Deeper Commentary
2Ch 1:1 Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and
Yahweh his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly-
Despite all the unspirituality of this situation, God was willing to
work with what He had. He likewise worked through a human kingship system,
although it was a rejection of Him; and He was to inhabit the temple,
although He never wanted it built in the first place. Solomon, like Saul,
was set up with the potential for being the Messianic seed / king; but he
failed to use the huge potential given him.
2Ch 1:2 Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of
hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of
the fathers’ households-
Solomon sought to establish himself as king, so he invited all the
leaders of the nation to come to a special sacrifice in Gibeon, a kind of
inauguration ceremony. It seems they came to Jerusalem, and then travelled
with him to Gibeon (:3) and then returned with him from there to Jerusalem
(:13).
2Ch 1:3 So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place
that was at Gibeon; for there was the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses
the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness-
Solomon was fully representative of Israel (1 Kings 11:1,5-7 cp. 33;
8:52; and note the ye... thee confusion of 1 Kings 9:4-7); his prayer was
their prayer (2 Chron. 6:21); his worship was theirs (2 Chron. 1:3,5).
Zadok cared for the tabernacle at Gibeon, which was "the great high place" (1 Chron. 16:39; 1 Kings 3:4), and so it is another example of correlation within the inspired records that he had access to that horn and the oil with which to anoint Solomon (1 Kings 1:39). Solomon had replaced Abiathar with Zadok as chief priest, so perhaps his worship to Gibeon rather than Jerusalem [where Abiathar had officiated] was a nod towards Zadok.
2Ch 1:4 But David had brought the ark of God up from Kiriath Jearim
to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for
it at Jerusalem-
The point is that the ark was not in the tabernacle at Gibeon (:3). The
force of "But..." could be an implied criticism of this. I suggest on :5
that this was for political reasons, but the reality was that the
sanctuary at Gibeon was without God's presence, for the ark was not there.
It was spiritually hollow.
2Ch 1:5 Moreover the bronze altar, that Bezalel the son of Uri the son of
Hur had made, was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh; and Solomon and
the assembly were seeking counsel there-
AV reads differently: "Moreover the brazen altar, that Bezaleel the son
of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he put before the tabernacle of the
LORD: and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it".
This may be read as an aside; at this point, Solomon went to Gibeon and
sacrificed at the altar there, but this is as it were in brackets, telling
us that in fact later, Solomon was to move the brazen altar from Gibeon to
Jerusalem.
We note that at this point, the ark is in Zion, but the altar of burnt
offering is still at Gibeon (1 Chron. 16:39-42). This seems rather typical
of how David perceived the spirit of the law to such an extent that he
apparently broke the letter of the law by allowing this situation to
continue. For surely he ought to have united the sanctuaries of Gibeon and
Zion. Perhaps he allowed it to continue because of the political difficult
in deciding which of the two high priests to appoint as singular high
priest (Zadok or Ahimelech). And so he allowed the two sanctuaries to
continue, although this was contrary to the law's insistence upon one
sanctuary. Hence Solomon sacrificed both at Gibeon and before the ark at
Jerusalem. It was only when Ahimelech was deposed by Solomon that he
brought the brazen altar from Gibeon to Jerusalem (2 Chron. 1:5 AV). This
suggests that David's operation of two sanctuaries was politically
motivated.
2Ch 1:6 Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before Yahweh which was at
the Tent of Meeting and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it-
Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar-
This was clearly out of step with what David had earlier been taught
after his sin with Bathsheba; that God did not want thousands of
sacrifices, but rather broken, contrite hearts (Ps. 40:6-8). And Solomon
repeats David's failure in this, by again offering such huge numbers of
sacrifices. Which, like the temple, God didn't want.
2Ch 1:7 In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask what I
shall give you-
Godly men usually asked or enquired of God on their initiative, as
David did (s.w. 1 Sam. 22:10; 23:4; 2 Sam. 5:19). But Solomon had
apparently merely offered ritual sacrifices, and had not engaged with God
in personal relationship. Now he is encouraged to do so.
