The tragedy of King Solomon the wise

Did you ever hear the tragedy of King Solomon the wise?

It's not a story chapter and verse division would tell you...

(Video from Star Wars Episode 3)

As we've been reading through the story of Samuel, David, and now Solomon, I'm once again convicted to share about one of the tragic realities of modern versification of ancient texts.

When a method of organization is applied to something that wasn't originally intended, there can sometimes be positive consequences, and sometimes be negative consequences.

1. A loss of rhythm

1 Kings chapter 10 and 11 is the perfect example of this. In 1 Kings 10 we read the story of the wealthy, inquisitive Queen of Sheba who came to visit King Solomon. The story eventually transitions into the account of Solomon's downfall (what is popularly regarded as chapter 11). A few of the more popular contemporary English translations include a paragraph description of each of these sections. Here are the section "headers" or "descriptions" from each respective translation:

NIV:

1 Kings 10:1-13 The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

1 Kings 10:14-29 Solomon’s Splendor

1 Kings 11:1-13 Solomon's Wives

1 Kings 11:14-25 Solomon's Adversaries

1 Kings 11:26-40 Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon

1 Kings 11:41-43 Solomon's Death

ESV:

1 Kings 10:1-13 The Queen of Sheba

1 Kings 10:14-29 Solomon's Great Wealth

1 Kings 11:1-8 Solomon Turns from the Lord

1 Kings 11:9-43 The Lord Raises Adversaries

NKJV

1 Kings 10:1-13 The Queen of Sheba’s Praise of Solomon

1 Kings 10:14-29 Solomon’s Great Wealth

1 Kings 11:1-13 Solomon’s Heart Turns from the Lord

1 Kings 11:14-25 Adversaries of Solomon

1 Kings 11:26-40 Jeroboam’s Rebellion

1 Kings 11:41-43 Death of Solomon

What gets lost in all the chapter and versification is the sense of rhythm to this story. By reading each of these stories as separate instances or distinct accounts the organization (through chapter and verse) actually teaches something in itself. Whether this teaching is original or true to the divine intent of the passage is something that must be evaluated on a case by case basis.

I'll share my recommendation on how to read the story of Solomon's life will come down below at the bottom of this piece.

What I'm not saying: I'm not saying that chapters and verses are evil in themselves or ought to be removed from our bibles.

What I am saying: In some instances chapter and verse ought to be ignored for the purpose of further reading and continuation of a story or original flow that was intended by the author and has been preserved by Divine oversight.

2. A loss of meaning

When we lose the rhythm (flow) of a passage, we may miss out on repeated words, phrases, or themes that are central to the story. These central parts of the story, that should stand out like a sore thumb are simply glanced over as boring repetition or interesting anecdotes, rather than central pillars of the passage.

One example of this in the story of Solomon is the word for Gold (זָהָב) throughout the life of Solomon. The word first shows up in 1 Kings 6:20 in describing the overlay decorations of the temple. The word then continues to show up throughout the description of the temple, 11 times the word appears during the description of the temple (1 Kings 6:20-7:51).

We then continue to see the prevalence of gold throughout the Kingdom of Solomon. The queen of Sheba gives King Solomon 120 talents of gold (1 Talent is measured about 75 pounds, talents were the largest unit of measurement in the OT Hebrew economic system). This translates to about 9,000 pounds of gold.

We read in 1 Kings 9:26 that King Solomon had pirate fleets that raided with his friend Hiram king of Tyre that went on a voyage that returned with 420 talents of gold (About 31,000 pounds of gold). This is again affirmed in 1 Kings 10:21-23 as a round trip rotation of 3 years is described with merchants from many lands bringing tribute.

We read in 1 Kings 10:14-15 that annually King Solomon’s kingdom brought in tribute of 666 talents of gold in addition to the income from traveling merchants, traders, kings of Arabia, and governors.

Now, in light of all this golden gilded glossary of wealth, let’s read together from Deuteronomy 17:14-17.

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

(emphasis mine)

Just with this one example, we begin to see that 1 Kings isn’t just set about to record an account of all the splendor and majestic wealth of Solomon. 1 Kings is systematically informing us about the choices that King Solomon is making and how those choices are contrary to God’s desires for the Kings of his people.

Not convinced? Let’s go a bit further.

