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1 Kings 13 A Man of God, the King and a Prophet at Bethel: A Strange Story

Gustave Dore, Prophet Slain by a Lion (1866)

1 Kings 13

¹ While Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer incense, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel ² and proclaimed against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'” ³ He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: ‘The altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.'” ⁴ When the king heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But the hand that he stretched out against him withered so that he could not draw it back to himself. ⁵ The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. ⁶ The king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the LORD; and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as it was before. ⁷ Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and dine, and I will give you a gift.” ⁸ But the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your kingdom, I will not go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place. ⁹ For thus I was commanded by the word of the LORD: You shall not eat food, or drink water, or return by the way that you came.” ¹⁰ So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.

¹¹ Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel. One of his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words also that he had spoken to the king, they told to their father. ¹² Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. ¹³ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey for him, and he mounted it. ¹⁴ He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.” ¹⁵ Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.” ¹⁶ But he said, “I cannot return with you, or go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place; ¹⁷ for it was said to me by the word of the LORD: You shall not eat food or drink water there, or return by the way that you came.” ¹⁸ Then the other said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat food and drink water.” But he was deceiving him. ¹⁹ Then the man of God went back with him, and ate food and drank water in his house.

²⁰ As they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; ²¹ and he proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the LORD: Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God commanded you, ²² but have come back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, ‘Eat no food, and drink no water,’ your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb.” ²³ After the man of God had eaten food and had drunk, they saddled for him a donkey belonging to the prophet who had brought him back. ²⁴ Then as he went away, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. ²⁵ People passed by and saw the body thrown in the road, with the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the town where the old prophet lived.

²⁶ When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him according to the word that the LORD spoke to him.” ²⁷ Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled one, ²⁸ and he went and found the body thrown in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey. ²⁹ The prophet took up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city, to mourn and to bury him. ³⁰ He laid the body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” ³¹ After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. ³² For the saying that he proclaimed by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”

³³ Even after this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who wanted to be priests he consecrated for the high places. ³⁴ This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

To the modern mind this is a strange story. We rebel against the punishment that is given to the man of God from Judah who is tricked by the old prophet from Bethel. We puzzle at the inclusion of a prophecy about a king who will not come for three hundred years being brought into a scene immediately after the separation of Israel from Judah. The strange actions of both the lion and the donkey in the story acting contrary to their natures and the cursing and healing of King Jeroboam seem to come from a different world than our own lives. Even the prohibition preventing the man of God from Judah from eating or drinking until he returns home seems out of step with our way of thinking about food and drink. It is a strange story with strange characters, but it is also the beginning of the prophetic stories told in parallel the stories of the kings throughout the remainder of First and Second Kings.

In ancient storytelling repetition can often help us to understand the story and the world of the story better. The commands and the appeals to the LORD the God of Israel are continual throughout the story indicating a world where God’s power is potent and dangerous. The word of the LORD appears throughout the story along with appeals to the LORD, crying out to the LORD, and prayers to the LORD. The man of God from Judah is given a concrete message and a straightforward command not to eat or drink until he returns home and to return home by a different path.

The indication that, in the context of this festival where the king is acting as a priest, the man of God comes to Bethel with a word of the LORD for the altar starts the story with a distance between the altar at Bethel and God’s presence among the people. The LORD either chooses not to use one of the prophets in Bethel, which we learn exist in this story, or the worship in Bethel has deviated from the worship of the LORD. It is likely that prophets in Bethel would receive support from Jeroboam and would be expected to speak in ways that are favorable to their king. Later prophets like Amos would later be told to return to Jerusalem if their messages were not in alignment with the king and priests. The proclamation against the altar while the king is standing there, especially as a person from the neighboring realm of Judah would be a direct challenge to the policies of Jeroboam. Just as Jeroboam once lifted his hand against Solomon (1 Kings 11: 26-27) now he raises his hand against this man of God from Judah. Previously God had allowed Jeroboam to raise his hand against Solomon, now God protects the man of God by causing the king’s hand to wither and placing him at the mercy of this man of God’s entreaty.

First and Second Kings is a historical narrative that attempts to theologically wrestle with the heartbreaking fall from the hope at the beginning of the reign of Solomon to the destruction of both Israel and Judah from the perspective of those from Judah that are exiled to Babylon. One of the fundamental human questions that is asked in the aftermath of tragedy is why this happened. The narrative of the books of Kings is an attempt to answer this question. In looking at this broader perspective, King Josiah becomes for the writer of First and Second Kings, an important figure. Josiah, whose story is told in 2 Kings 22-23, is the primary example of what a king of Judah (and by extension Israel) should be and his reign delays the judgment of God upon Judah. The reforms of Josiah are a moment where from the perspective of Judah there is a potential for Israel and Judah to be reunited and the places of worship, like Bethel, are eliminated as the worship is centered around the temple in Jerusalem. The man of God introduces the actions of Josiah that will happen centuries later when he defiles the altar at Bethel as a sacrilegious place (2 Kings 23: 15-16). The proclamation of the man of God against the altar may also give temporary pause to the people who are being allowed to act as priests by Jeroboam.

The prohibition against eating and drinking was probably to keep the man of God from Judah from indulging in any type of activity which could be viewed as idolatrous or as an act of favor towards Jeroboam or the shrine at Bethel. Feasting, especially at festival times like this one, is often associated with worship and this concern continues into the New Testament as we see in 1 Corinthians 8. Meat in an era before refrigeration was often consumed at religious festivals and partaking in the food was also considered partaking in the worship of the deity being celebrated. It can also be viewed as an act of reconciliation between the man of God and Jeroboam, but no reconciliation has occurred because the actions of Jeroboam towards the LORD have not fundamentally changed. The man of God from Judah is not to become an authorized participant or supporter of the work at Bethel, and even the participation in a meal could be viewed as tacit support for the king or Bethel.

Most modern readers of scripture assume far greater uniformity of belief than the text bears witness to. Even if the law as we encounter it in Deuteronomy exists[1] in the form we now have it, it would not be readily available to the people and its observance disappears for long periods of time. The practices at Bethel and the practices in Jerusalem were probably not identical, and the presence of a prophet at Bethel does not indicate complete Torah observance. It is likely that this prophet, like many people who hold the title of prophet, are authorized by the king or by the temple. Although the text does not give the motive of the old prophet in Bethel for seeking out the man of God from Judah those motives may not be collegial. The prophet in Bethel may feel that the man of God from Judah is interfering in his territory and undermining what he views as the acceptable practices of his fellow worshippers in Bethel. He seeks him out on his return home, and perhaps in light of the action against the altar, wants to attempt to bring this man of God in to bless, and reauthorize, the worship at Bethel and the dedication of a new altar.

The interaction of the man of God and the old prophet from Bethel under the oak tree reminds me of the interaction between the serpent and Eve in Genesis 3: 1-6. In contrast to this narrative where the serpent’s questions cause Eve to question, the old prophet tells a lie about an angelic invitation. The man of God from Judah apparently had a clear set of instructions about delivering this message in Bethel, but now the reported words of God by another prophet causes him to question these previous words. Morally we may find the trickster behavior of this prophet of Bethel unsavory and many readers of this text want this prophet to be punished rather than the man of God who is tricked. But the bible is full of strange stories of tricksters and seemingly righteous people led astray. But rather than return to Judah, the man of God returns to Bethel with this prophet.

We may question the morality of the prophet from Bethel, but while he feasts with this man of God he does receive a prophetic message. The man of God hears the declaration that he will not be buried in the tomb of his family. We may rebel at the punishment of this man of God for this simple trespass, but his return to Bethel may be viewed from the perspective of the temple and the king as the man of God sharing the feast with them and granting them favor.

The man of God departs on a donkey provided by the old prophet and is soon killed by a lion. Yet, neither the lion nor the donkey act like these animals normally act. The lion does not maul the man of God, nor does the donkey flee the lion as both stand a sentinels over this dead messenger of God. This strange story is remembered by the people and reported to the prophet of Bethel. In another strange turn of the story the prophet journeys to the fallen man of God, brings him once again to Bethel, mourns over his dead body and buries him in his tomb. The prophet and the man of God are linked together link Judah and Israel are supposed to be. (Israel, 2013, p. 176)

This is a strange story to modern ears, but it is a story that will echo across centuries and will be remembered by people when Josiah is king and decides not to use the bones from the tomb where the man of God and the prophet’s bones are laid (2 Kings 23:17). The words of the man of God, and the mourning of the prophet of Bethel do not lead King Jeroboam to repent and in the view of First Kings this leads to Jeroboam’s dynasty ending. Although First and Second Kings will follow both the northern and southern kingdoms the bulk of the text through the remainder of First Kings and the first ten chapters of Second Kings will focus on northern Israel. It is in the aftermath of the reign of Jeroboam that prophets like Elijah and Elisha will emerge and these wonder working prophets will exercise a powerful place in the memory of the people of both kingdoms.

[1] Many scholars assume the final form of many of the books that make up the Hebrew Scriptures reach their final canonical form during the Babylonian exile as a part of the collection and preservation of the traditions and stories to hand on to future generations. It is impossible to go back and historically document what textual resources were available three thousand years ago, but the historical recollection in Judges, 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings points to numerous points where the law is either unknown or forgotten.

1 Kings 12: A Divided Kingdom

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By Hans Holbein the Younger – Christian Müller; Stephan Kemperdick; Maryan Ainsworth; et al, Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515–1532, Munich: Prestel, 2006, ISBN 9783791335803., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5977456

1 Kings 12: 1-24 A Divided Kingdom

¹ Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. ³ And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷ They answered him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he disregarded the advice that the older men gave him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and now attended him. ⁹ He said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus you should say to this people who spoke to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must lighten it for us’; thus you should say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. ¹¹ Now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had said, “Come to me again the third day.” ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. He disregarded the advice that the older men had given him ¹⁴ and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, because it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king,

“What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David.”

So Israel went away to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah. ¹⁸ When King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam then hurriedly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was no one who followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah alone.

²¹ When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen troops to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. ²² But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: ²³ Say to King Rehoboam of Judah, son of Solomon, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, ²⁴ “Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your kindred the people of Israel. Let everyone go home, for this thing is from me.” So they heeded the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.

At the end of Solomon’s reign, Israel is only three generations removed from a United Israelite kingdom being a collection of loosely affiliated tribal groups and territories. Solomon’s forty year reign put the kingdom on a fast track to becoming a powerful monarchy involved in global trade and with an aggressive set of building projects. Although Solomon attempted to replace the tribal power structures with a regional set of administrators to deliver the taxes and to conscript labor for the state projects there is a growing tension between Solomon’s Jerusalem based monarchy and the population which has borne the burden of these projects through both taxation of their (primarily) agricultural production and the physical labor of construction. The prosperity of Solomon’s reign may have given the illusion of Israel being a modern unified kingdom, but as Alex Israel states, “the seam between Judah and the other tribes is prone to unravelling.” (Israel, 2013, p. 154)

Rehoboam the son of Solomon comes to Shechem, one of the most important cities of the northern tribes of Israel, to be anointed as king. We do not know whether this is, at the behest of his advisors, a strategic political and symbolic move to honor the northern tribes and attempt to provide unity or a move to assert control over these tribes but it leads to the people giving voice to their dissatisfaction with the administration of Rehoboam’s father and their desire for change. There still seems to be a chance for the kingdom to remain united if Rehoboam will make some concessions to the people who have borne the taxation and labor of Solomon’s kingdom building. Additionally, the northern tribes may be concerned about the security situation on their borders with the rise of Rezon in Damascus and the selling off of Cabul to finance Solomon’s construction and acquisition of gold and other precious resources. It is likely that the northern tribes felt that they were being asked to carry a heavy yoke on behalf of the Solomon’s monarchy without sharing in the benefits of their burden. (Cogan, 2001, pp. 351-352) Jerusalem and Judah have grown wealthy and prosperous while northern Israel has lost territory, security, and the fruit of their labor. With their taxation they ask not for representation, but for their monarch to hear their plight and to be a king for all Israel, not merely the king of Judah and Jerusalem.

