David’s
concluding psalm is titled “A Psalm for Solomon” which could be understood as
David’s wishes and hopes for his son but knowing of David’s prophetic streak
Psalm 72 presents Solomon as a type of Christ. Consider the following verses to
this end:
·
He shall judge thy
people with righteousness…(v 2)
·
He shall judge the
poor of the people and break in pieces the oppressor (v 4)
·
In his days shall the
righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth (v 7)
·
He shall have dominion
from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth (v 8)
·
Yea, all kings shall
fall down before him: all nations shall serve him (v 11)
·
His name shall endure
for ever…men shall be blessed in him and all nations shall call him blessed (v
17)
·
Blessed be the Lord
God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things (v 18)
I was
surprised when I read this psalm. I would have never made Solomon a type of
Christ. Whereas his father was a disappointment in the case of adultery and
murder, Solomon, in my mind, was worse because he abandoned the worship of the
God who gave him so much wealth and stature in the world. Solomon reigned over
Israel in extravagance and grandeur which lasted for 40 years. This is all it
took to destroy Israel's course forever.
David went
to his grave worshipping the God of Israel with full contrition, a broken heart
and a contrite spirit. Solomon, on the other hand turned his back on Jehovah by
turning his heart to idolatry. His foolishness exceeded all his wisdom. Whereas
he might have started as a type of Christ judging by the abovementioned
scriptures, he went against all that typified him in such a light and concluded
his life as a failure…..and this despite the warning.
Following the dedication of Solomon's temple, the Lord
appeared to Solomon for the second time and acknowledging the dedicatory
prayer, accepted the temple which Solomon dedicated to Him. At the same time,
however, he issued a grave and serious warning to the king of Israel. He warned
Solomon that if he and his children do not keep his commandments and if they go
and serve other gods and worship them, that He will cut off Israel out of the
land which He had given them, that He will destroy the temple which was built,
and 'Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people' (1 Kings
9:6,7). It’s beyond my understanding how he could ignore this warning.
It is interesting to me that the Lord appeared to Solomon
for the first time following Solomon's marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of
Egypt. This alliance was the greatest act of Solomon's foolishness and the
beginning of his downfall. It was then, nevertheless, that the Lord was willing
to give him the gift of wisdom (1 Kings 3:5,9-13). I don’t know if Solomon came
to believe at this point that God gave him licence to do whatever he wanted
because he proceeded to marry many idolatrous women out of the covenant. That,
in itself, was problematic, but the many political alliances signalled that he
had more faith in them than in God who was willing to fight and win Israel's
battles.
One cannot but think that Solomon used his wisdom to judge other
people in righteousness but not himself…..it’s like he had no common sense. You
might say he was beginning to lose the plot.
God who knows all things from beginning to the end knew
that Solomon was heading in the direction he should not want to go. So why make
the promise of wisdom and wealth and honour if it was going to be all wasted in
the end? I suspect it was more of a punishment than a blessing for Solomon's
fall was proportionate to his greatness. Marrying foreign women who led him and
all Israel into idolatry aborted his ability to endure to the end and changed
the course of Israel's history. From that point on, the history of Israel was a
losing battle fought by prophets against the forces of disloyalty to God.
If we can see the foolishness of people of old but not our
own, we should not get too comfortable. President Spencer W. Kimball gave a
warning to modern Israel regarding idolatry:
“ As I study ancient scripture, I am more and more
convinced that there is significance in the fact that the commandment “Thou
shalt have no other gods before me” is the first of the Ten Commandments. Few
men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his
blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of
faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more
immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to
material things.
“Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the
power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the
“arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood and
stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know (Daniel 5:23) – that is, in idols.
This I find to be a dominant theme in the Old Testament. Whatever thing a man
sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn’t also
happen to be the true and living God of Israel; that man is labouring in
idolatry.” (“The False Gods We Worship”,
p 4)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
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