1 Kings 1 – 4
1 Kings starts with David on his death bed and verse 1:5 has one of his sons assuming the throne:
Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
How many times have we personally done this? Not necessarily become king, but say a mini king. We assume “power” based on what we want and not what other want or God wants. Let that sink in for a while. When we assume “control” over our lives and go outside what is “Biblical” in essence we are doing the exact same thing. When we start going outside the bounds of marriage, or the bounds of managing money or the bounds of eating, things tend to end up poorly.
God set up our mini kingdoms with some simple guidelines and rules, which when followed then to make things smoother. But when we just take without asking, things end up wrong. Now I am not saying we will end up like Adonijah did in 2:25 where Solomon killed him, but we have to consider the consequences when we drift outside the guides God has made for us.
Chapter 3 talks about Solomon’s wish. Think about this God comes to you in a dream as asks what you desire. What would your answer be? Would it be a new house, a car, a million dollars or something bigger? Verse 3:9 is Solomon’s answer:
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
Solomon’s wish was simple, he was young when he took the throne and desired wisdom so he could rule fairly. Now without knowing this story, would that have been your wish? Some feel he already had everything he desired and therefore not wanting wealth, so wisdom was a logical desire since I am sure he had heard how foolish rulers fail.
I find it interesting the story they use to “highlight” his wisdom by the story of the mothers fighting over a living child. Verse 3:25 Solomon gives his “verdict”:
And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other.”
What seemed foolish initially ends up being “genius” in the long run. The real mother gives the child up to save his life, where the false mother agrees with the verdict. With their response, Solomon knows the real mothers and therefore gives the child to her. Solomon’s ruling was genius since it quickly showed the real mother. I wish judges today would apply wisdom in their rulings, it seems that most just follow the path of least resistance.
The only thing that I did not “like” in this reading was how quickly Solomon killed others to retain the throne. Like with Adonijah, who actually begged for mercy, was killed to ensure there would not be dissension to his throne. The other thing I noticed was in verse 4:32 it talks about 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs. Are many of these “lost” or were the not included in the Christian Bible?