During the three days intermission in the story, Rehoboam consults two distinct groups of counselors for advice. One group of counselors are his father’s men who may remember a time before Solomon’s forty-year reign or who may have seen the cost the people of the land bore. Their advice of serving the people and giving kind words to them has the potential to ease the tensions which threaten to pull the seam between Judah and the other tribes apart. But the advice of the group derogatorily in Hebrew called ‘boys’ (hayla-dim) (NIB III: 102) only inflames the tensions. Rehoboam identifies with this group saying, “What do you advise that we answer this people.” It is likely that these comrades of Rehoboam have grown up knowing the affluence of Solomon’s court and have been insulated from the burden of the people. They probably have grown up in an environment where they never knew, in Brueggemann’s words,

anything but extravagant privilege and a heavy sense of their own entitlement. They likely take their affluence as normal and have never known anything other than a standard of living supported by heavy taxation. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 156)

These ‘boys’ counsel their king and companion to display strength in defending their way of life. Solomon may have been a strong king who demanded much of the people, but Rehoboam will be build a stronger kingdom by being more demanding. The childish advice includes a graphic illustration of the potency of the new king by saying that his member[1] is larger than his father’s thigh. Rehoboam does not reiterate this part of the advice at the gathering of the people but he accepts the counsel of those who, like him, have benefited from the policies of his father and attempts to bluster the people into submission.

There is a common misperception among leaders, particularly leaders who are trying to portray themselves in a masculine manner, that misunderstands strength as toughness or cruelty. This occurs even in modern societies like the United States where a political leaders try to show how tough they are on crime or immigration by incredibly cruel policies or who try to assert dominance over their opponents. Often these leaders are not people of distinguished careers in the military or arenas of physical competition, but they create this persona of strength which may attempt to cover their own insecurities. This scene with the attempt by Rehoboam and his counterparts to bluster and dominate the nation with a heavier yoke and scorpions seems to be an attempt to show toughness through cruelty. The ‘scorpions’ mentioned may be a lash with metal edges, but whatever the meaning of this term it is designed to invoke pain greater than a whip.

The response of the people, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David.” echoes an earlier incident in the reign of King David. In the aftermath of the rebellion of David’s son Absalom as weakened David is reconsolidating power in Israel when Sheba son of Bichri utters identical words (2 Samuel 19:1). David rallies his forces and his general Joab pursues Sheba and besieges the town of Abel of Beth-maacah until the residents throw the head of Sheba to the general.[2] David, through Joab, decisively deals with this fraying of the seams between the Judah and the other tribes. Yet, here the seam will not hold as the ten pieces of the new robe of the prophet Ahijah[3] separate from the two remaining pieces. We will see that Rehoboam is no David.

Rehoboam’s inability to accurately perceive the situation and his own weakness continues to make itself clear in response to the declaration of the people. Jeroboam may have been at work sowing dissent among the people, or the disillusionment of the people may be so great that it would lead to the rupture without any encouragement by Jeroboam. Rehoboam’s decision to send Adoram who was in charge of forced labor probably intended to continue to show this strength through toughness and cruelty, but it is an inflammatory and politically insensitive response to the people which result in the outbreak of violence and causes the king to flee in his chariot to Jerusalem. The strength and toughness he desired to demonstrate only highlighted his own impotence in the face of the rising rebellion.

In a final attempt to demonstrate strength Rehoboam rallies the forces of Judah and Benjamin. Apparently the Benjaminites remained while the other tribes departed, but the stated 180,000 men rallied to hold the kingdom together by force may be able to strike before the northern tribes and Jeroboam can organize. Yet, Shemaiah the man of God is able to communicate to the king where the other older voices have not been able. In contrast to King David his grandson Rehoboam will not reunite the nation through military action and he has no Joab to demonstrate his strength. But like his grandfather, Rehoboam will be sensitive to hearing the word of God and in this case acts accordingly.[4] The seam that brought the tribes of Israel together has unraveled and throughout the remaining history of the kings we will follow a progression of kings of Israel (the northern tribes) and the kings of Judah. There kingdom is rent asunder and there is no king or prophet who will be able to reunite the tribes.

1 Kings 12: 25-33 The Worship Places at Bethel and Dan

²⁵ Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and resided there; he went out from there and built Penuel. ²⁶ Then Jeroboam said to himself, “Now the kingdom may well revert to the house of David. ²⁷ If this people continues to go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, the heart of this people will turn again to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.” ²⁸ So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. He said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” ²⁹ He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. ³⁰ And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan. ³¹ He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not Levites. ³² Jeroboam appointed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the festival that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; so he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. ³³ He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he alone had devised; he appointed a festival for the people of Israel, and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

Much of Solomon’s reign concentrated the worship of the LORD and the political power, military might, and the wealth of Israel in Jerusalem. Now as Jeroboam and the new kingdom of Israel finds itself adrift from this center of worship, power and wealth he begins to reestablish the nation around new centers and a new identity. Jeroboam’s position is tenuous as long as the central symbols of the people remain outside of the borders of this new territory. His reorganization of political life, religious life, and even the calendar will be judged harshly by the writer of 1 Kings who views these reforms through the perspective of Jerusalem and the temple. In the perspective of 1 Kings these are the ‘sins of Jeroboam’ that will become the reference for the negative evaluation of future kings of Israel.[5]

Jeroboam establishes two places of political and military power: Shechem and Peneul. Shechem is the site where the people rebelled against Rehoboam but it is also the site where Abimelech is the first in Israel to claim the title of king (Judges 9).[6] Yet, Shechem is probably chosen as a site due to its role in the stories of Abram and Jacob. Shechem is where God promises Abraham that his offspring will inherit the land (Genesis 12: 6-7), it is the unfortunate location of the rape of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and her brothers’ revenge and where the family of Jacob leaves their foreign gods behind (Genesis 34) and where Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers (Genesis 37: 12-36). Penuel also has a connection with the story of Abimelech’s father Gibeon (Judges 8)[7] but it is probably rebuilt for its connection to the story of Jacob. Penuel (or Peniel)[8] is the site where Jacob wrestles with the mysterious stranger and is renamed Israel (Genesis 32: 22-32). Establishing Israel’s new centers of political life around these two cities with associations with Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph gives a new geological and narrative root for this new nation of Israel to orient itself around.

Solomon’s centralization of the worship of the LORD around the temple in Jerusalem also presents a challenge for Jeroboam. He responds to this challenge by centering worship around two existing worship sites with new images. The narrator of 1 Kings wants us to hear in this story an echo of the story of the golden calf in Exodus 32 and places in Jeroboam’s mouth the same words that Aaron utters in that story, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:4) The two shrines at Bethel and in Dan become the locations of these new golden calves and for Israel replace the temple in Jerusalem. It is possible that the calves are not to be a replacement for the LORD, just a physical representation of the LORD (or like the bulls under the bronze sea in the temple designs ornamentation of the worship space). Yet, the author of 1 Kings views this innovation through the lens of the Exodus account of the golden calf and view Jeroboam’s reforms as evidence of his unfaithfulness to the LORD the God of Israel.

Additionally, the priests that Jeroboam appoints are not exclusively Levites. The text does not specifically state that no Levites were priests, but there were those from among the general public who became priests. In Exodus 32 the Levites were those who were most resistant to Aaron’s introduction of the golden calf and it is possible that there were Levites who resisted this, but there were Levites in the book of Judges who gladly used ephods and other icons as a part of the worship at shrines like the one in Dan.[9] Even the king functions as a priest, although Solomon also acted in this way in the dedication of the temple, but there is a complete reorganization of the religious life of the people around new shrines with new images and new priests. Finally there is a new calendar to orient the life of the people completely breaking with the ways of Judah.

In Canaan the bull is often associated with the deities of Baal and El[10] (Cogan, 2001, p. 358). 1 Kings tells us the narrative of Jeroboam from the perspective of Torah observance as shaped by the theology of Deuteronomy and Exodus. In light of that theological perspective the innovations of Jeroboam (like the innovations of Aaron) are judged negatively and harshly. The practices that Jeroboam adopts may have deeper roots in the worship history of the northern Israelite tribes that we will never know because their records have been lost to time. What we do have is the evaluation of those practices in the light of the perspective of 1 Kings which view this action as the ‘sin of Jeroboam’ that leads Israel astray.

[1] Can be translated finger but probably refers to his penis.

[2] This story in 2 Samuel 20 is a fascinating but twisted story of the power of David as exercised by Joab which is too complex to do more than point to as a parallel here.

[3] See previous chapter.

[4] In 2 Chronicles 12 Shemiah also confronts Rehoboam when King Shishak of Egypt attacks causing the king and his officers to humble themselves causing God to grant them deliverance. 1 Kings 14: 25-28 will mention the invasion of King Shishak but does not contain Shemiah’s role.

[5] Going forward I will follow 1 Kings’ practice of referring to the northern kingdom as Israel and the southern kingdom as Judah. The spilt is unfamiliar for many readers of scripture and the referral to the united monarchy as Israel along with the northern kingdom post Solomon can cause confusion, but no more than using other common references like Ephraim or even the northern kingdom.

[6] Abimelech never reigned over all Israel, he was a regional strongman whose short, violent domination of the area is the opposite of what judges were supposed to be.

[7] Gideon appeals to Penuel for food to support his pursuit of the kings of Midian but is rebuffed and later tears down their tower.

[8] Genesis uses both spellings in the story of Jacob.

[9] Judges 17-18

[10] El is a general term for god which is often a part of the names used to talk about the LORD the God of Israel, but may also refer to gods of other nations.

1 Kings 11 The Foolish End of Solomon

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Willem de Poorter, ‘De afgoderij van konig Solomo’-Solomon’s decent into idolatry (between 1630 and 1648)

1 Kings 11: 1-13 The Foolishness of Solomon

¹ King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you; for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods”; Solomon clung to these in love. ³ Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. ⁵ For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not completely follow the LORD, as his father David had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods. ⁹ Then the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, ¹⁰ and had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD commanded.

¹¹ Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. ¹² Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ I will not, however, tear away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

In many divorces there may be a critical crisis where rupture in the relationship becomes readily apparent to both partners, but normally there has been a slow degradation of the relationship before this critical crisis. Many casual readers of First Kings’ report of Solomon’s reign will realize the critical crisis in the relationship between Solomon and God here as Solomon begins to turn away from the ways of his father and follow other gods. Yet, as I’ve tried to illustrate, Solomon’s focus on gold, military might, political alliances, and luxury items have already shown a drift away from the covenantal ways of the law towards the practices of King Hiram of Tyre, Pharaoh of Egypt, and the other kings of the surrounding region. Solomon has become a king deeply enmeshed in trade, building a capital city like that of Egypt, and he is the opposite of the model king lifted up in Deuteronomy 17: 14-20. At the ending of the previous chapter he had acquired large numbers of horses and chariots from Egypt and massive quantities of gold and silver (to the point silver was no longer valued) and now he also has a thousand wives and concubines.

First Kings is considered by our Jewish ancestors as a prophetic book and it shares with Joshua, Judges, First and Second Samuel, and Second Kings a theological perspective which resonates strongly with the book of Deuteronomy. This covenantal understanding of the relationship between Israel’s king, Israel’s temple, the people of Israel, and the God of Israel is a central theme of the Hebrew Scriptures, yet it also is neglected by the leaders of the people of Israel. As Walter Brueggemann can insightfully state:

The editorial practice of the book of Kings is to provide a theological assessment of each king by the criterion of Torah-obedience, a criterion in which kings characteristically are not at all interested. The kings are evaluated by norms that they themselves would consider irrelevant. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 141)

Solomon’s self-evaluation would probably be oriented around his piety in constructing the temple, his success in international trading relations, his acquisition of wealth, his construction of Jerusalem and other walled cities, and his transition of the people from a disunified tribal society to a unified monarchy which for a brief moment occupies a place on the world stage. Solomon’s evaluation by other leaders like King Hiram of Tyre, the Queen of Sheba, and Pharoah of Egypt is that he is a wise son of David who administers his kingdom in a way they find praiseworthy. Yet, the LORD’s power has been notably absent from the narrative of Solomon. God has granted wisdom, wealth, and freedom from enemies but then the narrative shifts to Solomon’s achievements occasionally interrupted by divine warnings. Solomon’s story up to this point has been one of self-reliance and achievement but the connection to the commands, statutes, and ordinances of God has been lost. Solomon has exchanged God’s wisdom for the wisdom of the other nations. Solomon’s values had already shifted by this point in the narrative, his allowance or adoption of the worship of the gods of his wives is merely the critical crisis.

Solomon’s wives are almost certainly an extension of his vast network of diplomatic and trading networks he embarks upon. Marriages in the ancient world were primarily economic relationships rather than relationships of love or lust. This does not mean that Solomon is not emotionally attached to some or all of his wives and concubines, but they were brought into his household as a way of strengthening relationships between neighboring kingdoms in addition to regional leaders in Israel. Even if the foreign women among his wives and concubines formally accepted the worship of the LORD, the God of Israel, they never adopted a Torah based value system. (Israel, 2013, p. 127) and they may have encouraged Solomon’s own drift from that value system. Early in First Kings we heard that “Solomon loved the LORD” (3:3) but now that love is in tension with Solomon’s love of many foreign women.

The law as stated in Deuteronomy is highly aware of the competing value systems that it will encounter among the surrounding people in the promised land. The people were not to make covenants with them, to intermarry with them,[1]and they were to be excluded from the assembly of the faithful. (Deuteronomy 7: 2-4, 23: 2-7) Not only were they not to worship these other deities, they were also not to blend the practices of gods like Astarte, Chemosh, and Molech with the practices of the LORD. For example there are instances where the worship of the LORD in the book of Judges is indistinguishable from the worship of the Canaanite gods. Now Solomon allows the establishment of places of worship in close proximity to the temple itself, including on the Mount of Olives[2] directly opposite the temple mount.

Solomon’s heart has turned away from the LORD. The NRSV indicates that Solomon’s mind has moved but the Hebrew indicates that this is Solomon’s will.[3] Solomon who was granted wisdom has now directed his will and heart towards things that the LORD views as foolish. It may be wise in the view of the world, but in God’s eyes and in light of the covenant it is foolishness that breaks the relationship between God and Solomon and leads to a rupture in the kingdom. Yet the LORD does not act immediately. God has repeatedly warned Solomon and I believe still desires Solomon’s return and grants time and space for repentance. There is also a promise that God made to David in 2 Samuel 7:15 where the LORD promises not to take his love away like he did with Saul. Even at this critical crisis which brings a rupture to the relationship between God and the king, the LORD continues to extend grace in the midst of judgment for the sake of David and Jerusalem. God continues to honor the temple, the hope of what a Davidic king could be and to leave open a future where return to God’s ways could bring a reunited relationship. The LORD continues to seek the misplaced love of Solomon.

1 Kings 11: 14-40 Conflict in the Peaceful Reign

¹⁴ Then the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal house in Edom. ¹⁵ For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the dead, he killed every male in Edom ¹⁶ (for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom); ¹⁷ but Hadad fled to Egypt with some Edomites who were servants of his father. He was a young boy at that time. ¹⁸ They set out from Midian and came to Paran; they took people with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, assigned him an allowance of food, and gave him land. ¹⁹ Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him his sister-in-law for a wife, the sister of Queen Tahpenes. ²⁰ The sister of Tahpenes gave birth by him to his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the children of Pharaoh. ²¹ When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.” ²² But Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me that you now seek to go to your own country?” And he said, “No, do let me go.”

²³ God raised up another adversary against Solomon, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah. ²⁴ He gathered followers around him and became leader of a marauding band, after the slaughter by David; they went to Damascus, settled there, and made him king in Damascus. ²⁵ He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, making trouble as Hadad did; he despised Israel and reigned over Aram.

²⁶ Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, rebelled against the king. ²⁷ The following was the reason he rebelled against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the gap in the wall of the city of his father David. ²⁸ The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹ About that time, when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Ahijah had clothed himself with a new garment. The two of them were alone in the open country ³⁰ when Ahijah laid hold of the new garment he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ He then said to Jeroboam: Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “See, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes. ³² One tribe will remain his, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. ³³ This is because he has forsaken me, worshiped Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and has not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, as his father David did. ³⁴ Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom away from him but will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of my servant David whom I chose and who did keep my commandments and my statutes; ³⁵ but I will take the kingdom away from his son and give it to you — that is, the ten tribes. ³⁶ Yet to his son I will give one tribe, so that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name. ³⁷ I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires; you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ If you will listen to all that I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you, and will build you an enduring house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ For this reason I will punish the descendants of David, but not forever.” ⁴⁰ Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam promptly fled to Egypt, to King Shishak of Egypt, and remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

Solomon’s name comes from the Hebrew word shalom which is often translated ‘peace’ and until this point in the narrative his reign has been mainly peaceful. There may have been bloody proceedings at the beginning, but for most of Solomon’s forty year reign the nation has enjoyed peace and prosperity. Now in light of Solomon’s foolishness the LORD begins to act by introducing adversaries which bring conflict to the edges and eventually to the heart of the kingdom of Solomon. The first adversary[4] is Hadad the Edomite. Hadad’s antagonism towards Solomon originates in the actions of his father David’s military commander, Joab. Solomon has Joab killed in the temple at the beginning of his reign but his murderous actions against the Edomites (2 Samuel 8: 13-14) on behalf of David leave an enemy for Solomon. In the narrative of First Kings Hadad typologically becomes like Moses (escapes a purge of a murderous king, raised in Pharoah’s household) and in combination with the previous narrative where we hear of Solomon’s forced labor, building of storage cities and the depiction of his son Rehoboam “whipping” the nation in the next chapter we see Solomon typologically as a Pharaoh like tyrant. (Israel, 2013, pp. 136-137) Hadad’s words to Pharaoh are also similar to Moses’ words to ‘let my people go’ but now it is Hadad asking Pharoah permission to ‘let me go” on behalf of my people. This was may have been awkward for Pharaoh who has allied himself with Solomon now having to restrain an opponent within his own household who wants to oppose Solomon’s reign. The ‘sins’ of his father David and his servants are now falling on Solomon’s head just like his own ‘sins’ will fall on the head of his son.

The second adversary is Rezon whose rise to power as a strongman leading a marauding band is also facilitated by David’s military actions against the Arameans (2 Samuel 8:3-7, 10:1-19). David’s expansion of his territory and defeat of King Hadadezer enabled this former servant to rise up and become the leader of a marauding band much like David had been when Saul still reigned. The emergence of Rezon may illustrate that Solomon is beginning to lose a grip on the territory that his father claimed by conflict. Solomon has already sold a part of his inheritance to Hiram King of Tyre (1 Kings 9: 10-14) and these two external adversaries may be the beginning of troubles on the edge of Solomon’s kingdom.

Yet, the most significant threat is internal and, as indicated in God’s words to Solomon in verse eleven and here, it comes from a servant of Solomon. Just as David was once a servant of Saul and was God’s hand chosen replacement, now Jeroboam the servant of Solomon is God’s chose one to lead Israel. Jeroboam we are told is the son of a widow named Zeruah, which probably indicates an upbringing that was less secure than many of his fellow Israelites. Widows are one of the vulnerable groups, with orphans and resident aliens, that the law lifts up for protection, but the highlighting of these groups probably indicates that they were often taken advantage of. The naming of Jeroboam as a widow’s son may also be a way of discrediting him in the eyes of the Judean line of kings, but he rises to be viewed as a mighty one.[5] He is placed over the forced labor (corvee) of the houses of Joseph (the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh) or the administrative replacement for the tribes that Solomon designated (1 Kings 4: 7-19). This is in contrast to 1 Kings 9:15-22 which attempts to state that the forced labor comes only from captured nations. Jeroboam’s upbringing may make him sensitive to the burdens that Solomon’s reign is placing upon the common people of his region of Israel, something Solomon may have been blinded to by his increasing separation from the people and his acquisition of wealth. The critical moment comes when a word of God comes through the prophetic voice of Ahijah from the northern shrine at Shiloh. It is possible that at this point the priests at Shiloh are more focused on Torah than the priests at the temple in Jerusalem, but the prophet comes from the same holy place that Solomon once received his visitation from God where God granted him wisdom (1 Kings 3). There are similarities between this scene and the scene in 1 Samuel 15: 27-29 where the tearing of Saul’s robe indicates that the kingdom will be torn away from Saul. Two foreigners may have ripped at the edges of the kingdom, but like the newly torn robe of Ahijah, now Jeroboam will be the cause of the internal rupture where ten tribes separate from the line of David and the city of Jerusalem. These three adversaries become the forces that begin to tear at the seams of Solomon’s kingdom which will be ripped apart after his death. Jeroboam, like Hadad, flees to Egypt while Shishak is Pharaoh. The harboring of enemies of Israel by Pharaoh also foreshadows the breakdown of relations between Egypt and Israel that will end in King Shishak of Egypt attacking Jerusalem when Rehoboam is king and taking away many of the golden things that Solomon acquired during his reign.

1 Kings 11: 41-43 The Death of Solomon

⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did as well as his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? ⁴² The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³ Solomon slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam succeeded him.

As mentioned at the beginning of the chapter First Kings is a narration of the story of Solomon and later kings from a perspective they may have considered irrelevant. It is a theological evaluation of each ruler in terms of their fidelity to the LORD the God of Israel and the covenant as outlined in the commandments, statutes and precepts of God. Solomon may have been a success in every measure to the nations around him, but in the view of First Kings he is ultimately a failed king. His divinely granted wisdom slowly turned into foolishness as it adopted the practices of kings like King Hiram of Tyre, the Queen of Sheba, and the Pharaoh of Egypt and in the critical crisis where Solomon’s love for the LORD is challenged by his love for his many foreign wives which leads him to allow idolatry to take hold in Israel. Solomon is warned numerous times in the text and I do believe that God continued to yearn for his repentance and the renewal of his fidelity, but even in the absence of that he continues to provide some grace in the midst of judgment. At his death the eyes of the people and of God shift to his son Rehoboam to see if he will be a worthy leader. There still is a chance for repentance and reconciliation between Rehoboam and God as well as Rehoboam and the people. There will be wise voices calling for Rehoboam to listen, but the ‘sins’ of his father as well as his own adoption of his father’s foolishness will lead to the rupture in the kingdom.

[1] This is not primarily about sexual relations but instead a fear that mixing with the daughters and sons of these nations will lead to the adoption of their practices and idolatry. (Cogan, 2001, p. 326)

[2] This is the mountain referred to when the text mentions the mountain east of Jerusalem.

[3] Hebrew ‘im. The heart is the organ of will in Hebrew thought not the mind. (Cogan, 2001, p. 328) Hence the use of the word heart in verse nine paired with the Hebrew word for will in verse eleven.

[4] The word behind adversary is the Hebrew word satan, where the name Satan comes from. There is no understanding in 1 Kings of Satan being a personified force against the LORD of Israel, instead that is the other gods of the nations. Satan appears as a personified being for the first time in the book of Job.

[5] The Hebrew gibbor hayil which occurs frequently in the book of Judges is often translated as a ‘mighty warrior’ but can also indicated a person of means (like Boaz in Ruth). The NRSV’s translation as industrious places a western valuation of work upon the concept of one who has either economic, military or physical strength.

1 Kings 9 Solomon’s Second Vision and Continued Reign

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Isaak Asknaziy, Vanita vanitatum et omnia vanitas (19th Century)

1 Kings 9: 1-9 Solomon’s Second Vision of the LORD

¹ When Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, ² the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time. ⁴ As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, ⁵ then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “If you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them; and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight; and Israel will become a proverb and a taunt among all peoples. ⁸ This house will become a heap of ruins; everyone passing by it will be astonished, and will hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ Then they will say, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them; therefore the LORD has brought this disaster upon them.'”

This second appearance of the LORD to Solomon echoes the covenantal themes that have recurred throughout the initial eight chapters of 1 Kings. Although the consequences for turning aside from keeping the commandments and statutes of the LORD is spoken in more ominous tones directly from the mouth of God, we’ve seen the necessity of obedience in David’s words to Solomon (2:2-4), in the LORD’s first appearance to Solomon (3:14), the word of the LORD during the construction of the temple (6: 11-13), and from Solomon’s own mouth in the extended prayer of dedication (8:22-53). The dedication of the temple and the sacrifices offered there are not enough, nor are they primary to the LORD. The timing of this divine visitation and its charge and warnings should alert us to the danger that Solomon faces as his material prosperity continues. Knowing the failures of the end of Solomon’s reign this warning at the apex of his success may help the attentive reader begin to see that Solomon, “did not fail overnight; darker strands and shadows are revealed, indicating the deep flaws that threatened the impressive national enterprise.” (Israel, 2013, p. 113)

The LORD’s response to Solomon indicates that God is listening to the prayers offered at the temple and that God continues to fix God’s vision and God’s will upon this place where the people can come to offer their petitions and their sacrifices. Yet, it is not Solomon who has consecrated the temple but the LORD. The covenant is once again restated and Solomon who earlier asked for wisdom is again offered the path of wisdom. In stark language the cost of disobedience is spelled out and the presence of the temple is not a guarantee of God’s protection if the people and their king do not practice obedience. The city, the temple and the nation of Israel are all contingent on the provision of the LORD and if they turn away they will be an example that others will ‘hiss’ at to avoid sharing their curse as they pass by.[1] Solomon is asked to navigate the uneasy tension between his consolidation of power and wealth in his ‘royal growth economy’ (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 128) and the principles of the Law of God.

