is not a free pass but a learning experience, the understanding of God’s mercy and a new respect they can bring into their lives and the lives of others.
41 “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— 42 for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 43 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
In Isaiah 56:7, the temples were considered a place of worship for all people. It was meant as a place to draw foreigners and gentiles in order to bring God into their hearts as well. In that, Solomon prays that those foreigners will enter into the mystery and majesty of God’s grace.
44 “When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 45 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 46 “When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; 47 and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; 48 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; 49 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 50 And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy; 51 for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace. 52 “May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. 53 For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
Battles fought in the name of God were one thing, but battles fought in which God sent them were quite another. All military operations weren’t to be sanctified. The key in the blessing for battles was to seek God first, turn toward the holy temple as a way to connect to God before one plan of war was ever drafted.
Second, Solomon acknowledges that every human being is born of original sin. We all fall short (Romans 3:23). But in that weakness we go to God’s strength. His plea is that all people realize this and use the temple as a way to move toward repentance and forgiveness.
Third, he asked for prayers that when Israel cries out to Him, He hears their cries. After all, they were singled out as a people for God, provided for throughout the ages. God has been patient and merciful and Solomon asks that He continue his care for Israel.
54 When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55 He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: 56 “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. 57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. 58 May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. 59 And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, 60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. 61 And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
Solomon recognizes that God has never defaulted on a promise. But he still asks God to fulfill His promises. It isn’t a lack of faith but a recognition that the promises given will not be rescinded if the people continue on the path of righteousness. As in the story of Ahab, it was predicted by Elijah that Ahab would die in the place where Naboth died (1 Kings 21:19). But Ahab later repented to God in 1 Kings 21, rendering the prophecy null. But, the repentance was phony and the prophecy was eventually fulfilled, but in a different setting (1 Kings 22:38). It will take another route to fulfillment, and will ultimately be fulfilled, based on the time it takes for the people to respond to God.
62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. 63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord. 64 On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. 65 So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. 66 On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.
Solomon sacrifices a gigantic amount of animals to the temple and gives every type of offering he can. The gesture is huge and Solomon, as his story continues, is a grand figure. For two full weeks there is a festival (the festival of Tabernacles) and the people are sent away. The dedication ends with a call to David, who was responsible for the initial construction fo the temple. Not by his hands by by his heart. He alone was passionate about the building of the temple a place for the Ark of the Covenant and a loving place for his people to worship (2 Samuel 7:1-3).
1 Kings 9
1When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2 the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’
After Solomon had begun his reign and built the temple and palace, 24 years had elapsed. We get this by noting the Solomon began the temple in the 4th year of his reign, remembering that the temple took 7 years to complete and the palace 13 (4 +7=13=24). This puts us in the year 946 BC. Back in 1 Kings 3:4-15 we get the story of the first encounter Solomon had with God.
Solomon was the human side of God’s plans. His building of the temple was what he needed to do to bring God’s plan to life. But the consecration of the temple is God’s part. Solomon not only prayed for the strength to build the temple but actually did it. Action accompanied his prayer. In that, God sanctified and consecrated Solomon’s work. He guaranteed that He would always be present at the temple.
But there is a condition to God’s presence. Solomon must follow God faithfully. It is a guarantee that God proffers throughout the book of Kings: if the king follows God and the people follow the king, there will be a blessing on the land and its people. God will establish the covenant of David throughout the various kings of Israel and Judah, but the covenant must be kept. God’s covenant is something attainable to Solomon: walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did.
David wasn’t perfect, but he had a great heart for God and His commandments. When he strayed he uncovered the sin and confronted it, understood his weakness, dealt with the consequences and was restored by God. It isn’t unlike what the Israelites did collectively in the book of Judges hundreds of years prior. When they strayed from God and were oppressed (sin), they had to realize that their only true refuge was coming to God earnestly, honestly, humbly (authentically acknowledging their sin). Only then would God bring them a savior (restoration).
6 “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.’”
This is the counterweight to verses 4 and 5. In 4 & 5, there is a great promise: if you serve God faithfully, there will be a blessing. In 6 through 9, the adverse effect is noted. If the kings and his people refused to follow God, then there would be stark and devastating results.
They will be cut off from the promised land: A disobedient Israel will not reap the promises of Israel itself. God will release them from the very land he had promised them before the exile from Egypt. Is this God relinquishing on a promise? Remember, this is a covenant. By definition, a convenient is an agreement between two parties. If one party breaks the agreement, then the covenant is ruined.
God will reject the temple: The very nature of their worship will be faulty. Like in Jeroboam’s story, the alternate religious sites he set up in Israel, to avoid his people going to the temple for proper worship, were rejected by God. In the same way, the temple would be rejected because the heart of the people aren’t with Him.
Israel will become a byword/ridicule: Israel was meant to be a people who exalted God’s name. They were meant to be God’s people, a beacon to the world. But if they refused to follow God, the opposite would happen. Their very name would lack prestige, their nature a joke to other nations.
Solomon’s Other Activities 10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the Lord and the royal palace— 11 King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted. 12 But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. 13 “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Kabul, a name they have to this day. 14 Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
When we study the story of King Solomon, there is an interesting subtext that begins to emerge throughout. Solomon has done great things for God. He has built a great temple, sacrificed much to God, brought God’s land and people to the greatest peak it would ever have. Yet, there are cracks forming. The first crack seen is the building of his palace. It is larger than the temple and adorned with many gaudy artifacts. It also takes twice as long to build. It tells us something about Solomon’s mindset: there is pride and excess brewing. Chapter 10 will show us more.
But here we see something quite subtle. Hiram, the ruler of Tyre, who has been a friend to both David and Solomon, is awarded twenty towns in Israel to call his own. It seems like a shrewd deal, yet there is a problem with this. First, the land isn’t Solomon’s to give, especially to a man of polytheistic origins. The land was allotted to the Jews, by God, through Moses. It was fought for by Joshua and then the people.
Second, the land is of no consequence to Hiram. He isn’t pleased by the land. Solomon has in some way stiffed Hiram it seems, unloaded perhaps unusable land that Solomon didn’t want anyway. There is a sense that Solomon has given Hiram the raw part of the deal, yet Hiram takes it anyway, handing over 70 pounds of gold to Solomon. 15 Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the desert, within his land, 19 as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled. 20 There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites). 21 Solomon conscripted the descendants of all these peoples remaining in the land—whom the Israelites could not exterminate—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day. 22 But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. 23 They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects—550 officials supervising those who did the work. 24 After Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the terraces.
Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer were all powerful cities in Solomon’s time. Hazor was Solomon’s northern city which defended against northern invaders. Megiddo guarded mainly from the coast. Megiddo is also the location of the last great battle of good and evil (Armageddon). Gezer was once a massive Canaanite city in the south, but was destroyed and ultimately given as a wedding gift to Solomon.
This is important to note. Solomon is marrying an Egyptian. If Solomon knew the scripture (which he seems to have) he would have known that God forbade the Jewish people to marry outside their race. This was not a xenophobic rule but a Godly one. God understood that the people of Israel would fall away from Him if they sullied the bloodline with those who weren’t of God.
We see further slippage in verses 20-22. There were Canaanites still in the land, of which he conscripted into forced labor. This is a compromise of Solomon’s. God ordered the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites because their scourge would ultimately corrupt them (Judges 2:1-5). Here, Solomon further allows them a place in his society.
25 Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations. 26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. 27 And Hiram sent his men—sailors who knew the sea—to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men. 28 They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.
Solomon’s sacrifices were most likely for the three great festivals ordained by God: Festival of the Unleavened Bread, Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles (Exodus 23:14-17,2 Chronicles 8:13).
This set of verses shows us two perhaps competing elements in Solomon’s reign. First, there was a desire to serve and worship God. But there was also the desire of conquest. Did Solomon suffer split allegiance? If God is supposed to be first in his life, can we say with certainty that Solomon really believed that, or was he slowly drifting into a state of pride and consumption?
1 Kings 11
1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. 9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
Solomon loved many foreign women. From the book of Exodus up to the book of first kings, leaders, and the people, are warned against intermarrying with foreign women. Why? Is this the first instance of biblical racism? Not at all.
When the Israelites came into the promised land, they were tasked with clearing out the land to make room for their own people. God declared judgment on the Canaanites, due to over 400 years of opposition to God. When the Israelites inhabited the land, God said that the Canaanites had to be gone completely. Why? Because their very presence would turn the Israelites away from God.
The Israelites, of course, were not able to purge the land. Many of the conquering tribes merely chose to live with the people. Due to that “compromise”, they eventually intermarried and many were driven away to other gods.
God’s edict for the Jews not to intermarry wasn’t a racial profiling or anything racist at all. In fact, it was the plan to preserve the Jewish bloodline and to create a people who were wholly devoted to God. Instead they defiled it and could never recover in order to follow God fully.
This is true of Solomon as well. He marries foreign women, women from bloodlines God strictly forbade the Jews to marry into. In this violation, the exact thing happens to Solomon as predicted: they drive his heart away from God. We also learn that Solomon has an enormous amount of wives and concubines! This not only speaks to his violation, again, of Deuteronomy 17, but his excess. Another point of interest is that these women were not all collected at the end of his reign, but throughout. Remember the Egyptian princess he married back in chapter 3? Well, that is an indication that he was doing this all along, even as he was doing great things for God (i.e., building the temple).
We see Solomon falling off the edge in a big way. His heart is not only driven away from God, but to the complete other side of the spectrum. He is seen worshipping Chemosh and Molek, two disgusting gods who require child sacrifice and sexual practices during their worship. Exactly what the Canaanites were into when the Israelites were tasked with cleaning them out of the promised land.
This is detestable to God. And God rips the kingdom out of Solomon’s grip. But you’ll notice the mercy as well. In regard to David, God will not tear the kingdom apart until after Solomon’s death. So for the remainder of Solomon’s life, he has to sit with the reality that he ultimately failed to follow God with a pure heart.
14 Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. 15 Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom. 16 Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. 17 But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. 18 They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking people from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food. 19 Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh’s own children. 21 While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, that I may return to my own country.” 22 “What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?” Pharaoh asked. “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but do let me go!” 23 And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 When David destroyed Zobah’s army, Rezon gathered a band of men around him and became their leader; they went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. 25 Rezon was Israel’s adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.
Solomon’s kingdom begins to crumble. Based on the events of the earlier passage, we see that God is bringing cracks into the seemingly perfect veneer of Solomon’s pride. Hadad is the main figure here. He flees to Egypt (a place where Israelites are not supposed to return) and is to become a snare for Solomon, with permission of the Pharaoh.
26 Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah. 27 Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces[a] and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. 28 Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph.
Jeroboam will become a central figure in the split of the kingdom. He is different from the opposition above, because he is an Israelite, an official, in charge of the labor forces in Israel. We see that he will rebel against the king. The reasons will become more apparent as we continue on.
29 About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.
This prophecy foretells the next step in Jeroboam’s journey. Ahijah tears his cloak into 12 pieces (twelve tribes of Israel) and tells him to take 10 for himself (10 northern tribes). God is going to break the kingdom up because Solomon has worshipped other gods. For the sake of David, one tribe will remain in his hands (Judah/Benjamin).
34 “‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. 35 I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 37 However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38 If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. 39 I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’” 40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon’s death.
Solomon will continue his reign for the rest of his life. This is due to David’s faithfulness. But the kingdom will be snatched out of Solomon’s son’s hands (Reheboam). God tells Jeroboam that he will be given all the tribes, and is essentially given the same covenant God made with David. But the covenant is based on Jeroboam’s obedience to the word.
The last part of this gives a clue to where Jeroboam’s heart lies. Solomon tries to kill him (his heart is desperate). But where does Jeroboam flee to? Egypt! Already there is a sense that Jeroboam isn’t finely tuned to God.
Solomon’s Death 41 As for the other events of Solomon’s reign—all he did and the wisdom he displayed—are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon? 42 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
Solomon, who probably began his reign at about age 20, didn’t live a particularly long life. This is fulfillment of 1 Kings 3:14. He ultimately was disobedient to God, and his disobedience begins a very long slide into chaos for the Israelites.
1 Kings 13
1 By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’”
This man of God, unnamed in the scripture, had a very important task: to bring Jeroboam to an understanding of God’s sovereignty and to announce a prophecy regarding a future king. It is also important to note that this man of God came from Judah, not the northern kingdom. This is perhaps a way we can understand the heart of where Israel is at this time: there isn’t even a person from with Israel who is available for this task.
The prophecy is a startling and accurate one: Josiah will one day rule Judah. This is fulfilled 2 Kings 23:15: Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
This prophecy shows Jeroboam the future fact of how he has turned Israel away from God. The very altar that he uses will be crushed by the future king. This, of course, would not happen during Jeroboam’s lifetime. It would take about 350 years to come to pass, but shows that even though Jeroboam may believe his legacy eternal, it is not.
3 That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.” 4 When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. 5 Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the Lord.
