65. The Wisdom of Solomon?

A Fight For The Throne

The pictures that the Bible paints of David show him to be a very poor example of what a father should be.  Absalom, David's son was the man who instigated a civil war against his own father and was killed in that war.  

• Adonijah was the younger brother of Absalom.  
• And, whatever Adonijah wants, Adonijah gets.  His father had not displeased him at any time, saying, Why have you done so? 1 Kings 1:6.  

So it is small wonder that Adonijah, since he was the oldest remaining son of David and Haggith, presumptuously installed himself as the King of Israel, even before King David had passed away.   Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king. 1:5.

As David's reign ended so Solomon's reign began - with bloodshed.

Solomon is Anointed, King

Soon, King David heard about this development and he hastily appointed Solomon as the rightful king. David said, let him (Solomon) come and sit upon my throne. For he shall reign in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. 1:35.  Because of what David did, Jonathan told Adonijah, Truly our lord King David has made Solomon king. 1:43.

What seems rather intriguing here is that Solomon was the youngest of all the sons of David; usually, the oldest is chosen to be king.

After David's death, Solomon rightfully took the throne and Adonijah feared for his life and went into the temple believing that no one would have the audacity to kill him in there.  Solomon said if he becomes a son of virtue, not a hair of his head shall fall to the earth. But if wickedness shall be found in him, then he shall die. 1:52.

Adonijah should have left well enough alone and lived.  But, no, spoiled as he was, he asked his mother to beseech King Solomon for the hand of Abishag in marriage.  Abishag was king David's beautiful "health care worker" till his death.  In response to that request king, Solomon replied, as Jehovah lives ... Adonijah shall be put to death today. 2:24.

Before David died he had charged Solomon, saying, also you know what Joab did to me, you shall ... not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace. 1 Kings 2:5.  Joab, the leader of King David's army tried the same ruse which had worked well for Adonijah, and he went into the temple for safety and while he was there king Solomon ... sent Benaiah ... saying, Go fall on him (kill him).  Benaiah came to the tabernacle of Jehovah, and said to him (Joab), So says the king, come forth! And he (Joab) said, No, but I will die here. ... Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and ... the king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall on him. (kill him in the temple). 2:29-31.

King David continued his instructions: Remember also, Shimei, the man who cursed me while I was fleeing from Absalom, I promised the Lord that I would not kill him but I want you to bring his gray head down to the grave with blood.  1 Kings 2:9.

With the death of Shimei, a new chapter in the life of Solomon began.  He married an Egyptian princess and built a tabernacle for Jehovah and a gigantic mansion for himself.

The Wise? Solomon

Lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like you before you, and after you none shall arise like you. 3:2.  Based on this statement it is often said that no person has ever lived that was wiser than King Solomon.  One fact that is usually ignored, or missed, is this, Solomon awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. 3:15.  Maybe, in real life, he was not so wise.  Maybe his ego got too much involved in his dream. 

When the writer of Chronicles rewrote the biography of Solomon, he stated it as fact that King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 2 Chron. 9:22.  Even if we accept that statement at face value, we must admit that it does not say that Solomon was wiser than the wise people of the female gender.

And the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. The throne had six steps. 1 Ki 10:18.  A great throne of ivory must have cost a lot of elephants' their lives.  He overlaid the ivory with the best gold.  Now, that is absolutely a waste of ivory!  It seems that Solomon was not as wise as he is made out to be.

There is this oft-repeated story about two prostitutes, who each had a baby and one of the babies died.  In the king's presence, each woman claimed that the living child was her own and the dead child belonged to the other woman.

King Solomon "in his wisdom"  decided to cut the baby into two halves and give each woman half the baby.  The mother of the living baby cried out, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it. 1 Kings 3:26.  To the king, this was proof enough as to who the real mother of the baby was.  Perhaps this line of reasoning worked in Solomon's day in the Hebrew culture.

My wife and I have been involved with foster care for children enough to have learned that there are many foster mothers who love their foster children more than the birth mother does.  I am glad that our society has childcare workers who are wiser than Solomon ever was and very, very often make the best decision. 

Solomon reigned forty years in Jerusalem over all Israel. And Solomon slept with his fathers, ... and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place. 2 Ch. 9:30-31