THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
From David to the Captivity
Message Four—Solomon
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 1:43-48; 3:12; 4:20, 29-30; 34, 5:5, 12a; 6:1; 8:22-29, 37-40
I. Solomon as the builder of the temple of God—the origin of Solomon, the wisdom of Solomon, the heart of Solomon, the insight of Solomon, and the song of Solomon—Matt. 1:6b; 1 Kings 3:12; 4:29-30; Eccl. 1:2b; 3:11; S. S. 6:4a, 13a:
A. “David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah”—Matt. 1:6b; 2 Sam. 12:1-13, 24.
B. “I now give you a heart of wisdom and understanding, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor will one rise up after you like you”—1 Kings 3:12:
1. “Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt”—4:30.
2. “They came from all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom”—v. 34.
3. Solomon’s wisdom was a shadow of the real wisdom to come; the real wisdom is God, and God is embodied in Christ, who has become our wisdom to be in us, making us one with God and making us the same as God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead—Col. 2:9; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30.
C. “Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is by the sea in multitude…God gave Solomon wisdom and very much understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore”—1 Kings 4:20, 29:
1. Wisdom and largeness of heart are two aspects of one thing; the secret of wisdom is to have a large heart—3:12; 5:12a.
2. If we would be enlarged in our heart for the building of the temple of God, we need to be fully reconciled to God—2 Cor. 5:20; 6:11-13.
D. “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity”—Eccl. 1:2b:
1. Through all the experiences of the human life under the sun, Solomon was deeply impressed and occupied with the vanity of human life—1:12-14, 17.
2. God has put eternity, an aspiration for something eternal, into man’s heart so that man will seek God, the eternal One—the ever-living, secret, mysterious One, who is the eternal life—3:11; 8:17; Gen. 21:33.
E. “The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s”—S. S. 1:1:
1. “You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem”—6:4a.
2. The Shulammite, as Solomon’s reproduction and counterpart, signifies that in the maturity of Christ’s life the lover of Christ becomes the reproduction of Christ—the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function (but not in the Godhead)—to become the New Jerusalem—S. S. 6:13a; Rev. 21:9-10.
II. Solomon typifies Christ in speaking God’s word of wisdom and in building the church as the temple of God as the unique building of God in the universe─1 Kings 5:1-18, 8:10-11:
A. The entire Old Testament is centered on the tabernacle and the temple; we may say that the entire Old Testament is a history of the tabernacle and the temple─Exo. 27:9-10; 1 Kings 6:38:
1. Solomon received aid from a Gentile king, Hiram of Tyre─1 Kings 5:7.
2. The building of the temple began in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign─6:1.
3. The temple was built on the ground of Mount Zion, which was called Mount Moriah—Gen. 22:2, 1 Chron. 21:18-22:1, 2; Chron. 3:1.
4. According to the promise of Jehovah given to David, and according to his father King David’s charge—2 Sam.7:12-13; 1 Kings 5:5; 1 Chron. 22:6-11.
5. With the Materials Prepared by His Father David─1 Chron. 22:13-15.
6. According to the Design Given by God to David─28:11-19.
B. The Dedication of the temple—for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah─1 Kings 8:10-11:
1. The temple is a consummation of God’s building in typology.
2. bringing the God who is in the heavens to the earth and joining the earth to the heavens; this should be our situation today─1 kings 8:10-11.
3. Solomon’s blessing and declaration to the people were related to God’s dwelling in the deep darkness and to God’s promise to David that his son would build a house for God—1 Kings 8:12-21:
a. Asking God to pay constant attention to the house he built for God—vv. 22-29.
b. Supplicating God to hear from his dwelling place in the heavens—vv. 33-34, 37, 41, 46:
(1) When His people were defeated, He would hear their supplication from the heavens and bring them back to the land He gave to their fathers—vv. 33-34.
(2) In drought God would forgive His people’s sin and bring rain upon His land, which He had given to His people for an inheritance—vv. 35-36.
(3) During a time of famine and pestilence God would forgive and bring to each man according to all his ways—vv. 37-40.
(4) Concerning the seeking Gentile stranger, Solomon prayed that God would act according to all that the foreigner would call upon Him for—vv. 41-43.