1 Kings 9: 10-14 Entanglement with the Ways of Tyre and Egypt

⁰ At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king’s house, ¹¹ King Hiram of Tyre having supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. ¹³ Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul to this day. ¹⁴ But Hiram had sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the LORD and his own house, the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer ¹⁶ (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it down, had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife; ¹⁷ so Solomon rebuilt Gezer), Lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, Tamar in the wilderness, within the land, ¹⁹ as well as all of Solomon’s storage cities, the cities for his chariots, the cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build, in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ²⁰ All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel — ²¹ their descendants who were still left in the land, whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely — these Solomon conscripted for slave labor, and so they are to this day. ²² But of the Israelites Solomon made no slaves; they were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, and the commanders of his chariotry and cavalry.

²³ These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred fifty, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.

²⁴ But Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her; then he built the Millo.

²⁵ Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and sacrifices of well-being on the altar that he built for the LORD, offering incense before the LORD. So he completed the house.

²⁶ King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea,¹in the land of Edom. ²⁷ Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They went to Ophir, and imported from there four hundred twenty talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

Many readers of 1 Kings will see chapters nine and ten as a testament to Solomon’s wise management of the kingdom of Israel, but on closer inspection it is clear that something is amiss in the administration of Solomon. Solomon has become entangled in the ways of King Hiram of Tyre and the Pharaoh of Egypt. In this and the following chapter the word gold is written seventeen times and this gold standard illustrates Solomon’s focus on indulgence and extravagance. (Israel, 2013, p. 116) The arrangement with King Hiram was dependent on the continued agricultural prosperity of the land of Israel, but now Solomon has either fallen in arears in his payments to Hiram or is so desperate for gold that he hands over twelve towns in the northern part of the kingdom. The area which the displeased King of Tyre labels ‘Cabul’ is an agriculturally prosperous region, and we have no indication of why Hiram is unhappy with the transaction. It is possible that Hiram is continuing to attempt to manipulate the deal in his favor or that the recording of this being unpleasing land softens the domestic blow for Solomon. Regardless, the ceding of a portion of the land to another nation in exchange for gold (and perhaps debt relief) indicates that the land and the people are less important to Solomon than gold.

We return to the use of forced labor again, and now (in contrast to 5:27-30) the text indicates that it is only other conquered people who are used in forced labor. Yet, the scale of these projects would probably be impossible without the employment of the people of Israel in all these projects. Even if it is only the Canaanites who are now placed in forced labor, this casts Solomon in a similar light as Pharaoh. In addition to the temple and Solomon’s houses there are several other major projects listed: the Millo (likely a terrace system on the eastern side of Jerusalem), walled cities (the primary defensive structure of the time), cities for storage, and for his military garrisons. The last two again parallel Solomon and Pharaoh. The word for ‘storage cities’ (arei miskenot)[2] recalls Israel’s enslavement in Egypt, but now Solomon is the king. (Israel, 2013, p. 117) Solomon’s adoption of an army built around chariots and cavalry also is adopting the primary weapons utilized by Egypt, and this is the item a king of Israel is not to go to Egypt to acquire (Deuteronomy 17: 16). In addition we are reminded of this connection by the mention of Pharaoh’s daughter who Solomon has already constructed a house for.

Finally Solomon continues his alliance with Tyre and learning the ways of this seafaring and trading nation. It is interesting that Solomon constructs his fleet in Ezion Geber in Edom which gives him access to the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea to the south instead of the Great Sea ‘what we call the Mediterranean) in the west. Solomon may no longer be in control of the Philistine territories that his father David subdued, or it may be in Tyre’s best interest to have access to the southern passage which leads to Ethiopia (Cush) and Eastern Africa. Once again the adoption of the ways of Tyre brings Solomon additional wealth from Ophir, but Solomon’s use of wisdom for the acquisition of larger quantities of gold and other objects of luxury, his emulation of the ways of Pharaoh and King Hiram, and his continual employment of forced labor placed alongside his continued piety at the temple suggest the deep flaws in this national enterprise. Solomon seems to have gained the world but to have sold his soul of the nation for gold.

[1] This is a phrase used in Jeremiah 18:16 and 19:8 as Jeremiah attempts to warn the people of God’s coming judgment. (Cogan, 2001, p. 296)

[2] Only used here and in Exodus 1:11 (Cogan, 2001, p. 303)

1 Kings 8 The Dedication of the Temple

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James Tissot, Solomon Dedicates the Temple (1896-1902)

1 Kings 8: 1-26 The Dedication of the Temple Begins

¹ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. ² All the people of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. ³ And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. ⁴ So they brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. ⁶ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. ⁸ The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, ¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

¹² Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. ¹³ I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

¹⁴ Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. ¹⁵ He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ ¹⁷ My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the LORD said to my father David, ‘You did well to consider building a house for my name; ¹⁹ nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ ²⁰ Now the LORD has upheld the promise that he made; for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. ²¹ There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven. ²³ He said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, ²⁴ the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand. ²⁵ Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ ²⁶ Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant my father David.

The Construction and dedication of the temple of Solomon covers three long chapters of First Kings and this is the high point of the royal-temple establishment. To mark the beginning of the era of the temple of Solomon we have a complex interweaving of prayer and cultic leadership bringing together multiple theological perspective in this one recorded action. The generation of scholars who looked to discern the source material could easily find distinct theological voices which were brought together in this critical moment in the history of Israel. All wrapped up within this long celebration are things reflective of Israel’s past, the celebration of the completion of this massive project under Solomon, but it also foreshadows the future that Israel will encounter as Israel begins the long decent from this moment of jubilation.

The dedication of the temple occurs almost an entire year after its completion. This likely occurs to dedicate the temple during the festival of Succoth which marks the ending of the harvest and enables the people to be away from their fields for an extended period. The leaders of the tribes are the first people listed along with the elders of Israel, but as we have seen Solomon has also been replacing the traditional tribal leadership with a different set of leaders over the twelve regions of Israel. The ark of the covenant is brought to its new home in the temple with the priests bearing it like they did in previous ages, but now instead of a tent that travels with the ark there is a ‘permanent’ resting place. However, the poles extend beyond the dimensions of the inner sanctuary and their continued presence in the ark may highlight both the inability of the sanctuary to contain the LORD the God of Israel as well as the continued mobility of the God of Israel.

Yet, there is a shift of gravity taking place in Solomon’s dedication from the time when God did not choose any city or any tribe to build a house to the location of the temple in the city of David. Jerusalem now becomes Zion, the city of David and the city of the house of the LORD. The temple is intended to be a resting place for God and Solomon at his most audacious declares that this exalted house is to be a place where the LORD can ‘dwell’ forever. Yet, even within verse twelve and thirteen there is a tension not reflected in English. The LORD has declared that God will dwell (tabernacle-Hebrew sakan) in thick darkness. I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell (be enthroned- Hebrew yasab) forever. (NIB III:70) The subtle change in wording may not seem like much but the divine promise to tabernacle or dwell among the people in their movement where the divine freedom is preserved, and God’s dwelling is conditional upon the people’s obedience to the commandments, ordinances, and statutes God has given them. Solomon’s enthroning notion in relation to God in the temple has the connotation of sitting permanently. Yet, as we saw in God’s words to Solomon in 1 Kings 5: 11-13, God’s presence and blessing is always conditional upon the obedience to the covenant. Despite the royal claims for God to be the patron of the Davidic regime, God’s presence is never to be taken for granted. The ark of the covenant cannot contain God, only the tablets of the covenant. This costly temple cannot contain God or permanently decide God’s favor.

Yet, in the moment when the ark of the covenant is placed within the inner sanctuary of the temple the presence of God makes itself felt. The cloud which fills the space echoes the presence of God in the dedication of the Tabernacle (Exodus 40: 34-35) and now the priests, like Moses, are unable to enter in this moment. This moment marks the culmination of the priestly hope for the presence of God among the people, and the temple now replaces the tabernacle as a place where Israel and the nations can come to seek out God. Now the city of David and the temple mountain are lifted up as a place for Israel and all the world to direct their prayers and their appeals to the God of Israel.

Solomon views this moment as a culmination of the promises made to his father David and as a demonstration of the faithfulness of the LORD toward David and himself. Solomon has already been informed that this covenant faithfulness requires both the LORD and Israel to keep faith, but Solomon asks for God’s continual provision of the monarchical line of David. The temple and the monarchy are two symbols that will be important for the people of Israel (or later the people of Judah) and often Zion/temple theology and royal theology are intertwined in this era of king and temple. However, there is always a countervailing covenant/Torah tradition within Israel’s relationship with their God. No matter the beauty of the temple, or the line of the ruler covenantal faithfulness remains the continual condition for the LORD’s presence among the people. As Walter Brueggemann can aptly state, “Yahweh’s presence among Yahweh’s people is much desired, but never easy, never obvious, always a problem.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 107)

1 Kings 8: 27-53 A Forward-Looking Prayer

²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! ²⁸ Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; ²⁹ that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. ³⁰ Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.

³¹ “If someone sins against a neighbor and is given an oath to swear, and comes and swears before your altar in this house, ³² then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing their conduct on their own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding them according to their righteousness.

³³ “When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this house, ³⁴ then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to their ancestors.

³⁵ “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin, because you punish them, ³⁶ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and grant rain on your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.

³⁷ “If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in any of their cities; whatever plague, whatever sickness there is; ³⁸ whatever prayer, whatever plea there is from any individual or from all your people Israel, all knowing the afflictions of their own hearts so that they stretch out their hands toward this house; ³⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to all whose hearts you know — according to all their ways, for only you know what is in every human heart — ⁴⁰ so that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors.

⁴¹ “Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name ⁴² — for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm — when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³ then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built.

⁴⁴ “If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, ⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

⁴⁶ “If they sin against you — for there is no one who does not sin — and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; ⁴⁷ yet if they come to their senses in the land to which they have been taken captive, and repent, and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done wrong; we have acted wickedly; ⁴⁸ if they repent with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies, who took them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name; ⁴⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, maintain their cause ⁵⁰ and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you; and grant them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that they may have compassion on them ⁵¹ (for they are your people and heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron-smelter). ⁵² Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant, and to the plea of your people Israel, listening to them whenever they call to you. ⁵³ For you have separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your heritage, just as you promised through Moses, your servant, when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.”

The inauguration of the temple is a critical moment in the narration of 1 Kings and therefore it is not surprising that this moment brings together numerous theological perspectives and unites them under Solomon’s voice. This forward-looking set of prayers foreshadows the remaining narrative of First and Second Kings which has the people frequently encountering God’s judgment for their lack of faithfulness which ends in their captivity. The prayer looks to a future where the people’s lack of faithfulness leaves them with only the option of prayerful repentance and reliance upon God’s hearing and responding to their petitions gracefully.

In contrast to the previous words of Solomon desiring God to dwell in this magnificent house, now the words placed in Solomon’s prayer declare this is impossible. The house, like the ark and tabernacle before it, cannot bear God. The earth and the heavens are not enough to contain God. As Choon-Leong Seow states:

The Temple is neither God’s residence nor the place where the petitioner personally encounters the deity. Rather, it is a place at which the needs of the petitioner coincide with the willingness of the deity to respond. The Temple is not the place where the person of God is; rather it is merely the place where God’s presence may be known, where the authority of God is proclaimed. (NIB III: 75)

The list of troubles that may come upon Israel bear several similarities to the lists in Leviticus 26: 14-39 and Deuteronomy 28: 15-68. Within the Torah there is blessings for obedience and consequences/curses for disobedience. The prayer also shares several similarities to the narrative of Judges where the people continue in disobedience until they call upon the LORD for their God to deliver them. This prayer to the people dealing with famine, defeat, or exile may provide hope that their separation from God’s blessing is not permanent and that despite their unworthiness God will hear and respond in forgiveness, acceptance, and reclaim the people.

