2 Sam 24 – David’s Weakness

1 Kings 1 – Proves himself a worthy man

1 Kings 2 – Prove yourself a man: Shall be established before the Lord forever

1 Kings 3 – Except that, but that, I am a little child

1 Kings 4 – As the sand by the sea

1 Kings 5 – He rejoiced Greatly

1 Kings 6 – Seven Years

 

A while back I started reading the Bible from the start a chapter a day. It has been a great experience and I have learned more than I thought I would. However, I noticed that my reading was maybe not the best outcome. My new idea was to pull out the major points from each chapter. And then the second idea was to write about this as well. Since the goal of my writing is to better retain what I read, I knew I had to include this aspect of reading in my routine writing.

I had this idea on the last chapter of Samuel and so this is where I start. From this chapter I latched on to the fact of David’s weakness. Not just in old age and nearing death, but in all his life. Yes, he slew the giant and conquered his enemies, but he made a ton of missteps along the way and suffered the consequences. But in his weakness, we learn that God forgives, that God can impact the consequences, and that it is in the striving that we become more like David, seeking after God’s own heart with our weakness coming along with us.

In the first chapter of Kings, Solomon conditions his promise not to kill his brother, only if he proves himself a worthy man, which of course he did not. In the second chapter, at least in one translation, there was again the concept of proving oneself a man. In this context, I understand the term man to represent the same concept as we used to think of gentleman: Someone who does right because it is right, and they are above the fray. In the world, but not of the world.

Also, from the second chapter of Kings, we see the phrase “Shall be established before the Lord forever”. The idea is that the Jews will last forever, and that David’s offspring will be the leaders forever. We see repeatedly that these promises are conditional, and that “man” cannot hold up his end of the bargain. A pessimistic opinion would be that God made the promises knowing they would never be fulfilled. However, the promises are spiritual and not physical in nature, and Christ will forever be King of the Jews even when they are all in heaven or hell eternally.

Solomon asks God for wisdom, comparing himself to a little child. Solomon was old enough to have seen the turmoil in his father’s house and mature enough to know that if even his wise old God-fearing dad could not control his own family, then how could Solomon rule every land his father had won? He had to have some wisdom to ask for more.

I found it interesting that in Kings chapter 4 (Yes, I know I am dropping the reference to First Kings), the people of Israel are numbered as the sand by the sea. This would then be fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. I do not remember seeing this ever before, but I spent a good moment finding the exact phrase in Genesis. I do not know how many Jews there were at the time, but I know there were less than the number of grains of sand by any sea I ever knew of. So, I had always taken this phrase as literal. Maybe it was not meant to be literal. Interesting how our paradigms are set at a point in time and do not change without thinking about them.

The phrase from chapter 5 comes from a neighbor of Solomon’s who is happy that he will never have to worry about fighting with Solomon. I cannot grasp the value of the trade agreement that brought peace, but I understand how he could be pleased enough to praise someone else’s God. I bring out of this a feel for the need to be cautious that we only bring glory to God and do not accidentally attribute His work with that of some lifeless statue that someone else worships. Other religions can have people that present a positive to the world, but we must live knowing Christ is the only way.

Seven years is how long it took to build the temple. Can you imagine the outcome if the entire country of the United States took seven years to build something wonderful? That is how grand Solomon’s temple was. He was the richest king, and he used the vast resources at his disposal to build the temple. I often wonder at the level of effort people have spent throughout history on places of worship. All the Christian cathedrals across Europe are wonderful, and many can be marveled at today. But I always come back to the good that could have been done with those funds and that effort. A gigantic football stadium is great for the 100,000 people who show up six times a year, but maybe a little could go towards making some dorm rooms young ladies actually want to live in.

My take away from all this is that good is only good. Better is the goal and when we settle for less than Holy, we are in effect denying God. Today is the day to shoot for the better outcome and let God provide the success for His glory.