Genealogy of Jesus: Solomon
OT Lesson: 1 Kings 10:14-29 (GNT)
Every year King Solomon received over twenty-five tons of gold, in addition to the taxes paid by merchants, the profits from trade, and tribute paid by the Arabian kings and the governors of the Israelite districts.
Solomon made two hundred large shields and had each one overlaid with almost fifteen pounds of gold. He also made three hundred smaller shields, overlaying each one of them with nearly four pounds of gold. He had all these shields placed in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.
He also had a large throne made. Part of it was covered with ivory and the rest of it was covered with the finest gold. The throne had six steps leading up to it, with the figure of a lion at each end of every step, a total of twelve lions. At the back of the throne was the figure of a bull’s head, and beside each of the two armrests was the figure of a lion. No throne like this had ever existed in any other kingdom.
All of Solomon’s drinking cups were made of gold, and all the utensils in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. No silver was used, since it was not considered valuable in Solomon’s day. He had a fleet of ocean-going ships sailing with Hiram’s fleet. Every three years his fleet would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.
King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king, and the whole world wanted to come and listen to the wisdom that God had given him. Everyone who came brought him a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This continued year after year.
Solomon built up a force of fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem and the rest he stationed in various other cities. During his reign silver was as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah. The king’s agents controlled the export of horses from Musri and Cilicia, and the export of chariots from Egypt. They supplied the Hittite and Syrian kings with horses and chariots, selling chariots for 600 pieces of silver each and horses for one hundred and fifty each.
NT Lesson: Matthew 1:7 (NRSV)
And Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph.
Sermon
Introduction
Good morning. The time changed last night. I guess you all changed your clock accordingly that I did not see anyone coming to church an hour earlier today. That is great, but just let you know that there is nothing wrong coming to church early. We had an unseasonably wonderful weather last week. It is hard to believe that the November weather was over 75. Yesterday’s rain and wind, I guess, was like a warning to us that the winter is coming.
I don’t know how severe the winter will be this year, but it would be wise to prepare ourselves for the winter: Get the winter items out such as warm jacket, coats, thicker socks, and so on. Let me give you my advice in Proverbs style: He who lacketh wisdom not prepareth for winter and freezeth. But the wise prepare winter like Canadians.
Solomon
Solomon was the son between king David and Batsheba. But don’t get it wrong: Solomon is not a love-child. Their actual love-child died right after the birth. Solomon’s mother was a legal wife of David at the time of conception. Young Solomon became the successive king of David only by the help of his mother Batsheba and prophet Nathan. If not his mother’s wisdom and quick action, his elder brother could have been a king and Solomon most probably would have been executed. Many cases like this in history, the mother either directly holds big power or at least has great influence over her son politically. But Solomon almost immediately excluded his mother and she became powerless without any influence over her son for the rest of her life. I think that was a very smart move because the power cannot be shared. In spite of his youth, Solomon had a good insight about the nature of the power.
A King with Whom God Was Happy
Solomon did quite well at first and God was very happy with him. Let me read from 1 Kings 3:
Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt-offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honour all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.’
Solomon knew that he is not the legally legitimate successor, because according to the custom, the eldest son should take the father’s throne, but he was the youngest son. So Solomon humbled himself not only before God but also before the people. Solomon also understood his young age and lack of experience. So he humbled himself even more before God and the people. And this Solomon later urges us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Prince of Peace
At the time of Solomon, there was barely war against other countries. There was peace. That is primarily because his father David already fought all the necessary fights and battles. And Solomon’s kingdom got richer and stronger. So no other countries dared to challenge. And because of the peace and no blood, God finally allowed Solomon to build a temple. As you know, Solomon is the third and the last king of the unified kingdom of Israel. If we see these three kings symbolically, we may interpret them as one person. King Saul is our previous and original state—a sinful person. King David fought a lot, that is, we fight the spiritual battle, and when we have triumph, then the king Solomon comes along who built the temple of God where God abides, where the prince of peace lives, that is, Jesus Christ. So I can say like this: even though we were and maybe still are sinful, when we fight the spiritual battle, then the Prince of Peace will come and live in us because our bodies are the true temple of God.
The Decline
And then later, the decline came. Not that his kingdom got weaker or his fame went down immediately. It was the opposite way. His kingdom got even stronger with more and more strongholds and fortified cities. His income sky rocketed. But that was the beginning of the decline of his spirituality. Solomon used to walk in the ways of God, but now he has gone astray. God appeared in his dreams many times. Sometimes pleaded, sometimes warned. But Solomon did not listen. Because of all the success he had, he began to think that he did it. Instead of acknowledging God, he thinks now, ‘I am able. I am competent. I did it all by my own hands.’ Solomon himself tells other people that the pride goes before destruction and arrogance before failure. And he abandoned his own teaching. His kingdom could have stood thousand years but because of his pride and arrogance, his kingdom was divided with his death. Solomon also taught people that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Now he does not fear the Lord but constantly ignores the warnings from God. This wise king has lost the source of his wisdom and understanding. And that is all because of money.
Today’s OT lesson begins with Solomon’s annual income. Beside the gold income, he has taxes paid by merchants, the profits from trade, and tribute paid by the Arabian kings and the governors of the Israelite districts. Among all the annual incomes, the gold is twenty-five tons. A ton is two thousand pounds. One interesting thing is that some Bible says it is twenty-five tons of gold. But some other translations say either twenty-two tons or twenty-three tons of gold. A ton is two thousand pounds, and the maximum difference is six thousand pounds of gold. This is because the conversion tables are different from era to era, such as Babylonian era and Roman era. Let’s see the original number and unit in the Hebrew Bible or you can see it from the NIV which says, “The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents.” What number do you see here? I don’t think it is just a coincidence or an accidental match. This is the Satan’s number and it means that Solomon was already on the other side of the spiritual battle. He is on the other side of the front line, fighting against God.
By the way, in case you are curious about the worth of that 666 talents of gold, here is the calculation. A talent in NT is 129 lb 14 oz, which is 2078 oz. As of last night, the gold price per ounce was $1,693. That means, the gold price of one talent is $3,518,054. When we multiply it by 666, we get $2,343,023,964. This is not the gross annual income but part of the incomes.
2 Chronicles 9:13 also says that Solomon’s annual gold income was 666 talents. Solomon followed money and abandoned God who made him rich in the first place. Solomon followed the worldly success and abandoned God who gave him the worldly success. We do not want to be like Solomon. We shall not follow money but follow only Jesus even though we may have to sacrifice some of our income. We shall not follow worldly success but follow only Jesus even though we may have to give up some of the worldly successes. We are the followers of Jesus, not the followers of money. And we have already decided to follow Jesus.
Conclusion
Solomon used to love God and walked in God’s ways at first. But he changed and abandoned his first love. For the same reason Jesus warned one of the seven churches in Revelation, ‘You have abandoned the love you had at first… Repent, and do the works you did at first.’ Friends, let us learn from the example of Solomon so that we shall not be like him. Let us restore our first love for God if we ever lost it. And just as Solomon had advised us, let us trust in the Lord with all our hearts and do not lean on our own understanding. In all our ways let us acknowledge Him, and He will make our paths straight Amen.
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