Transcript
I rushed home to the family. Is that where I finished reading? It was probably, but please wrap it up and save it until it’s worth something. But of course I didn’t know.
I strongly suspect that if you had talked to anybody in Israel during the reign of Solomon, they would not have realized that they were living in the golden age of the Jewish kingdom. All I’m sure they would have told you is that things were great. You know, there weren’t any wars. There was a lot of prosperity. They had a wise king.
In reality this was indeed the golden age of the kingdom of David. And one of the things that the writer is doing at this point in the book of Kings is giving several chapters to us where we can see what it was like when Israel was walking in God’s ways. Under the leadership of a man who was humble enough to have confessed his own ignorance and who had asked God for wisdom.
For Solomon led Israel in the pathway of God’s wisdom. God poured out His blessing on the kingdom as He never did before. And it is in the light of this golden age that the rest of the book of Kings becomes so tragic. As we see the nation slide steadily downhill until not only is the kingdom destroyed but the nation itself is carried away into the Babylonian captivity.
But for the moment, and at this stage in the book of Kings, we are looking at the golden age. And I want you to understand that that’s what we’re talking about here as well as for a couple of chapters more.
Now when we look carefully at this chapter we can see that it’s divided very naturally into three units. Yes, but to the penitent we’re on chapter 4. Okay, chapter 4 is divided into three units. And the first unit seems to me runs from verse 1 to verse 19.
This is a unit that describes for us the administration of the kingdom in this golden period of its history. You will notice that it starts in the first six verses with the lists of the highest officials in the land. And one of the things as we look at this list is that Solomon has surrounded himself at the highest levels of his government with a nice mixture of old faces and new faces.
For instance in verse 3 Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder, just as he had been under David. Benaiah the son of Jehoiada had been a commander of an elite corps of troops called the Pelethites and Cherethites. Now apparently he had been promoted to commander of the army. Abiathar and Zadok were the priests as they were under David.
The rest of the names are new. So wisely Solomon has mixed experience with new faces as he forms his government at its upper level.
I’m impressed by the fact that two of the sons of Nathan the prophet have a role in the government of Solomon. One of them you notice in verse 5 was Azariah the son of Nathan who is over the officers. But the other is a fellow named Zabud who is called the king’s friend.
Now in the ancient Middle East this probably meant that he grew up with Solomon. That he was educated with Solomon and they had become friends. And so Solomon had as one of his advisors a man that knew him well and that he knew well and who was his friend.
I’m sure that everyone who has ever had a close friendship with anyone will realize that it is tremendously valuable to have somebody who knows you well and can tell you what you need to hear when nobody else will tell you what you need to hear. So Solomon had a good mix of officials at the upper level of his government.
Then in verses 7 through 19 what we notice is that Solomon has taken the area covered by the ten tribes of Israel and he has subdivided it into twelve administrative districts. And it is noteworthy that the governors or the presiding officials of each of these districts are mentioned. Which suggests that these were very important districts.
And all the more so because two of these governors married into Solomon’s family. You noticed as we read two of the men who are mentioned here married daughters of Solomon. So for the purposes of efficiency, for the purposes of supplying the needs of the kingdom and more particularly the palace and the ongoing government of Solomon, he had divided the nation into these administrative districts.
We notice in verse 13 that in one of these districts—this is the only one where this is noted—there were sixty cities, large cities with walls and bronze gates. Now this area happened to be on the eastern side of the Jordan River opposite the heartland of the nation of Israel. Because it was relatively flat it would be a good place for invaders who might wish to come down from the north or from the east or come up from the south.
But by stationing in that area, by building in that area sixty cities with fortifications and strong gates, Solomon was protecting his kingdom obviously from outside invasion.
So what we see in this first section is the wisdom of Solomon in his administration, in his choice of leadership, and the provision he makes for the defense of his kingdom.
In the second section—I think this is from verses 20 down to let’s see 29—in the second section what is described for us is the peace, the prosperity, and the power of the kingdom during this golden age.
Notice that in verse 20 we’re told that apparently Judah and Israel had multiplied greatly in terms of population. But notice what the people did. They ate. They drank. And they rejoiced. I mean this was really, really a golden age. No wars. No hardships. Economically the nation of Israel has multiplied and it’s at peace and people are enjoying their life in Israel.
The reason they were able to do this is as indicated in verse 21. It is because Solomon was the strongest king in the Middle East at that time. He reigned, it says, over all the kings from the river westward. That would be from the Euphrates River. That doesn’t mean he invaded those kingdoms. It simply meant that he was powerful enough that they didn’t dare to oppose him. That they feared that he could invade them if he wanted to. And they sent him tribute.
So he was a very powerful king. And because he was so powerful the people lived in peace.
When we are told of the provisions that were made for the palace every day—now this will stagger anybody. Even a person who runs a restaurant will not have to have provisions in the quantity that Solomon had to have every single day. Remember Solomon undoubtedly had a large family. He had many, many officials at his table on a daily basis. He had foreign people coming, as the passage indicates, from all over the world.
What did he need? Look at it here if you will. Then one day he needed thirty cors of fine flour. My Bible in the margin says that was a hundred and ninety-five bushels of fine flour. Then you double that for the amount of meal that he needed every day. And then every day, mind you, they needed to kill ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, a hundred sheep, not to mention deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.
I don’t believe we can find a restaurant in Dallas that has to have that kind of food provision on a daily basis. This is fabulous and amazing.
Now in the following verses the same ideas are repeated in the typical Hebrew fashion. I think to re-emphasize them. And we’re told once again in verse 24 about the dominion that he had over other kings. Verse 25 we’re told how Judah and Israel dwelt safely, living under their vine and fig tree. Everybody could enjoy his home, his vineyard, his fig tree, whatever he had because Israel was at peace all the way from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.
Now Solomon was well prepared for battle even though he never fought a war. Notice that he has forty thousand stalls for the horses that drew his battle chariots. And you imagine that he had a fast chariot force. We can only imagine how many chariots that constituted. And if the chariot was drawn by one horse he needed forty thousand stalls to put all the horses in. I mean he was really well prepared. He could have launched a chariot assault of massive proportions at any time that he wished to do so.
Plus he had twelve thousand horsemen. I think that is a reference to cavalry. So he had this vast army. And of course not only Solomon had to be supplied but also the horses had to be taken care of. And these governors were told in verses 27 and 28 took care of the provision for Solomon’s household, these massive provisions that the writer has mentioned. And they also brought barley and straw, verse 28, to the proper place for the horses and steeds.
Can you imagine how much barley and straw that was? This is a massive, powerful kingdom. The people in this kingdom are enjoying the power, the peace, the prosperity of their king. They are multiplying. They’re eating and drinking and rejoicing. They sit under their vine and fig tree. I’m telling you this was a golden age.
This was an age where God was blessing the nation of Israel as never before. And please remember what was responsible for all of this. The humble prayer of Solomon that we saw last time when he came to God. “I’m just a little child. Would you please give me understanding to rule your people?” And God says, “Because you’ve asked that I’m not only going to give you understanding. I’m going to give you riches and honor.” And all of these things are heaped on Solomon because Solomon had that kind of a spirit toward God. And now the nation is blessed under this kind of a king.
I just want to pause here to say that as I’ve already mentioned the nation was going to lose all this. Every bit of it. Every single bit of this was destined to be lost. But the good news is it’s destined to be regained under a king even greater than Solomon. Whose power and authority will never end. Whose wealth will be eternal. And once again through the grace of God Israel will be able each man to sit under his vine and fig tree. They will be able to eat and drink and rejoice again.
That’s the grace of God. When you agree with me this is what God gave. This is what the nation threw away. And God will give it back in and through the person of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Remember please that the God that we worship here at this table is the God of grace. And when we’ve gone out and blown it—I mean really blown it—he’s there to restore us, to rebuild, to bless in new and fresh ways.
Remember the story of Samson. That Samson had this awful attraction to the wrong kind of woman. Finally he wound up with his eyes out, his hair cut, and thrown in the prison house. You say that’s the end of Samson. No it isn’t. His greatest victory was still ahead.
I remember that although he was lying there his hair grew again. He pulled down the pillars on which the temple of the palace of the Philistines was built. And more Philistines died in that final act of Samson’s than died in all of his battles before that.
And I remember hearing a preacher preach on that passage and one of his applications was he said that the bird with the broken wing will fly again. And this is the story of the Bible really. How man failed repeatedly when blessed by God. Starting with the Garden of Eden. How man fails over and over again as the story goes. And God restores and God blesses and God rebuilds.
So wherever we are in our Christian life, whatever our failures have been, let’s not think of these things as the end but as the beginning of a fresh start in which we can experience in new ways the grace and blessing of God.
Now the last section of the chapter—I suggested the first section is the administration of the kingdom. I suggested the second section is the power, prosperity and peace of the kingdom. The last section is the wisdom of the king. And this is the one I want to really try to drive home if I can.
You will notice that it says in verse 29 that God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore.
Now just think it through. I go back over to verse 20. Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea in multitude. Remember what Solomon said to God when he came in his prayer. He says, “Here is this people of yours. They are innumerable. Nobody can count them. And I’m only a little child. Give me a heart that is capable of handling this great people of yours.”
So what does God do? He multiplies the nation of Israel so they’re like the sand by the seashore in multitude. Then he gives the king a heart that is as broad as the sand by the seashore. So God gave to this king the wisdom to have knowledge of all of the things that concerned the people that he was ruling. Whatever they needed from him by way of direction and judgment and justice he was capable of giving them because his heart was as large, so to speak, as they were.
But I want us to think for a minute what does it mean that Solomon had broadness or largeness of heart. Of course he got fame out of that according to verses 30 and 31. His wisdom excelled all the wisdom of the east and the wisdom of Egypt. As some of the famous men who were notable in their day for wisdom were excelled in wisdom. As really are Ethan the Ezrahite and the three sons of Mahol, Heman, Chalcol and Darda. Apparently widely known for their wisdom. Solomon was wiser than that.
But what was his wisdom like? Notice verse 32. He spoke three thousand proverbs. Away men, here this has got to be one of the busiest men in human history, don’t you agree? This is a kingdom like no kingdom that is really seen before. He not only reigns over Israel and not only administers the kingdom and not only he handles the questions of justice. Not only does he provide for defense of the kingdom. He receives delegations from all over the world.
And he had time to think about life and to put what he learned about life into poetry. You can’t afford to miss it. Meet in the book of Proverbs. Take a look sometime at the book of Proverbs. Take a look at all the different subjects that the book of Proverbs covers. Almost every subject in life that you can imagine is covered in the book of Proverbs.
This is part of the largeness of the heart of Solomon. It’s obvious he took time to think about life and to think about the meaning of life and the lessons of life. And it took time to write it down. In all of his busyness, folks, he had time to do that.
And then notice also that it says in the same verse that his songs were a thousand and five. Now I can imagine a king loving music, right? I suppose he could get the best musicians in Israel to come in and play at the palace just like the best musicians go to the White House and play for the president. But this man was so interested in music that he actually bothered to write songs. Can you believe that?
And we would have been impressed if it had said you know Solomon wrote him close to a hundred songs during his reign over Israel. Sorry, that’s just a drop in the bucket. Solomon was so deeply interested in music that he wrote a thousand and five songs. He had time to compose music.
Then notice verse 33. And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. Can you believe this? And this guy is administering this kingdom and he’s interested in trees. He’s interested in the great big cedar that grows on the mountain of Lebanon. But he’s also interested in that little thistle that grows out of the wall. And all the trees that are in between.
Can’t you imagine Solomon riding down the road one day in his chariot and he passes a wooded area and he says to the charioteer, “Stop here.” He gets out of the chariot. He walks toward the woods and so there’s a tree I haven’t really looked at before. I wonder what this is. The eye candy. He examines its leaves. And if he can find some buds in the air he says you know when does this tree bloom? And you know on and on.
This busy king he spoke of trees from the cedar tree, the big old trees, to the tiny little hyssop. And then it says in verse 33 he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.
He was interested in animals. Not just the great big. Oh boy this is a bear. I want to find out what they are. You know everybody’s impressed with lions and bears. But and that’s a bird up there. I want to come for that. Well this is a reptile. I’m interested in that. This ain’t you imagine him beside a lake and he’s watching the fishermen pull in his net and there’s a kind of an unusual looking fish in there. And Solomon says, “Faces that fish. That’s not like the other fish is it? What’s the name of that fish?” And the fisherman tells him.
And it says you know how many of these do you think there are? I see just a few of these in here. Do you think there are very many in the lake? This is the king who runs the government and runs the most powerful nation in the Middle East. But what does he have folks? He has broadness of heart.
Let me put it to you another way. He lived in God’s world and he was interested in everything that God made. Let me repeat that. He lived in God’s world and he was interested in everything that God made. He was interested in life and the lessons one can learn from God. He was interested in that wonderful capacity that we have for music by which we express our hopes and dreams and thoughts and feelings.
He was interested in the plant life that God had created. He was interested in the animal life, the bird life, the fish life. He lived in God’s world and his heart was as broad as the world in which he lived.
