1 Kings 9
CHAPTER 8 showed us Solomon in public before the people, but we now view him, in verses 3 to 9, receiving instruction in private.
This is well; the believer’s testimony before men, cannot be powerful unless there be much private prayer and meditation on the Word of God. However we know nothing of Solomon’s true state of soul at this stage of his career.
God had appeared to Solomon at the beginning of his reign (chapter 3:5-14) when he was humble minded; He had granted his desire, and given him much more than he asked. But now it is evident there were dangers in Solomon’s path, and he needed the most solemn warning. God had heard his prayer and supplication; He had hallowed the temple to put His name there; His eyes and heart should be there always. If now Solomon would walk before Him as his father David had done, in true heartedness and right ways, and would do and keep all that God set before him, then would He establish Solomon’s throne forever there would not fail a descendent of his to sit on the throne of Israel.
But if they should at all turn from following the Lord, not keep His word, serve the false gods of the heathen, Israel would be cut off out of the land He had given them, and the temple would be disowned by him. Israel should then become a proverb and a by-word among all nations, and they would know that their ruin was clue to their turning from the God Who had done everything for them, to serve other gods. It is just this that has happened, as is well known, though since their Messiah came, in the person of Jesus, the measure of their sin is vastly greater. A little over four hundred years after this time, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the kingdom, long since reduced to two of the twelve tribes, ceased to exist. In its full glory it has not been, and will not be revived until the Lord Jesus comes to reign on the earth at the beginning of the millennium. It is sadly true that Solomon in his later years showed the people a very bad example, and led them into idolatry. The warning voice of God was but little heeded, and the breakup of his kingdom was soon to follow.
The reader will know that as Israel was put in a responsible place, and failed in it, so has the Church of God been placed in responsibility and has failed most grievously. We may not point the finger of scorn at the children of Israel, for our own failure is far greater, bearing in mind the finished work of Christ, the completion of the Word of God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The latter part of the chapter is occupied with the record of Solomon’s greatness and his riches. The people generally were employed by Solomon as soldiers and servants, princes and captains, and the Canaanites who still lived among them were compelled to serve, practically as slaves. Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built, and the burnt incense on the golden altar in the temple. He had a fleet of ships in what is now called the Gulf of Akaba, the northeastern arm of the Red Sea, which was used to bring gold from Ophir. We do not know where Ophir was; possibly southern Arabia, or India or Africa.
ML 06/12/1927