I have argued that Ecclesiastes is Solomon's self reflection, a kind of autobiography. It is also a rejection and renunciation of his faith, because he wrote it at the end of his life, when his heart had been turned aside from God (1 Kings 11:3). I suggest it is this dream which is the reference of Ecc. 5:3: "For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words". If we enquire what reference a "dream" may have to Solomon's historical life, we naturally think of this dream at the start of his life when he was offered whatever he wanted, and he chose wisdom. Several times in Ecclesiastes he appears to regret that choice, as he considers there to be no ultimate advantage to wisdom or going God's way because death ends it all, and God, Solomon thinks, cannot resurrect the dead to judgment (Ecc. 3:22). And so in Ecc. 5:3 Solomon seems to be saying that that dream was simply self induced, an outcome of his "multitude of cares", and the "multitude of words" of wisdom he had written in response to it was but "a fool's speech". Like many who have had the direct involvement of God in their lives in youth, he came to rationalize it as nothing at all Divine, considering his dream had just been some Freudian reflection of his own internal "cares". And this kind of rationalizing of the Divine over time is absolutely true to observed experience in those who turn away from God.
2Ch 1:8 Solomon said to God, You have shown great grace to David my
father, and have made me king in his place-
Solomon has it all the wrong way around in saying that Yahweh had
showed grace to David because he had walked before Yahweh in truth (1
Kings 3:6), and therefore Solomon had been made king. Solomon totally
misunderstood grace. It is a pure gift from God, and not at all granted in
response to our righteous walk.
These words are doubtless an allusion to the grace
God showed David in his relationship with Solomon's mother,
Bathsheba. But Solomon makes no mention of David's great faith in
God's grace, and his subsequent appreciation that
animal sacrifices were meaningless. These were David's real strong
points, but Solomon is obsessed with David's public life of obedience
("according as he walked", 1 Kings 3:6). He evidently saw his
father as the epitome of spiritual good, faultless in
God's sight. "Mercy" and "truth" both occur in 1 Kings
3:6, and they often refer to the promises.
Solomon seems to have seen the promises to David as a reward for David's
good life, rather than an expression of God's unwarranted grace.
David's reaction was "Who am I...?" to
receive such an honour. Solomon's feeling
was that David deserved them because of his righteousness. So
here is a feature of many parent : child relationships
in the Lord. The children love and respect their parents
spiritually, but often for the wrong reasons; they
actually misunderstand their forefathers' spirituality. This
is why their understanding of parental and community expectation is
often wrong in the first place.
2Ch 1:9 Now, Yahweh God, let your promise to David my father be
established-
So very often does Solomon speak of "David my father", and
that God had made him king "instead of David my father"
(e.g. 1 Kings 3:7).
Thus he asks Hiram to deal with him just as he had done with David his
father (1 Kings 5:2-7; and cp. 1 Kings 5:1 with 2 Sam. 5:11). The number
of times these phrases occur in the records is
so large that we simply have to recognize
that God is pointing something out to us about the
relationship between Solomon and David (1 Kings 2:24,26,32,44;
3:6,7,14; 5:3,5; 6:12; 8:15,17,18,20,24,25,26; 9:4; 11:33; 2 Chron. 1:8,9;
2:3,7,14; 6:4,7,8,10,15,16; 7:17). Solomon was raised a believer, and he
lived out parental expectation; but in later life, he himself was revealed
as having no real faith at all, and he turned away from Yahweh to
idolatry. So often in his prayers to God does Solomon make reference
to David; for example: "Thou hast showed unto thy
servant David my father great mercy, according
as he walked before thee
in truth, and in righteousness, and in
uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this
great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit upon his throne" (1
Kings 3:6).
For you have made me king-
Solomon speaks about him being King in Jerusalem (Ecc. 1:1,12; Prov.
1:1) as if this was the ultimate fulfilment of the Davidic promises.
Consider the implications of 2 Chron. 1:9: "O Lord God, let thy promise
unto David my father be established: for thou hast made me king over a
people like the dust of the earth... give me now wisdom, that I may go out
and come in before (i.e. lead) this people". Solomon was asking for wisdom
because he thought that he was the Messiah, and he saw wisdom as a
Messianic characteristic. He failed to realize that the promises to
Abraham and David were only being primarily fulfilled in him (e.g. 1 Kings
4:20); he thought that he was the ultimate fulfilment of them (1 Kings
8:20 states this in so many words). His lack of faith and vision of the
future Kingdom lead him to this proud and arrogant conclusion (cp.
building up our own 'Kingdom' in this life through our lack of vision of
the Kingdom of God).
Over a people like the dust of the
earth in multitude-
Solomon assumes that the promises to Abraham of an innumerable seed
had been fulfilled in his kingdom, just as he assumes the promises to
David of the seed were fulfilled in him. He has no perspective of the
future Kingdom of God, nor does he factor in the conditional nature of
those promises.
