Monday, February 28, 2011

Solomon the wise

1 Kings 3:3-28 TNIV

Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

“Now, 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?”

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.

He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.

Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

“During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”

But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’ ”

Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”

Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

My thoughts -

This story has an intriguing "was it a dream or not" angle to it that I think is great in light of the Oscars last night.

Solomon was renowned for his wisdom. From Solomon we have the book of Proverbs, which contains a great deal of every day "wisdom" and advice for living. This story shows Solomon, in a dream, asking God for wisdom in discernment, waking up, realizing it was a dream, and then ruling with wisdom anyway.

On question we may ask out of this is: Did God give Solomon this gift from the dream or was this a gift that Solomon already had? Was Solomon, by his own nature (which God also gets credit for) already wise or did this dream miraculously grant him this gift of wisdom?

Two things to consider in this: The first is that his father, King David, in giving him instructions for ruling in the previous chapter, praises Solomon multiple times for his wisdom and trusts his judgement in dealing with certain matters. The second thing to consider is the request in the dream itself. Who but a wise man would think to ask God for wisdom?

Solomon was obviously a wise man. This story leads me to wonder less about his wisdom and how he acquired it and more with his approach to prayer and what we can take from it. While this was a dream and not specifically a prayer Solomon did have an encounter with God much like we do in prayer and he did ask God for something like we often do in prayer. Let's look at how Solomon approached God.

First, Solomon was thankful and humble. He praised God for what God had done for his father, David, and his family. Then he declared himself to be God's servant. God approached Solomon and told Solomon to ask for anything and the first thing he did, rather than make a request to be filled, was to praise and thank God for all that God is and has done. What a wonderful way to approach prayer. It is a time to connect with God and to devote oneself to God, not just a time to make requests (demands?) of God.

Second, in making his request of God Solomon asked not for a selfish gift but essentially for the tools to do the job that God had called Solomon to do. God appointed Solomon king. Nathan the prophet and Zadok the priest anointed him with oil and blessed him as king. Solomon was chosen by God in this way over his older brother. This is the duty that he was called to do. His request of God, when present with the opportunity to do anything, was to ask for the ability to do God's will for him. He clearly seems intimidated by the duties of king. He declares himself to be a "little child" who cannot do the duties and he asks God for the gift of discernment so he can determine right from wrong in ruling.

What would our lives be like if we prayed constantly for the ability to do God's will? Not for riches. Not for long, healthy lives. Not for anything for ourselves but the ability to do what God wants from us. Would God not give us what we ask for? Would God not give us what we need?
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