Jeroboam’s reaction to the future prophecy is met with an immediate curse: the shrinking of the king’s hand. It is not enough that Jeroboam is called out by God, but we see his pride here. Instead of succumbing to his arrogance and falling into a state of humility, he directly opposes the man of God and is cursed by it. Also, the altar is split apart, just as the man of God had said.
6 Then the king said to the man of God, “Intercede with the Lord your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” So the man of God interceded with the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored and became as it was before.
Did Jeroboam repent? It doesn’t appear so, yet God grants Jeroboam his wish. This is interesting because Jeroboam has a number of miracles happening around him yet he does not return to God in any way. His hand was shriveled and returned and the altar cracked in two. He plainly sees the power of God but cannot respond to it. His efforts are locked into his own selfish needs.
7 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.” 8 But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. 9 For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’” 10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
Jeroboam wants to reward the man of God, yet it is refused. Again we see Jeroboam operating on a very human level and cannot see the spiritual mechanism at play. The man of God clearly has a mission to show Jeroboam the power of God, to help him into repentance, to show him the path he should have taken when Ahijah told him of the power he would have in following God (1 Kings 11:29-40). The man of God refuses the offer, knowing that accepting it would shackle him to the unit practices of the kingdom. In the book of Daniel we see a similar thread. Daniel, a Jewish captive in Nebuchadnezzar’s court, refuses to eat at the king’s table. His refusal could easily get him killed, but he values his relationship with God as supreme. He will not eat the king’s food because it is an unspoken agreement between the two, an acceptance of Babylon’s practices (Daniel 1:8-21).
11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. 12 Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 So he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 14 and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied. 15 So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat.” 16 The man of God said, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’”
The old prophet, from Bethel, chases down the man of God and invites him to dinner, but the man of God refuses this offer as well. Why? Because God told the man of God to return to Judah. He was told to refuse any hospitality (v.10).
18 The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.
Although the man of God was initially good at refusing the hospitality of the people of the northern kingdom, he ultimately gave into the old prophet. Why did he do this? There are several reason:
1. The old prophet: the older prophet was most likely a figure of respect. 2.The lie: the old prophet claimed an angelic experience. Whether this was an outright fabrication or he was perhaps visited by something not divine is irrelevant. He lied in order to seduce the man of God away from his original orders.
20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the old prophet who had brought him back. 21 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have defied the word of the Lord and have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. 22 You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your ancestors.’”
This is a very harsh judgement for the man of God. He didn’t listen to God, allowed himself to stray away from God’s loving embrace. To be buried outside his family tomb in essence was a curse. 1 Peter 4:17 says this: For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? The strict arm of judgment begins with his own people.
23 When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 24 As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25 Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.
This shows us that the attack and killings the man of God was a Godly appointment. The lion does not attack the donkey or the people passing by as witnesses.
26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who defied the word of the Lord. The Lord has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the Lord had warned him.” 27 The prophet said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me,” and they did so. 28 Then he went out and found the body lying on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither eaten the body nor mauled the donkey. 29 So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. 30 Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, “Alas, my brother!” 31 After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”
The old prophet respected the man of God He brings him to his town where he mourns him and ultimately buries him in his own crypt. To lay his bones asides the man of God meant that he associated with him in a common way to identify himself with the word the man of God spoke to Jeroboam.
33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. 34 This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.
Jeroboam, in the face of these miracles and curses, did not change. In fact he accelerates his defiance to God by appointing priests not from the Levites but from wherever he desired. This, according to scripture, is the main problem with Jeroboam’s rule. He led Israel astray and continued to confound that rule until the truth was made abstract.
1 Kings 14
1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, 2 and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people. 3 Take ten loaves of bread with you, some cakes and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” 4 So Jeroboam’s wife did what he said and went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh. Now Ahijah could not see; his sight was gone because of his age. 5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son, for he is ill, and you are to give her such and such an answer. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”
In the previous chapter, Jeroboam showed us his true spirit toward God. When approached by the man of God, he defied him and was cursed with a withered hand. In that curse he denied repentance but asked for the hand to be returned to normal. When God acquiesced, there still was no repentance. In fact, when we get to the end of chapter 13 we saw that Jeroboam not only refused to repent but doubled his efforts to defy God by installing more priests who weren’t from the Levite bloodline.
Here, we see a similar pattern. Jeroboam’s son is sick. He is notably worried about it. He wants to appease God to get what he wants, so he sends his wife so the prophet Ahijah, who is very old now, won’t recognize her. She is to bring supplies with her to tempt him into helping. Jeroboam is trying to get around the issue that he is in opposition to God but still wants his power of healing.
This is very telling. Jeroboam wants to access God for his own purposes. Many people operate like this. They live a life that is in opposition to God only to fall toward him when times get tough. But instead of falling into Him and not letting go, most people get what they desire and then fall back into their life of opposition. God brings trials into our life in order to remind us that He is here and its His grace and mercy we must fall into or we will continue to repeat a costly pattern.
In verse 4, we learn that Ahijah is blind. But he is still very much in connection with God. Even though the king, the most powerful person in Israel devises a plan, it doesn’t escape God.
6 So when Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why this pretense? I have been sent to you with bad news. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes. 9 You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have aroused my anger and turned your back on me. 10 “‘Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. 11 Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!’
One of the amazing things about life is that we devise plans and believe that we are running the plan, but in truth we fall into a larger plot devised by God. In this story Ahijah, the old prophet, has bad news for Jeroboam and his wife. Jeroboam had to concoct the plan and send the wife but ultimately the plan was for them to hear God’s word.
God’s word is this: “I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.” God chose Jeroboam and gave him the option to have a kingdom covenant as strong and long as David’s. But Jeroboam chose an opposite way, a way of defiance that has dire consequences. He took Israel on an idolatrous path away from God and damned generations beyond him.
God’s judgment is this: “I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. 11 Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!” First, disaster. Second, isolation and lack of legacy. Third, a complete destruction of his name. An end to his name, his dynasty, his future.
12 “As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good. 14 “The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. Even now this is beginning to happen. 15 And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles.16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”
Ahijah states God’s plan precisely. There will an immediate prophetic resolution and a distant one. His son will die the moment his wife steps back into the kingdom and this son, which is the only one with an element of good, will be the only one buried. All others are likened to a curse. This shows that God is ready to make good on his promise that the name of Jeroboam will be blighted. There is no good left to resurrect it.
God’s long-distance prophecy is that a new king is already in the works. This new king will be active in severing the name of Jeroboam.
