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: (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
A. “David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah”—Matt. 1:6b; 2 Sam. 12:1-13, 24. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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: (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
1. “Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt”—4:30. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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: (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
D. “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity”—Eccl. 1:2b: (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
E. “The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s”—S. S. 1:1: (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
1. “You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem”—6:4a. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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. (2009 FTTA-S, msg. 5)
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: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
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: (The Vision of the Building of the Church, msg. 3)
1. Solomon received aid from a Gentile king, Hiram of Tyre─1 Kings 5:7. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 4)
2. The building of the temple began in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign─6:1. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 5)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 5)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 5)
5. With the Materials Prepared by His Father David─1 Chron. 22:13-15. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 5)
6. According to the Design Given by God to David─28:11-19. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 5)
B. The Dedication of the temple—for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah─1 Kings 8:10-11: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
1. The temple is a consummation of God’s building in typology. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
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: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
a. Asking God to pay constant attention to the house he built for God—vv. 22-29. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
b. Supplicating God to hear from his dwelling place in the heavens—vv. 33-34, 37, 41, 46: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
(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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
(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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
(3) During a time of famine and pestilence God would forgive and bring to each man according to all his ways—vv. 37-40. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
(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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
(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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
d. He and the people offered a vast quantity of sacrifices to God─vv. 62-64. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
e. He and the people held a feast for fourteen days─vv. 65-66. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 6)
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: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
A. In Kings 11:1-8 we have a record of Solomon’s fall: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
B. After Solomon fell, God came in to punish and discipline him─1 Kings 11:12, 23, 41: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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: (Truth Lessons, lev. 1, vol. 1, lsn. 11)
1. Setting up high places to establish another center of worship, thus bringing about division; this damaged the ground of oneness. (Truth Lessons, lev. 1, vol. 1, lsn. 11)
2. The ill results of one who caused division: the house of Jeroboam being cut off from the earth. (Truth Lessons, lev. 1, vol. 1, lsn. 11)
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: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
A. Solomon was a man of capability, not one of life─1 Kings 4:20, 29. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
D. In the Lord’s recovery we should first take care of life─John 14:6; 11:25: (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
1. In the church our capability should be the manifestation of the maturity of life. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
2. Capability apart from life is like a snake, poisoning the church. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)
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. (Life-Study of 1 & 2 Kings, msg. 7)