- Theology and Identity
- Season 1
- Episode 8
- Airdate: 16 Feb 2024
- Please note this is a script, and not a transcript. There may be slight differences between this text and the actual broadcast.
- All Bible quotations taken from the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)
Audio Links:
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I'm doctor David Clark and I lecture in Theology at the university of Roehampton in SW London. Thanks for joining me again on this podcast entitled theology and identity.
If you've listened to previous podcasts, by now you have a feel for our approach. But for those of you who might be joining us for the first time, i'll give a quick summary on how I'm doing theology and approaching the Bible in this programme.
Particularly with regard to the OT, the Bible is written as a historical narrative, or a story. The central theme in this narrative is a promise given to Abraham that through his descendants, the reconciling, restorative blessing of YHWH would reach all nations of the earth. Over the course of what I hope to be the first season of this podcast, I’ve been looking at how this Abrahamic promise develops and grows as a literary theme. I want to know what are the twists and turns that it takes in the narrative, and this impacts the theology and self-identity of the people of Israel.
I’m not an apologist. I’m not trying to prove or disprove anything about the Bible. I am not on a direct offensive against other religions, worldviews or identity constructs. But I am persuaded that there is something powerful at work in these narratives. There is something in these texts that time and time again, across the course of history, has changed lives. For thousands of years, people of all nations and social classes and ethnicities have found that something in the Old Testament that deeply resonates with their own life experience. There is something about YHWH, the God of Israel, that draws people to worship him. And that’s what I’m trying to better understand.
One of things I love about the Old Testament is the brutal honesty we find therein. On one hand, The text very clearly rolls out how YHWH has blessed and set apart the people of Israel. He has made a covenant with them, and he expects them to faithfully honour the terms of that covenant. But at the same time, the OT text presents in very explicit detail, the many ways that Israel and its leaders failed to follow God and keep his commands.
There is no better example of how someone could be so blessed, and yet become so evil – than the character of King Solomon. On one hand, he is presented as the wisest, richest, most internationally influential king that Israel ever had. On the other hand, he worshipped idols, he practiced human sacrifice, he was a sex addict and he implemented a race-based system of enslavement in his kingdom.
So our task for today is to look more closely at the character of king Solomon, and see what theological conclusions we can draw from this analysis.
Let's first look at the back story. We remember from our previous episode that King David wanted to build a temple in the city of Jerusalem. God spoke to David and said I like this idea but you are not going to be the one to carry it out.
2 Sam 7:12-13, 16
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. . . And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
From this point on David's most important mission in life was to prepare his son Solomon for leadership. In first chronicles chapter 22 we read all about David's preparations for the building of the temple.
And then he spoke to Solomon saying:
“My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. 8 But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. 9 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. 10 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.’
11 “Now, my son, the Lord be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he has spoken concerning you. 12 Only, may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the Lord your God. 13 Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Fear not; do not be dismayed.[1]
So Solomon had everything going for him. He had the godly example of his father David. David counselled him and advised him, and did everything he could to prepare Solomon for success. David clearly believed that the Solomon was the chosen son of whom God had spoken. Solomon would not only build the temple, he would be an almost messianic figure who would make the kingdom of Israel so powerful and so glorious, that its kings would never cease to reign.
We remember from last episode that David clearly saw the connection between the promise that had been given to Abraham, and the promise that had been given to his own family. David understood that his family was the next link in the chain. YHWH’s purposes for the human race would be accomplished through his line. The restoration and reconciliation of all nations, in all places, across all time would now be brought about by a descendent of David. And David firmly believed that his son Solomon would be the man to set this all in motion.
Solomon got off to a blazing start. In 2nd Chronicles 1, God appears to Solomon in a dream and said, ‘Ask of me whatever you wish and I will give it to you.’
And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. 9 O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. 10 Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?”
So God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.[2]
As the narrative progresses, we get glimpses of Solomon’s wisdom, power and influence.
