From our daily Bible reading: 1 Kings 3-5
April 13, 2019
Solomon is an interesting figure, and in many ways he is even more of a precursor to Christ than David.
Solomon is the favored son, the one that God promises will sit on David’s throne in a prophecy ultimately fulfilled by Jesus. Even from the beginning of his life, we read that Solomon was beloved by God. He is the son on whom God dotes, blesses with everything that he could possibly need, and we see that Solomon in turn, loved the Lord.
It is Solomon, not David, who speaks to the Lord in a dream. In chapter 4, after Solomon has offered sacrifices at the tabernacle in Gilboah, the Lord appears and asks Solomon what he can give him. Solomon’s response is for wisdom to rule God’s people, and in response, not only does God bless him abundantly with wisdom, but he also blesses him with peace, prosperity, wealth, wives, basically everything he could possibly want.
All of this favor because God had promised David that he would do so. We see an extension of the promises God made to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, fulfilling the idea of Israel as a great nation, along with his promise to David of setting his son on the throne. However, it’s important to note that while God blesses Solomon greatly, he ultimately falls away due to worldly influences from his many wives.
As we’ll see, Solomon is a cautionary tale for us, who have been so richly blessed by God. How will we react to those blessings? Will they draw us closer to God – as they did to Solomon in his early years? Or will they prove to be a distraction in and of themselves, becoming so central to our lives that they pull our attention away from serving the God who blessed us.