And so Solomon 'had the truth', he knew so deeply the true
principles of Yahweh worship and the promises which formed the
basis of the covenant. But like us, he scarcely
considered the enormity of the gap between the theory he knew and the
practice of it in his own heart and living. We too have a tendency to
build up masses of Biblical and spiritual knowledge, and to let the mere
acquisition of it stop us from practicing it. He flouted the explicit
commandments not to get horses from Egypt, not to marry Gentile
women, and not to multiply silver and gold (Dt. 17:17,18
cp. 1 Kings 10:21-29). At the end of his
days, he recognized that although he had loved the
theory of wisdom, the image of a spiritual life, the wisdom of
God had never really impacted his soul: "I said, I will be wise (referring
back to his request for wisdom in 1 Kings 3); but it was far from me"
(Ecc. 7:23). His request for wisdom had only been so that he could do the
job of leading Israel, living out the parental expectation of his
father, whom he admits in Proverbs 4 had taught him to ask for wisdom. In
Prov. 19:12 he speaks as if his own wisdom was like the dew coming down-
as if he felt that the mere possession of wisdom made him the Messiah
figure which his father had so hoped for him to be in Ps. 72:6). And he
says as much in Prov. 29:3: “Whoso loveth wisdom [exactly what Solomon was
commended for doing] rejoiceth his father”. He saw his wisdom and
knowledge as some sort of a reward in themselves: “the prudent are crowned
with knowledge” (Prov. 14:18). This is of course true in a sense, as all
the Proverbs are. But Solomon surely had the idea that he, who was so
renowned for his knowledge, was somehow thereby rewarded by having it.
This assumption by Solomon was likely behind each of the many references
he makes to the value of wisdom and the blessedness of the man who has it.
It is rather like feeling that ‘we have the truth’ because somehow our
correct understanding of doctrines is a reward for our righteousness, and
mere possession of doctrinal truth means that we are acceptable to God.
2Ch 1:10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in
before this people; for who can judge this your people, that is so great?-
I suggest on Ps. 119:169 that David asked for the word of promise that
he would become king to be fulfilled; and in that context he asked for
"wisdom / understanding" in how to rule Israel. And this was likewise the
prayer of Solomon when he became king; but his motives were less than pure
because he was consciously seeking to imitate his father in this request.
Solomon in Proverbs presents wisdom as of great personal benefit, indeed it is "for yourself"; and folly likewise is to your loss. But this presents a somewhat selfish view of wisdom. Solomon had been granted wisdom not for himself, but because he wanted to know how best to rule God's great people. But once he has the wisdom, he becomes exalted by it, and concludes that wisdom is essentially for the personal benefit of those who have it, "you are wise for yourself" (Prov. 9:12). Whatever truths are revealed to us are so that we might use them to the glory of God with others, and not to merely keep them for our own personal benefit.
2Ch 1:11 God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart-
Prayer is largely carried out in the mind – how we
‘speak in the heart’ is effectively read as our prayer to God. We find the
phrase used about how Abraham’s servant prayed, ‘speaking in his heart’
(Gen. 24:45). Thus our self-talk merges into prayer; Hannah’s “prayer”
appears to have been the same (1 Sam. 2:1). Solomon’s prayer for wisdom is
described by God as “in your heart” (2 Chron. 1:11). This close link
between thought and prayer is developed in the Lord’s teaching in Mk.
11:23,24: “Truly I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain,
Be taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but
shall believe that what he says comes to pass; he shall have it. Therefore
I say unto you, All things you pray and ask for, believe that you receive
them, and you shall have them”. Our self-talk is to be fantasy about the
fulfillment of our prayers. Yet how often do we hit ‘send’ on our requests
to God, like scribbling off a postcard, and hardly think again about them?
And you have
not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of those who hate you-
This was in contrast to David, whose imprecatory Psalms certainly ask
for that. And he asked for it at the end of his life, and Solomon
operationalized it for David. So God is being very gracious here in
commending Solomon for not asking for the lives of those who hate him. And
He appears to be indirectly critical of David’s desire for just this.
G
Neither yet have asked long life; but have asked wisdom and knowledge for
yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king-
Prayer is largely carried out in the mind – how we
‘speak in the heart’ is effectively read as our prayer to God. We find the
phrase used about how Abraham’s servant prayed, ‘speaking in his heart’
(Gen. 24:45). Thus our self-talk merges into prayer; Hannah’s “prayer”
appears to have been the same (1 Sam. 2:1). Solomon’s prayer for wisdom is
described by God as “in your heart”. This close link between
thought and prayer is developed in the Lord’s teaching in Mk. 11:23,24:
“Truly I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be taken up
and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe
that what he says comes to pass; he shall have it. Therefore I say unto you,
All things you pray and ask for, believe that you receive them, and you
shall have them”. Our self-talk is to be fantasy about the fulfillment of
our prayers. Yet how often do we hit ‘send’ on our requests to God, like
scribbling off a postcard, and hardly think again about them?
