1 Kings | Solomon's Wisdom and Folly: The Spiritual Lessons You Need to Know

Why did Israel split into two kingdoms?
How did Solomon's wisdom impact his reign?
How does the story of 1 Kings apply to modern Christian life?

1 Kings, part of the God's Full Story podcast, delves into the intricate narratives of Israel's monarchy, focusing on the rise and fall of King Solomon and the subsequent division of the kingdom. The episode offers a deep exploration of Solomon's reign, highlighting both his wisdom in the early years and his tragic downfall due to his failure to stay faithful to God. It discusses the construction of the temple, Solomon's spiritual journey, and the impact of his choices on the future of Israel.

The podcast emphasizes the importance of finishing well in one's spiritual journey, using Solomon as a cautionary tale. Despite his early devotion and divine encounters, Solomon's heart strayed, leading to the fragmentation of the once-unified Israel. The episode encourages listeners to reflect on their own spiritual walk and the dangers of complacency, even after experiencing God's blessings.

Listeners are introduced to the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, Israel and Judah, respectively, and the recurring theme of bad kings who failed to uphold the covenant. The episode discusses the prophets' role as covenant enforcers, particularly focusing on the prophet Elijah and his confrontations with King Ahab, one of the most notorious kings in Israel's history.

Elijah's story, including the famous showdown with the prophets of Baal and his subsequent despair in the wilderness, serves as a powerful reminder of perseverance in the face of adversity. The episode highlights Elijah's faithfulness, even when he felt utterly alone, and the comfort he found in God's still small voice, providing hope and encouragement to believers facing their own challenges.

The episode concludes by reminding listeners of the ongoing battle between good and evil in the history of Israel's kings, and how these ancient stories still resonate with spiritual truths today. It challenges Christians to remain vigilant in their faith, to avoid the pitfalls that ensnared Solomon, and to trust in God's guidance, just as Elijah did.

#BibleStudy #1Kings #Solomon #IsraelHistory #SpiritualJourney #GodsWisdom #TempleOfSolomon #ProphetElijah #KingAhab #FaithInAdversity

Transcript

 1 Kings

1 Kings

[00:00:00] Welcome to God's Full Story. This year, we're looking at every book in the Bible, piece by piece, one week at a time. Uh, we hope it's helping you understand the full story of scripture, and we hope it's strengthening your relationship with God. Uh, if you are enjoying the podcast, we would love to invite you to partner with us financially.

You can do so for as little as three dollars a month by clicking the link in our description. Here's today's episode Hey everybody, welcome back to god's whole story this week. We are going to be jumping into the book of first kings We've just finished up with Samuel, Samuel is largely focused on the institution of the kingship, and now we're going to see where that kingship goes.

We're going to have a little bit of David in the beginning of 1 Kings, go through Solomon, and then we just begin to see how the nation kind of goes from a very unified nation. Uh, and actually things begin to descend pretty quickly, uh, through first Kings and then also second [00:01:00] Kings. So it's a bummer.

There's going to be a lot of descending here before there's some ascending. All there is, is descending, I think. This is very true. So, uh, the book of Kings probably is written around the fall of Jerusalem, which we don't even get to the second Kings. But, you know, as first and second Kings is one book, uh, we break it up just for convenience.

We're going to do it in two episodes just because of the size. Uh, but it is one unit, so this week and next week is one complete thought. Uh, and some of the things that would be interesting is to look at where things start, and then when we get to the end of Second Kings, where they have landed, or where we've gone over these several hundred years.

Uh, and so when we start this book, uh, First King largely is going to focus on Solomon, uh, and We are still in a United Kingdom. There is one Israel. David ruled over one country. Solomon's going to rule over one, but that that's going to change. Jerusalem was largely secure. It was peaceful. The temple was being built.

There's a [00:02:00] place of worship. Uh, even when we meet Solomon in the beginning, he's a good guy. He has a love for God, uh, when he was young, uh, and even so much of what the covenant was talking about that for Israel to be a, a. a voice to the nations of who God was that was happening. The nations were coming to Jerusalem for wisdom.

