This chapter tells us of the internal order and of the splendor of Solomon’s kingdom, but also of its moral glory characterized by the wisdom of the king.
All Israel was gathered under his scepter (1 Kings 4:1), thus forming one peaceful unity. Such had been unknown during his father’s reign, as the seven years at Hebron, the rebellion of Absalom, that of Sheba the son of Bichri, and that of Adonijah prove. Now everything is in order and worthy of this glorious reign, but we find only eleven princes (1 Kings 4:2-6). The perfect order in relation to government on earth, represented by the number twelve, had not yet come and would not come until the advent of One greater than Solomon.
Azariah the son of Zadok heads the princes. “He it is that executed the priest’s office in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem” (1 Chron. 6:10). The very highest function falls to him. The temple is to become the center of the whole order of Solomon’s kingdom, just as it will be on the earth at the establishment of the millennial kingdom by Christ (Ezek. 40-48). Abiathar himself (1 Kings 4:4), who had been driven from the priesthood, is counted among the princes alongside Zadok. He had carried the ark and shared all David’s afflictions, and though he was removed from his office, his lord did not wish to deprive him of the dignity which he was bestowing upon all those who had suffered with the rejected king.
Among Solomon’s twelve stewards (1 Kings 4:7-19) we find two who had married daughters of the king, a singular honor granted to the son of that same Abinadab who had received the ark and had guarded it for twenty years in his house on the hill. To be of the family which had religiously watched over the ark of the Lord was a title to nobility in the king’s eyes.
An equal honor is granted to Ahimaaz, son of Zadok, faithful to David at the risk of his life, and concerning whom the old king had given this testimony: “He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings.” He was the first to announce to David the victory which restored his throne to him and assured him of inheriting it according to God.
1 Kings 4:20-28 describe the condition of the people under Solomon’s reign and the character of this reign. “Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude” (1 Kings 4:20). The promise made to Abraham after he had offered his son upon the altar was now realized (Gen. 22:17), at least in part, for his seed was to be “as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore.” This promise will not be fully realized until Christ’s millennial reign. Then as far as that which concerns Israel, the two parts of the kingdom, the heavenly and the earthly, shall be established forever in perfect harmony. Here the people is as numerous as the sand by the sea — restraining the surrounding peoples and keeping them within their bounds. Solomon’s subjects ate and drank and made merry (1 Kings 4:20). They had material abundance; there were no more needs which were not satisfied. Joy filled their hearts; security reigned everywhere (1 Kings 4:25). Everyone had his possession and was dwelling under his vine and under his fig tree. That which men vainly seek in this world of iniquity where Christ was cast out shall be fully realized when the Lord, acknowledged by all, shall reign over all the kingdoms of the earth (1 Kings 4:21, 24). Moreover, this powerful reign shall be a reign of universal peace: “He had peace on all sides round about him” (1 Kings 4:24). All the prosperity, all the resources of the kingdom serve to exalt the king, unite to bring out his glory (1 Kings 4:22-23, 26-28).
But that which characterizes this universal dominion above all was its moral aspect, much more glorious than its material aspect (1 Kings 4:29-34). “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea shore” (1 Kings 4:29). God had given Solomon wisdom, the moral discernment that applies itself to all things, to the good, to the evil, to the various circumstances of man, and the knowledge of the manner of conducting oneself in relation to these things. This moral discernment is not to be found apart from the fear of God which, as we have seen, characterized Solomon at the beginning of his career. The Word of God is the means of communicating this wisdom to us; that is why Solomon asked God for “an understanding heart.” This wisdom has found its expression in the Proverbs of Solomon, themselves become the Word of God.
“And understanding exceeding much.” Solomon’s understanding was as great as his wisdom, to which it was intimately bound. Understanding is the capacity to take in and to appropriate the thoughts of God in such a way that one is able to communicate them to others. Beyond that — “largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea shore,” a heart capable of embracing all his people (cf. 1 Kings 4:20), identifying Israel with himself, providing all their needs according to his love, responding to all their interests and making them his own. Does not this speak to us of Christ, of that which He will fully manifest when He shall introduce us into the glorious rest of His presence, when His heart, divinely large, shall embrace us all; when “He will rest in His love” (Zeph. 3:17)?