We read the story of the two prostitutes who brought a baby before him, each claiming to be the mother. Solomon ingeniously found a way to identify who was telling the truthg.
We read the story of the queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon and marveled at his wealth and wisdom.
- Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year. 1 Kings 10:23-25
Solomon brought peace and prosperity to Israel
- Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. 1 Kings 4:20-21
Most importantly, he completed the Temple
On the day od dedication, Solomon prayed:
And now arise, O Lord God, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation,
and let your saints rejoice in your goodness.
42 O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one!
Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.” [3]
And God responded:
As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” [4]
But in the midst of all this fame and wealth, there was a horrible dark side developing inside of Solomon.
Our first area of concern is drive for building projects that seems to border on megalomania
King Solomon (built) the house of the Lord and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer and Lower Beth-horon and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 1 Kings 9:15-19
No one would question the importance of building the temple, but with all of these other projects he seemed to be going overboard. Where did he find all the labourers?
1 Kings 5:13-17
King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work. At the king’s command they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.
So it seems like Solomon had mandatory labor conscription programme.. . . This caused a lot of bitterness among the people of Israel, an issue that would come up again during the reign of his son Rehoboam.
But even more darkly, it appears that Solomon tried to enslave all the non- Hebrew people who were living in the land.
1 Kings 9:20-22
All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel— their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction—these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day. But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves.
So this was not temporary conscription. This was the process of rounding up all the quote unquote foreigners who were living in the land and turning them into slaves.
So the first point is that Solomon was a tyrant among his own people and the orchestrator of a mass system of human enslavement.
Now let’s talk about Solomon’s sex life. In 1 Kings 11 it is famously noted that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The text also notes that a lot of these women were from other nations.
No when I was young, I had this picture in my head of Solomon living in a massive palace in Jerusalem, with his thousand wives and concubines living with him there. We know that historically, that could never have been the case. The city of David is a tiny area, and archeologists estimate that during his reign, the city might have had about 2000 residents. Half of these would not have been Solomon’s women.
If king Solomon did have a vast number of wives, chances are that they would have lived in multiple locations, and probably didn’t know most of them very well. The fact that so many of these women were from other nations seems to suggest that these were political alliances. So the 300 wives may point to Solomons numerous political marriages. But what’s really concerning in this account is the 700 concubines. These women would not have been foreign princesses, they would simply have been women that Solomon wanted to sexually preserve for himself.
Now again, the number wives and concubines may be exaggerated, but what I think what this text points to is what today we would call sex addiction. Any man, fictional or historical, who sets aside for himself 1000 permanent sexual partners has a problem. Enough said on that point.
Now let’s talk about Solomons fidelity to God.
In his early years, we see through Solomon’s prayers that he was a man who was deeply in tune with the heart of God. But as he god older, something changed.
In 1 Kings 11 its says that
And his wives turned away his heart. . . For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. . . Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. . .And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.
This of course is very tragic. The guy who built and dedicate the temple in Jerusalem is now building altars for other gods on the high places of Israel, and worshipping other gods on those sites.
But what’s particularly upsetting in this account is the mention of the Ammonite god Molech.
Now although the passage in 1 Kings 11 doesn’t give any details, what we know from other passages in the Bible is that the worship of Molech involved child sacrifice.
From various texts starting with Leviticus and then going through to Jeremiah, it is noted that Molech was a god that was worshipped by offering children in the fire.
In the city of Jerusalem, Molech’s altar was in the valley of Ben Hinnom, and this location became associated with the presence of darkness and evil. In the LXX, the valley of Ben Hinnom is transliterated as Gehenna, and in the New testament, Gehenna is what Jesus refers to as the place of eternal suffering and judgement. So by all accounts, the worship of Molech was associated in the OT and as the NT as the manifestation of the darkest form of evil.