So like we actually do start on a high note in, in the beginning of first Kings, but then things, things begin to move. So, uh, let's, let's pick it up with Solomon. Um, last week we convinced Ryan that David had a good side because. He only saw bad and actually, I remember mentioning that, you know, David is preached on so positively that sometimes it's actually good to see his not so good side.

My experience with Solomon is that Solomon is largely preached on negatively and some of the things that he did that were good kind of stood out to me. What's, what's your experience been with Solomon? Really, [00:03:00] the only good thing I remember about Solomon is Chapter three, where he asked for women or for women.

No, that comes later. Actually, I mean, that sounds like Solomon. Asks for wisdom. See, that just shows that you've heard more negative about Solomon than good because you thought it was all about asking for women. Yes. Um, he asked for wisdom and then the whole cutting the baby in half situation. Yeah. Okay.

He was so wise to have that. I always thought that was kind of weird. It's like, really? That's how you're showing his wisdom? That is exactly how my kids reacted when I first read them that story. They're like, wait, the good guy tried to cut the baby. No, the good guy tricked the bad lady. It's a little confusing.

It is. So how about you, Ryan? What's your experience been? No babies were harmed in the course of that story, right? Um, you know, the, the thing I think about with Solomon, this might be a little bit of extra credit, but he, he just failed to finish well in such a significant way. [00:04:00] And actually, I think there is some real world application with that.

And it could be slightly controversial. So you can, uh, take this with a grain of salt. I always do. Um, Solomon was ended his life, not a good guy and many, many, many Christians. read one proverb a day because there's 31 proverbs and it's part of their like regular rhythm of life. So many Christians are very, um, stirred in their faith.

I think strengthened in their faith by proverbs, which is most likely written by Solomon, some parts and pieces, and he didn't finish well. And so I know like when, when I was in college, um, we had a pretty, you know, it was kind of like a recurring conversation about like, Hey, how do we handle these, really great theology works that were written by guys that did not live good lives.

And you know, I, I don't, I'm still working this out. I still don't know how I feel about it, but [00:05:00] it's, it's interesting that like God does allow guys that don't have it all figured out to still, you know, write things that really benefit the people. I don't at any, in any way want to minimize sin. Like it's horrible.

And particularly when like very influential Christian leaders sin, it's very, very horrible because it affects so many people. Um, but you know, for thousands of years, we haven't minded reading Proverbs and Solomon was not a good guy. Right. And, and we're also clearly not saying that we don't think Proverbs is good or it's inspired it, it is wisdom.

But I think what we see is that just having the wisdom or even just For us reading proverb, it's not a guarantee of future success. No, no, no. Um, I think what, what is interesting about Solomon, when we think about someone being wise, we often think that people get wiser and wiser, the older they get. Like we think about the gray hair and the wisdom and all that, but Wisdom is only applicable if you're actually living out those things.

And Solomon [00:06:00] is the classic example that he was wiser when he was younger. Yeah. He appears to get less and less wise than when he was old and more and more wives. Uh, he did not finish well. Um, and I think largely we, we do talk about him not finishing well, which is, is a sobering lesson for us. But, um, when you read the story of Solomon, Like there are some things that like this guy significantly knew the Lord when he was young.

Yeah, I mean he he Has the command to build the temple while David was told wanted to build the temple God didn't allow him to say too much blood on his hands, but Solomon actually builds the temple And if you look especially at chapter 8 first Kings chapter 8 there is like there are some Solomon as he's dedicating the temple and some of the things in the worship that he gives God in the prayer He prays there.

There's some beautiful Statements of worship there and one of the things that that kind of stuck out to me that I didn't even realize like Solomon He saw God [00:07:00] twice God appeared to him Twice which again all of this kind of goes to like we can be given supernatural wisdom like Solomon We can have incredible supernatural encounters like seeing the Lord not even once but twice and it just simply isn't a guarantee of future success It's, it's sobering, but, uh, Solomon, like he, I think he started legitimately well.

Um, and then things got really, really ugly, which again, we've said several times that the, the prediction in Deuteronomy about things that King shouldn't do, uh, Solomon checked all the boxes for what you shouldn't do. Uh, that led to his downfall. But he, I think he had a legitimate relationship with the Lord in the beginning, uh, but he was drawn astray by women, by idols.

