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Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 4; 1 Kings 5
In this message we will continue to consider the reign of Solomon.
First Kings 4:1-19 describes the organization of Solomon's governmental administration.
The officials included the priest, the scribes, the recorder, the captain over the army, the high priests, the overseer of the superintendents, the principal officer, the head of the household service, and the head of the forced labor (vv. 2-6).
Solomon had twelve superintendents over all Israel (vv. 7-19). Each provided food for the king and his house for one month of the year (v. 7). Two among them were the sons-in-law of Solomon (vv. 11, 15).
In 4:20—5:18 we have an account of Solomon's prosperity under the rich blessing of God. Solomon's splendid kingdom was a type of Christ's kingdom in the millennium. During the millennium all the nations will come to Christ.
His people Judah and Israel were increasing and enjoying a life of peace, riches, and pleasure. Verse 20 tells us that Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is by the sea in multitude, eating, drinking, and rejoicing. Verse 25 goes on to say that throughout Solomon's days Judah and Israel dwelt securely, "every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beer-sheba."
Solomon's dominion extended from the great river Euphrates to the land of the Philistines (at the seashore of the Mediterranean) and to the border of Egypt as the fulfillment of the promise of God to His elect Israel (Gen. 15:18; Exo. 23:31; Deut. 11:24), and all the nations brought tribute to him (1 Kings 4:21, 24). This was a positive factor for the people to regard Solomon and accept him.
The twelve tribes of Israel provided the daily necessities of Solomon and his vast family (vv. 22-23, 27-28). This family included Solomon's one thousand wives and concubines with all their dependents. Eventually the requirement to provide these daily necessities became a factor in the people's rejection of Solomon, a "kingly robber." Solomon lost the kingdom partly due to his indulgence in lust and idol worship and partly because the people were burdened by the need to provide for Solomon's vast family.
Solomon's army included 40,000 horses for his chariots and 12,000 cavalrymen (v. 26).
In verses 29 through 34 we see that Solomon's God-given wisdom made him great in the world in his days. God gave him very much understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand on the seashore (v. 29). Solomon, therefore, had a large heart. According to verses 30 and 31 his wisdom surpassed that of all the wise men of the east and of Egypt, including Ethan (Psa. 89 title) and Heman (Psa. 88 title), the Ezrahites. In his wisdom Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32). Furthermore, he discoursed about trees, from the largest, the cedar in Lebanon, to the smallest, the hyssop out of the wall; he discoursed also about animals, birds, creeping things, and fish (v. 33). From all the peoples men came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and from all the kings who had heard of his wisdom (v. 34).
Solomon's wisdom was absolutely in the physical realm, without any spiritual element. His wisdom was altogether different from the wisdom of Paul. Paul's wisdom was a spiritual wisdom concerning Christ making His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:17), our walking and having our being according to the spirit (Rom. 8:4), and the two spirits — the divine Spirit and the human spirit (v. 16). Today, God the Spirit is the all-inclusive Spirit, the compound Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, the indwelling Spirit, the anointing Spirit, the revealing Spirit, and the consummated Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God.
First Kings 5:1-18 tells us that Solomon received aid from a Gentile king, Hiram of Tyre, through an alliance according to a treaty.
Solomon was provided with cedar timber and cypress timber by Hiram for the building of God's temple (vv. 1-12). Hiram offered this aid because of Solomon's God-given wisdom (vv. 7, 12). Solomon paid for Hiram's laborers and sent his laborers to help Hiram (vv. 6, 11).
Solomon was helped by Hiram also in preparing great and costly stones for the building of the temple (vv. 13-18). Solomon sent 30,000 levied forced laborers, 70,000 burden bearers, 80,000 stonecutters, and 3,300 chief officers to cooperate with Hiram's builders. The Gebalites (a people in the territory of Lebanon) participated in the preparation of the timber and the stones (v. 18).
We should not overly appreciate Solomon's glory. The Lord Jesus said of the lilies of the field, "I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these" (Matt. 6:29), and Peter said, "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass has withered, and the flower has fallen off" (1 Pet. 1:24). Solomon himself eventually admitted that what he had and did was vanity of vanities (Eccl. 1:2).
In order that we may have the proper appreciation of Solomon, I would like to point out that the Bible is composed of two sections. The first section, the Old Testament, contains types, shadows, and figures. The reality of the types, shadows, and figures is in the second section, the New Testament. Solomon's wisdom was a shadow of the real wisdom which was to come.
In the transition period between these two sections, the Lord Jesus said, "Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he" (Matt. 11:11). John the Baptist, a pioneer of the New Testament age, was greater than Solomon, but as New Testament believers we are greater still. This means that, in God's economy, we are greater than Solomon. No matter how much God did for Solomon and how much He gave him, Solomon did not have God Himself wrought into him. But we have God in Christ wrought into us that we might be the same as God in life and in nature. We may not have what Solomon had outwardly as a type, but within us there is a reality — the very God in Christ who has wrought Himself into our being. We may regard ourselves as insignificant, but we have God in Christ wrought into us. As those who have been born of God to be God's children, God's kind, members of God's family, we have become God in life and in nature (but not in the Godhead). We were born into mankind, but we have been regenerated, transformed, and uplifted to be another kind. We are not just men in the new creation; we are God-men.
At the time of Matthew 11, the disciples could not have fully understood the Lord's word concerning John the Baptist. Later He told them that the Spirit of reality would come and disclose all things to them (John 16:12-15). The mysteries of God's economy were disclosed mainly to Paul (Eph. 3:3-5). This is why the writings of Paul occupy such a large part of the New Testament. Today, if we would know the highest wisdom in the universe, we must come to Paul's Epistles. We must get into the intrinsic significance of the revelation of the Bible, especially the crystallization of the truths in Paul's Epistles. The real wisdom is God, and God is embodied in Christ, who has become our wisdom to be in us (1 Cor. 1:24, 30), making us one with God and making us God in life and in nature. What a wisdom this is!