2Ch 1:12 wisdom and knowledge is granted to you-
1 Kings 3:12 "Behold, I have already given you a wise and an
understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you,
neither after you shall any arise like you". Solomon asked God for a wise heart- but he was told that God had already
given him this. The process of educating Solomon in wisdom
would have started long before; but it was released, as it were, by
Solomon’s specific prayer.
I will give you riches, wealth, and honour, such as none of the
kings have had who have been before you; neither shall there any after you
have the like-
"Riches" is s.w. Prov. 14:24 "The crown of the wise is their riches,
but the folly of fools crowns them with folly".
It was Solomon who was the king and wore the ultimate crown in his
society. And he implies that his fantastic riches were a result of his
wisdom, and that his pattern should be followed by others. But he fails to
remember that his desire for wisdom was recognized by God in that He gave
Solomon riches. Those riches were a gift from God, by grace, and not
acquired or generated by his own application of wisdom. He therefore
misused his possession of wisdom and experience of grace to justify
himself, and present himself as a self made man; when he was not that at
all.
2Ch 1:13 So Solomon came from the high place that was at Gibeon, from
before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel-
It seems the elders of Israel (:1,2) came to Jerusalem, and then
travelled with Solomon to Gibeon (:3) and then returned with him from
there to Jerusalem (:13).
2Ch 1:14 Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had one thousand
four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he placed in the
chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem-
1 Kings 4:26 "Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and
twelve thousand horsemen".
Solomon's enthusiasm for Egyptian horses is clearly chronicled (1
Kings 4:26-28), although this was studied disobedience to Dt. 17:16. There
is a powerful point to be made here: we can deceive ourselves that God is
blessing us, when actually we are breaching explicit commands. Would
Solomon had understood the concept of self-examination.
2Ch 1:15 The king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones-
Yet amassing of gold, silver and horses was explicitly forbidden for the
King of Israel (Dt. 17:17). There is a powerful point to be made here: we
can deceive ourselves that God is blessing us, when actually we are
breaching explicit commands. Would Solomon had understood the concept of
self-examination.
2Ch 1:16 The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from
Kue; the king’s merchants purchased them from Kue-
Solomon had obsessive tendencies. We know that he became addicted to
finding pleasure in women, and Ecc. 2 shows him racing down the road of
obsession with architecture, alcohol, food, gold etc. The historical
narratives so often mention his gold and silver (e.g. 2 Chron.
9:13-21,24,27). This repetition reflects Solomon's obsession. The same
fact explains the record's repetition of Solomon's enthusiasm for horses
(1 Kings 10:25-29; 4:26,28; 9:19,22; 2 Chron. 1:14,16,17; 8:6,9;
9:24,25,28). Yet amassing of gold, silver and horses was explicitly
forbidden for the King of Israel (Dt. 17:17). There is a powerful point to
be made here: we can deceive ourselves that God is blessing us, when
actually we are breaching explicit commands. Would Solomon had understood
the concept of self-examination.
Solomon started off as a middleman in the horse trade, buying horses from Egypt and selling them to the Hittite and Syrian kings (2 Chron. 1:16,17; 1 Kings 10:25,29); but he was playing with fire, and he soon came to flout the spirit of the command not to buy horses from Egypt. It’s rather like the brother who works in a video store starting to watch the blue movies which he handles daily. Solomon would have justified it initially by saying that the horses were not for himself; just as we saw he justified his Egyptian wife by the thought that Joseph also married an Egyptian girl.
2Ch 1:17 They brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred pieces of
silver, and a horse for one hundred and fifty. They also brought them out
for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria-
The description of Solomon's trading with Egypt is described with an
unusual phrase- he brought forth chariots and horses out of Egypt by his
hand (1 Kings 10:29). But the Hebrew phrase 'to bring forth by the hand' is
used so very often to described how God's might hand brought forth His
people from Egypt- destroying the horses and chariots of Egypt in the
process (Ex. 7:4,5; 13:3,14,16; 14:8; 32:11 and so often). This is such a
major theme in Biblical history that the inspired choice of words is surely
intentional and allusive in 1 Kings 10:29- for Solomon did the very opposite
to what God did for His people. Solomon's hand brought forth and glorified
the chariots and horses of Egypt, bringing them all the way from Egypt to
Canaan. Solomon is thus being subtly set up as an anti-God figure- although
apparently, all was well, the promises of blessing were being fulfilled etc.
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