By a lot of other things that led to his downfall, um, because he could, he was the king. He had the ability to do that. But do you guys have any, [00:08:00] anything else to add on the good side of Solomon? Well, just that I forgot about the dedication of the temple and how important that was. Um, So I guess I should have said the only thing I remember is that he asked for wisdom, but the dedication of the temple is a really significant moment.

Cause the Lord's saying, I'm going to be there. Uh, my presence is going to be there. And then that's when he appears to Solomon. Um, but I think you're right. I think he does start off really well and you see again, the Lord, the Lord, I think was pleased by all the things that Solomon did. For the temple.

But again, the Lord's like, ultimately what requires is not the things that we do, but a heart that is turned towards him. And Solomon's heart was turned away in the end. Also part of that temple dedication is sort of a blessings and curses narrative. And it's worth noting that in a first Kings nine, actually, when the Lord is appearing to Solomon, there is a caveat that's like, Hey, essentially, like I will bless you when you're following me, but if you fail to follow me, Um, [00:09:00] it's, it's first Kings nine, uh, eight, this house, meaning the temple, this house will become a heap of ruins.

Everybody passing by it will be astonished and will hiss. And they will say, why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house? Um, and, Even keep going, then they will say, because they abandoned the Lord, their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worship them and serve them.

Therefore, the Lord has brought all this disaster on them. He literally leaves it up for Solomon. And that is what happens. And the people reading this book. Yeah, that is like presence like just happened very, very recently in history. So they're going back going, Oh my gosh, Solomon was warned about the very thing that we just experienced.

Yeah. Um, I think one of the thing on the positive side to like, let's note the uniqueness here of what's happening in Israel's history that when Solomon builds a temple and God fills it, this would be the last time that they've had kind of a, a tangible representation of [00:10:00] the presence of God since the wilderness, uh, with a pillar of fire by, by night and cloud by day.

Like this is, and again, it's like God is once again, he's still pursuing through all the judges through. You know the craziness that we saw with with Saul and David. He is still pursuing his people to dwell with them And once again, he's in their midst. He is living in the temple with his people in Jerusalem.

That's Should be one of the highlights and we should kind of expect that. Okay. Wow, the next several chapters are just gonna be like glorious, it can actually be a little shocking how fast this, this story turns. I did notice I'm like, you're probably getting to this in chapter 11, that it says in verse four, as Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods.

So I wonder how long, how, How much of Solomon's life was actually turned away from God? Was it just the last years of his life? Or do you think it was the majority of his life? I actually don't know the answer. I [00:11:00] don't think we have. Yeah, we probably don't have a straight up answer on that, but it wasn't just a one day.

Mm hmm by the time with the verse that you're reading he's got many wives already. Mm hmm Yeah, those wives are all worshiping other gods And so this is I mean he eventually got 700 wives that didn't happen He didn't one day go out and marry 699 other women. I mean, what else are they doing back then?

Wow It is shocking that we do see that Solomon the the Who clearly knew that this wasn't a good idea from scripture, ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines on top of that. It's interesting. If you, if you look back at Deuteronomy 17, and I think, I think it is a critical chapter to understand, to, to help interpret all of these stories about Kings, like it, God explicitly forbids, um, talking about the King.

This is, uh, Deuteronomy 17, 17. He shall not acquire many wives for himself. Which he does [00:12:00] pretty quickly. Um, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold, which is like the hallmark of Solomon's reign. And it's also something that we often. Use as proof of his success.

And it's told him he was going to give him wealth and honor. Yeah. But it's actually like not great. Uh, I think the pursuit of the wealth and honor is what became not great. Like having it wasn't the problem is where, what he did with it and where it went. It's just so interesting that, you know, I mean, the, the question is, when did he turn based on what we know about him, how the narrative unfolds, it seems like that turning starts.

Pretty early in the story. And, you know, the evidence is not clear until much later in the story, but you know, if you knew the law, he would know that that's prohibited. Yes. So we've got those things happening and. [00:13:00] I mean, if you're just going chapter by chapter, it's like Solomon turns from the Lord. A few chapters later, we start to see he, he has family issues.

