Author Archives: John D. Willome

King Solomon now ruled over all Israel, The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They were very contented, with plenty to eat and drink. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River in the north to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt in the south. The conquered peoples of those lands sent tribute money to Solomon and continued to serve him throughout his lifetime. The daily food requirements for Solomon’s palace were 150 bushels of choice flour and 300 bushels of meal; also 10 oxen from the fattening pens, 20 pasture-fed cattle, 100 sheep or goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roe deer, and choice poultry. Solomon’s dominion extended over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza. And there was peace on all his borders. During the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah and Israel lived in peace and safety. And from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, each family had its own home and garden. Solomon had 4,000 stalls for his chariot horses, and he had 12,000 horses. The district governors faithfully provided food for King Solomon and his court; each made sure nothing was lacking during the month assigned to him. They also brought the necessary barley and straw for the royal horses in the stables. God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore. In fact, his wisdom exceeded that of all the wise men of the East and the wise men of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite and the sons of Mahol—Heman, Calcol, and Darda. His fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs. He could speak with authority about all kinds of plants, from the great cedar of Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows from cracks in a wall. He could also speak about animals, birds, small creatures, and fish. And kings from every nation sent their ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.
1 Kings 4:1,20-34

Dear God, it’s easy in moments like this to forget all of the hard work that went into getting Israel to this place. Solomon was standing on the shoulders of what You started through Abraham and continued through to Moses and Joshua and all of the way until Solomon’s father, David. A lot of people gave and sacrificed a lot for this wealth. They worshipped you. Sometimes that failed you. I wonder to what extent Solomon appreciates the table that had been set for him.

As for me, I know you have set the table before me through the work of others. In my professional life, it’s obvious. There were a lot of people who came before me at work upon whose shoulders I stand. They had vision. The gave great personal sacrifices. They labored. They prayed and worshipped. The success we are experiencing now is certainly built upon the foundation they laid.

Then there’s my personal life. My parents sacrificed to do the best they could. At any point along the way they could have made decisions that would have greatly changed how I developed as a person. And then there are the recognitions we make for those who founded our country, served it, even unto death, and continue to serve as soldiers or first responders. So many shoulders. So much sacrifice. We now live in a country that could be described like Solomon’s kingdom. Do we really appreciate what it took to get us here? Do we worship you like we should?

Father, thank you. Help me to be a good steward of my personal life, the role you have given me in our community, and the work you have given me professionally. Help me to be a good steward of my wife and adult children. Help me to be the brother and son you need me to be. Let my motivation be love for you and gratitude for what you and so many have done to prepare the table before me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

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.
1 Kings 3:5-15

Dear God, this story is Solomon’s claim to fame. If you ask any Jewish or Christian person (or even secular person) about Solomon, this is the story they know. Solomon got to ask you for anything after he had shown that he was going to follow in David’s path and worship you, and he asked for wisdom. Funny, though. He didn’t ask for “wisdom.” The King James Version and New American Standard both say he asked for an “understanding heart.” The New International Version and New Living Translation say, “discerning heart.” So let’s look at discernment and understanding.

Discernment, in my mind, is the ability to assess a situation and break it down into what the actual truth is. Merriam-Webster defines it as “showing insight and understanding.” As a leader, this is a critical skill. The physical world and situations around us can be very confusing. Relationships have so much more going on than what meets the eye. People’s motives are often difficult to assess. It can be difficult to predict all of the ramifications of one action over another.

Father, I’m almost sorry you gave Solomon all of the other things in addition to discernment and understanding. I wish for his sake that he had been able to live a simpler life as a judge of Israel instead of its king. We’ll get into the rest of Solomon’s life and the decisions he made later, but it still sits in the back of my head that three out of the first four children born to David died violent deaths. Kingdoms, thrones, and power are fool’s gold. Please help me to be discerning and understanding, but don’t do it for my sake. Please do it so that my life will make a difference for you and your kingdom.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of the Lord and the wall around the city. At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the Lord had not yet been built. Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings.
1 Kings 3:1-4

Dear God, I’m going to give Solomon some love here. Before the famous story about him asking you for wisdom, we get these four verses. The writer tells us that Solomon seemed to be very cognizant of your presence and blessing, and he remembered to thank you for it.

The idea that he “loved” you struck me the wrong way at first, but the lore I thought about it the more it hit me that, given his limited knowledge of you he really did show you a lot of love. The passage intimates that he sacrificed to you even more than David did. He didn’t have to do that.

One of my fears for my own life is that I will take your kindness for granted and become ungrateful. As much as I try to show gratitude to the people who help our nonprofit, you deserve so much more. You give what no one else can give. You absolutely don’t have to care about us, but you do. You don’t have to care about me, but you do.

