The Story Chapter 13 - Solomon - The King Who Had It All

As preparing for today – remembered a famous incident in sporting history that serves as a very good summary of the life of Solomon….

 

VIDEO

 

Solomon – just like Devon Loch – started well, but finished badly. And this morning we’re going to spend some time thinking about the reasons both for his good beginning and his bad end.

 

Solomon’s accession  to the throne was by no means a foregone conclusion. If you read the opening chapters of the First book of Kings in the Old Testament, you’ll find that another of David’s sons – Adonijah tried to usurp the throne and it was only some smart manoevering by Bathsheba and Nathan the prophet that ensured that Solomon was crowned with David’s blessing.

 

But Solomon was always part of God’s plan. And when God speaks with him at the start of his reign, and offers him whatever he wants as King, God is pleased by how Solomon answers:

 

“Now, O 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. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 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?”

 

Solomon doesn’t ask for riches, or power, or military success. He asks for discernment and wisdom.

 

I can think of a couple of reasons why that request pleased God.

 

Firstly - shows humility. Solomon knew that in David, he had a hard act to follow and he lacked the experience to fill his father’s shoes. And he knew all too well the challenges that were involved in leading Israel. Without wisdom, he wouldn’t be able to make a go of it, and he was humble enough to recognise that.

 

Secondly –  this request also shows a man with a servant heart. Why did Solomon want to be wise? Not so he could lord it over his people, but so he could serve them well as their king  - dispensing justice and making good rulings for the benefit of the whole people of God.

 

So we’re seeing a man who’s self-aware enough and humble enough to acknowledge his need of help, and who also seems to have a genuine desire to rule his people fairly. And for that reason, God is pleased to bless him, not only with the wisdom he asks for, but with the riches and power he doesn’t ask for.

 

So it’s a good start, for Solomon. He rules wisely, makes sensible alliances, progresses the building of God’s temple in Jerusalem – which was Israel’s first permanent place of worship – and starts writing down his thoughts and saying, which we can still read today in the book of Proverbs.

 

And it’s worth taking a moment to hear Solomon’s own reasons for putting these things down, and his exhortation to his readers – as we find them in the opening chapters of Proverbs. This is what he says:

 

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for attaining wisdom and discipline;

for understanding words of insight;

for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,

doing what is right and just and fair;

for giving prudence to the simple,

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

 

My son, if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom

and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom,

and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

 

Solomon wants his readers and hearers to become wise, and the way to do that  - he argues – is to Fear the Lord.

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge he says, although elsewhere in the Psalms and Proverbs, he says it’s the beginning of wisdom, and I think that’s a better way of putting it.

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

 

So what does that mean? Well let’s try and break that down a little and think about it; and let’s start with that difficult word Fear.

 

Most of our associations with the word Fear are negative. We tend to think of fear as a bad thing. But even a moment’s reflection can help us see that in many circumstances fear is actually a good thing because it protects and preserves us. Maybe if we substituted the word respect for fear, it might translate a wee bit better in our day and age.

 

Over the summer we did a couple of cliff walks in Orkney and although I’m not bad with heights, I do find my legs getting a wee bit jelly-like the closer I get to the edge. But what was interesting to me was that the time we were all up there as a family was far more stressful than the other walk when it was just me and Ross.

 

Ross is sensible enough to realise the dangers and not take too many risks. I wasn’t so sure that Isla was aware of the dangers and I ended up watching her like a hawk until we were safely away from the edge. My fear increased my awareness and my sense of responsibility for her.

 

Unlike my colleague Will Stalder who was here a few weeks ago, I’ve never slapped a cow in the face, but I’ve spoken to enough farmers who’ve ended up with crushes, breaks and sprains to know that when you’re in about a herd of cattle you tread carefully – especially where mothers and calves are concerned. A healthy fear of injury keeps you attentive and careful in the face of danger.

 

When you’re dealing with animals that are ten times your weight, or drops that could be the end of you, or machines that could do untold damage to flesh and bone, a little healthy fear is actually a necessary thing.

 

How much more necessary, then, when we’re dealing with the one who is the origin of everything that is; the one to whom all our destinies bend. The one who – at the end of days – will look at us with eyes of infinite depth and show us what has been in our hearts and minds all along. The one who has the power to gather us into his presence, or send us out into the terrible wastes of his absence.

 

Fear him? I should think so.

 

When I think about this, I always remember the Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis. In the second book in the series, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the children are about to meet Aslan the Lion for the first time and I’m sure you’ll know that in Lewis’s mythology, Aslan is the Christ-figure.