Deuteronomy 17:16

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”

(emphasis mine)

Compared with the story of Solomon:

1 Kings 10:26-29

And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland. Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price. Now a chariot that was imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty; and thus, through their agents, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

(emphasis mine)

As we read and keep the rhythm of a passage we also gain understanding in the meaning. Instead of reading a long list of personal accolades, 1 Kings 9-11 reads like a tragic, systematic, all encompassing self absorption that pushes God’s word and God’s desires to the curbside.

One last nail in the coffin from Deuteronomy 17:17

He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

(emphasis mine)

Compared with 1 Kings 11:3-6

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David.

Solomon breaks away from God’s commands for the Kings in Deuteronomy 17 on at least 3 explicit accounts -

1. Massive accumulation of personal wealth
2. Gathering Horses & Chariots from Egypt
3. Massively Multiplied marital unfaithfulness

But when we truncate scripture, refuse to see stories being told in light of other passages, or only let our eyes read a few verses here or there, we miss so much of the meaning poured into the Word by the Holy Spirit. We begin to admire Solomon for his great wealth, leadership, and rule, rather than admire the God who provided for Solomon, and was faithful to his people, even when Solomon was not.

3. A loss of continuity

We all too often today read our bibles (I'm guilty of this!) for the completion of a chapter, or through a "header" or "description" section. This breaks up the natural continuity of what was (especially in Old Testament circumstances) an oral story that has a beginning, middle, and end. Imagine applying this same type of logic to another of your favorite reads! Imagine stopping in the middle of a chapter, or right at the pivotal moment of a stories ascent? Imagine the depth, richness, and enjoyment of the story you'd miss out on!

An example, the phrase "Did evil in the sight of the Lord" (וַיַּעַשׂ שְׁלֹמֹה הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה) occurs repeatedly throughout the book of Judges, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and 2 Chronicles to summarize a King's legacy as not pleasing to God. The phrase first makes its appearance in describing Kings when describing Solomon in 1 Kings 11:6. This is a repeated phrase throughout the book of 1 and 2 Kings, and if a reader misses out on this, the continuity of the phrase gets lost. 

Let me put this forward by way of analogy. Have you ever gone to see a movie in a theater, purchased your ticket, snacks, drink, and begun enjoying the movie, only to have to use the restroom during the movie? (This happened to me often during my 9 movie viewings of Fellowship of the ring back in 2001, I learned when to get up and use the restroom). When you come back from the restroom, maybe the movie is now in a different part of the story, a different scene is on the screen, a different character is speaking, and you're left asking your fellow movie attending friends "what'd I miss?".

Do we want to miss out on the stories as they were originally meant to be told? Do we want to boil the scriptures down to truncated-twitterable-nuggets of self improvement? Do we want to gloss over details that the authors of the OT and NT left for our souls to feast on and learn from?

My recommendation on reading about Solomon in 1 Kings:

First Reading: Read Deuteronomy 17:14-20.

This will explicitly outline the laws, duties, and requirements for the King that God set before his people Israel during the time of Moses. Hundreds of years before the birth of Saul, David or Solomon, these statutes were given to direct and govern the monarchy that would rule over the established Kingdom of Israel.

Second Reading: Read 1 Kings 1:1 through 1 Kings 9:9.

This will take you through the story of Solomon's ascent to the throne of Israel, the building of the temple and palace in Jerusalem, and both God's appearances to Solomon.

Third Reading: Re-read Deuteronomy 17:14-20.

This will keep fresh in your mind all the things the King was to do, and was NOT to do as you read the remainder of Solomon's days.

Fourth Reading: Read 1 Kings 9:10 through 1 Kings 12:33.

This will take you through the downfall of Solomon which leads to the breakout of war within the midst of God's people. There are certainly a great many lessons which can be learned from reading these passages. One of these lessons that I've taken away from studying the life of Solomon in this way, is that beyond the personal moral failings of the first kings (Saul, David, Solomon), there is a general pattern. When leadership fails to follow the Lord, the followers of that leadership experience great turmoil.

I would be quite the hypocrite if I didn’t once again admit, chapter and verse can be quite helpful. Chapter and verse help In regards to citation, for following along with someone else reading, or from picking up where we leave off in our daily reading of the scriptures. My warning is to not lose sight of what is scripture, vs what is a sometimes helpful, sometimes harmful organizational tool. Not every problem in life requires the same tool for repair, and so too with chapter and verse, not every chapter division, verse division, or section description is helpful, inspired, or good.

I encourage you to read a verse or two beyond each chapter to see if the story you were reading about continues, shifts, or was wrapped up. You may inadvertently discover with fresh eyes a joy in reading the scriptures.