Even further, a third promise: 15 And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the Lord’s anger by making Asherah poles.16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.” This comes to fruition about 300 later when Israel is overtaken by the Assyrians and dispersed into their society. In a very real way Israel is absorbed by the opposing force and the bloodline of the northern Israelites is destroyed. This is the penance paid by Jeroboam’s initial sin to turn away from God and take Israel with him.
17 Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and left and went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of the house, the boy died. 18 They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, as the Lord had said through his servant the prophet Ahijah. 19 The other events of Jeroboam’s reign, his wars and how he ruled, are written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel. 20 He reigned for twenty-two years and then rested with his ancestors. And Nadab his son succeeded him as king.
The immediate prophecy comes to pass just as Ahijah predicted. As far as the rest of Jeroboam’s life, it is said to be chronicled in the lost annals of the kings of Israel. One decisive battle recorded in scripture was when Jeroboam lost half a million men (2 Chronicles 3:17). The other thing we know, also from Chronicles, is that God struck him down (2 Chronicles 3:20).
Rehoboam King of Judah 21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. 22 Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than those who were before them had done. 23 They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
During Rehoboam’s reign, Judah too fell away from proper worship of God. God’s jealous anger was stirred up by Judah. This is notable because it was the first time Judah had accelerated their defiance of God. They did this in a few ways:
1. They created new “high” places: these were places that were set up most likely for worship other gods, but sometimes they were set up for the worship of God in defiance of how God wanted to be worshipped: through His temple. In both cases the people of Judah built these new worship sites and moved away from he traditional worship system which had been made permanent just years before.
2. Asherah poles: Asherah was a fertility god of the Canaanites closely connected with Baal worship. By this description, the writer expresses that the worship of this god was widespread. They were on every high hill ( in Judah’s spreading worship centers) and under every spreading tree (throughout the land).
3. Male shrine prostitutes: these were special prostitutes who were holdovers from Baal worship. In the Canaanite religious ceremonies, sexuality, both heterosexual and homosexual, became intertwined with their religious practices. Here were see that this practice was accepted and widespread in Judah during the time of Rehoboam.
The people practiced evil: not only were these things present, but the people were allowed to practice evil. There wasn’t a governmental response to the debauchery. This shows that Judah, as well as Israel, had fallen into a lifestyle of decadence and the leadership allowed this slippage to occur. The king was not following God, therefore the people emulated the king.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
2 Chronicles is a good place to get more information on Shishak’s pillage of the temple. In 2 Chronicles we learn some context of his conquest. Why: It was because of the people’s transgression against God (2 Chronicles 12:2). How: He aligned nations against Judah (2 Chronicles 12:3) and did it while en route to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 12:4) Jerusalem: it was spared, by God, because Shemaiah the Prophet led Judah into true repentance (2 Chronicles 12:6-8).
Shishak, actions born in the temporal world, became the bludgeoning force of judgment against Judah only five years after the temple was in full use again. All of the wealth accumulated by both David and Solomon were gone. Even the faux shields hung in Solomon’s palace were stolen, leaving Judah in a state of both physical and spiritual poverty.
27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.
Rehoboam’s replacement Solomon’s gold shields is a good metaphor for the spiritual and physical shapeJudah was in during the reign of Rehoboam. Back in Solomon’s day, gold was so plentiful that they considered silver worthless. But in Rehoboam’s reign, bronze is settled for.
29 As for the other events of Rehoboam’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 30 There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 And Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah[d] his son succeeded him as king.
Rehoboam’s reign is signaled by a rash act of not listening to wise counsel and instead inciting the nation. In that moment we get a good idea of where Rehoboam was. He was the heir to a kingdom of wealth and privilege. He was brought up in opulence and didn’t understand the spiritual side of what Solomon had accomplished. 2 Chronicles 12:14 says it best: And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD. He didn’t spend time in the scripture, but hoped to accomplish a relationship with God. He tried to exert power he did not understand and, in the end, did the very thing Jeroboam did: he pulled people away from a relationship with God. The land suffered for it. The heart of Judah suffered. Even though 2 Chronicles 12:6-7 tells us that Rehoboam humbled himself at the end of his life, the damage in Judah was done.
1 Kings 15
1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah, 2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maakah daughter of Abishalom. 3 He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been. 4 Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong. 5 For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life—except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. 6 There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam throughout Abijah’s lifetime. 7 As for the other events of Abijah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 8 And Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. And Asa his son succeeded him as king.
Abijah, one of the sons of Rehoboam, did not follow the Lord fully. This is a sad pattern throughout the entire book of Kings, one which is broken up by good kings. In fact, the trend in Israel is that all the kings are bad kings. In Judah, we see that they are mostly good at first, then throughout the long reign of the kings we see that the trend reverses and most of the kings are bad, occasionally broken up by a good king. This shows the erosion of morality in Judah most profoundly. In Abijah’s case, his role model, Rehoboam, takes him down the same road. In 2 Chronicles 13, we see that Abijah knew something of God. He could rally his troops for the Lord, but he didn’t remove the sexual immorality that Rehoboam had allowed. Because he showed no definitive loyalty to God, his reign was not blessed. In this book we will see that those who follow God generally have long peace-filled reigns, while those who do not have short ones. Abijah’s reign was a mere three years.
It is also important to note that the covenant God made with David secured the covenant. It had little to do with Abijah’s behavior and everything to to do with David’s unflinching faith. As we will see, God’s covenant persists because of David, not because of the quality of the individual kings.
Asa King of Judah 9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah, 10 and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmother’s name was Maakah daughter of Abishalom. 11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.
In our first introduction to Asa we see that he isn’t like his father. He is a great grandson of Solomon and cut from a different cloth. His reign, in contrast to his father, is a long one. He is measured here against David, not his father, which is usually the case with the subsequent kings.
12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. 13 He even deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
Part of what made Asa a man who followed God was his devotion to purging the land of the idols that had run rampant during Rehoboam’s time. First, he cleansed the temple of the male shrine prostitutes, which shows that the influences of the surrounding pagan religions had infiltrated the temple. Next, he went through the land and helped the people get back in alignment with the true God. This flushing of the bad from his community extended even to his inner circle. He deposed his own grandmother because of her idol-influence. Asa burned these images and idols in the valley of Kidron, which was the main garage dump for the city.
14 Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life. 15 He brought into the temple of the Lord the silver and gold and the articles that he and his father had dedicated.
This seems like a contradiction. If his heart was fully for the Lord, then Asa would have removed ALL of the high places. 2 Chronicles 14:3 gives us a little clarification. It appears that Asa removed the altars that were reserved for the “strange” or false gods, but not those dedicated to the Lord. He restored silver and gold articles dedicated to the temple, replacing those which had been stolen by Shishak during the reign of Rehoboam.