 

“Is he safe?” asks Lucy – the youngest, rather afraid. “Safe?” says Mr Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

 

In the New Testament, John says that perfect love casts out fear; but the fear he’s talking about there is anxious worry that anticipates judgment. The fear Solomon’s talking about is different – it’s the kind of awe and respect in which God should rightly be held. Some revere him now; others scorn. But at the end of days, every eye will see him, every tongue confess, and every knee will bow, whether we’ve acknowledged him in this life or not.

 

We’ll recognise then that this God, is about as far from safe as you can possibly get. But thank the Lord, he’s also good.

 

So that’s a word on Fear. But what about wisdom?

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

 

First thing want to say about that is to remind you that knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing.

 

You can have knowledge and still not be wise. In the world of science, knowledge has unleashed the power of the atom and the nucleus. We haven’t always used it wisely. The internet has opened up the entire world of knowledge to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. What do we use it for?  Some of the brightest among us have managed to send a man to the moon, but no matter how smart they are, in their everyday lives they have the same struggles as the rest of us.

 

Knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing.

 

Think, for a moment, of what you imagine a wise man or a wise woman to be. Isn’t it something to do with experience? Someone who has really lived? Who’s faced challenges and overcome them? Who’s developed character? Someone who seems to be able to give good, practical advice from the calm centre they live out of?

Someone who seems to be living well?

 

You can gain knowledge through a formal education. But you can’t gain wisdom. And there are plenty of folk who’ve hardly had a day at school who are far wiser than the college dons.

 

You want to learn to live well, says Solomon? You want to become wise? Then you need to get perspective on your life; and the best place to gain that perspective is at God’s side.

 

So put God first. Apprentice to him. Learn what it means to live from him, and things will fall into place. That’s what he’s saying.

 

And that’s why the opening to the book of Proverbs reads like an exhortation from a father to a son or daughter. This is God speaking to us, through Solomon:

 

 if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

turning your ear to wisdom

and applying your heart to understanding,

and if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

 

You’ve got to work at it – he’s saying! If you want to become wise you’ve got to read and think and pray and reflect on your life.

 

I remember a conversation a while back with someone who’d said they felt like God had never really made himself known to them.

And my answer was to ask them how hard they’d gone looking for God!

 

This isn’t going to drop into your lap, Solomon’s saying! Maybe it’s only those who seek who find. That’s certainly the teaching of Jesus in the New Testament.

 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

 

That’s the journey we’ve to make, folks.

 

How much do you want it? How much does God really figure in your life? Not church. Church is great, but church is not God. How intently are you seeking after the Living God as you make your way through this life? Will he be a friend when you stand before him in judgment; or will he be more or less a stranger?

 

Seek – says Solomon – and you will find the knowledge of God. But you’ll find very little unless you start looking.

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, said Solomon.

And I guess the converse is true as well. Dismissing the Lord, is the beginning of folly; and perhaps that could be the epitaph on Solomon’s gravestone.

 

Such a good start – but such a bad end.

 

What happened? Well, it looks like Solomon reached a point where he just couldn’t deny himself what his eyes desired. 700 wives, and 300 concubines, which is an old fashioned word for more wives. Not unprecedented in the ancient world, but you have to give the man credit for trying to excel in yet another area!

 

But many of these wives worshipped other Gods, and encouraged Solomon to do the same. And we know enough of the story by now to know that that’s never going to wash with Yahweh.

 

How did it happen? How did a man of such wisdom lose the plot so badly towards the end?

 

The answer is, one little bit at a time.

 

Apparently – if you drop a frog into boiling water, it leaps straight out. But if you put it into lukewarm water and slowly raise the heat, it doesn’t realise what’s going on until it’s too late.

 

Now I can’t verify the truth of that - and I think the RSPCA might be interested to speak to the person who first tried it out – but I think that’s another pretty good image of what happened to Solomon. Little by little, week by week, his single-minded devotion to God was eroded away. He didn’t set out to have that happen. It just did, because he wasn’t paying enough attention.

 

And maybe that’s a closing word to us today. Randy Frazee who was one of the folk who put the Story programme together, writes:

 

“In all my years of ministry, I’ve never met anyone who jumped into a pot of boiling water. I’ve never met anyone who woke up one morning and declared to himself, “I’m going to ruin my relationship with my family and commit adultery today.” I’ve never met a businessman who just out of the blue decided to embezzle from his company. I’ve never met a woman who decided to become an alcoholic.

 

But sadly I’ve known men who lost their marriages and businesses. I’ve known women who’ve had to be committed to rehab. If you could talk with them, they’d tell you – ‘the water didn’t seem too hot at first.’

 

The tragedy of Solomon’s life is that by the end of it, he’d drifted off the path of wisdom that he’d so carefully mapped out for the rest of us.

 

But his advice was sound – the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

 

Let’s take that to heart as one year ends and a new one begins. Let’s make this the year when our seeking is rewarded with finding, so that this time next year we can sit here not just older, but wiser – and closer to the God of our lives.