Father, thank you. Please help me to be publicly grateful to you and to be an example to others of how someone should worship you. You are my God. I give you my allegiance, my heart, and my whole life. Do with it as you will.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

One day Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, came to see Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. “Have you come with peaceful intentions?” she asked him. “Yes,” he said, “I come in peace. In fact, I have a favor to ask of you.” “What is it?” she asked. He replied, “As you know, the kingdom was rightfully mine; all Israel wanted me to be the next king. But the tables were turned, and the kingdom went to my brother instead; for that is the way the Lord wanted it. So now I have just one favor to ask of you. Please don’t turn me down.” “What is it?” she asked. He replied, “Speak to King Solomon on my behalf, for I know he will do anything you request. Ask him to let me marry Abishag, the girl from Shunem.” “All right,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.” So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak on Adonijah’s behalf. The king rose from his throne to meet her, and he bowed down before her. When he sat down on his throne again, the king ordered that a throne be brought for his mother, and she sat at his right hand. “I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “I hope you won’t turn me down.” “What is it, my mother?” he asked. “You know I won’t refuse you.” “Then let your brother Adonijah marry Abishag, the girl from Shunem,” she replied. “How can you possibly ask me to give Abishag to Adonijah?” King Solomon demanded. “You might as well ask me to give him the kingdom! You know that he is my older brother, and that he has Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah on his side.” Then King Solomon made a vow before the Lord: “May God strike me and even kill me if Adonijah has not sealed his fate with this request. The Lord has confirmed me and placed me on the throne of my father, David; he has established my dynasty as he promised. So as surely as the Lord lives, Adonijah will die this very day!” So King Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute him, and Adonijah was put to death. Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not kill you now, because you carried the Ark of the Sovereign Lord for David my father and you shared all his hardships.” So Solomon deposed Abiathar from his position as priest of the Lord, thereby fulfilling the prophecy the Lord had given at Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli. Joab had not joined Absalom’s earlier rebellion, but he had joined Adonijah’s rebellion. So when Joab heard about Adonijah’s death, he ran to the sacred tent of the Lord and grabbed on to the horns of the altar. When this was reported to King Solomon, he sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute him. Benaiah went to the sacred tent of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king orders you to come out!” But Joab answered, “No, I will die here.” So Benaiah returned to the king and told him what Joab had said. “Do as he said,” the king replied. “Kill him there beside the altar and bury him. This will remove the guilt of Joab’s senseless murders from me and from my father’s family. The Lord will repay him for the murders of two men who were more righteous and better than he. For my father knew nothing about the deaths of Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and of Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. May their blood be on Joab and his descendants forever, and may the Lord grant peace forever to David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne.” So Benaiah son of Jehoiada returned to the sacred tent and killed Joab, and he was buried at his home in the wilderness. Then the king appointed Benaiah to command the army in place of Joab, and he installed Zadok the priest to take the place of Abiathar. The king then sent for Shimei and told him, “Build a house here in Jerusalem and live there. But don’t step outside the city to go anywhere else. On the day you so much as cross the Kidron Valley, you will surely die; and your blood will be on your own head.” Shimei replied, “Your sentence is fair; I will do whatever my lord the king commands.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time. But three years later two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. When Shimei learned where they were, he saddled his donkey and went to Gath to search for them. When he found them, he brought them back to Jerusalem. Solomon heard that Shimei had left Jerusalem and had gone to Gath and returned. So the king sent for Shimei and demanded, “Didn’t I make you swear by the Lord and warn you not to go anywhere else or you would surely die? And you replied, ‘The sentence is fair; I will do as you say.’ Then why haven’t you kept your oath to the Lord and obeyed my command?” The king also said to Shimei, “You certainly remember all the wicked things you did to my father, David. May the Lord now bring that evil on your own head. But may I, King Solomon, receive the Lord’s blessings, and may one of David’s descendants always sit on this throne in the presence of the Lord .” Then, at the king’s command, Benaiah son of Jehoiada took Shimei outside and killed him. So the kingdom was now firmly in Solomon’s grip.
1 Kings 2:13-46

Dear God, wow, when Solomon got on a roll he really got on a roll. He was keen to let Adonijah live, but the way this story is told it appears that Solomon took David’s last commands to him to heart. There was apparently some housecleaning that needed to be done. It’s interesting, however that Bathsheba didn’t interpret Adonijah’s request the way Solomon did. I wonder if she was feeling guilty about orchestrating Solomon’s rise over Adonijah, or if Solomon was oversensitive. It was probably guilt.

