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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 321. The Wise King
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The Wise King
1. Nothing is known of Solomon's youth, unless it be that he was brought up by Nathan and that, after the death of the two eldest and best beloved of David's earlier sons, Amnon and Absalom, he must have been regarded as the heir. He was Bathsheba's favourite son, tender and only beloved in the sight of his mother; and Bathsheba, we cannot doubt, was David's favourite wife, and to her David had pledged her son's accession by a solemn and separate oath. But another son, in point of age, came next after Absalom-Adonijah, the son of Haggith. Indeed, Adonijah regarded himself as his father's successor, and even allowed himself to go so far as to assert the rights of that position openly, as Absalom had done. As Absalom had won over Ahithophel, so he won over the two chief among the old advisers of the king, each of whom probably had his own cause of quarrel. The other princes, his brothers, also joined him.
But on the other side was Bathsheba supported by Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, the captain of the guard. Nathan, with Bathsheba, succeeded in rousing the languid energies of the aged king, who threw the whole weight of his great name into the scale of Solomon, and advised the course to be pursued. The boy prince was by his order conducted on the king's own mule to Gihon, a sacred spring near Jerusalem, anointed by Zadok and Nathan, proclaimed king, and formally installed on the throne. The joyful acclamations of the people and the blast of the trumpets reached the ears of the conspirators at Adonijah's feast at En-rogel, not far off. There was barely time to ask what the cause was when word was brought by Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, of what had happened-Solomon was king. The only chance for Adonijah was to take refuge at the altar, holding to the horns of which he implored his more fortunate brother for his bare life. He professed allegiance to his brother, and was allowed to live.
2. The opening acts of Solomon's reign were certainly ominous. Apparently he did not consider his throne secure till he had removed out of the way the enemies of his house, and those who had opposed his elevation to the throne. Solomon had already promised his brother Adonijah his life on condition of his future loyalty; but a king's suspicions are easily aroused. Adonijah presumed to seek the hand of Abishag the Shunammite-the young wife who had been given to David in his old age. But, as the entire harem of David was regarded as the peculiar property of his successor on the throne, the aspirant proceeded warily, and sought the good offices of the queen-mother, Bathsheba. Having no suspicion of Adonijah's good faith, Bathsheba put his suit before her royal son. But instead of acceding to the request, Solomon's indignation broke loose; he imagined that treachery was in the air, and, though he had promised to grant Bathsheba whatever she might request, he immediately declared that Adonijah was aspiring to the throne. Without endeavouring to verify his suspicions, he sent and had his brother put to death by Benaiah, the captain of his bodyguard. He then proceeded to take similar vengeance on Adonijah's partisans, Joab and Abiathar, both of whom had taken part in the assembly at En-rogel. A similar fate befell Shimei, whose death was justified in the same way. Hereupon, the historian concludes, “the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”
A different complexion would be given to these dark deeds could we assume that the narrative of David's last charge to his son in the second chapter of 1 Kings is authentic. But the historical probability is in favour of David's entire innocence. Solomon acted on his own initiative with reference to Joab and Abiathar, no less than in the case of Adonijah. We can scarcely resist the impression that Solomon was acting according to the usual custom of Oriental despots. But a careful consideration of the circumstances will reveal the fact that all the men whom Solomon executed richly deserved their fate for their crimes, apart from their dangerous and seditious characters. Thus did Solomon, though only a youth, show a strong hand at the very outset of his government, and give proof of his ability to reign over the people. By these means also he at the very outset secured internal peace for his country.
3. After his coronation, Solomon repaired to “the great high place” of Gibeon, where the Tabernacle of the Congregation was located, and, taking his stand before the brazen altar, which Bezalel had constructed more than 450 years before his reign began, he offered a thousand animals as a sacrifice to God. The succeeding night was spent in Gibeon, and it was there that the Lord revealed Himself to the young king in one of those prophetic dreams which had already been the means of Divine communication in the time of Samuel. Thrice in Solomon's life-at the three epochs of his rise, of his climax, of his fall-is such a warning recorded. This was the first. It was the choice offered to the youthful king on the threshold of life-the choice, so often imagined in fiction, and actually presented in real life-“Ask what I shall give thee.”
Solomon's answer has been regarded as ideal and perfect. Not dazzled by the glory of his position, he saw clearly the magnitude of his task, and was humbled and self-distrustful. Gratefully reminding God of His goodness to David his father during his reign, and this further honour after his death, that a son of his was set upon the throne, he declared that the Divine credit was involved in the success of the dynasty. “And I,” he pleads, “am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” The request of wisdom “to judge this thy so great a people” so pleased Jehovah that He added to the gift of wisdom the riches and honour which Solomon had not asked.
This incident, standing on the threshold of his career, is perhaps the greatest in his life, not excepting the opening of the gorgeous Temple. High thoughts surged through the mind of the young king, humbling and inspiring him. The heavenly light afterwards faded into the light of common day. The glory of his great resolve died out of his soul; but never was he a truer man than then,-
When on the glimmering limit far withdrawn,
God made Himself an awful rose of dawn.
4. From the height of Gibeon, the king returned to complete the festival of his accession before the other monument of the Mosaic religion-the ark at Jerusalem. It was in the midst of these sacrificial solemnities that his gift of judicial insight was first publicly attested in the incident known as the judgment of Solomon-his judgment on the rival mothers claiming the child. Here we see a marvellously acute judicial instinct, a knowledge of human nature, and skill to use it, serving not only to gain the admiring dread of his own people but also to establish his place and fame among the nations of the earth and their rulers. The progress of his reign seemed one stately march of peaceful triumph. His policy was dictated by the most obvious principles of practical sense. It was, in a word, to nationalize Israel, substituting for the half-outgrown tribal organization and nomadic institutions the fixed and stable relations of agricultural and commercial peoples. It was a policy of organizing, building, fortifying, of establishing firm control within and advantageous alliance for commerce and defence without. Israel owed to Solomon's consistent adherence to this well-chosen policy some forty years of peaceful development during the critical period of transition from tribal to national existence. Solomon had influence more or less complete from the borders of Egypt to the banks of the Euphrates. Races and kingdoms on his borders submitted themselves to him, paid him tribute, or propitiated him by presents. He seems to have had command of the caravan routes by which the valuable trade of India reached the west. The great maritime commercial cities of Tyre and Sidon found it to their interest to be on good terms with him. He was able to build Tadmor on an oasis in the desert between Palestine and the Euphrates. The Pharaoh of Egypt was to give him his daughter in marriage. All this proves the prosperous condition of the Israelites at the period, and we are told (1Ki_4:25) that “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.”
Carlyle's mind had been formed in his father's house upon the Old Testament and the Presbyterian creed, and, far as he had wandered and deeply as he had read, the original lesson had remained indelible. To the Scotch people and to the Puritan part of the English, the Jewish history contained a faithful account of the dealings of God with man in all countries and in all ages. As long as men kept God's commandments it was well with them: when they forgot God's commandments and followed after wealth and enjoyment, the wrath of God fell upon them. Commerce, manufactures, intellectual enlightenment, political liberty, outward pretences of religiosity, all that modern nations mean when they speak of wealth and progress and improvement, were but Moloch or Astarte in a new disguise, and now as then it was impossible to serve God and Baal. In some form or other retribution would come, wherever the hearts of men were set on material prosperity.1 [Note: J. A. Froude, Thomas Carlyle, 1834-1881, i. 12.]