Within this prayer the expectation goes to people beyond the boundaries of Israel calling upon God’s name. The non-Israelite calling upon the LORD is the foreigner who does not reside in Israel (nokri) instead of the resident alien (ger). (Cogan, 2001, p. 286) This fits with the prophetic hope of prophets like Isaiah looking at the nations gathering around Mount Zion:

In days to come the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all nations shall stream to it. Many people will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction. Isaiah 2: 2-3

People like Naaman, the Queen of Sheba, the sailors in the story of Jonah, and countless other foreigners are expected to see the obedience and the prosperity of the Hebrew people and want to know their God’s way. This moment of great expectations sees the dedication of the temple as the center of the story of Israel and now the city and the temple are theologically the center of the world because it is a place where God’s presence may be known. The temple may not be able to contain God’s presence, but it still remains an important space in the life of the people.

1 Kings 8: 54-66

⁵⁴ Now when Solomon finished offering all this prayer and this plea to the LORD, he arose from facing the altar of the LORD, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven; ⁵⁵ he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice:

⁵⁶ “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised; not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke through his servant Moses. ⁵⁷ The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may he not leave us or abandon us, ⁵⁸ but incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors. ⁵⁹ Let these words of mine, with which I pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires; ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. ⁶¹ Therefore devote yourselves completely to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

⁶² Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD. ⁶³ Solomon offered as sacrifices of well-being to the LORD twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD. ⁶⁴ The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was in front of the house of the LORD; for there he offered the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat pieces of the sacrifices of well-being, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offerings and the grain offerings and the fat pieces of the sacrifices of well-being.

⁶⁵ So Solomon held the festival at that time, and all Israel with him — a great assembly, people from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt — before the LORD our God, seven days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents, joyful and in good spirits because of all the goodness that the LORD had shown to his servant David and to his people Israel.

The commemoration of the temple concludes on a note that echoes the words of Joshua to the people at the completion of the occupation of the promised land: Not one of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. (Joshua 21: 45) Now God’s fidelity is linked to the completion of the temple. As mentioned earlier there is the view in 1 Kings that the completion of the temple is the high point of the story that begins with the occupation of the promised land and runs through Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings. Looking backwards upon the story from the end at the exile there is a knowledge that “the royal-temple establishment does not quite work.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 119)

The massive feast that the dedication becomes with the sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred twenty thousand sheep would be a week-long indulgence for the people. On the one hand it is a communal gathering celebrating the completion of the temple and the abundance that the LORD has provided. It is easy from a modern perspective to view this as excessive and a commoditization of religion, but a gathering of the entire population for a week would involve feeding a very large congregation. The number may be an exaggeration, but we also are part of a culture that views life through the lens of scarcity. For the people of Israel who have labored and sacrificed for seven years to come to this moment this is a time of feasting.

1 Kings 7 The Halls of Solomon and the Furnishing of the Temple

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James Tissot, Solomon Decicates the Temple (1896-1902)

1 Kings 7: 1-12 The Halls of Solomon

¹ Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.

² He built the House of the Forest of the Lebanon one hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. ³ It was roofed with cedar on the forty-five rafters, fifteen in each row, which were on the pillars. ⁴ There were window frames in the three rows, facing each other in the three rows. ⁵ All the doorways and doorposts had four-sided frames, opposite, facing each other in the three rows.

⁶ He made the Hall of Pillars fifty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.

⁷ He made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, the Hall of Justice, covered with cedar from floor to floor.

⁸ His own house where he would reside, in the other court back of the hall, was of the same construction. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken in marriage.

⁹ All these were made of costly stones, cut according to measure, sawed with saws, back and front, from the foundation to the coping, and from outside to the great court. ¹⁰ The foundation was of costly stones, huge stones, stones of eight and ten cubits. ¹¹ There were costly stones above, cut to measure, and cedarwood. ¹² The great court had three courses of dressed stone to one layer of cedar beams all around; so had the inner court of the house of the LORD, and the vestibule of the house.

In the middle of the narrative about the construction of the temple the narrator of 1 Kings briefly attends to the other major construction project in Jerusalem: the construction of the houses of Solomon. On the one hand this is in keeping with the rapid transition of Solomon’s reign which completed the consolidation of Israel from a group of tribes with some interconnection to a monarchy consolidated around a king and a capital city. This inclusion in the midst of the construction of the temple may serve for the narrator as an indication that Solomon’s agenda may be drifting from its devotion to the LORD the God of Israel since the collection of buildings is significantly larger than the temple and takes roughly twice the time to complete.

The House of the Forest of Lebanon by itself covers over twice the area of the temple and the Hall of Pillars is similar in area to the temple. With the exception of the Hall of Justice and the residences for himself and Pharaoh’s daughter we are not given any indication what these buildings were used for. The narrator also does not take the time to detail the construction of these buildings except to indicate that they use large amounts of cedar and costly stones. The inclusion of Pharaoh’s daughter at this point may also be a warning that Solomon is beginning to model his leadership on Pharaoh. The text is suggestive of a criticism of Solomon but it is not explicit. The narrator may be impressed by the scale of the projects that the people under Solomon are able to achieve. It would not be surprising for a monarch to use the best materials in the construction of their residence and their place of conducting the business of running the kingdom. This complex of buildings probably serves a similar function to the White House in the United States which is both a residence and a place where the leader of the nation conducts their business.

1 Kings 7: 13-51 Furnishing the Temple

¹³ Now King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. ¹⁴ He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, whose father, a man of Tyre, had been an artisan in bronze; he was full of skill, intelligence, and knowledge in working bronze. He came to King Solomon, and did all his work.

¹⁵ He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of the one, and a cord of twelve cubits would encircle it; the second pillar was the same. ¹⁶ He also made two capitals of molten bronze, to set on the tops of the pillars; the height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. ¹⁷ There were nets of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. ¹⁸ He made the columns with two rows around each latticework to cover the capitals that were above the pomegranates; he did the same with the other capital. ¹⁹ Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits high. ²⁰ The capitals were on the two pillars and also above the rounded projection that was beside the latticework; there were two hundred pomegranates in rows all around; and so with the other capital. ²¹ He set up the pillars at the vestibule of the temple; he set up the pillar on the south and called it Jachin; and he set up the pillar on the north and called it Boaz. ²² On the tops of the pillars was lily-work. Thus the work of the pillars was finished.

²³ Then he made the molten sea; it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high. A line of thirty cubits would encircle it completely. ²⁴ Under its brim were panels all around it, each of ten cubits, surrounding the sea; there were two rows of panels, cast when it was cast. ²⁵ It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. The hindquarters of each were toward the inside. ²⁶ Its thickness was a handbreadth; its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily; it held two thousand baths.

²⁷ He also made the ten stands of bronze; each stand was four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high. ²⁸ This was the construction of the stands: they had borders; the borders were within the frames; ²⁹ on the borders that were set in the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the frames, both above and below the lions and oxen, there were wreaths of beveled work. ³⁰ Each stand had four bronze wheels and axles of bronze; at the four corners were supports for a basin. The supports were cast with wreaths at the side of each. ³¹ Its opening was within the crown whose height was one cubit; its opening was round, as a pedestal is made; it was a cubit and a half wide. At its opening there were carvings; its borders were four-sided, not round. ³² The four wheels were underneath the borders; the axles of the wheels were in the stands; and the height of a wheel was a cubit and a half. ³³ The wheels were made like a chariot wheel; their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs were all cast. ³⁴ There were four supports at the four corners of each stand; the supports were of one piece with the stands. ³⁵ On the top of the stand there was a round band half a cubit high; on the top of the stand, its stays and its borders were of one piece with it. ³⁶ On the surfaces of its stays and on its borders he carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, where each had space, with wreaths all around. ³⁷ In this way he made the ten stands; all of them were cast alike, with the same size and the same form.

³⁸ He made ten basins of bronze; each basin held forty baths, each basin measured four cubits; there was a basin for each of the ten stands. ³⁹ He set five of the stands on the south side of the house, and five on the north side of the house; he set the sea on the southeast corner of the house.

⁴⁰ Hiram also made the pots, the shovels, and the basins. So Hiram finished all the work that he did for King Solomon on the house of the LORD: ⁴¹ the two pillars, the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, the two latticeworks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars; ⁴² the four hundred pomegranates for the two latticeworks, two rows of pomegranates for each latticework, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars; ⁴³ the ten stands, the ten basins on the stands; ⁴⁴ the one sea, and the twelve oxen underneath the sea.

⁴⁵ The pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of burnished bronze. ⁴⁶ In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷ Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not determined.

⁴⁸ So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence, ⁴⁹ the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, in front of the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; ⁵⁰ the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and firepans, of pure gold; the sockets for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple, of gold.

⁵¹ Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the LORD was finished. Solomon brought in the things that his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

The introduction of the artisan Hiram from Tyre who brings the technical expertise to do the metal work used in the construction of the temple again directs us to the massive project that the construction of the temple is for the nation of Israel. Hiram possesses the skill, knowledge, and intelligence like Bezalel and Oholiab did when the constructed the tabernacle. Yet, Hiram, like many of the resources for the temple, comes from Tyre and even though he mother from the tribe of Naphtali his father is from outside Israel. Yet, the narrative of 1 Kings is more concerned with the skill and knowledge that Hiram learned from his father than the kinship he shares with the people through his mother[1].

Possible Looks of the Bronze Pillars from Encylopedia Biblia (1903)

The construction of the temple has already consumed vast resources of lumber, stone, and precious metal but now the work of Hiram utilizes an uncounted amount of bronze. The two massive bronze pillars named Jachin and Boaz[2], the bronze sea, and the ten stands and basins along with the other items necessary for the sacrificial work of the temple are massive. On the one hand they may illustrate the bringing together of the resources of the people to be committed to the devotion to the LORD the God of Israel. The surrounding of the construction of Solomon’s palace complex by the commitment of the resources to the temple may be intended to present Solomon’s devotion in a positive light. Yet, as Brueggemann points out the continual focus on bronze and gold in this final description of the construction may also lead to the commoditization of the temple where the focus becomes on the gold and costly material used in the construction of the building rather than on the worship and the covenantal fidelity the temple is to embody. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 104)

The temple built by Solomon will occupy an important place in the theological imagination of the Jewish people. This is evident when one pays attention to the vision of the throne room of God in the vision of Ezekiel and compares it to the temple. The image of oxen, lions, and cherubim play an important role in this vision. It is interesting that the temple includes several images of oxen after the golden calf and the inclusion of these animal and angelic images in the temple seems to be in tension with the prohibition of images in the ten commandments. Yet, for the narrator of 1 Kings, even if they do include some warnings in the texts, the construction of the temple is a high point in the story of the people of Israel and the reign of Solomon. The dedication of three chapter of the book to the construction and dedication of the temple while most kings entire reigns will fill significantly less space is a testament to the importance in the imagination of the people as they remember their history.

[1] In 2 Chronicles 2:14 Hiram (Huram-abi) is the child of a Danite woman and a Tyrian man, both Kings and Chronicles move over the mixed parentage of Hiram without needing to explain it.

[2] Scholars disagree on the meaning of the names for the pillars but one suggestion is “in strength” (Boaz) and “established (Jachin) (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 98)

1 Kings 6 The Construction of Solomon’s Temple

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The Temple by Radojavor@deviantart.com

1 Kings 6

¹ In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD. ² The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. ³ The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits wide, across the width of the house. Its depth was ten cubits in front of the house. ⁴ For the house he made windows with recessed frames. ⁵ He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary; and he made side chambers all around. ⁶ The lowest story was five cubits wide, the middle one was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

⁷ The house was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built.

⁸ The entrance for the middle story was on the south side of the house: one went up by winding stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. ⁹ So he built the house, and finished it; he roofed the house with beams and planks of cedar. ¹⁰ He built the structure against the whole house, each story five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

¹¹ Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, ¹² “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you, which I made to your father David. ¹³ I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.”

¹⁴ So Solomon built the house, and finished it. ¹⁵ He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the rafters of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. ¹⁶ He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the rafters, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the most holy place. ¹⁷ The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. ¹⁸ The cedar within the house had carvings of gourds and open flowers; all was cedar, no stone was seen. ¹⁹ The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. ²⁰ The interior of the inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high; he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar with cedar. ²¹ Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, then he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. ²² Next he overlaid the whole house with gold, in order that the whole house might be perfect; even the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

²³ In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴ Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. ²⁵ The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. ²⁶ The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. ²⁷ He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house; the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one was touching the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall; their other wings toward the center of the house were touching wing to wing. ²⁸ He also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

²⁹ He carved the walls of the house all around about with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. ³⁰ The floor of the house he overlaid with gold, in the inner and outer rooms.