After I read this passage this morning I started to consider what Solomon might have thought of Jesus and his message:

• Gain the whole world but lose your soul
• Turn the other cheek
• Love you enemies
• Consider the lilies…

And what did Jesus think of Solomon? Well, I just searched and there are two mentions of Jesus referencing Solomon. Matthew and Luke both tell the same two stories. The first is the “Consider the lilies…” passage (Matthew 6 and Luke 12) and the second is talking about Solomon’s wisdom, but how Jesus is wiser (Matthew 12 and Luke 11). I get the impression that he knew what he was dealing with when it came to Solomon and he wasn’t as impressed as others might have been. I would imagine that Jesus’s audience would have loved to have the glory and splendor of Solomon’s kingdom back and have Jesus play that role, but that’s not what Jesus was selling.

Father, as I continue on with this look at Solomon, help me to keep in mind the differences between the kind of king he was and the kind of king you are. He had earthly wisdom, but I believe he was heavenly foolish. Help me to be more like Jesus and less like Solomon, even though what Solomon did in these verses was probably the right thing to do to solidify his reign at the time.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. If you do this, then the Lord will keep the promise he made to me. He told me, ‘If your descendants live as they should and follow me faithfully with all their heart and soul, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ “And there is something else. You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me when he murdered my two army commanders, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He pretended that it was an act of war, but it was done in a time of peace, staining his belt and sandals with innocent blood. Do with him what you think best, but don’t let him grow old and go to his grave in peace. “Be kind to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead. Make them permanent guests at your table, for they took care of me when I fled from your brother Absalom. “And remember Shimei son of Gera, the man from Bahurim in Benjamin. He cursed me with a terrible curse as I was fleeing to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, I swore by the Lord that I would not kill him. But that oath does not make him innocent. You are a wise man, and you will know how to arrange a bloody death for him.”
1 Kings 2:1-9

Dear God, I get the feeling from Solomon’s encounter with Adonijah at the end of chapter one that he wasn’t keen on killing people. Otherwise, he might have just killed Adonijah on the spot. But at this point, the only words we’ve heard from Solomon’s mouth are, “If he proves himself to be loyal, not a hair on his head will be touched. But if he makes trouble, he will die,” and, “Go on home.”

Now in chapter two, his father’s last words to him are that he should worship you and take out some revenge on some people. I wonder what this was like for Solomon. It must have all been so new to him. Is this how kings established their thrones back then? By killing a few enemies within the kingdom to create a sense of power? Is that what David was trying to do for Solomon here–give him some street cred with the people? Is this what happens in some kingdoms of the world now in the Middle East and elsewhere? Maybe the practice isn’t as obsolete as I might want to think.

David’s admonishes Solomon that you are a God to be served and obeyed, but he seems to leave out the part about being known by you and transformed into someone of your character. The motivation David gives him is totally self-serving–so that David’s and Solomon’s thrones will be established forever. Solomon has a long road in front of him and his entire life will end up being a paradox. Is there anything he could have done here at the beginning that would have helped protect him from the corruption that the wealth and power would put into his heart?

Father, again, I’m not comparing myself to Solomon in terms of wealth and power. Far from it. But I don’t want to miss the part of knowing you that transforms me into your loving child. I don’t want to use you as a means to my glory. David told Solomon that the secret sauce to keeping the throne was to keep you happy. Help me to not care about thrones, but to only care about doing what Jesus taught me to do, and what the Holy Spirit still teaches me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Word soon reached Solomon that Adonijah had seized the horns of the altar in fear, and that he was pleading, “Let King Solomon swear today that he will not kill me!” Solomon replied, “If he proves himself to be loyal, not a hair on his head will be touched. But if he makes trouble, he will die.” So King Solomon summoned Adonijah, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed respectfully before King Solomon, who dismissed him, saying, “Go on home.”
1 Kings 1:51-53

Dear God, yeah, you just know this isn’t going to end well. I wonder if Solomon would have had a different response to Adonijah if he, Solomon, had already asked you for wisdom. This conversation and the executions that are to follow feel like they are being made by human wisdom and not your wisdom.

Remembering back to the description of Adonijah at the beginning of this book as being spoiled and undisciplined, I also wonder what the relationships between David’s children were like. We know the oldest four died. I think it was Daniel’s death that is unexplained, but Absolom killed Amnon (for raping Tamar, David’s daughter), Joab killed Absolom for trying to overthrow David, and Solomon will ultimately kill Adonijah. So much for being born as a son (or daughter) of the king.

The pursuit of power and money can be so fruitless. A friend of my dad’s died recently. His whole life was about the pursuit of money and power, and he hurt so many people along the way that he died completely alone, abandoned by his family and friends. What did it get him to gain the whole world but lose his soul?

Father, in the ways that I interact with those with money and power, make me an instrument of your peace. Help me to carry your message to them. And in the ways that my heart and mind try to accumulate wealth and power, even on my small level, help me to recognize it and bring it under your authority. If you want me to give everything away, so be it. I only want to be able to look back and be at peace with the decisions I made, and I know that peace can only be found in you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen