Solomon
Solomon
1 Kings 3:16-26
So, since the beginning of August, we’ve been working through an overview of Biblical leaders: Peter and Paul from the New Testament; Saul and David from the Old Testament. What have we learned? First, God doesn’t choose perfect people because there aren’t any perfect people to pick. God chooses people who “fit” the work ahead. Second, each leader whom God chooses does God’s work… for a while. In other words, God isn’t wrong to choose them. However, finally, sooner or later, leaders, even the one’s who are called by God, start to act as if they are God. They think the rules don’t apply to them. They see something they want and they take it because they figure, well, …they deserve it, after all.
Thousands of years later, these insights still matter. In our democracy, from local to national levels, we choose leaders. Before we choose them, we want them to be “perfect” so that we can idealize them. The higher the office, the more our expectations rise. Then, when we discover, to our shock, that they are fully human, we knock them from the pedestals on which we placed them. We want to “cancel” them for the crime of being human, even though, their brokenness was in plain sight all along. Faithful people shouldn’t be in the business of idealizing people in the first place. We definitely shouldn’t be surprised when a human being turns out to be fully human.
This doesn’t mean that we should just become jaded. People can be flawed and still have their hearts in the right place. Our focus should be on a particular person’s gifts and on that elusive sense of where their heart is. The question is really a functional one: “Can this person help move things in the right direction?” The issue isn’t whether they will be a perfect“king.” The question is whether they can be a part of solving the problems before us. People don’t have to be perfect to do that.
Finally, maybe the most critical insight from the Bible is that things always get done by teams of people. We haven’t just talked about Paul and Peter and Saul and David. We’ve talked about those leaders being surrounded by folks like Samuel and Nathan and Barnabas. Leaders are not islands. Who are the people who surround them? Do they help in the work before us? Do they inspire the best of this person? Would they challenge the leader if they saw that leader’s broken ways emerging? Would they put their own interests aside to tell the leader the truth?
All of this brings us to Solomon this morning. Solomon was the son of King David and his wife, Bathsheba (yup…that Bathsheba!) Like David, Solomon did not simply inherit the throne because he was the oldest son of a king. Rather, Solomon was anointed—chosen by God, because he was the right “total piece of work” for the job. When David died, Solomon assumed the throne.
Eventually, Solomon became known as the wisest king of all. A savvy Biblical reader should be thinking, “What’s the potential problem for someone being told how wise they are?” The answer is that if everyone thinks you’re wise, then sooner or later, you’re going to actually believe them. Sure, at first you may shyly say, “Oh…you’re too kind.” Then, one day, you’re going to think you actually are smarter than everyone else. You are not, of course, but who’s going to dare to tell you that?
To be honest, Solomon did plenty of not-so-wise things throughout his reign. For example, having been told by God to be careful with his choices about the women in his life, Solomon ends up with 700 wives and 300 concubines. Ask yourself this: “How smart can this guy really be?” Most of his wives were the result of political alliances because nothing stops someone else from attacking quite as quickly as the thought, “Hey…is that my daughter in that palace?” Still, imagine how much time Saul spent just remembering all those wives’ names!
Nevertheless, Solomon was the right person at the right time for a long time. Solomon built an incredible temple that the people loved. Solomon created fortresses around cities, built the first wall around Jerusalem, and constructed the royal palace. Solomon made the nation a military power that was respected throughout the known world. He opened trade routes and made the nation an economic power. Remember, the people wanted a king in the first place so they could be like all the other nations. Solomon came close to making the people feel like they were actually better than all the other nations. The man got things done.
The story beneath that story, though, was the way he got those things done. People loved a stable monarchy. Solomon accomplished this by killing his enemies, without hesitation. People loved economic growth. He got that done, again, by doing whatever it took…like marrying yet another foreign princess or having an affair with the Queen of Sheba. (All in service to the country, right? Like father, like son.) Solomon was willing to do whatever it took to get any job done. If you like the outcome, that makes him wise. Otherwise, Solomon is just ruthless. If you’re willing to do whatever it takes, who cares what God or anyone else wants?