16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns. 17 Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah. 18 Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. 19 “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you a gift of silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.” 20 Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. He conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maakah and all Kinnereth in addition to Naphtali. 21 When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and withdrew to Tirzah. 22 Then King Asa issued an order to all Judah—no one was exempt—and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using there. With them King Asa built up Geba in Benjamin, and also Mizpah. 23 As for all the other events of Asa’s reign, all his achievements, all he did and the cities he built, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? In his old age, however, his feet became diseased. 24 Then Asa rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of his father David. And Jehoshaphat his son succeeded him as king.
Baasha, an evil king from Israel, waged war against Asa during both of their reigns. This underlines the problem with Israel. The tribes, a collective unit of God’s people, were tragically broken into pieces. They fought over the very lands that God had given to them during their flight from Egypt.
Asa then takes the treasures of the temple and his palace and secures the favor of Ben-Hadad. It appears that Baasha needed Syria’s help if they were overthrow Judah, and the securing of Syria would strike a blow to them. But God doesn’t like this idea. In fact, 2 Chronicles 16:7-10 gives us more detail:
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. 8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
10 Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.
Asa’s response to the word of God is troubling. It is a chance for his to humble himself, but instead he imprisons the seer and begins to brutalize the people. It seems that for 36 years Asa followed God, but in the last 5 his bitterness becomes a snare. He seems to not want to take God’s correction. When his feet become diseased, we see another chance for Asa to humble himself, but he does not. 2 Chronicles 16:12 says this:
In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.
King Asa does not rely on the Lord but on his doctors. Asa turns away from God in the final days of his reign, his bitterness apparent. Perhaps he followed God well for so long he expected a reward. Or maybe he thought he was above correction. Either way, Asa was a good king until his bitterness got the best of him. Asa did not finish well.
Nadab King of Israel 25 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 26 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of his father and committing the same sin his father had caused Israel to commit. 27 Baasha son of Ahijah from the tribe of Issachar plotted against him, and he struck him down at Gibbethon, a Philistine town, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging it. 28 Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of Asa king of Judah and succeeded him as king. 29 As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam’s whole family. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all, according to the word of the Lord given through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. 30 This happened because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel. 31 As for the other events of Nadab’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? 32 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their reigns.
Nabad, the son of Jeroboam, follows in his father’s footsteps. His reign was two years. Again, looking at the reigns of the kings, the shorter the reign shows us the lack of blessing God had on him. 2 Chronicles 11:14 tells us that Jeroboam and his sons had a hand in destroying Israel’s religious roots by driving the priests to Judah. In 1 Kings 11:38 God promised Jeroboam a dynasty equal to the covenant of David, yet with Nabad’s murder, Jeroboam’s dynasty ends. 1 Kings 14: 10-16 tells of Abijah’s prophecy on the house of Jeroboam.
Baasha King of Israel 33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel in Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. 34 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the ways of Jeroboam and committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit.
Baasha, as we have seen in the story of both Asa and Nabad, was an evil man who killed his way into power. He followed in the ways of Jeroboam in a spiritual sense, although he wasn’t part of Jeroboam’s physical lineage. As we can see in the first few kings of Israel (Jeroboam, Nabad and Baasha), Israel (the 10 northern tribes) are in deep spiritual trouble.
1 Kings 17
1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
Chapter 17 opens up the story of Elijah, the great prophet who torments King Ahab. Interestingly, we hear nothing about Elijah until he comes on the scene to oppose Ahab and Israel. But why is Elijah rising now? Why does he come on the scene and announce a drought?
We need to understand where Israel is spiritually at this time. From the beginning of the split of Israel into two sections (chp. 12), Israel took two different paths. Northern Israel, home of the 10 tribes, followed Jeroboam while southern Israel (Judah and Benjamin) followed Rehoboam. The difference between the two are striking. In the south, Rehoboam is at first a young, petulant leader, but ultimately confesses his sin and returns Judah to the path of following God. It is not the same for the 10 tribes of northern Israel.
First led by Jeroboam, he leads them into a false worship of God, taking Israel off the path immediately. The subsequent kings and generations have the incorrect way to worship as their guide and Israel gets worse over time. When King Ahab comes on the scene (874 BC) he is regarded as the worst of the kings, the most vile and unworthy of following God.
Elijah appears at a time when true worship of God is in jeopardy; Elijah has come as a warning against Israel. Elijah, meaning “Yahweh is my God,” announces that no rain will come until he says it will come, directly to the king. No rain (drought) is bad enough. Crops will not grow, people will go thirsty, famine will result. This is an indictment against the pre-eminent god worshipped by the royal family and decreed as the god of Israel’s society: Baal. Baal is the rain god, the god that makes the rain and thunder come, He makes the crops grow, or so it is thought by the wayward Israelites.
James 5:17 tells us that Elijah was not superhuman, but a regular man who was afforded this great power by God. Of course, Elijah isn’t acting on his own accord; God is directing him. This will become more apparent as the story continues. Elijah is a man of great faith. He does more than just hears God; he listens. His faith is on display in this story. It is what propels him forward, to confront the man with all the power.
Elijah Fed by Ravens 2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
God instructs Elijah to leave and hide in a ravine named Kerith. Kerith is a Hebrew word to cut away, showing us that in this story, God had some cutting to do, some work to do on Elijah. But it also shows us that Elijah was to cut himself away from society for a time, to this place of solitude that offered little.
This set of verses may sound arbitrary, but there is great importance in them. God led Elijah to safety. That safety He led him to was not the end of the story. God didn’t tell Elijah the whole story of what he would be doing, but started Elijah on a journey he needed to take one step at a time. Elijah had to follow in faith, knowing that he would be taken care of in this place and whatever place he ended up next. When he follows in faith, there is protection and provision. Elijah is learning to trust God one step at a time.
In our lives, God never tell us the entire story in advance. It’s always our job to follow God into the chapters of the story, in faith. We may understand the story at the end of our lives or perhaps never will, but the point is our following where God needs us. Elijah understands this. Kerith Ravine offers nothing for him. It is a desolate place for him. But there is a brook, ravens feed him and he is beyond the reach of Ahab.
Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
The brook dries up. Why? Because there is no rain in the land! This seems cruel to one who may look at this as a trick. God tells him to go to place which ultimately won’t provide for him. But there is a hidden gem of understanding in this verse.