³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided. ³² He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; he overlaid them with gold, and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

³³ So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, four-sided each, ³⁴ and two doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. ³⁵ He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, overlaying them with gold evenly applied upon the carved work. ³⁶ He built the inner court with three courses of dressed stone to one course of cedar beams.

³⁷ In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv. ³⁸ In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it.

The construction of the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem is a central event in the narration of the story of Israel. For the era this temple is a massive building roughly one hundred five feet long, thirty feet wide and forty-five feet tall. It is twice the length and breadth of the tabernacle and three times as tall with ten times the internal space which is correspondingly lit by ten menorahs. (Israel, 2013, pp. 177-179) It is a project of impressive scope and a phenomenal investment of resources for this relatively young and small monarchy, and it is a project which will be a central part of Jerusalem for around four hundred years.

Theologically the completion of the temple is viewed as a completion of the promises God made to the people when they left Egypt. Calendars are important in Hebrew thought and the four hundred eighty years is significant as the multiple of twelve and forty. Twelve is of course the number of tribes of Israel while forty is often a number of completion (forty days and forty nights of rain, forty years in the wilderness) and forty years is often viewed as the length of a generation in the bible. Now twelve generations later the nation has reached its adulthood and is building a permanent home for its God in the promised land.

The act of constructing the temple concentrates the resources of the nation into this great project, and yet despite the grandeur of the temple God’s presence within this space is contingent upon obedience to the statutes, ordinances, and commandments of God. The pious act of constructing the temple and offering sacrifices is never sufficient to replace covenant obedience to the God of Israel. Like the tabernacle it is to be a place where God can dwell among God’s people, but God’s presence and blessing require fidelity.

The design and construction of the temple is similar to other religious sites excavated in the Middle East, and it is likely that Solomon uses the worship sites of other nations as a guide for the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. Especially with craftsmen sent from Tyre, it is likely that lessons learned in construction of other sites are applied to this project. As a project showing Solomon’s devotion to the LORD, it likely uses the best of design and knowledge to build a structure that will endure.

Evaluating the construction of the temple often depends upon the perspective one examines it from. For much of the history of both Judaism and Christianity holy spaces were constructed to bring a small piece of heaven to earth. If one enters a Catholic cathedral you see the evidence of the very best resources of the people being brought together to create a beautiful space where God’s presence might be encountered in the beauty of the space. The Protestant Reformation with its democratization of space often constructed worship sites that were much more austere and functional rather than beautiful and awe inspiring. The lavish use of gold and cedar in the temple of Jerusalem is designed to be an awe-inspiring space which reflects its place as a place where God’s name can dwell.

First Kings views the construction of the temple as a high point in the reign of Solomon and of the people of Israel in general. There is the subtle critique of placing too much focus on the temple at the expense of covenant fidelity as well as a subtle questioning of the deal that Solomon makes to acquire the resources for the temple in the previous chapter. Yet, the completion of the temple in all its majesty is viewed as an accomplishment for both Solomon and the people. This massive temple with its ornate doors, gold plated walls, and massive gold covered cherubim is a place where God can be present among the people. Its completion at the end of seven years (also a theologically significant number) and its overall evaluation of being perfect is representative the building’s calling to be a place where God’s presence can be encountered.

1 Kings 5 The High Cost of Construction

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Cedar of Lebanon (Cedar of God), Lebanon By © Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92872076

1 Kings 5

¹ Now King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father; for Hiram had always been a friend to David. ² Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, ³ “You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. ⁴ But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune. ⁵ So I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to my father David, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’ ⁶ Therefore command that cedars from the Lebanon be cut for me. My servants will join your servants, and I will give you whatever wages you set for your servants; for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

⁷ When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly, and said, “Blessed be the LORD today, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.” ⁸ Hiram sent word to Solomon, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me; I will fulfill all your needs in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. ⁹ My servants shall bring it down to the sea from the Lebanon; I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will have them broken up there for you to take away. And you shall meet my needs by providing food for my household.” ¹⁰ So Hiram supplied Solomon’s every need for timber of cedar and cypress. ¹¹ Solomon in turn gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty cors of fine oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year. ¹² So the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and the two of them made a treaty.

¹³ King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel; the levy numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴ He sent them to the Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they would be a month in the Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. ¹⁵ Solomon also had seventy thousand laborers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country, ¹⁶ besides Solomon’s three thousand three hundred supervisors who were over the work, having charge of the people who did the work. ¹⁷ At the king’s command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. ¹⁸ So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites did the stonecutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

The reign of Solomon sets in motion dramatic changes for Israel. The mobilization to build the temple is a massive undertaking requiring international cooperation for materials. Traditionally most interpreters of these early portions of Solomon’s reign have viewed the preparation and the construction of the temple as examples of the wisdom and faithfulness of Solomon to the LORD. However, there are multiple perspectives related to the temple and the building projects of Solomon and that are woven together in the report of 1 Kings on this massive undertaking which dramatically changes the religious landscape of the people.

The tabernacle constructed during the journey from Egypt to the promised land was to be a place where God could dwell among the people, but it was a tent designed to travel with the people. Once the people entered the land of Canaan there were several worship sites throughout the land, but the worship of the LORD often was modeled after the worship of the deities of the surrounding peoples. From a perspective of unifying the worship of the LORD in a common place and with a common practice the temple has the potential to be a unifying place where the name of the LORD can dwell, and the priest can hand on the law and its interpretation to the people. Israel had never before had a permanent place to worship the LORD or a place to become a central symbol of God’s presence among the people.

Yet, even when King David wants to build the temple of God during his reign he is met with the response of a God who is flattered but who refuses to be confined to a permanent place. While God indicates that David’s son will eventually build a house of cedar for the LORD, there is a thread of discomfort within the passage about God’s presence not being able to move among the people (2 Samuel 7: 1-17). The compromise in the construction is that temple will be a house ‘for the name of the LORD my God’ and not a place where God’s presence is limited to. God’s freedom will continue to expand beyond the temple. God will deign to show God’s presence in this place, but God will not be limited to only being present in this place among the people.

In the construction of a place of worship the expectation is that people will contribute their best to the endeavor. This was the practice in the construction of the tabernacle and Moses was reported to have more than enough for the project by a freewill offering (Exodus 35). Now the temple is the first public project of the Solomon regime, and it is done by the mechanism of taxation and forced labor. The temple may be a great public good, but the question of cost is subtly raised here in the text along with the broader question of what type of nation Israel is becoming. The negotiations between King Hiram and King Solomon may be necessary to secure the materials and good relations to ensure peace during the construction of the temple. Yet, the project comes with an extremely high price tag.

King Hiram of Tyre provided lumber and people skilled in construction when David established his household in Jerusalem after he conquered it. There is no indication of the cost David paid the King of Tyre for these resources and craftsmen, but this trade agreement marks the entry of Israel onto a much broader stage. Now in negotiations with the new king, Hiram continues to provide lumber and craftsmen in exchange for the agricultural produce of the land. In addition to supplying the needs of the household of Solomon, now the land must support the burden of the household of King Hiram of Tyre. Choon-Leong Seow names this section “Shady Deals and Oppressive Policies” (NIB III: 56) and it is likely that the deal cut between Solomon and this Phoenician king well versed in international trade is more favorable to the King of Tyre than the people of Israel. Looking closely at the amount of wheat and oil given it quickly becomes apparent that the numbers here are large. Roughly twice the amount of grain collected for Solomon’s household is given annually to the King of Tyre, and if you follow the Hebrew (unlike the NRSV which follows the Greek Septuagint in its translation) the 2,000 cors (almost 7,000 gallons) of oil is a wealth of agricultural resources traded for the cedar. The cedars of Lebanon are often associated with affluence and their use by the people of Israel comes at a high annual price tag. It is possible that Israel enjoyed many years of great harvests that may have made the construction projects bearable but knowing the stresses on the population by the end of Solomon’s reign we can see the beginning of the internal strain within the nation.

In addition to the cost in agricultural production is the cost in conscripted forced labor. As mentioned earlier, the people of Israel were the forced labor for construction in Egypt and this new project which in the text mobilizes over one hundred eighty thousand men for log cutting and transport, stone cutting and transport, and construction is another strain on the population. It is possible that Judah is excluded from this conscription (NIB III: 58) like it is possible they were excluded from the provision for Solomon’s household in the previous chapter, but this is assuming a differentiation between Israel and Judah. It also is a return to the ways of Egypt where the king enslaves the people and wealth of the nation is owned by the ruler.

The construction of the temple will be a focal point for the reign of Solomon and for the worship of the southern kingdom of Judah after his death. The temple of Solomon will stand as a central fixture of Jerusalem for centuries and will be a symbol of the faith of the people. Yet, the process of construction sounds some ominous notes as it becomes a public work that is done by the taxation and forced labor of the people. The suspicious part of my mind wonders if this is like the public work projects throughout the former Warsaw Pact countries where beautiful train stations, government buildings, and public spaces were constructed while the majority of the population lived in deprivation. Solomon’s early reign is rapidly changing the city of Jerusalem and the manner in which the population of the nation is governed. This place created for the name of God will be a source of public focus for many generations, but we are primed to wonder about the cost that this great building will exact not only on the wealth of the people but also on their identity.

1 Kings 2 Bloody Beginnings

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King David Presenting the Scepter to Solomon By Cornelis de Vos – (1601-1651)

1 Kings 2: 1-12 Final Words and Death of David

¹ When David’s time to die drew near, he charged his son Solomon, saying: ² “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, be courageous, ³ and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. ⁴ Then the LORD will establish his word that he spoke concerning me: ‘If your heirs take heed to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.’

⁵ “Moreover you know also what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner son of Ner, and Amasa son of Jether, whom he murdered, retaliating in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist, and on the sandals on his feet. ⁶ Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. ⁷ Deal loyally, however, with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from your brother Absalom. ⁸ There is also with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a terrible curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim; but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ ⁹ Therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; you will know what you ought to do to him, and you must bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”

¹⁰ Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹ The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ¹² So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.

Many people when they were growing up were taught a romanticized version of King David and King Solomon, almost like a pre-medieval King Arthur. Yet, the narratives of the bible are often far less romantic than the Sunday school stories that were taught to children. It would be problematic to attempt to use this period at the end of David’s life and the beginning of the reign of King Solomon to teach some type of moralistic lesson. Perhaps it is helpful to remember that woven in with the assumption of the need for a king to provide leadership for the people is the prophetic critique of the places where that leadership does not keep the statues, commandments, ordinances, and testimonies as outlined in the law of Moses. Yet, even in this chapter where the requirements of the law are met and the reactions of Solomon are coherent within the cultural expectations of his time, his actions would not be viewed as acceptable in our very different cultural space.

The final words of David begin in a manner that highlights that this is a narration of history from the perspective of the law and David’s final words can be read in a similar way to Moses’ and Joshua’s final charges to the people. They all are concerned with obedience to the law of God, presumably similar in form to Deuteronomy. David’s charge to Solomon echoes to the recurring words at the beginning of Joshua where the LORD and the people charge Joshua to, “Only be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:6,7, 9, 18). Solomon is charged to walk in the way of wisdom, a way that conforms to the vision of God’s commandments and is promised that the reward for that fidelity will be God’s continual provision and protection of the line of Solomon.

Yet, the world that David and Solomon navigate is morally ambiguous. David was a warrior king who consolidated his reign through military might and political maneuvering. As Brueggemann deftly states, “It is enough to recognize that David on his deathbed is a person of deep contradiction and incongruity, caught between the clear claims of faith and the obvious requirements of raw power.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 39) A cynical reading of this passage hears David asking Solomon to enact the revenge for political reasons he may have been unable to enact. A more favorable reading hears David alerting Solomon to potential dangers to power early in his reign. The truth may lie somewhere between these perspectives.

