Facts on Solomon

Solomon's biography in the Bible gives me more fear than any other account.  Solomon was loved by God, given his father's throne, given the most wisdom of all time, and had wealth unequaled in history.  He built the temple and gave an amazing pastoral prayer for Israel.

Then he married a new wife every day and loved them so much that they led him to worship other gods.  I always fear this happening to me, but praise God that Solomon's story is in the Bible to give me a warning.

So, I've been reading through Samuel and Kings this month.  Despite their flaws, I am taken by how David and Solomon both point to Christ in ways I've never considered before. 

The people asked for a king and got Saul who came to love himself more than God or his people.

Then, Samuel anointed David to be king.  He "christed" David.  After that, he spent decades outrunning Saul and sacrificing himself for Israel.  In the same way, Christ was baptized by John the Baptist, lived on earth for 33 years, suffered betrayal and sleepless nights, and yet a kingdom followed him when he finally gave up his life and then rose again and sat on the right hand of the Father.

Of course, David then sabotages his family with the Bathsheba affair.  He even lost four sons in the consequences of his sin: Bathsheba's son, Amnon, Absalom, and later Adonijah.  The latter three followed their dad's example of getting what they want when they want and then hiding their sin for years until it grows like a cancer and destroys the country.  In the same way, the King of Kings left earth for a time and let his earthly body, the church grow and reign for 1,000 years.  Then, the church had an affair with works-righteousness, thus splitting the family into a Humpty-Dumpty state, that will not fully recover until the true King returns.

On David's deathbed, he instructed Solomon to kill Joab, Shimei, and to fire Abiathar for not following the king's directions.  Solomon did just that.  After that, he built the temple and Jerusalem enjoyed the greatest prosperity that has not been matched.  Just the same, Christ will finally return, destroy his enemies who wanted to follow their own rules, dismissing them to the eternal lake of fire.  And then, the new Jerusalem will come down from heaven, and unlike Solomon's reign, will never end and will never spoil with sin.  Solomon was a picture of the age to come, but there is only one perfect King who will never fail.