His sons are starting to rebel. And very quickly, the unified kingdom of Israel begins to divide. Um, there is a fairly firm date that, that is generally accepted around when the kingdom divided that we're like around 931 is when the kingdom divided. Uh, and And this is, we kind of begin what we're going to see through Kings and then eventually in Chronicles as well, that we've got two parts of what previously has been known as Israel.

And this does get a little confusing. It gets very confusing. That's we have a note of the entire. Place. We have a Northern kingdom that is still called Israel, but the Southern kingdom, which is only made up of two tribes is now called Judah. So you're going to start to get more familiar with that. And we begin to see Kings, uh, in each one.

The, the first, uh, [00:14:00] division here is that a guy named Jeroboam, uh, took over the Northern kingdom. Uh, and Rehoboam, Solomon's son, was leading the southern king, Judah. And one of the first things that Jeroboam does that should raise a lot of eyebrows is that Jeroboam decides to say, we don't need to go to Jerusalem to worship, we can worship in our own place.

So he sets up altars of worship and he makes Golden calves. Oh, man. Golden calves. Where have we seen golden calves before? You'd think that they would be like, huh, sounds familiar. Didn't, like, they just come out of the fire in the past and they were calves? So, uh, Obviously, we're seeing just how fast Israel, they just had God fill the temple, not, probably a few decades before, and they're very quickly, uh, abandoning that worship, and it really begins, kind of, you can trace the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel, you can trace the kings of the southern kingdom of Israel, uh, and we begin to see [00:15:00] Kind of their interaction and we are always meant to evaluate are these good kings or are they bad kings?

And kings largely looks at do they follow the covenant? Do they do they take away false idols and idols of worship? Do they keep the covenant? There's not a whole lot of good ones Not many at all. There's none in the Northern Kingdom, and there's only a few in the Southern Kingdom. Uh, and, but we get to see some of their, their interaction, uh, as we go through this divided kingdom.

So, lots of kings, not a whole lot of good guys. One of the stories, one of the unique characters in the book First Kings, is a guy named Elijah. Because what we begin to see, we saw it a little bit in Samuel with, that there was prophets that would come on occasion. Samuel was a prophet. Nathan was a prophet.

But there is definitely a role that prophets play in interacting with kings. That a, the role of the prophet was to call the king and the nation back to the [00:16:00] covenant. Sometimes we describe them as the covenant policemen. That they will kind of try to enforce God's law. Um, And so, these prophets will show up and especially confront some of the kings.

Uh, Elijah gets to deal with perhaps the worst king of the Northern Kingdom, Ahab, and there's a lot of interaction between them, but that's where we get the very famous story of the battle between the prophets of Baal and Elijah. Um, anything you guys, uh, stands out to you about Elijah or things that you enjoy about him?

Elijah and his interactions with Ahab and the others. There's some depth. There's definitely some tough stories in here. Just a little, just like just graphic things, things like that. Um, but the story of Elijah has always been encouraging to me. Like Elijah's just, he feels alone and he still does what the Lord is asking him to do and the Lord points out to him that he's not alone, but, um.

But I think it's really easy to feel alone sometimes when you're following Christ and it's just a story of [00:17:00] somebody who continues even when it's difficult. Um, fun fact, uh, whenever I am going through like a hard, a hard time or like I'm struggling with something or overwhelmed or whatever, my husband, Destin, always reads first Kings 18 to me.

Um, like, it's just such a random, like, he's just like opens up his bow to first Kings 18. Like who else does that? But always when, um, Uh, actually it's 19, sorry. When the Lord appears to Elijah and, uh, appears to him in a still small voice. And I don't know, it's always a very comforting story to me. So I recently did some stuff on Elijah and.

You know, like, like, I think the thing, like the, the big, the big fight on the mountaintop gets a lot of attention. Love that Elijah mocks the prophets of Baal by saying that Baal's probably going to the bathroom. It's probably my favorite, hilarious part of that story. Um, Elijah retreats into the desert.