Joab son of Zeruiah is a frequent player in David’s narrative as a fierce fighter and commander of the forces of David. Yet, Joab has previously aligned himself with Solomon’s rival Adonijah and although he has always been a supporter of David he has often exercised his own judgment, often neglecting David’s stated desires. Joab was a man of bloodshed and the two incidents listed in David’s final words are times when Joab counteracted David’s negotiations to bring peace after conflict. The narrative of Abner and Joab takes place in 2 Samuel 2-3 where Abner, as the commander of the Saul’s army remains a significant opponent who ends up killing Joab’s brother Asahel. As David becomes stronger and the house of Saul becomes weaker there is a loss of trust between Ishbaal, Saul’s heir, and Abner. Abner’s action to make a covenant with David allows for David to consolidate control over Israel. Yet, when Joab learns of this peace he seeks Abner out and executes him. Amasa son of Jether was appointed over the army of Israel by Absalom when he rebels against his father David and seizes the kingdom for a time. Yet, after the death of Absalom, Amasa is still given a position in the military until Joab kills him. Joab was a man of war and David may have believed that without his removal Solomon would not have known peace. Yet, it is morally ambiguous at best for David to leave this vengeance to his son to enact on a military ally from throughout his lifetime.

Shimei son of Gera may have represented the continued threat of the kingdom splitting apart from loyalists to King Saul, David’s predecessor. This is another instance where David in a moment of military and political vulnerability is forced to make an uneasy peace rather than enact revenge. During the time of Absalom’s rebellion while David and those loyal to him flee Jerusalem, Shimei curses David and throws stones at him. Yet, David at this moment believes this curse may be from the LORD (2: Samuel 16: 10-11). After the death of Absalom, Shimei comes with a thousand men from Benjamin and appeals to the king for forgiveness. David promises Shimei he shall not die, but the presence of one thousand Benjaminites prompts the reader to question if this forgiveness is an act of political necessity which David feels compelled to keep throughout his lifetime. Upon the death of David a cynical reader sees this as revenge delayed where a more compassionate reader might see David pointing out a potential political threat to Solomon’s new rule. Regardless the advice to eliminate two political enemies and the identification of one who Solomon should bestow loyalty to sets the stage for a consolidation of power that is bloody. The peaceful death of King David will not lead to a peaceful beginning for the reign of Solomon.

1 Kings 2: 13-25 The Elimination of Adonijah

¹³ Then Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably.” ¹⁴ Then he said, “May I have a word with you?” She said, “Go on.” ¹⁵ He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel expected me to reign; however, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the LORD. ¹⁶ And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Go on.” ¹⁷ He said, “Please ask King Solomon — he will not refuse you — to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.” ¹⁸ Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak to the king on your behalf.”

¹⁹ So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. ²⁰ Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.” ²¹ She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.” ²² King Solomon answered his mother, “And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom as well! For he is my elder brother; ask not only for him but also for the priest Abiathar and for Joab son of Zeruiah!” ²³ Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, “So may God do to me, and more also, for Adonijah has devised this scheme at the risk of his life! ²⁴ Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of my father David, and who has made me a house as he promised, today Adonijah shall be put to death.” ²⁵ So King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he struck him down, and he died.

Adonijah escaped death in the first chapter when he, Abiathar, and Joab along with the other royal sons and many of the people of standing in Judah proclaimed him king by paying obeisance. He is still a person who is a potential threat to the reign of Solomon. This short political drama between Adonijah, Bathsheba, and Solomon sets in motion a chain of events which removes the participants in the earlier plot to declare Adonijah king while David was still alive. Perhaps the placing of this event after the death of David makes it easier for Solomon to act in a manner that is more ruthless, but it is also a point in Solomon’s reign where his power has not been consolidated and he may be viewed as vulnerable.

Adonijah’s request for Abishag the Shunammite would not be heard primarily in this culture as a man wanting a beautiful woman as a consolation prize for losing the crown. Marriages were economic and political transactions. Although there is perhaps some difference between Abishag’s position and concubines there is still the reality that Abishag was brought in to lay with the king. There are a number of parallels between Adonijah and Absalom as mentioned in the previous chapter, but one of the actions that Absalom did to consolidate his power was to demonstrate his virility by laying with his father’s concubines. Absalom’s act of sexual politics was an act of claiming all that was his father’s. Adonijah’s request may not be as blatant as Absalom’s action but it is an act which would be viewed symbolically as claiming the beautiful woman that belonged to his father, and by extension his father’s household.

Bathsheba’s actions are shrewder in Hebrew than they are often portrayed in English. When approached by Adonijah with this bold request she does not promise to relay the petition, but only that she will speak to the king about you (‘aleyka). The NRSV’s translation that she will speak on Adonijah’s behalf gives a positive spin to her answer, but the Hebrew is more neutral. Bathsheba has already demonstrated in the previous chapter the ability to navigate the political world of the court of King David, and now as the queen mother she is likely shrewd enough to see the implications of Adonijah’s request. It is plausible that her action of making Adonijah’s one request into ‘one small request’ that she is speaking ironically (NIB III: 32). Unfortunately, the ironic tone is not something that the scriptures often communicate in their telling of a narrative. Regardless of how it is communicated Solomon immediately sees the danger in this position and the political import of the requested act.

Solomon understands that his claim is still challenged, and that there are still those with power who are invested in Adonijah’s bid for the crown. Solomon acts quickly and dispatches his commander to kill Adonijah for his audacious request. Solomon’s wisdom is used for power politics as he acts in a bloody matter to consolidate his power. In Solomon’s view Adonijah’s request has proven that he is not a worthy man, but a wicked agitator and his response is without mercy.

The ancient world was violent. This is not the Solomon you may have encountered in the Sunday school lessons at your church, but the scriptures are written in a world of wars, assassinations, and threats. Solomons name is derived from the Hebrew Shalom, and while his reign would be more peaceful than his father David’s it does not begin in a peaceful manner. Solomon claims power by eliminating his potential rivals. Even though modern readers may have idealized the reign of Solomon, there is a prophetic critique written into the narrative of 1 Kings. The narrator of 1 Kings does not indicate either approval or disapproval of these individual acts and this is probably viewed as the narration of the reality into which Solomon entered. Yet, its presence in the scriptures does not indicate that this should be a normative practice for those who still claim this story as a part of their scriptures.

1 Kings 2: 26-27 The Removal of Abiathar the Priest

²⁶ The king said to the priest Abiathar, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate; for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and because you shared in all the hardships my father endured.” ²⁷ So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Abiathar the priest was a loyal servant of King David but he also had aligned himself with Adonijah in his attempt to seize the crown while David was alive. Abiathar is the sole survivor of the murder of the priests at Nob by King Saul and Doeg the Edomite (1 Samuel 22: 6-23) in retribution for giving David the sword of Goliath and the altar bread when he flees. David takes Abiathar into his household and he is loyal to David, even during the rebellion of Absalom. At the same time Abiathar has backed the wrong contender and in light of Adonijah’s recent request King Solomon probably sees Abiathar and Joab continuing to advise Adonijah. In King Solomon’s view Abiathar is deserving of death, but in recognition of his role as priest and his previous allegiance to his father he exiles him to his house in Anathoth. The banishment of Abiathar is also linked to the prophecies against the household of Eli by the man of God in 1 Samuel 2: 27-36 and through Samuel in 1 Samuel 3: 10-14. The removal of Abiathar is the last of the old guard of priests from Shiloh who minister before the LORD in Jerusalem.

1 Kings 2: 28-35 The Elimination of Joab

²⁸ When the news came to Joab — for Joab had supported Adonijah though he had not supported Absalom — Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and grasped the horns of the altar. ²⁹ When it was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD and now is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” ³⁰ So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.'” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.” ³¹ The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him; and thus take away from me and from my father’s house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause. ³² The LORD will bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. ³³ So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but to David, and to his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore.” ³⁴ Then Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and killed him; and he was buried at his own house near the wilderness. ³⁵ The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king put the priest Zadok in the place of Abiathar.

Previously King David encouraged his son to use his wisdom to eliminate Joab. Joab, on seeing the elimination of Adonijah and the exile of Abiathar knows that he is probably the next target of Solomon’s regime. Solomon commands the striking down of Joab even though he has fled to the tent of the LORD seeking sanctuary. Benaiah, on Solomon’s orders, goes to the tent of the LORD to confront Joab but when Joab refuses to emerge Beniah seeks the king’s instructions before entering the tent of God and killing Joab.

There is provision in the law for a person to flee to a place of refuge (in Deuteronomy 19: 1-13 and Joshua 20 there are cities designated as places of refuge) in the event of an accidental death to allow the tribal elders or judges to discern the viability of the case. Yet, Solomon, as instructed by David, knows that Joab is guilty of the murder of Abner son of Ner, and Amasa son of Jether. Although Solomon’s immediate issue is probably with his support of Adonijah (and perhaps continued advisement of Adonijah until Solomon has him executed) the knowledge of his being a killer enables Solomon to order Benaiah to strike Joab down while still conforming to the letter of the law as stated in Exodus 21: 12-14:

¹² Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death. ¹³ If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee. ¹⁴ But if someone willfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution.

With the central figures that supported Adonijah now dealt with Solomon is able to place his allies Benaiah and Zadok over the military and the priesthood respectively. We can acknowledge the cultural conditions and the reading of the law that make this execution of a bloody justice possible without endorsing this as the type of actions we would want our leaders to take in our own cultural conditions.

1 Kings 2: 36-46 The Confinement and Death of Shimei

³⁶ Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and do not go out from there to any place whatever. ³⁷ For on the day you go out, and cross the Wadi Kidron, know for certain that you shall die; your blood shall be on your own head.” ³⁸ And Shimei said to the king, “The sentence is fair; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

³⁹ But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. When it was told Shimei, “Your slaves are in Gath,” ⁴⁰ Shimei arose and saddled a donkey, and went to Achish in Gath, to search for his slaves; Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. ⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, ⁴² the king sent and summoned Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD, and solemnly adjure you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘The sentence is fair; I accept.’ ⁴³ Why then have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the commandment with which I charged you?” ⁴⁴ The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart all the evil that you did to my father David; so the LORD will bring back your evil on your own head. ⁴⁵ But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.” ⁴⁶ Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died.

So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Shimei was the second person that King David told Solomon to use his wisdom to bring about his death. Solomon confines Shimei to his property in Jerusalem and Shimei assents to this house arrest. Shimei remains alive for three years while Solomon reigns but departs to capture two slaves who fled his household. The mention of Achish the King of Gath who Shimei goes to in the search of his slaves may suggest that there is some larger political play in Shimei’s plans, and that may be a part of Solomon’s harsh enforcement of his threat, but it is also possible that Solomon uses this transgression as a way to eliminate one final opponent to his rule. 1 Kings 2 remains a story of Solomon eliminating his rivals. In our modern world we may debate if based upon the witness of 1 Kings 2 whether the situations Solomon uses to eliminate these potential threats is dubious or justified. Either way this chapter is a “fairly sordid story of power politics” (Cogan, 2001, p. 180). Although the actions of Solomon may be permissible under the law of Moses I doubt many modern readers would want to apply this type of ethics to modern politics.

1 Kings 1 An Uneasy Transition from David to Solomon

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David, Bathsheba, and Abishag by Fredrick Goodall (1888)

1 Kings 1

1 Kings 1: 1-4 A Feeble King

¹ King David was old and advanced in years; and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. ² So his servants said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king, and be his attendant; let her lie in your bosom, so that my lord the king may be warm.” ³ So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴ The girl was very beautiful. She became the king’s attendant and served him, but the king did not know her sexually.

The initial chapter of 1 Kings serves as a bridge between the stories of 1 and 2 Samuel which culminates with the reign of King David and the transition to the narrative of the kings that come after David. People in the United States have generally taken for granted a peaceful transition of power and the political machinations of an election and swearing in of new leaders has, with one notable exception recently, been accepted as a matter-of-fact occurrence. The transition of power in the ancient world was often a matter of life and death for those who would claim the power to reign. King David was a warrior king who had forged a unified Israel by both his military prowess and his ability to forge alliances with various religious and tribal authorities.

1 Kings begins with “an enfeebled king, a mere shadow of the robust leader he once was,” (Cogan, 2001, p. 164) and in the absence of a robust leader coalitions are forming. The servants of the king have attempted to keep the king able to maintain power, but his health is failing him. The solution is to bring another young, beautiful woman into the king’s bed to keep him warm and to for her to lie in his bosom. The language of Abishag lying in the king’s bosom may intentionally echo the prophet Nathan’s parable to David after the affair with Bathsheba where the poor man’s ewe lamb “used to lie in his bosom” (2 Samuel 12:3) and if this echo is intentional it may help prepare us for the awkward conversation between David and Bathsheba while Abishag is warming the king’s bed.

