King Solomon's before his 'fall'-- Historical Lessons
Reconstruction of the exact times of events in Solomon's life is best accomplished working backwards from the death of Solomon. There is too much confusion re exactly what year he lived and died (sources date his death as 953-925 BC). Working from various sources and scriptural passages I constructed the following timeline:
Life of King Solomon Timeline
BD= years before death of Solomon; <40 BD = less than 40 years before death of Solomon. >40 BD = more than 40 years before death of Solomon. Sol= Solomon
80 BD. Sol is born,
>50 BD. Sol 30 or younger. Sol has daughters Taphah & Basmath
41 BD. Sol39 years old. Sol has son Rehoboam (heir) born of Naamah the Ammonite
>40 BD. Sol younger than 40. Sol executes Adonijah & Joab, because of their past crimes and current suspicion of usurpation conspiracy
40 BD. Sol 40 years old. Sol starts reign
40-36 BD. Sol 40-44 years old. Sol sacrifices & burns incense in high places, marries daughter of Pharaoh, has married daughters, has produced 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs
36-27 years BD: Sol 44-51 years old. Sol constructs temple producing images of pomegranates lions oxen palm-trees & flowers (in contradiction of command against making of images of things found on earth),
27 BD: Sol 53 years old. Sol & his temple blessed by God.
<27 BD: Sol older than 53. Sol becomes paganized, God condemns him for betrayal.
This timeline is significant because of the emphatic nature of the blessing Solomon and his congregation received circa 27 BD:
"Then Solomon assembled...then the house (Solomon's temple) was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God...the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house" (2 Chronicles chapters 5-7).
The account in Kings does not contain this passage, and that Kings condemns Solomon for falling away from the monotheistic faith, whereas Chronicles does not.
Standard interpretation concludes that what is desribed in Chronicles occurred even though Kings does not mention it, and what is described in Kings occurred even though Chronicles does not mention it.
If indeed Solomon and his congregation were so richly blessed 27 years before the death of Solomon, Solomon's conduct before the blessing is significant.
Apparently, before the big blessing Solomon and his congregation received 27 BD, Solomon: let himself be guided by an older priest when at the beginning his reign was endangered; executed rivals for their past crimes combined with their suspected rivalry for the throne; abrogated laws against making images of things found on earth; had more than one wife; abrogated laws against marrying certain foreign ethnic groups; engaged in big-time building projects; sponsored instrumental and vocal music.
The fact that Solomon's son Rehoboam, whose mother was an Ammonite, was 41 years old when he succeeded Solomon on the throne, indicates that Solomon's marrying of foreign wives started before the big blessing (27 BD).
Solomon ended up with 1000 wives/concubines. Solomon was married at an age younger than 30. Assuming he was married at 25, over 55 years of married life he added 18 wives per year. At 18 wives per year by the time he was 53 (the year he and his congregation got the big blessing c. 27 BD), he would have had 504 wives/concubines.
The only wives specifically mentioned as existing before the big blessing @ 27 BD are Pharaoh's daughter & Naamah the Ammonite. However one expects that if Solomon had deviated from the Davidic & Royal-Israelite traditions
That Solomon would be greatly blessed despite the fact that he somewhat abrogated some of the most important and emphatic commandments of his religion, in my mind is a mark against literalist fundamentalism.
The Solomon who was blessed 27 BD, was not a literalist fundamentalist thinker. Rather he was: the type who sees how with the passage of time and the change of circumstance the extent to which a religious law must be enforced varies.
That Solomon should be so richly blessed despite his disobedience, reminds us that virtues can more than balance out sins.
I don't understand pastors who declare, 'I find it impossible to be a Christian, if I don't believe that every word of the Bible is literally true' (this even after it has been proved to them that the scripture contains internal contradictions). It is actually MORE DIFFICULT to believe every word of the Bible is literally true, compared to believing that Christ is the Son of God. So if a man has to believe that every word is literally true ( difficult) to be able to believe in Christ (easy), I wonder whether he has real faith in Christ.
If he can't do the simple thing (believe in Christ as the Son of God without believing every word of the Bible is literally true), and the simple thing is easier than doing the difficult thing (believing every word of the Bible is literally true), then how can he do the difficult thing? And since he can't do the difficult thing which he has to do in order to be able to do the simple thing, then how can he do the simple thing?
There are too many professional preachers/priest/pastors out there, who love limelight, love getting paid well for easy work, love to fly around in airplanes while allegedly doing God's work visiting foreign countries, who don't really believe in Christ, and think it's all a myth.
I think it was the famous preacher Mr Spurgeon who pointed out (I paraphrase): People who don't know God, but desire to have important positions in Church, get in the way of people who do know God.
How can persons fail to realize, that when people 'join the fray' in the sense of becoming yet another entity raising funds for itself, their fund-raising competes with the respectable fund-raising that already exists?
I have become that there is a real problem when full-time professional pastors who lack financial security preside over small folksy congregations: the pastor's financial self-concern, results in the pastor and also the congregation showing disrespect for respectable individuals and groups, who compete with the pastor as potential beneficiaries of donated funds. