Wednesday Bible Study: All the Kings, men part 10

 

My intent with this series has never been to look at these men the same way as before.  And this week, I have found, to me, God has led me to a chilling example of this.  I want to look at the people Solomon dealt with in light of something seemingly unrelated- with the idea that the unity of Old and New Testament is so complete, it is bound together in ways you might never see.  I am going to show you today the bonds between the early story of Solomon and the Seven Churches of Revelation.

First Church: Ephesus/Abiathar

Rev 2:4  But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 

Abiathar, you remember from last week, was the sole remaining priest of those that Saul slaughtered.  But, in the end, while he had been loyal to David all his life, at the end he worked to put Adonijah, not Solomon, on the throne.He was obedient- but it was an incomplete obedience.  And as a result:

1Ki 2:26  And to Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you shared in all my father's affliction."
1Ki 2:27  So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

"Expelled from being a priest..." "...Remove your lampstand..." Incomplete obedience for us might entail removal from us of a ministry, the inability to earn a Crown in the next life.  The finger points at me.

Second Church: Smyrna/the child's mother

Rev 2:9  "'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10  Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

You know the story- 2 women came before Solomon claiming the same child.  One was more than willing to see the child dead; the other, willing to humble herself to give up the child to save it.  There are 2 Churches that Jesus had no condemnation of; this is one, and the woman's attitude of humility shows why she is associated with it.  And, note the Crown she gets- the Crown of Life, just as the righteous woman received the child's life.

Third Church- Pergamos/Shimei

 

 Rev 2:14  But I have a few things against you, that you have there those holding the teachings of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol sacrifices, and to commit fornication.
Rev 2:15  So you also have those holding the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16  Repent! But if not, I will come to you quickly, and I will make war with them by the sword of My mouth.

Shimei was a classic stumbling block to David, and Solomon gave him one chance- 

1Ki 2:36  And the king sent and called Shimei and said to him, Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there anywhere.
1Ki 2:37  And it shall be, in the day you go out and cross the torrent Kidron, knowing you shall know that dying you shall die; your blood shall be on your head.
1Ki 2:38  And Shimei said to the king, The word is good. As my lord the king has spoken, so your servant shall do. And Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

But he didn't QUITE "do". Shimei, as he thought himself better  than David for his kinship to Saul, he thought himself better than Solomon as well.  So, when a 'good reason' to disobey came up, he just went ahead and did it.  If we do that, we shame God in front of men.  He shamed Solomon; and so...

1Ki 2:43  Why then have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the commandment with which I commanded you?"
1Ki 2:44  The king also said to Shimei, "You know in your own heart all the harm that you did to David my father. So the LORD will bring back your harm on your own head.
1Ki 2:45  But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever."
1Ki 2:46  Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. 

 

One might say, he sent out Benaiah "quickly" to come against him.

Fourth Church: Thyatria/Solomon

Rev 2:19  "'I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.
Rev 2:20  But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Rev 2:21  I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
Rev 2:22  Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,
Rev 2:23  and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
Rev 2:24  But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.
Rev 2:25  Only hold fast what you have until I come.

You might be saying, "Why on earth are you going after Solomon?" Because he did the same thing as David.  And like the song said, it started with a kiss:

1Ki 3:1  Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem.
1Ki 3:2  The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD.

This first step against the Law of God about having one wife led him to this:

1Ki 11:1  Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
1Ki 11:2  from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.
1Ki 11:3  He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
1Ki 11:4  For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. 

Which led the wisest man ever to the anguish he found in Ecclesiastes, and the collected advice of Proverbs that his son Rehoboam, learning by example instead, rejected.  The advice given by Jesus to the Church would have been a good thing for Solomon- and us- to remember: Hold fast.

Fifth Church: Sardis/Adonijah

Rev 3:1  "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. "'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Rev 3:2  Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
Rev 3:3  Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

"You have a name of being alive, but are dead. " This connects directly to Solomon's brother, and it does so right here:

1Ki 1:50  And Adonijah feared Solomon. So he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar.
1Ki 1:51  Then it was told Solomon, "Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.'"
1Ki 1:52  And Solomon said, "If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die."

A worthy man- echoed in the story of Sardis:

Rev 3:4  Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 

But Adonijah was not worthy, it was shown, as he plotted against Solomon by fooling Bathsheba.  And Solomon came like a thief:

1Ki 2:22  King Solomon answered his mother, "And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my older brother, and on his side are Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah."
1Ki 2:23  Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adonijah his life!
1Ki 2:24  Now therefore as the LORD lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today."
1Ki 2:25  So King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died.

Worth is NOT to be judged by power.  Adonijah never saw that, and the forfeit was his life.

Sixth Church: Philadelphia/Hiram

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie--behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you.
Rev 3:10  Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
Rev 3:11  I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
Rev 3:12  The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 

This is the other Church against with Jesus had no condemnation; how does a 'pagan' King fit in? Well, look at his heart:

1Ki 5:1  Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David.
1Ki 5:2  And Solomon sent word to Hiram,
1Ki 5:3  "You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.
1Ki 5:4  But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.
1Ki 5:5  And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to David my father, 'Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.'
1Ki 5:6  Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians."
1Ki 5:7  As soon as Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, "Blessed be the LORD this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people." 

And the pillars of the Temple were given by Hiram, so in a very real way, he fulfilled the prophecy of Jesus.  Not to say, there weren't any problems:

1Ki 9:10  And it happened, at the end of twenty years Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Jehovah and the house of the king.
1Ki 9:11  Hiram the king of Tyre had lifted Solomon with cedar trees and with fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire; then King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
1Ki 9:12  And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given to him, and they were not right in his eyes.
1Ki 9:13  And he said, What are these cities that you have given to me, my brother? And one called them the land of Cabul to this day.
1Ki 9:14  And Hiram sent to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

This one is harder to catch: Hiram blamed Solomon for giving him 'worthless' (Cabul) cities, much like we blame God for "giving us lemons" sometimes.  But look at his next response- he gives more glory (in gold) TO Solomon!  We should be so good at giving thanks for God's 'lemons'.

Seventh Church: Laodicea/Joab

Rev 3:15  I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold, or hot.
Rev 3:16  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit you out of My mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because you say, I am rich, and I am made rich, and I have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

I struggled with this at first, despite the fact that this was the easiest comparison of all.  Joab was always hot (winning victories for David) or cold (murdering men he was specifically told not to harm).  Is his "I'm right, I know I'm right" attitude any different from Laodicea's "I'm rich, I am made rich" line?  Could he be any more "vomited out" than being slain while grasping the horns of the Altar of God?  You can't be obedient to God on YOUR terms.

Do you see how perfectly these two sections of the Bible- written by different authors separated by a millennia- weave together under the surface?  Here, then, is what we learn from Solomon this week:

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.