David as a roughly seventy-year-old man is no longer physically able to hold the kingdom together and his physical frailty and lack of clear succession sets the stage for the conflict of the chapter. The chapter is a political narrative about the effective and ineffective use of symbols and alliances to gain power. It also lives in the shadows of the sins of the past which have weakened David’s house and the central presence of Nathan and Bathsheba throughout this episode as well as the parallels between Adonijah and Absalom bring us to the place where an enfeebled king is no longer able to effectively hold his broken house together. David remains passive as the conflict between those who see Adonijah and Solomon as the next king begins.

1 Kings 1: 5-10 Adonijah’s Bold Claim to Power

⁵ Now Adonijah son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king”; he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ⁶ His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom. ⁷ He conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with the priest Abiathar, and they supported Adonijah. ⁸ But the priest Zadok, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the prophet Nathan, and Shimei, and Rei, and David’s own warriors did not side with Adonijah.

⁹ Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fatted cattle by the stone Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, ¹⁰ but he did not invite the prophet Nathan or Benaiah or the warriors or his brother Solomon.

The perspective of 1 Kings is a complicated question, but in this initial chapter it frames the person and actions of Adonijah in a way that is parallel to Absalom (Israel, 2013, pp. 18-19). Both Absalom and Adonijah are described as being attractive men (2 Samuel 14:25) and this physical attraction is a part of their appeal as the future king (and a reason for David’s failure to correct his sons). Both Absalom and Adonijah attempt to secure the crown by their own machinations while David still lives, and each is the next in line by birth order. Both sons will have chariots and runners to demonstrate their power in the city (2 Samuel 15:1) and the presence of both chariots (the military technology of the day) and runners who were often counted on as loyal bodyguards indicate the military strength to defend his claim. Adonijah has developed a power base of both religious and military leaders and is actively excluding those who he feels may pose a challenge to his ascension as the next king. The act of sacrificing and dining with the royal sons (sans Solomon) the royal officials of Judah is a political action designed to further his aspirations of ruling in his father’s stead. One powerful claimant to the throne has been introduced and the enfeebled king has done nothing to oppose the actions of his attractive son and may be unaware of the machinations occurring in his kingdom.

1 Kings: 1: 11-37 Nathan and Bathsheba Rouse King David to Action

¹¹ Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king and our lord David does not know it?

¹² Now therefore come, let me give you advice, so that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³ Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying: Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then is Adonijah king?’ ¹⁴ Then while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”

¹⁵ So Bathsheba went to the king in his room. The king was very old; Abishag the Shunammite was attending the king. ¹⁶ Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king, and the king said, “What do you wish?” ¹⁷ She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the LORD your God, saying: Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne. ¹⁸ But now suddenly Adonijah has become king, though you, my lord the king, do not know it. ¹⁹ He has sacrificed oxen, fatted cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the children of the king, the priest Abiathar, and Joab the commander of the army; but your servant Solomon he has not invited. ²⁰ But you, my lord the king — the eyes of all Israel are on you to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹ Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, that my son Solomon and I will be counted offenders.”

²² While she was still speaking with the king, the prophet Nathan came in. ²³ The king was told, “Here is the prophet Nathan.” When he came in before the king, he did obeisance to the king, with his face to the ground. ²⁴ Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne’? ²⁵ For today he has gone down and has sacrificed oxen, fatted cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king’s children, Joab the commander of the army, and the priest Abiathar, who are now eating and drinking before him, and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ ²⁶ But he did not invite me, your servant, and the priest Zadok, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon. ²⁷ Has this thing been brought about by my lord the king and you have not let your servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

²⁸ King David answered, “Summon Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king. ²⁹ The king swore, saying, “As the LORD lives, who has saved my life from every adversity, ³⁰ as I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ so will I do this day.” ³¹ Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and did obeisance to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”

³² King David said, “Summon to me the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king, ³³ the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. ³⁴ There let the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ You shall go up following him. Let him enter and sit on my throne; he shall be king in my place; for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.” ³⁶ Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, so ordain. ³⁷ As the LORD has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”

The prophet Nathan and Bathsheba act to attempt to undercut the ambitions of Adonijah and to forward Bathsheba’s son Solomon as the next king of Israel. Together they come up with a plan to approach David and remind the king of his previous oath that Solomon would reign. Some commentators are dubious about this oath since it is not mentioned in 2 Samuel and believe that the prophet and Solomon’s mother are taking advantage of the king’s weakened mental faculties. While that is a possible interpretation, the David presented in the text will respond decisively and order a set of actions that are both clear and significant to ensure that Solomon is recognized by the people as the new king. David may have withdrawn from the administration of the kingdom due to his health, but when confronted by Nathan and Bathsheba he acts quickly.

Bathsheba enters the bedroom of the king while Abishag is attending to him. Bathsheba comes and does obeisance to the king and is granted the space to make her plea. Bathsheba’s plea comes from the perspective that the king is unaware of the actions of his son Adonijah that contradict his promises to her under oath. Bathsheba makes the reasonable claim that if Adonijah ascends to the throne she and Solomon will be perceived as ‘offenders’ or enemies of the throne and their lives will be at risk. As Nathan indicated while Bathsheba makes her appeal he also approaches the room of the king and is announced. The prophet Nathan confronts the king questioning his knowledge and at least tacit approval of Adonijah’s actions and lists several of the major political players who are now declaring that Adonijah is king. The acclamation, “long live Adonijah” (rendered by the NRSV king Adonijah) is the typical acclamation of a person who has been declared king. Apparently Bathsheba has left the room while the prophet Nathan has reported to the king, but King David summons her back and affirms his previous oath and declares that he will make it official this day.

David is apparently aware enough to summon the officials who are loyal to Solomon and who are not with Adonijah. The action of Solomon riding on King David’s mule is symbolic but also sends a different image than the chariots and runners of Adonijah. This is image of a king of peace riding on a mule or donkey will become an important prophetic image and will shape the action of Jesus in his approach to Jerusalem. Yet, Solomon is surrounded by those of religious and military power. They anoint him at Gihon, the central water source of the city so that it may be seen by many in the city. This is a very public action that King David decrees and then the symbolism is increased by having Solomon take his seat upon David’s throne. David, who has never acted to displease his son Adonijah in the past, now acts decisively and quickly once he is confronted by Bathsheba and Nathan.

Bathsheba and Nathan in this scene make their decisive reemergence after a long period of silence in the story of David. Both are central figures in a story where David’s actions to sleep with Bathsheba and ordering the death in combat of her husband Uriah to cover his actions bring about a judgment delivered by the prophet Nathan of both the death of their first son and the future unrest in David’s household. Yet, Nathan also delivers a message that God favors Solomon (2 Samuel 12:25) before he, Bathsheba, and Solomon recede into the background of the story as David struggles with the discord in his household and unrest in his reign. Yet, as David’s reign reaches its twilight Nathan and Bathsheba reemerge in the story to prepare for the ascension of Solomon.

1 Kings 1: 38-40 The Anointing of Solomon

³⁸ So the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule, and led him to Gihon. ³⁹ There the priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” ⁴⁰ And all the people went up following him, playing on pipes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth quaked at their noise.

Adonijah had initiated an act of political theater to rally support for his claim to reign in David’s stead, but now the allies of Solomon, on King David’s instructions, have their own set of symbolically significant actions in the presence of the people to place Solomon on the throne. The priest and the prophet, the military leader and the servants of David place Solomon on David’s mule and lead him to Gihon. The Cherethites and the Pelethites are likely David’s own warriors indicated in 1:8 but they may also be mercenaries who provide “muscle for the throne a popular support ebbs.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 18) Solomon may symbolically be riding a mule instead of a chariot, but he is not without the military might to uphold his claim. In contrast to the action of Adonijah which takes place with the leaders outside of the city, this is done in the midst of the people of Jerusalem and the anointment and blowing of the trumpet to signal Solomon’s appointment as the new king is met with the declaration of the people declaring Solomon king and breaking into a spontaneous celebration. The city erupts into celebration and this joyous noise disrupts the gathering outside of town.

1 Kings 1: 41-53 Adonijah Concedes to Solomon

⁴¹ Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “Why is the city in an uproar?” ⁴² While he was still speaking, Jonathan son of the priest Abiathar arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man and surely you bring good news.” ⁴³ Jonathan answered Adonijah, “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king; ⁴⁴ the king has sent with him the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and they had him ride on the king’s mule; ⁴⁵ the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan have anointed him king at Gihon; and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you heard. ⁴⁶ Solomon now sits on the royal throne. ⁴⁷ Moreover the king’s servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ The king bowed in worship on the bed ⁴⁸ and went on to pray thus, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who today has granted one of my offspring to sit on my throne and permitted me to witness it.'”

⁴⁹ Then all the guests of Adonijah got up trembling and went their own ways. ⁵⁰ Adonijah, fearing Solomon, got up and went to grasp the horns of the altar. ⁵¹ Solomon was informed, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon; see, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.'” ⁵² So Solomon responded, “If he proves to be a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” ⁵³ Then King Solomon sent to have him brought down from the altar. He came to do obeisance to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, “Go home.”

Adonijah has been playing a dangerous game and he was outmaneuvered politically by Nathan and Bathsheba. Adonijah likely saw King David’s lack of previous condemnation as a tacit approval of his actions or signs of the king’s lack of awareness of power. David’s instructions carried out publicly by Nathan the prophet, Zadok the priest, Benaiah and with the physical presence of the Cherethites and the Pelethites is met with public acclamation. When Jonathan, a man of worth,[1] reports in detail the proceedings in the city. The repetition of the details in the story reinforces the significance of the actions but Jonathan is also aware of the words of King David to affirm this from his bed. King David may be physically weak, but his position still holds power over the people and his blessing of the LORD for allowing Solomon to sit upon his throne adds the intimation of divine approval.

The actions on behalf of Solomon sends shockwaves through the assembled allies of Adonijah. Realizing that they have been outmaneuvered they retreat from the gathering and try to distance themselves from Adonijah. Adonijah recognizes the precarious nature of his position and flees to the temple for sanctuary, clinging to the horns of the altar. Solomon will either have to grant him clemency or spill blood on the altar. Solomon grants him an opportunity to prove himself loyal but the cost of any perceived action that would be harmful to Solomon’s authority will result in Adonijah’s death. Adonijah comes and bows down before Solomon before being sent home. The narrative is not concluded yet and Solomon will have to make choices in the future to secure his position, but the first chapter has moved us from the reign of King David to the new era under King Solomon in an initially bloodless transition.

[1] The Hebrew ‘is hayil is a person of economic and social status.

Sign of the Rose

Searchings: Sacred and Secular

Tag Archives: 1 Kings

1 Kings 13 A Man of God, the King and a Prophet at Bethel: A Strange Story

1 Kings 13

1 Kings 12: A Divided Kingdom

1 Kings 12: 1-24 A Divided Kingdom

1 Kings 12: 25-33 The Worship Places at Bethel and Dan

1 Kings 11 The Foolish End of Solomon

1 Kings 11: 1-13 The Foolishness of Solomon

1 Kings 11: 14-40 Conflict in the Peaceful Reign

1 Kings 11: 41-43 The Death of Solomon

1 Kings 9 Solomon’s Second Vision and Continued Reign

1 Kings 9: 1-9 Solomon’s Second Vision of the LORD

1 Kings 9: 10-14 Entanglement with the Ways of Tyre and Egypt

1 Kings 8 The Dedication of the Temple

1 Kings 8: 1-26 The Dedication of the Temple Begins

1 Kings 8: 27-53 A Forward-Looking Prayer

1 Kings 8: 54-66

1 Kings 7 The Halls of Solomon and the Furnishing of the Temple

1 Kings 7: 1-12 The Halls of Solomon

1 Kings 7: 13-51 Furnishing the Temple

1 Kings 6 The Construction of Solomon’s Temple

1 Kings 6

1 Kings 5 The High Cost of Construction

1 Kings 5

1 Kings 2 Bloody Beginnings

1 Kings 2: 1-12 Final Words and Death of David

1 Kings 2: 13-25 The Elimination of Adonijah

1 Kings 2: 26-27 The Removal of Abiathar the Priest

1 Kings 2: 28-35 The Elimination of Joab

1 Kings 2: 36-46 The Confinement and Death of Shimei

1 Kings 1 An Uneasy Transition from David to Solomon

1 Kings 1

1 Kings 1: 1-4 A Feeble King

1 Kings 1: 5-10 Adonijah’s Bold Claim to Power

1 Kings: 1: 11-37 Nathan and Bathsheba Rouse King David to Action

1 Kings 1: 38-40 The Anointing of Solomon

1 Kings 1: 41-53 Adonijah Concedes to Solomon