What’s the point of this? Imagine yourself standing on the seashore. Okay I’ve stood on a few like this. And the sand stretches as far as your eye can see up to the horizon on that side. And it stretches as far as your eye can see to the horizon on that side. Can you get this picture? Solomon’s interest went from horizon to horizon.
But if we wanted to be honest about our sphere of interest it might be five feet right in front of our face. Five feet right in front of our head. Effectively we’re interested in what goes on in our family. We’re interested in what goes on at our job. We’re interested hopefully in what goes on at our church. We’re interested in TV. We’re interested in politics. We’re interested in sports.
But there’s a world out there and a lot of things out there maybe we’re not interested in. And God made them. Don’t you think we could enlarge our hearts toward the creation of God and think more about the things he has made? And in the light of the Scriptures draw wisdom from that?
Do I remember when I was—today you’ll remember when I was living up on Harwood Street. The church met there for a little while. And I remember very distinctly going outside one night, taking a chair and sitting in my front yard. I don’t think I did that very often but I did it this night. Now I have a feeling it was before I got my first television set. In any case I went out there. I don’t think I had any particular purpose for being out there but there I was.
And I remember that night just as distinctly as anything. And there a dog started to bark next door. And after he got finished a dog on the other side started to bark. And they barked back and forth like that. And as I remember there was a third dog that chimed in at appropriate places.
And you know what I said to myself? I said I think they’re communicating. I kind of think they’re communicating. And then the thought occurred to me that I had heard somebody suggest that in all probability the animals originally had the power to communicate with human beings.
After all remember God created the animals and he brought the animals to Adam to see if any of them were a suitable companion for him. Do you think God would have brought him a bunch of animals he couldn’t talk to? I doubt it.
And then you remember the story. The serpent comes to Eve and he says, “Has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” And Eve said, “Where did you get the ability to talk?” She says well what God has said is this. It sounds like she’s perfectly used to talking to the serpent. What she didn’t know was that she was talking to the devil who was speaking through the serpent.
And you know that got me to thinking about that. You know if God did in fact make the animals so they could not only communicate with each other but communicate with us, when his kingdom comes is it possible that they will communicate with us again? I don’t know but it was worth thinking about.
It was better than watching a sitcom. It was better than watching even the Cincinnati Reds lose. Enough because this threw my mind to God. This drew my mind to his creation. This threw my mind to the animals that he had made and to the world in which I lived.
This is possible that we could profit some time by just turning off the TV maybe when nobody else is at the house and just sitting in the house and thinking about life. What have I heard about life this week? What is my experience teaching me?
Was it possible we could step out on the front porch or in the back yard and maybe put a chair down there and watch an animal that we have or look at some flowers and think? They I don’t have time for that. Solomon did because Solomon’s heart was broad. His interest was worldwide. And as a result of this his heart was wise.
We can learn from Solomon’s wisdom. When I was young they used to sing a hymn when I didn’t think much of at the time. It was always sung in churches. It didn’t particularly preach the gospel and it seemed to me was the type of hymn they would sing. But I’ve revised my opinion of the hymn. It went kind of like this:
“This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my Father’s world. I rest me in the thought of rocks and rills and skies and hills. His hands these wonders wrought.”
We live in God’s world. We live in our Father’s world. And we can still learn an awful lot from it. Let’s try to give it some time and thought and prayer and maybe we will be wiser men and women as a result.
Okay, all this brings down especially I mean particularly in type he’s a title for Christ in the millennium that Christ is going to be. Yes he careful has been careful everything he is. I would feel that that’s definitely a part of it.
I think the major role it plays in 1 Kings is to show what it was like when God’s blessing rested upon Israel so that we can see the tragic fall. But then I think the writer does have in his mind that this fall can only be reversed through the Messiah. And yes I think the age of Solomon was as close as any age in Israel to what the reign of Jesus could be. But obviously the land everything obviously he doesn’t reign he doesn’t get literally it never was they did not possess all of it.
Yes yes that’s correct. Although Solomon came as close to having control over all that land as anyone has ever come. There is some disagreement as part of an oil is to go to the river of Egypt and there is disagreement among students as to what river that refers to. But the most natural river would be the Nile, the Nile River. And if so of course Israel has never possessed that. Would they include the Sinai Peninsula and the eastern part of Egypt? But also the empire goes to the east to the Euphrates. And although Solomon didn’t occupy that the Israelites did occupy it in this passage he has control over it because the kings of those regions sent in tribute.