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Day 145: Solomon Builds the Temple
1 Kings 3
Chapter 3: Solomon the Sage
1 Kings 3:1-3 ~ Introduction to Solomon's reign
Solomon made political marriages with many foreign women including a highly prestigious marriage to the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh (1 Kng 11:1). Egyptian pharaohs traditionally did not give their daughters in marriage to foreign kings. This long standing tradition was broken in Egypt's Third Intermediate Period during a time when foreigners ruled Lower Egypt (since the Nile flows from south to north, Lower Egypt is in the north).
The Book of Song of Songs is a love poem from a bridegroom to his bride that is attributed to Solomon. In writing from the bride's point of view, the poem reads: I am black but lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, (Songs 1:5a).
The inspired writer subtly points out a problem in that instead of sacrificing at the altar Yahweh commanded David to build on Mount Moriah (2 Sam 24:18, 25; 1 Chr 21:26), they were sacrificing at former pagan "high places" that were still acknowledged as sacred sites.
The problem was that the tent of the desert Sanctuary and its altar of burnt offerings were still at Gibeon (see 1 Chr 21:29; 2 Chr 1:1-6). It was a Sanctuary that did not contain Israel's most sacred shrine, the Ark of the Covenant, which David had placed in a tent with a new altar dedicated to Yahweh on Mount Moriah. There appears to be confusion over whether sacrifices could be offered at both sites, but David did not sacrifice at Gibeon (1 Chr 21:29-30). Gibeon was a Benjaminite town and a Levitical city (Jos 18:25; 21:17).
1 Kings 3:4-9 ~ Solomon's dream at Gibeon and his petition to Yahweh
Presumably Solomon has gone to Gibeon to offer sacrifice since the altar was the original altar of the desert Sanctuary and may have been larger than the modest altar on Mount Moriah. That night God appeared to Solomon in a dream with the offer to fulfill any petition Solomon might make. Before the prophetic period that began with Moses, dreams were one of God's main channels of communication with humanity (see Num 12:6-8).
1 Kings 3:10-15 ~ Yahweh grants Solomon's petition
Question: God granted Solomon's request for wisdom, giving what he asked, and as a reward for his unselfish request what else did God grant him? Also see 1 Kng 5:13-14
Answer: God also gave Solomon riches, glory, long life, and a superior knowledge of the world in general.
But Solomon also received a warning to be obedient to God's commandments. Perhaps this is why, when he awoke from his dream, he did not make more sacrifices at the altar at Gibeon. The wisdom imparted to him made him realize that worship must be offered at Jerusalem where he returned to make offerings to Yahweh: He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh; he presented burnt offerings and communion sacrifices and held a banquet for all those in his service.
1 Kings 3:16-28 ~ The wisdom of Solomon's judgments
The king served as Israel's supreme judge and any citizen, even a prostitute, could appeal to the king for justice. Under the Law a man was forbidden to place his daughter into prostitution with the warning that such a practice was morally damaging to the covenant people as a whole (Lev 19:29), but there were women who took up the practice of prostitution despite the fact that in Israel there were provisions made for the poor.
Two women came to Solomon seeking justice. They present a story without witnesses to testify which one is telling the truth. Without witnesses, Solomon devises a clever plan to reveal the true mother by threatening the life of the child. As he hoped, his plan reveals the true mother. Solomon's method for obtaining justice impressed his people and confirmed for him that God has granted him the gift of wisdom.
CHALLENGE: “Some popes in history have been very bad. They could not be the leaders of God’s people, therefore the papacy is false.”
DEFENSE:All Church leaders are sinful to one degree or another, but the sinfulness of a particular leader says nothing about whether or not the office he occupies was instituted by God.
This argument runs the risk of proving too much. If being a sinner prevented you from being a leader, then every Christian community would be leaderless. Yet God instituted leaders in the Church (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11–12; 1 Thess. 5:12–13; Heb. 13:17).
Sinfulness doesn’t mean a man does not occupy a divinely instituted office. A striking illustration is the high priest Caiaphas. John records that, when the authorities were plotting the death of Jesus, some were concerned that if Jesus were not stopped, he would lead a revolt and the Romans would then destroy the Jewish temple and nation.
John then reports: “But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.’ ”
Then John says: “He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:47–52).
He thus recognizes Caiaphas as unwittingly prophesying about the death of the Messiah because he was “high priest that year.” It’s even more remarkable that Caiaphas did this in the act of plotting the Messiah’s death, which is about as wicked as you can get.
Caiaphas’s sin did not mean that he wasn’t high priest or that the high priesthood wasn’t established by God. It just meant he was a sinner. Similarly, the sins of popes and other Christian leaders do not mean that they don’t legitimately hold their offices or that their offices weren’t established by God.
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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