Tag Archives: Solomon

Solomon and God’s grace

“Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem. The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD. Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.” (1 Kings 3:1-3)
I’ve always found Solomon’s life to be a sad one. He started out so well, asking God for wisdom and being granted that. But he had a bad habit of marrying foreign women, and they led him away from God. (1 Kings 11:4) Here in chapter 3 we see Solomon doing something displeasing to God, offering sacrifices on the high places, one of the holy places of the Canaanites. In Solomon’s defense, the prophet Samuel had also offered sacrifices at the high places. (1 Samuel 9:12) Still, the b99k of Kings makes it clear that this was not right.
So, in my mind, all of this happened later in Solomon’s life, long after he asked God for wisdom. Wrong! What happens next in the story rattles my image of Solomon and his relationship with God: “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, O 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 riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes 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.” (1Kings 3:4-15)
Solomon goes to this wrong place to worship God in a way that isn’t what God wants. In that moment, while Solomon is doing something that isn’t right, God appears to him and offers him anything he wants. After Solomon has this dream, he goes back to Jerusalem and sacrifices before the ark of the Lord. Which means he knew where he was supposed to sacrifice. He knew what God wanted of him. He wasn’t doing it before… and that’s when God appeared to him and rewarded him.
You’re welcome to help me sort all of that out. My preconceived ideas don’t fit here, so I’m going to need to form some new ones.