This is what makes our text this morning worth exploring. Just before our text, there is a great story about a dream that Solomon has, right after assuming the throne. In the dream, God asks, “What can I give you?” Solomon’s answer in the dream is fascinating. Solomon points out how much God had loved his father, David. What Solomon wants is for that love to continue with him. What he wants is for God to make him a servant. Solomon says, “I don’t have a clue what I’m doing but here I am, charged with leading these great people. What I want is a listening heart. I want to know the difference between good and evil.”
By the end of Solomon’s story, we question this answer. Is Solomon actually this humble at the start? Is his heart that pure? Or, is Solomon so savvy that he is ready, from the start, to try to hoodwink God? Regardless of our answer, God buys it. God gives him a wise heart. And, as an added bonus, God says, “Since you didn’t ask for a long life or riches or the defeat of all your enemies, I’m going to throw those things in, too. However, Solomon, keep your eye on the ball!” Solomon wakes up and…throws a huge party!
Then, right away, two women show up and approach him as a judge. There were only two circumstances in which a women would speak in court on their own behalf: that woman had to be widow or she had to be prostitute. The text tells us that the women are prostitutes. As a single woman, that would be the only choice she had if she wanted to survive. Of course, to be a prostitute with a child—well, society went out of its way to humiliate people like that. Yet, these women waltz straight up to the new king.
The world would have understood if any king had turned away from these women. After all, there were buildings to be built and alliances to be formed! To his credit, Solomon doesn’t turn away. Instead, he leans in and pays attention. He humbles himself which might just be the last time that he ever did that…
The women have quite a story to tell. These two women lived together, helping each other though their pregnancies. One day, one of the women gives birth to a son. Three days later, the other woman gives birth to a boy, as well. It’s hard to overstate what a fortunate thing this would have been in a chauvinistic society. Boys would give them status. Boys would grow into men and would take care of them. Boys promised prosperity.
However, according to the woman who is speaking, one night the other woman’s baby died. She rolled over on him in her sleep. “Then, that woman took her lifeless baby and put him in my bed and made it look like my baby had died. I’m no idiot, though. I took one look at that child and knew it wasn’t mine. She stole my baby!” “Not so,” said the other woman, “the baby that’s alive is mine!” Then, all hell breaks loose right there in front of Solomon as the women’s accusations fly back and forth.
What was wise Solomon to do? Well, let me offer this clue first. This scenario of the two mothers? it was a much circulated folk tale that the readers of this history would have already recognized. Those who recognized the folk tale would have known what was coming next: Solomon asks for a sword. Then, he suggests, (maybe since there won’t be DNA sampling for another 2500 years), the thing to do is to cut the baby in half and give each mother her “due” portion. Then…surprise!…the actual mother defers in horror and insists that the baby be given to the other woman because she can’t deal with the thought of her son dying. This, of course, means that the wise King Solomon has his answer.
Now, we are all perfectly free to hear this as the savvy story of how Solomon got an answer to a tough question. There are plenty of those sermons out there in the world. Here’s what I believe. I think this story was “borrowed” from another source and placed where it is as an allegory, as foreshadowing of what everyone knew was to come. Hear me out…
When Solomon became king, Israel and Judah, the two kingdoms, were often turning on one another, like the women. They weren’t respected in the larger world, like the women. They might prosper if they could cooperate. However, if they turn on each other, all bets are off.
When Solomon enters the picture, the two nations begin their rise to prosperity. The one nation becomes more prosperous and more respected. They have a cool palace and a beautiful temple. Things are looking up. However, over time, things begin to rot. The prosperity does not work its way down to regular people. The king forgets who he works for—God and the people. His actions, over time, split the nation (not a baby, but precious nevertheless) in half, and no one, including him, speaks up to say, “We can’t let this happen to our nation!”
This question, of course, is played out again and again in life: “Do you want to win at all costs or is there something worth preserving here that makes winning too costly?” Do you want a golf course or a wetland? Do you want schools that only teach ideas you support and assigns books that you approve? Do you want a red America or a blue America?
The real question, though, whatever you want is this: “Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get it?” Does the end justifies the means? Or, every now and then, do you remember Jesus’ words: “What would it profit someone if they gain the whole world but lose their soul?”
Look again at this village, at these schools, at this nation. None of those things are perfect, but can you see a value that is deeper than the present conflict? Can you see the relationships that matter more than “the win?” As the conflicts unfold, have you grown wise enough to pause and ask yourself, “Hey, what’s happening with that sword?”