Ryken King Solomon

The Temptations of Money, Sex, and Power
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4335-2168-3
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 256 Seiten

Though the world's wisest king, Solomon's heart was led astray by temptations of wealth, sex, and power. And we face the same dangers today, though the temptations may be different in degree and detail.  Author Philip Ryken writes, 'In witnessing Solomon's moral triumphs and sinful failures we learn how to live more wisely. By the grace of God, we may avoid a tragic downfall of our own and learn how to use money, sex, and power for the glory of God.' Tracing Solomon's life from coronation to burial-and from godly devotion to self-serving excess-Ryken shows readers how to avoid similar downfalls and seek God's glory amid earthly temptations. These thirteen chapters are pastoral, rich in application, and biblically faithful. This overview of Solomon's life also includes a study guide, making it a great resource for both personal and group use. 

Philip Graham Ryken (DPhil, University of Oxford) is the eighth president of Wheaton College. He preached at Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church from 1995 until his appointment at Wheaton in 2010. Ryken has published more than fifty books, including When Trouble Comes and expository commentaries on Exodus, Ecclesiastes, and Jeremiah. He serves as a board member for the Gospel Coalition and the Lausanne Movement.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ryken, Philip Graham

Leseproben

LONG LIVE
THE KING !

1 K I N G S 1 : 3 3 – 3 4

The story of King Solomon begins with King David, who “was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm” (1 Kings 1:1). For anyone who admires King David, this scene is full of pathos. David was among the greatest of earthly kings—maybe the greatest. From boyhood he performed many heroic feats in battle. He killed lions and bears to defend his father’s flocks and herds. He slew giants. He conquered kingdoms. He established a fortress for his people in Jerusalem. He sired a royal dynasty, fathering many sons to be the princes of Israel, including Prince Solomon. But now the famous king was old and gray, and for all his former greatness, it was all he could do to stay warm in bed (or should I say deathbed?).

OLD KING DAVID

David’s feeble decline is a sad reminder of our own frailty. The king was about seventy years old when these events took place. What happened to him will happen to (almost) all of us. Our hearing will fail; our eyesight will grow dim; our limbs will get weak and brittle. Eventually we will be confined to bed, and maybe we will find it hard to stay warm. How important it is, therefore, for everyone to heed the counsel that Solomon later gave, in the days of his wisdom: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’” (Eccles. 12:1). If, like David, we give our hearts to God when we are young, we will still remember him when we are old, and he will remember us.

Poor David! As he tried to get warm, his servants tried to help. They put him in warmer pajamas, but the king was still cold. Then they piled heavy blankets on his royal person, but still he shivered under the covers. So they proposed a practical remedy—one mentioned in several ancient medical textbooks:1

His servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms, that my lord the king may be warm.” So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not. (1 Kings 1:2–4)

Abishag’s employment as a kind of human hot water bottle raises more questions than it answers. Were David’s servants simply trying to keep him warm? If so, then why did they conduct a Miss Israel pageant to find the prettiest young thing in the whole country? The situation seems charged with sexuality, and even though we are told that David did not have sexual relations with this woman, there is a lingering sense of impropriety.

We also sense that the king is diminished. This is hardly the David who knew Bathsheba—the David who fathered Solomon and many other sons. Not even a stunning young virgin can warm his blood. On the contrary, he has suffered the loss of vitality and virility.

As David’s kingship came to an end, his royal court was full of intrigue. The courtiers were whispering in the passageways: “Who will be the next king?” This question had been on people’s minds for years, much the way that people have speculated about who will succeed England’s Elizabeth II. In fact, there had already been at least two attempts to take the throne away from David: the rebellion of his son Absalom, which led to civil war (2 Samuel 14–18), and the uprising of Sheba the Benjamite (2 Samuel 20). David was able to quell both of those rebellions, but as he grew older he also grew weaker. Now he couldn’t even get warm in bed, and what one scholar has described as “his shivering impotence” was creating a power vacuum.2

As far as God was concerned, David’s rightful heir was supposed to be Solomon. Although Solomon was not the oldest son—he was tenth in line—he was the chosen son. God does not always choose the oldest son, as David’s own coronation illustrates (1 Sam. 16:10–13). We know that the word of the Lord had announced to David that Solomon would be the king: “Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever” (1 Chron. 22:9–10). By divine right, Solomon would be Israel’s king.