God doesn’t want us to rely on the provision; He wants us to rely on Him. As an example, let’s say you have been out of work for a long time. After a lot of prayer a job comes along and you are thankful beyond words. You praise God and vow to do your job the best you can. A few years go by. You still have the job but the praises have stopped. You’ve had a few years of steady income. Now let’s say the economy begins to rumble and quake. Your job maybe in jeopardy. You can’t lose the job. The job is the only thing that’s gotten you out of debt, helped you afford that car and the vacation. The job needs to be retained at all costs. Because it is your provision.
Provision is from God and we often get it backwards somewhere along the way. The prayer stops, the gratitude stops and often times we don’t even realize it. We get into the rhythm of life and there we stay, fat and comfortable. The brook drying up is a good reminder that aprovision is often temporary and we must always be turning our eyes back to the source of the provision.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”
When we trust in God’s provision, we can do His work even in seemingly impossible conditions. After the brook dries up God tells Elijah to go to a place called Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Sidon was a polytheistic society and the place Jezebel, Ahab’s queen, is from. It’s the very land she brought Baal worship to Israel. God is telling Elijah to go to a place that is openly hostile to him.
Next, God instructs him to seek out a widow. Widows in this culture are impoverished. When a husband dies, the widow is deemed damaged goods. Virgins are the most prized wives. Plus, once a husband died there is no other way for a widowed woman to earn money outside of prostitution. It is only through a son that a widow had a chance at any sort of life.
Again, to the outside observer, this may seem like a cruel trick. Why would a loving God send Elijah, His servant, into the heart of a hostile place to be taken care of someone who couldn’t possibly take care of him? When we listen to God, He isn’t necessarily going to bring us to a place of contentment; He will instead bring us to a place of spiritual challenge.
Elijah must trust God every step of the way. At Kerith Ravine, he had to trust God that his needs would be met in a desolate place. That place where he was “cut off” built him spiritually for the next test of trust. This third step of trust (1st being confronting Ahab, 2nd provision in the ravine) brings him into an area of mistrust all around him. Again he must trust in the provision.
Why does God challenge us? Because spiritual growth tends not to happen in our successes. It tends to happen through our trials. Luke 8:14-15 says this:
14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
The parable of the sower is an example of how the word of God affects different people. In this example, the seeds thrown by the farmer (the word of God) falls among thorns. The people who hear the word of God, however, are consumed with their daily lives and troubles and fall away because of their circumstance. These people, according to Jesus, do not mature. Maturity is attained through struggles, not in spite of them. Growth happens when we battle our daily struggles.
The next reason God challenges us is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13:
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Temptations and sin are common to all of us. God knows this. But it is important to know that God is in charge of even our sinful nature. He allows sin in our life for a specific reason: so we can eventually overcome them. It isn’t about living a sinless life but about turning our sin into something that doesn’t entangle us. God provides a way out of our sin and it’s our choice to take it, and as long as we continue to battle, we become stronger over time, allowing ourself to make that choice. Growth happens when we battle our sins.
The third way God challenges us is found in 1 John 5:4:
for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
The world is our constant enemy. The world (the organized oppositional force to God. Our job here is to overcome that oppressive system to find God and follow Him. Growth happens when we battle the world.
Romans 12:21 gives us the fourth lesson:
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
There is evil out there in the world, in the air, between your ears. You can find it just about everywhere. Your life will not end with defeating evil. Even in your wildest dreams you won’t make a dent in it. Your job isn’t to eradicate it, but to battle it. Keep it out of your life, help others walk the path to righteousness. Growth happens when we battle evil. 1 Timothy 6:12 says this:
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Our fight isn’t to win, but to be in the fight. You may never completely overcome the sin in your life, you may never ever get to the holy aspirations you have. But you’re already saved, if in fact you’ve chosen Christ as your savior. This is where the battle begins. It’s about making your life align with what Jesus wants.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Look at the picture Jeremiah gives. For the people who trust in God, who are anchored in faith in Him, there is a great strengthening, a resolve that lasts through the turmoil of life.
10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
The widow, who Elijah meets upon his arrival, is gathering sticks. This is a dire scene to begin their meeting. Why is she gathering sticks? It shows us a picture of her poverty. She may not have the strength to chop wood or gather bigger pieces. She is relegated to the leftovers. Still, Elijah asks her for the provision God promised. The widow understands he is a man of God, just not her god. All she has is a measly jar of olive oil and some bread. It’s the last of her food. The stick gathering was for a final fire, for she and her son are at the very end of their supplies. There is no more. They will die of starvation. But Elijah knows that God has sent him there. He trusts in God’s provision and listens to Him.
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
In Elijah’s request, the widow has to make a choice. She has to trust in a God she knows little of. In giving him the final bits of her supplies she is making a valid choice in trusting that God’s provision will be extended to her. The promise is clear: you supply Elijah with his needs, in trust to God, and you will be provided for. In this, a miracle is performed. Because of her trust the miracle comes to be, God fulfills His promise. When we trust in God’s promises, we can draw from God’s strength. Isaiah 40:31:
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” 22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”
The same widow has another test of faith come her way. The woman’s son becomes ill. Although this is tragic, it carries a deeper sense of dread during this time: if her son dies, the woman has absolutely no opportunity for a life. The son would be the only one to bring the pair into some sort of future prosperity. She initially blames Elijah. But what does Elijah do? He performs the first resurrection in scripture. It will be copied by Elisha and then, of course, by Jesus. But there’s more to the resurrection than just bringing the boy back to life. Because for the widow’s faith, the boy is brought back to life. God provided for her on every level, from daily provision to resurrection. But he provided only because the widow trusted and was faithful. She understood who the true God is.
1 Kings 18
1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria,
In chapter 17, Elijah presented himself to Ahab and then was told to hide. But after 3 years of drought and famine (due to Israel’s disobedience to God), Elijah is told to once again present himself to Ahab. This is will end the famine, but Elijah must go in order to bring the end to Israel’s judgment. He must once again act in faith. This meeting is not on Elijah or Ahab’s terms, but on God’s. God wants us to listen on His terms, not our own.
3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 4 While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5 Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.” 6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another. 7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?” 8 “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”
The name Obadiah means Worshipper of Yahweh, and we understand that this is true of the man. He is a man of God. He is Ahab’s palace administrator. He is in a tough position. Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, has taken it upon herself to kill the prophets of God and in an act of defiance Obadiah has hidden 100 of them from her. He has also been tasked by Ahab to find something for their animals to eat. The situation in Israel has become so dire that they may have to kill off their livestock if they can’t find anything for them to eat.
So as they’re looking for moisture in the land, Obadiah, separated from Ahab, runs into Elijah. This has got to be a tough moment for Obadiah. He’s run into the man who Ahab will blame for the crisis. Elijah’s command is simple: go tell Ahab that I am here.
