Lent 6, April 1, 2009 I Kings 3:1-15

Tonight we come to the end of our examination of our spiritual forefathers from the Old Testament with our look at Solomon. Throughout the lives of all of the people we have seen – Adam, Noah, Jacob, Saul, and David – one common theme flows through the accounts of their lives. God works with sinful people.

God demands perfection, but He understands our limitations. This is why Christ had to come. And in sending Christ, the righteousness of God is revealed, and we are made righteous in His sight.

From what gets told of Solomon in Sunday School stories, you might think that he at least approached righteous living on his own. However, the conduct of his life was not always, shall we say, approved for all ages to hear.

Solomon had a tremendous beginning as king. God granted Solomon anything he desired, and he wisely chose wisdom instead of wealth or power. In His grace, God made him wise and rich and powerful. But in our reading, we heard a foreshadowing of problems to come as Solomon took Pharaoh’s daughter to be his wife.

The difficulty with wealth or power is that some people think that having wealth and power makes them or their behavior above the law or above judgment. Worldly gifts can and often do color and change the heart. David’s family was a classic confirmation of the old proverb: The 1st generation makes the wealth, the 2nd generation spends and enjoys the wealth, the 3rd generation loses the wealth.

Solomon was very familiar with proverbs, he was inspired to write many of his own which are recorded in Scripture. Solomon did many great things in his life, but his enjoyment and spending of the wealth led to his demise.

Solomon was rich and famous. In wisdom and wealth, he surpassed all the rulers of the earth. There was never anyone like him. In I Kings it is recorded that, in the days of Solomon, silver was as common as stones in Jerusalem.

But Solomon’s downfall was that in all of his business dealings and treaties with other nations, he was given many daughters of kings and other powerful men as his wives. Solomon had 700 wives. But that wasn’t enough. He had 300 concubines in his household also. Solomon did not keep their foreign gods out of his palace, and for a time, he, in fact, joined his wives in worshiping them.

I suppose he did this to make them feel more comfortable, but his heart was not devoted to the Lord. And with his 1000 women bearing children, he raised a vast family that consumed the royal wealth.

Solomon did evil in the sight of God and God told him of His disfavor. Because of Solomon’s sin, God would tear the kingdom in two. Although Solomon repents of his sin, as we see in his marvelous confession which is the book of Ecclesiastes, the kingdom would be divided when Solomon died.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king, but a general named Jereboam rebelled and took the 10 Northern tribes with him. Only Judah and Benjamin remained with the house of David. And after 400 years of mostly lousy kings, the entire land is torn away and no earthly king remained in Israel.

How does this fit with the promise made to David that through David’s son a kingdom will be established that will last forever? The history of Israel fits with this prophecy because David’s Son of whom God speaks is Christ.

As we saw with King Saul two weeks ago, God is not concerned with earthly kingdoms and the inevitable political jousting which takes place. Earthly kingdoms rise and fall through the years. The only kingdom that remains forever is the kingdom of God.

As we journey to the end of this Lenten season and approach Holy Week, we gather this evening to participate in the kingdom of God and receive the absolution. In doing so, we confirm that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Just like He did with the great, but not so great, men of the Old Testament, our Lord continues to work with and to work through sinful, yet forgiven people. Amen.

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