There was another contender for the kingship, however—an alternative candidate to sit on Israel’s throne. Most people saw him as the heir apparent. His name was Adonijah, and he seemed to be everything that David used to be but wasn’t anymore. The Bible describes him as “a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom” (1 Kings 1:6). Humanly speaking, Adonijah had everything going for him. He had all the qualifications that people look for. Like his older brother Absalom (an ominous connection), he was easy on the eyes, which counts for a lot in life—more than we sometimes like to admit. As far as kingship was concerned, Adonijah looked the part (at least to people who look at outward appearances, which God doesn’t; 1 Sam. 16:7). Furthermore, as David’s oldest living son, Adonijah was next in line for the throne.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR A CORONATION

According to ancient custom, the death of a ruler is greeted with the following words: “The king is dead; long live the king!” This may seem like a contradictory thing to say. If the king is dead, then what use is there in wishing him long life? But the point is that the kingdom will endure. Even though one king is dead, another king lives to take his place. The kingship will survive, and therefore people who hope for the continuity of the monarchy say, “The king is dead. Long live the king!”

This custom helps to explain what Queen Bathsheba said to King David, as she sought to secure the throne for Solomon as Israel’s rightful king. The old king was having trouble getting warm, so everyone thought he was on his deathbed. His oldest son, Adonijah, had gone so far as to proclaim himself the next king (1 Kings 1:5–10). Meanwhile, the prophet Nathan had been doing everything he could do to secure the throne for Solomon, whom God had promised would sit on David’s throne. Together Nathan and Bathsheba went to inform David what was happening to his kingdom and to persuade him to crown Solomon as king. Once he had promised to do this, “Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, ‘May my lord King David live forever!’” (v. 31).

Under the circumstances, this may seem like a strange thing to say. The very reason David and Bathsheba were having this conversation was that they both knew that the king wouldn’t live forever; he was about to die. So why did she say this? Bathsheba still hoped in the promise of David’s everlasting kingdom. The king still lives and so does his dynasty, to the everlasting joy of all the people of God.

David may have been dying, but he was not dead yet. As soon as he finished his audience with Bathsheba, he started giving orders. There was not a moment to lose. In trying to usurp the throne, Adonijah had already announced that he would be king. David knew that it was now or never: if he did not act immediately and decisively to put Solomon on the throne, his son would never become king.

So the king resumed command. He said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada” (v. 32). This was a shrewd and godly maneuver. David was calling together the prophet, the priest, and the representative of the king. Adonijah had not consulted any of these men, but David did, and in doing so he united his kingdom under the rule of God, who had appointed them to serve as the rulers of Israel. Then David gave the orders for Solomon’s coronation. Here were his royal instructions:

Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the trumpet and say, “Long live King Solomon!” You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. (vv. 33–35)

We can tell that the king was used to giving orders and that he knew exactly what to do. First Solomon would ride on David’s personal mule—the royal mule, the one that signified his kingship. Riding a mule or donkey was an ancient symbol of royal office. By comparison, seeing Solomon riding a mule would be like seeing the Queen of England in her royal carriage or watching Air Force One take off with the president of the United States.3 The king was on parade in all his royal dignity.

Then Solomon would be anointed—the sacred ritual that officially consecrated him as the next king. This was in keeping with the will of God, who, as we have seen, had promised that Solomon would rule on David’s throne. Anointing was also a custom; Israel’s first two kings—Saul and David—had both...