A rabbinic Jewish source called the Tanchuma says this:
How did the Molech work in the valley of Ben-Hinnom? It was built outside of Jerusalem. It was an idol with the face of a calf and open hands like someone who wants to take something from another. They would light this idol on fire until his hands were scorching. There were seven chambers before him and according to the quality of the sacrifice that is how close one could come to him. If one came with a bird, then chamber one; goat, chamber two; sheep, chamber three; calf, chamber four; cow, chamber five; and ox, chamber six. He who brought his child, the priests would say that he is offering the greatest sacrifice. He would enter the innermost chamber and go kiss the Molech . . .The priests would then take the child and place it near the Molech. They would then bang with drums to drown out the cries.
Tanchuma (Buber) addition to Va’etchanan, section 2.
So it seems pretty clear that the author of 1 Kings 11 is suggesting that Solomon was offering his own children in sacrifice to Molech.
Now think about this.
At this moment in history, this is the most important family on earth. God’s promise to bless all nations through the seed of Abraham is now channelled through the seed of David, and Solomon is David’s heir. These children that Solomon is offering to Molech are David’s own grandchildren. These are children upon whom God’s purposes for the human race are riding, and they’re being sacrificed to Molech.
Can you here imagine the Scream emoji.
This is absolutely unconscionable.
So let’s do a recap on all the evil on display in the life of Israel’s most wise, wealthy and powerful king.
- He is a tyrant over his own people
- He set’s up a racially based system of enslavement
- He’s a sex addict
- He’s an idol worshipper
- And he offers his own children in human sacrifice
The question that we have to ask is: Why are the Hebrew so willing to paint such an ugly picture of the man who was destined to be their greatest king?
Is this just meant to be one more example of human depravity? Is the take away that all humans are horribly corrupted and that there’s no hope for anyone to be good?
This doesn’t seem to be the thrust of the narrative. When you read the account of Solomon’s life in detail, it becomes clear that Solomon had the potential for good and the potential for evil.
David’s final words to his son in 1 Kings ch 2 were
I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, 3 and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, 4 that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ [5]
Solomon was not predestined to evil. He had the potential to be good, and he really did start out as a godly man. But then everything went horribly wrong.
So what is the theological lesson to be learned here?
What we’re really getting at here is the problem of evil. Why are human beings, whom the Bible describes as being created in the image and likeness of God – capable of so much evil? And why, in this particular case, is the darkest most vile expression of evil being carried out by a man who began his adult life with a real and meaningful relationship with YHWH.
The biblical authors don’t do a lot of philosophising around this question, but the 1 kings 11 does give us some insight into their thinking
Verse 9 says that Solomon committed al this great evil because his heart had turned away from the Lord.
Now that may seem a bit simplistic, but this statement actually gives us a lot to think about.
When the bible talks about the heart – its pointing to our emotions, and most importantly to our love. The suggestion seems to be that Solomon fell out of love with YHWH his god.
In other words, Solomon committed great acts of evil because he did not love God.
In the Bible, love for God is the moral compass. Love gives people the ability to discern between good and evil.
Love for God is the power of morality. It is only through or love for God that we find the power to resist temptation and to choose what is right.
And this seems to be confirming we’ve been saying all along. YHWH the God of Israel is a relational God. He calls his people to an emotionally engaged, intimate love relationship with himself. When this love is real, and when it is nurtured, nothing can overcome it.
But when love wains, as it did in the case of Solomon - evil seems to be good and good seems to be evil. Confusion enters in, followed by oppression and depravity.
The lesson learned here is the way of YHWH, the God of Israel, is only known and tread upon by those who live in intimate, love relationship with him.
Something to think about.
And that’s where we’ll end this episode.
In the next episode we’ll continue to embrace the chaos as we look at what the Bible presents as the consequences of Solomon’s sin in the life of his family and in the kingdom of Israel.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ch 22:6–13.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Ch 1:8–12.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Ch 6:41–42.
[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Ch 7:1–3.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ki 2:2–4.