We have to acknowledge what the situation Obadiah is in. He can lose everything dependent on the way he swings. If he acts against Ahab his very life will be in jeopardy. If he denies Elijah, then his spiritual livelihood is in trouble. Why would God put him in such a situation? God’s mission for us is not easy; oftentimes it is difficult. He puts us in difficult positions so we can rise above difficult situations.
Our moments of greatest growth aren’t marked by comfort and success but by adversity and suffering. It’s where we find God and lean into Him. It’s where we realize what we are made of and who we are made by. The strength offered in the hard situations is where we draw our greatest lessons.
9 “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ 12 I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 13 Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!” 15 Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”
Obadiah’s fear is legitimate. Ahab has been looking for Elijah. He has sworn others to a vow that if they lie about Elijah’s whereabouts they will die. With that pressure over him, Obadiah has one more concern: what if he goes to Ahab and tells him where Elijah is, brings him back and Elijah isn’t there? Then he will be killed.
Obadiah has to operate on faith. He has to operate on the word that Elijah will not run or be spirited away. We see Obadiah’s faith here, his trust in the Lord. But it isn’t easy. God places his servants in the places they need to be. As servants, we must serve God with integrity. Life isn’t just about survival. It’s about standing up when God needs you to stand up.
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
When Ahab and Elijah meet again, Ahab blame Elijah for the trouble that has come on Israel. But is it Elijah’s fault? He may have believed that Elijah angered Baal who in turn withheld the rain. Nevertheless, Ahab is making the same mistake the Israelites had made for generations. In the book of Judges we see a cycle go through all of the major stories. The Israelites fall away from God, they are oppressed by an outside force, they eventually call out to God in repentance and God sends them a savior, called a Judge. The Israelites made the mistake of believing the outside oppressive force was the problem. But the problem was their own sinful nature. The oppressive outside force was in response to their sin. Much like the Israelites of old, Ahab has the same issue. He blames the oppressive force (Elijah) for their troubles and doesn’t address Israel’s sin nature.
Elijah reminds him of the real problem. It’s the abandoning of the Lord’s commands and the sinful act of following a false god (Baal). Because of this flagrant act of disobedience, Elijah must show them who the real God is. They are to meet on Mount Carmel in a showdown. 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah against one man of God.
Baal is the god of rain and thunder. He’s the god, as per beloved by Jezebel and other pagan followers, to grow the crops. Asherah is the primary fertility god of the Canaanites. Back in the book of Judges the Israelites were supposed to overtake the land of the Canaanites and strip the influence of these gods, but instead allowed some of the people to stay. This, as we can see, becomes a persistent blight on the Israelites.
Beyond the obvious evil in following Baal, there is another problem. The text tells us that these prophets eat at Jezebel’s table. What this means is the worship of these gods are state-sponsored in Israel. They have the backing of the ruling power and the people must worship them to be in compliance with the government. When this becomes apparent, it’s hard to imagine that Israel has fallen away this far and deep. But the problem starts with the leadership. Ahab was so far from God that he couldn’t even know, or understand, that God was still in control of this.
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.
This again shows where the heart of Israel is at this moment. Elijah summons all the people of Israel to watch the showdown. They must be witness to God’s majesty. But the people themselves are ambivalent. Their culture tells them how they are to worship; dissidence is a death sentence. They’ve been humbled by a drought they can’t reverse and Elijah is the face of that drought. And finally, the people aren’t following God exclusively. They aren’t making a stand in their faith. The world’s culture can be overwhelming. To take it on, we must solely rely on God’s strength. 22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of yourgod, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.” Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
Elijah gives the prophets of Baal a test. Baal’s priests have the advantage in numbers but Elijah gives them another advantage. They can pick the bull they want, put it on the wood and wait. The god who answers by fire is the true god. The fire must be from God, not by physical means. After all, Baal is the sky God, the god of thunder.
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. 27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
The priests prepare the bull and begin rituals of calling on Baal, but he does not answer. They are zealous but haven’t the right knowledge. They prayed with passion, energy and activity- yet they weren’t praying to the real God. This brings mocking from Elijah meant to spur them on, become more active and zealous. Yet, Baal still does not come.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” 34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
After half a day of the Baal priests trying to summon their god, Elijah gets the attention of the people. They gather around. They watch him repair the altar he intends to use. He repairs it with 12 stones. These stones represent the 12 tribes of Israel. Remember, the number 12’s significance: governmental perfection. He then douses the wood with water. His movements are careful and precise and the people watch diligently. In our lives, if we want to observe God in action, we must pay attention.
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
At the time of the evening sacrifice: Jeroboam, back in chapter 12, abolished the evening sacrifice, which was the proper sacrifice God ordained. We can see that Elijah’s clock is set spiritually to the proper moment of worship. It reveals that he is a true follower. He does this according not to his own purposes, but to the will of God. God, after all, orchestrated the challenge. In our own lives, we must approach and follow God with a servant’s heart. We must acknowledge it is for God’s will, not our own.
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” 40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.
God answers in a mighty display that exceeds what was expected. The ambivalent Israelites are once again energized. The choice is made clear. Elijah in an instant commands the people to attack the priests and drag them away, where they are executed. He gives them the punishment given to the prophets of God. In our own lives, we must make the relationship with God paramount. We must slay those other gods we allow in our life.
41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. 43 “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” 44 The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” 45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
The governmental worship of Baal is broken. Stripped of his religion, Ahab is told to go away. But as Ahab goes to eat, Elijah goes to pray. The purpose of the drought has been fulfilled. Even in this, Elijah goes to pray for rain and it takes 7 ( symbolic number for perfection) revolutions of prayer before storm clouds begin to roll in. The evidence of rain comes in small way at first. Prayer must be persistence and thoughtful. The full answer to the prayer may come in small ways at first.
1 Kings 19
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” 3 Elijah was afraid[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
Elijah’s Fear
Chapter 19 begins with Ahab, fleeing from the incident on Mt. Carmel. Ahab is obviously shaken by the incident. After all, he lost all of his prophets and Baal did not show up! But the God of Israel did, and in that proved that Baal is not real and He is.
Ahab tells Jezebel about the entire incident. Of course, after hearing it, Jezebel has the ability to come to God and put away her false beliefs about Baal. But she does not. How could she? She was instrumental in bringing Baal to Israel and has been a fervent worshipper all her life. She even fund the prophets from he royal treasury and has actively been slaughtering the prophets of God for some time. These actions tell us that Jezebel, even if swayed by God, still has invested too much in Baal politically to give him up. She instead calls for the death of Elijah, putting out a 24 hour hit on him.