The extent of Solomon’s wisdom is described for us in 1 Kings 4:33-34. During his reign there was much more than mere physical rule. His wisdom had sway over all things. “And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes” (1 Kings 4:33). Adam had rules physically “over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26). God had delivered into Noah’s hands “every beast of the earth, and... every fowl of the air... all that moveth upon the earth, and... all the fishes of the sea” (Gen. 9:2). Later the God of heaven gave “the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven” into the hands of the king of the Gentiles and made him ruler over them and over men. All this is not said of Solomon, but his wisdom held sway over all these things, from the cedar to the hyssop, from the beasts to the fishes. He understood their life, the reason for their being, their relationships among themselves and their interrelationships with the whole of creation, the examples God was furnishing by their means for the moral life of mankind; and he spoke of all these things. Modern science, with all its high pretensions, is nothing but darkness compared with these certainties. But Solomon did not possess universal dominion under these two aspects. This is reserved for a Greater than Solomon, for the Second Adam: Thou hast “crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea” (Psa. 8:5-8). It is also said of Him: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).
Solomon’s dominion was but a weak type of Christ’s, who will have “the uttermost parts of the earth” (Psa. 2:8) for His possession. The king of Israel had dominion “over all the region on this side of the river” “unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt” (1 Kings 4:24, 21). In sum, these were the limits the Lord had assigned to Israel in Joshua 1:4; but when it came to the wisdom of Solomon, these limits were exceeded by far: All people came to hear him; all the kings of the earth came to inquire of him (1 Kings 4:34), and we see in type that which is said of Christ: “I will... give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
“Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol” (1 Kings 4:30-31). We have no other mention of the two latter except in 1 Chronicles 2:6, but we have an indication of the wisdom of Ethan and of Heman in the Word. Heman the Ezrahite is the inspired author of Psalm 88; Ethan the Ezrahite, that of Psalm 89. Now, what kind of wisdom is found in these two psalms? Psalm 88 has a very special character which is found to the same degree in no other psalm. It shows us Israel, convicted of having broken the law, and under the consequences of this disobedience. Nothing could be worse! Death, the grave, being cut off, and darkness are Israel’s lot. Moreover, the wrath of God weighs upon her and she is afflicted with all His waves. She is abandoned by men and is shut up. She cries, she cries in vain (Psa. 88:1, 9, 13). She is rejected; God hides His face from her. The intense heat of the Lord’s wrath has passed over her; she is overwhelmed by His terror. God has removed from her all who might have sympathized with her. And the conclusion of all this? None! Not a ray of hope! A soul who cries out, and God who does not answer!
Now, let us note, this Psalm is the only record given us of the wisdom of Heman. This is very great wisdom, indeed, to consider the responsibility of man relative to the demands of righteousness and divine holiness; wisdom which ascertains that there is no way out of this position, and that the law, the measure of this responsibility, must cast man into the darkness of death, forever far from the face of God.
Through wisdom Heman reached the conclusion which God desired to teach man by the law of Moses. Has not this man of God’s spirit already been convinced of the experience to which the long centuries of man’s history must lead and which should form the basis for the gospel? In reading this Psalm does one not seem to read the description of the law which kills the sinner which we find in the Epistle to the Romans?
In Psalm 89 the wisdom of Ethan instructs us. What does this other wise man speak of? Of grace! This Psalm is about the unchangeable promises of God and the sure mercies of David. The people’s relationship to God on the footing of the law can only lead to the darkness of judgment and death; their relation on the basis of the covenant of grace made with David leads to this: “Mercy shall be built up forever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens” (Psa. 89:2) in the heavens, where nothing shall ever touch it. This magnificent Psalm is the hymn of grace and of all the glory of God which this grace has established and brought to light.
Righteousness, judgment, mercy, truth, faithfulness, and the power of God are celebrated as manifested in a person, Himself the center and the key to this Psalm: the True David, exalted as One chosen out of the people, the Lord’s Anointed (Psa. 89:19-20), He who is to be made the First-born, higher than the kings of the earth (Psa. 89:27), He from whom He will not withdraw His loving kindness, whom His faithfulness shall not fail (Psa. 89:33), He whose seed shall endure forever, whose throne shall be as the sun before the Lord (Psa. 89:36)!
Doubtless, in this marvelous picture of grace seen in the True David and in His glorious throne, the question of the responsibility of David’s sons (Psa. 89:30-32) cannot be absent, nor the consequences which result for the people who have failed (Psa. 89:38-51), but this dark scene ends in blessing: “Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and amen” (Psa. 89:52).
Such are the instructions of wisdom by the mouth of these two men of God, one showing the system of the law which ends in the curse and the darkness of death, the other the system of grace based upon the person of the True David and ending in eternal glory. The first proclaims the end of the old man, the second the endless reign of the new man.
What then must have been the wisdom of Solomon to surpass that of these two wise men?