The whole thing is that [00:18:00] he, like, I mean, he, he seems suicidal. Like, he seems like he just wants to be done. Yeah. Um, It's interesting to me, and this was, I guess, personal for me, but I think probably applies to other people as well. We always know that God finally spoke to him in a still, small voice, right?

Like, it's like, oh, the fire came, the wind came, and like, but he wasn't there, and he wasn't there. So, a lot of times, we know that he spoke in a still, small voice, but we don't actually know what he actually said. And what's interesting to me about what he said is that you, you were talking about how, like, he was alone.

One of the first things that he says is, go get Elisha. So it's cool to me. I was talking about, um, Saul and, or I don't know why I keep doing that. Jonathan and David's friendship. It's cool to me that one of the things that God recommends or commands of Elijah is that he go and find another godly man to serve with him.

Now, obviously it's more than just friendship. Like God's up to something much bigger than just trying to find Elijah, a pal. [00:19:00] Um, but that I never actually had connected those two dots that it's like, yeah, I knew he spoke in a still small voice, but actually, what did he say? And it's like, go find this guy and like, basically, like, get back in the game and you're going to help each other.

So it's kind of cool to me. I mean, Elijah is he's lonely. There's even I think there's a little bit of self pity here. Oh, yeah for sure He's like, oh, you know, which it is interesting. It's on the heels of like this amazing newsletter story Yeah, like this is like one of the most amazing victories in all of history And that wasn't just a recipe for like elijah to be on cloud nine right after that.

He fell into the depths of despair God says go get elijah, but he also says hey There's a whole lot of others that have not vowed the need to bail. You are not alone You And I think there is this, uh, the enemy uses this tactic of, of isolation to get us to think like, it's not worth it. I'm totally alone.

I'm the only one. And yeah, I do also like that. God doesn't entertain his self pity. He doesn't entertain his, he doesn't [00:20:00] even say, Hey, you know, it's, it's going to be okay. He simply says, Hey. But let's surround yourself with some other faithful people and go. He's like, there's 7, 000 people who are faithful remnants.

Yeah. Can you imagine like you're out moping in the desert? I'm all alone. And like, you finally hear from God and he's like, no, you're not knock it off. Okay. God. Get over it. Um, yeah, it is true. And I think it's interesting that the Lord asked the question, I think a couple of times, what are you doing here, Elijah?

Like, what are you, what are you doing here? And Elijah's like, I'm alone. What? It reminds me a lot of Jonah. Because Jonah does the same thing. He, he goes out, he calls the people to repentance. Jonah doesn't want to do that. And there's this incredible move of God where the people do repent. It actually makes him mad.

So I don't know that they're exactly the same, but we do [00:21:00] find Jonah in a very similar circumstance and God actually interacts with Jonah in a very similar way. Like, Hey man, knock it off. Like, why are you so mopey out here in the desert and not rejoicing over all these people? Um, So it's, it's kind of interesting.

Uh, we get, we get more to the story of Elijah, I think, because Jonah just kind of ends, um, but, well, I mean, this was not just a random, like guy, like just, you know, a little insecure guy. Like this is Elijah. This is the guy who is considered the greatest of the prophets. Uh, when. People show up in the promised land on the mount of transfiguration with jesus.

It is moses and elijah Like he he kind of has some top billing here, but we also see his humanity We see that ministry success isn't just a recipe for like the perfect life There's a lot of lessons that we see here and I think you know there's a lot of great application for just there's a real thing with loneliness and ministry or loneliness and [00:22:00] leadership that You do need that Connection.

I mean, it should make sense because God said it from back in the garden that it's not good for man to be alone. Um, and that wasn't just marriage. That was friendship. That was connection. Yeah. So there's lots of interesting stories with Elijah. Uh, and really first king's kind of we just continue to follow the northern kingdom on a Descent, uh, and it weaves right into second Kings that we will be talking about a little bit more next week, uh, where we're going to see kind of how this era of history ends up in a very, very different place than where it started.

So thanks for joining us this week. Uh, take a look at first Kings, go back to our daily podcast and read some of the stories. There's some incredible stories in there. Lots of leadership lessons in this book. And we will see you next week for second Kings.