This frightens Elijah. For the first time in Elijah’s story we see him shaken by a situation. He runs to Beersheba, about 80 miles south of Jezreel, and puts himself into a self-imposed seclusion. Up to this point in the story we have seen Elijah eager to follow God’s word. God actually has sent Elijah from place to place and Elijah has followed. But now, distracted by fear, Elijah is not following God. He runs to Beersheba, which was not directed by God, and prays for God to kill him.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. The Lord Appears to Elijah And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Elijah’s provision
God does not answer Elijah’s prayer. Instead he provides for Elijah. He first provides for him physically. He allows Elijah to get rest and nutrition. This is important because when we are depressed or lost in fear, oftentimes our physical well-being is the first item we lose. God first heals this in Elijah, and then He provides for him spiritually.
Elijah is in need of a personal encounter. He is greatly discouraged and afraid. He feels like he is the only one left and in that, has failed God. Elijah cannot see the seeds of his work. But God provides for him a path from his confusion and fear. He summons him to Mt. Horeb (Sinai), the same place where God handed down the 10 commandments. This is a 40 day and 40 night journey (note the symbolism of 40). But we realize that is a 200 mile trek, so we can see that God provided an ample amount of rest and revitalization for Elijah along the way. Elijah ends up in a cave at Mt. Horeb, and the Hebrew wording eludes that this cave is the “cleft of the rock,” the very same place that God passed by Moses.
Elijah is told to stand outside, for God is about to pass by. When he does this, he is granted a tremendous display: Wind and an earthquake and fire film the sky, but God isn’t in any of those. Instead He is in a whisper, and Elijah covers his face in humility.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
Elijah’s Mission
God shows Elijah something very important: The great, dramatic turnaround for Israel that Elijah sought on Mt. Carmel wasn’t where God intended the change to be. The change for Israel would be quiet, subversive and solid. Elijah believed God operated in dramatic ways, but God shows Elijah that He works quietly for his purposes.
How? Well, Elijah is shown that the subsequent kings will have a hand in bringing justice to Israel. Neither of them are Godly leaders, but God chooses His work through them. In this Elijah begins to see that Israel will indeed have a footing in the future with God. He is also shown that Elisha will become his successor. God provided Elijah a glimpse that we seldom get: the fruits of his labor are laid out, and Elijah understands that he is a piece of the puzzle, an important piece to do God’s will. We each have a mission, and it is all equally important for God’s will to be done.
God shows Elijah one final, important thing: that there are 7000 Israelites in Israel who haven’t bowed to Baal. This also shows Elijah that God still lives on in many in Israel, and his ministry is not invalid.
The story of Elijah is very important to all of us. First, it is important to develop an authentic relationship with God. We can only do this when we submit, pray and prepare ourselves for the work He has for us. Sometimes it will be momentary work; other times it will stretch on for years. But like Elijah, our work is fluid. Sometimes in our lives we feel a certain calling and believe this is it for us, our calling, and must toil to the end of our lives fulfilling it. But if we are to understand this story, we will note that Elijah’s ministry was one of constant change. What we are doing today may not be what we are doing tomorrow. It is crucial that we learn to listen to God’s prompting and jump out without fear. Fear is the thing that disables us. Causes us to run into seclusion and want to give up. But we can take heart that God understands our frailties and will take care of us. He will guide us back to our work, whether it be strengthening what we are already doing or new work. It is all valid, no matter if it sounds petty or small. It all works for God’s will.
The Call of Elisha
19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.” “Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.
Elijah finds Elisha. He throws his cloak over his shoulders. This is the “mantle” (pallium), which is a symbol of their mentor/mentee relationship. It was probably made of skin with hair on it (1 Kings 1:8). Later, when Elijah is summoned to Heaven, the mantle is passed to Elisha to carry on the mission.
Elijah’s commitment to God is evident. He immediately destroys his farming equipment and cooks the animals, gives it to those around him, meaning he made his decision in a public arena. He wasn’t going back to his former life, but joining Elisha in serving God fully.
1 Kings 21
Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.” 3 But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.”
Ahab is a guy who just doesn’t get it, and we really see his character flaws in this story. There is an Israelite named Naboth who has a vineyard next to the palace. Ahab wants it for a vegetable garden. So he offers Naboth a fair price for his land. But Naboth is an Israelite with some scruples. He won’t give up the land he has inherited from his ancestors. This is land acquired when the Israelites first came into the promised land. It is a big deal, but Ahab, in his petulance, cannot see that. He just sees a guy who won’t sell him the land he wants, so he goes back to the palace sullen and angry, and sulks like a spoiled child.
4 So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. 5 His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?” 6 He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” 7 Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. 9 In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” 11 So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. 12 They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 13 Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. 14 Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.” 15 As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.” 16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
But Jezebel is there lurking around and she scolds the king. “Get up and eat. Cheer up! I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth!” So she concocts a plan to kill Naboth. She sets him up with a bogus day of fasting and sets up Naboth in a prominent position at the head table. There, she plants two people to call him out as a blasphemer. This carries the penalty of death, and although Naboth is completely innocent, he is taken out and stoned to death, as per the law.
Jezebel tells Ahab that Naboth is dead and Ahab gleefully goes down to his vineyard to take possession of it. But the question is, wouldn’t the family of Naboth take possession?
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 18 “Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. 19 Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’” 20 Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 21 He says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free.[a] 22 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ 23 “And also concerning Jezebel the Lord says: ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of[b] Jezreel.’ 24 “Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country.”
An edict is handed down through Elijah: Ahab’s family will be wiped out and Jezebel will be eaten by dogs. This shakes Ahab. He fits on the sackcloth and mourns himself. This moves the Lord. It appears that Ahab has genuinely moved toward repentance. The Lord vows that because of this, Ahab’s family will not be wiped out during his lifetime. We’ll have to see if Ahab can keep it up and move toward God.
25 (There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. 26 He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.) 27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. 28 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”
The story of Ahab is important because we see a scoundrel like Ahab and say, “how could God endure such a guy? Why doesn’t he just wipe out Ahab right then and there? In the story of Ahab there is something that is indicative of God: He pursues. Even someone like Ahab. Is Ahab someone who can redeem himself? Paul was a murderer of Christians before his conversion and he became perhaps an ardent follower of Christ. God pursues us, no matter what we’ve done or how often we’ve done it. In Ahab’s case, he has pursued him from the start, been patently showing him that He is God. Will Ahab finally figure it out? We do know that God has a limit, and if you turn your back on Him enough, he will allow you to do what you do. But we can take heart that God doesn’t give up on us unless we completely give up on Him, and even then he stands at the door and waits.