(5) He prayed that in the captivity of His people Jehovah would hear His people’s prayer and maintain their cause when they would return to Him with all their heart and with all their soul and pray to Him toward the land that He had given to their fathers, toward the city that He had chosen, and toward the house that Solomon had built for His name, that they could be separated from all the peoples of the earth to be His inheritance—vv. 46-53.
c. Solomon’s blessing to the people was that God would not forsake them nor abandon them but rather maintain the cause of His people as each day required, and that the people would have a perfect heart with Jehovah, to walk in His statutes and keep His commandments as on that day─1 Kings 8:54-61.
d. He and the people offered a vast quantity of sacrifices to God─vv. 62-64.
e. He and the people held a feast for fourteen days─vv. 65-66.
III. It seems that the whole world was for Solomon, but his glory was like the full moon which was about to wane; as we will see, the tragedy of Israel’s history was due to Solomon’s indulgence of lust and worship of idols─11:1-43:
A. In Kings 11:1-8 we have a record of Solomon’s fall:
1. Solomon’s fall was in his indulgence of his lust by loving many foreign women: 700 wives, who were princesses of the kings of the nations, and 300 concubines, in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter; in having so many wives and concubines Solomon was most foolish—vv.1-3.
2. In Forsaking God and Worshipping the Gentile Idols Solomon’s fall was also in his forsaking God, who appeared to him twice, and in worshipping the Gentile idols through the seducing of the foreign women he loved─vv. 4-8, 9.
B. After Solomon fell, God came in to punish and discipline him─1 Kings 11:12, 23, 41:
1. God became angry with Solomon and determined to tear the kingdom away from him and give it to his servant (vv. 9-13); however, for David’s sake God would not do this in Solomon’s days but in the days of his son (vv. 12, 34); moreover, for David’s sake and for the sake of Jerusalem, which God had chosen, God would still keep one tribe for the son of Solomon─vv.13, 32-33, 35-36.
2. In verses 14 through 40 we see the actions of God’s chastisements; God raised up Hadad the Edomite to attack Solomon; he raised up Rezon, the king of Syria, to become another adversary to Solomon (vv. 23-25); and He raised up Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon, to revolt against Solomon─vv. 26-40.
C. Solomon’s decease after reigning over all Israel for forty years (vv. 41-43) was in a gloomy disappointment; his glory fell off like the flower of grass (Matt. 6:29; 1 Pet. 1:24), and his splendid career became “vanity of vanities,” as he had preached─Eccl. 1:2.
D. After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam succeeded him; according to His word, God rent the kingdom from his son, leaving only one tribe for him─1 Kings 11:9-13:
1. Setting up high places to establish another center of worship, thus bringing about division; this damaged the ground of oneness.
2. The ill results of one who caused division: the house of Jeroboam being cut off from the earth.
IV. Under the light of the spiritual life, we can see that Solomon was a wise man but not a spiritual one; a man whose wisdom was a gift, not a measure of life─1 Kings 4:20, 29; 11:4:
A. Solomon was a man of capability, not one of life─1 Kings 4:20, 29.
B. Solomon due to his dwarf measurement in the maturity of the spiritual life, he was cut off from the enjoyment of the good land in God’s economy, in his unbridled indulgence of his lust in sex─1 Kings 11:4.
C. What a warning and an alarm this should be to us! We must be careful; even a little failure in the indulgence of lust can damage the church and kill the splendid aspects of the church life─1 Kings 11:4, 6, 12.
D. In the Lord’s recovery we should first take care of life─John 14:6; 11:25:
1. In the church our capability should be the manifestation of the maturity of life.
2. Capability apart from life is like a snake, poisoning the church.
3. Life is like a dove, supplying the church with life; instead of being today’s Solomon, we should be “doves” with the proper measure of life.
Ministry Excerpts:
SOLOMON
After David committed murder and adultery, he was rebuked by the prophet Nathan, whom God sent purposely to condemn him (2 Sam. 12:1-12). After he was condemned, David repented. Psalm 51 is David’s psalm of repentance. David repented and God forgave (2 Sam. 12:13). There was repentance and there was forgiveness. Altogether we have three items here: transgression, repentance, and forgiveness. If we put all three together, the result is Solomon. First there were transgression and repentance plus forgiveness. After that, there was Solomon (2 Sam. 12:24), the one who built God’s temple. Solomon is the result not only of transgression and repentance, but of transgression, repentance, and God’s forgiveness. Here we see two marriages. The first was a marriage between David and Bathsheba. The second was a spiritual marriage, the marriage of David’s transgression and repentance with God’s forgiveness. God’s forgiveness married David’s transgression and repentance. This marriage brought forth the man named Solomon who built the temple of God. The church is always built up by this kind of person, Solomon, the issue of man’s transgression and repentance plus God’s forgiveness.
The name Solomon means “peaceful” (2 Sam. 12:24; 1 Chron. 22:9). But Solomon also has another name, “Jedidiah” (2 Sam. 12:25), which means “beloved of the Lord.” To you, Solomon means “peaceful,” but to the Lord, he means “beloved of the Lord.” This son will be the one who will build up the house of God, today’s church. (Life-Study of Matthew, msg. 3)
The Issue of God’s Forgiveness
David committed only one evil in his whole life: he murdered Uriah for lust to marry his wife Bathsheba. In a single act, he committed the two great sins of fornication and murder. God intentionally sent the prophet Nathan to rebuke and condemn him (2 Sam. 12:1-12). After he was condemned, he repented and confessed to God. Psalm 51 is David’s psalm of repentance. Following David’s repentance, God forgave him and he begat Solomon (2 Sam. 12:24). Thus, Solomon is the fruit of man’s transgression and repentance along with God’s forgiveness.
The Building of the Temple
David’s intention to build the temple for the Lord was acceptable to God. However, as he was a man of war and the land was not yet at peace, God prohibited him from doing so. God instead promised that his seed who was to succeed him would build a house for God’s name (2 Sam. 7:12-13; 1 Chron. 28:2-3, 6). God further showed David the pattern of the temple by His Spirit. Before David died, he had already given the pattern to Solomon his son (1 Chron. 28:11-19). The first thing Solomon did after he ascended to the throne of David was to worship God and sacrifice to God at the tabernacle in Gibeon. During the night, God in His kindness appeared to Solomon in a dream to ask what he desired. Solomon did not ask for riches and longevity for himself, but only for wisdom to rule God’s people. God therefore answered him and gave him wisdom and understanding. When Solomon awoke, he left Gibeon and returned to Jerusalem at once to stand before God’s ark to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings (1 Kings 3:4-15). This shows us that upon receiving wisdom from God, Solomon realized that a tabernacle without the ark is empty, having only an appearance and not being of much value. Therefore, he immediately left the empty tabernacle in Gibeon and went back to the ark which was at Jerusalem. He also understood that while the tabernacle without the ark was but an empty shell, the ark without the tabernacle was also abnormal. A short time thereafter, he built the temple according to the pattern seen by his father David. The temple became the proper and solid dwelling place God had desired. At this juncture, not only did God secure a kingdom to demonstrate His authority, but He also gained a temple to manifest His glory.
Both David and Solomon occupied special places in the building of the temple. The former prepared the building materials and the site, while the latter finished the building work. Both David and Solomon typify Christ. David typifies the suffering, fighting, and crucified Christ. As David prepared building materials in hardship, Christ also redeemed us through suffering and in death to prepare us as building materials. Solomon typifies the resurrected Christ, including His ascension and His second coming. As Solomon finished the building, Christ is also building His church in His resurrection until His return.
In Rehoboam Is Seen the Result of the Fall of One Who Had Obtained Grace (Solomon) —the Division and Confusion of God’s People the Fall of Solomon
During Solomon’s reign, the temple was built in Jerusalem. First Kings 8 tells us that God’s glory filled the temple (vv. 10-11). The age of the building of the temple was a golden age in the history of Israel. When the work of the building of the temple was completed, Solomon offered a marvelous prayer. However, not long after that, in 1 Kings 11 Solomon’s heart was turned from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods (vv. 9-10). And Solomon did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and did not follow Jehovah fully, as did David his father (v. 6). Besides marrying the daughter of Pharaoh, Solomon loved many other Gentile women. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. In his old age, these Gentile wives turned away his heart after other gods, and for their sake he rebuilt high places for the Gentile gods, which places Moses commanded the Israelites to destroy after they entered the land of Canaan. Deuteronomy 12:2-3 says, “Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: and ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.” After the destruction of these things, the Israelites were to come to the unique place of God’s choice (Deut. 12:5, 11). Moses commanded this in order to preserve the oneness of God’s people, for he knew well that the unique place of God’s choice and the destruction of places of pagan worship had much to do with the people’s fate before God. If they were faithful to destroy the Gentile worship centers and come to the one place of God’s choosing, then they were doing what was right in God’s eyes. If they would not obey this commandment, they were doing evil in the sight of God. After the Israelites entered into the good land, they did, in fact destroy the high places and the names of idols. As a result, they conquered and subdued that land, ushered in God’s kingdom, and built God’s temple.
At Solomon’s time, however, the destroyed items were brought back again. The high places, the pillars, the wooden symbols, and graven images were all recovered. The very king who had built the temple according to God’s desire actually took the lead to build high places (1 Kings 11:6-8). The very king of unsurpassed wisdom took Gentile women as wives and followed them in idolatry. This offended God and resulted in the division and disorder of God’s people. (Truth Lessons, Level 1, Vol. 1, lsn. 11)
The Division of the Kingdom
Verse 13 says, “But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality.” The Spirit of reality does not guide the believers into the doctrine concerning Christ but into all the reality of Christ. This reality is nothing less than Christ Himself. Thus, the Spirit of reality will bring us into all the reality of Christ. (Life-Study of John, msg. 37)
In Jeroboam Are Seen the Ill Results of One Who Caused Division among God’s People:
Setting up High Places to Establish Another Center of Worship, thus Bringing about Division
After Jeroboam became king, he wanted to protect his throne and thought that if the Israelites would go up to Jerusalem to worship God, the kingdom could still return to the house of David. Due to his ambition, Jeroboam made two golden calves and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). Then he set the calves, one in Bethel and the other in Dan (1 Kings 12:29). This caused the people to sin, for they went to worship before the golden calf in Dan. Jeroboam was indifferent to God’s unique chosen place and established another worship center because of his ambition. This damaged the ground of oneness and produced division among God’s people. Moreover, he ordained a feast, which was of his own heart, in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that was in Judah, even making priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi (1 Kings 12:31-33).
The Tragic End of One Who Caused Division
The House of Jeroboam Being Cut Off from the Earth
Since Jeroboam did evil in making other gods and molten images and in causing the people to sin, God was angry with him and said, “I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every man-child…and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepeth away dung, till it be all gone” (1 Kings 14:10 ASV). In the second year of the reign of Jeroboam’s son Nadab over Israel, Baasha of Issachar conspired against him and killed him and reigned in his stead. And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him (1 Kings 15:25-29).
Destruction and Captivity
The Bible mentions over twenty times “the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.” These sins caused him and his house to be eradicated from the earth, and even caused the children of Israel to be delivered to their enemies and carried to faraway places. As God spoke through the prophet Ahijah, “For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river….And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam” (1 Kings 14:15-16). In 2 Kings 17, because the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did, and departed not from them, Jehovah removed them out of His sight. Thus, Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria (vv. 22-23). (Truth Lessons, Level 1, Vol. 1, lsn. 11)
Solomon under the Light of the Spiritual Life
Under the light of the spiritual life, we can see that Solomon was a wise man but not a spiritual one; a man of capability, not one of life; a man whose wisdom was a gift, not a measure of life. The careers he accomplished were evidences of his capacity from the God-given gift of wisdom, not manifestations of the ability of the maturity of life.
In the Lord’s recovery we should first take care of life. Then to some extent and in a certain sense we need capability. In the church our capability should be the manifestation of the maturity of life. Capability apart from life is like a snake, poisoning the church; life is like a dove, supplying the church with life. Instead of being today’s Solomon, we should be “doves” with the proper measure of life.
Solomon’s enjoyment of the God-given good land reached the highest level through his God-given gift. However, due to his dwarf measurement in the maturity of the spiritual life, he was cut off from the enjoyment of the good land in God’s economy, in his unbridled indulgence of his lust in sex. His father David, a man according to God’s heart, failed in this gross and ugly sin—the indulgence of sexual lust. Solomon’s failure in this satanic temptation was much greater than his father’s, beyond people’s imagination. This caused him and his descendants to lose more than ninety percent of their kingdom and caused the people of God’s elect to suffer division and confusions among themselves throughout quite a number of generations. They lost the God-given land and became captives in the foreign lands of idol worship. The nation of Israel is still suffering due to Solomon’s failure. What a warning and an alarm this should be to us! We must be careful. Even a little failure in the indulgence of lust can damage the church and kill the splendid aspects of the church life. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)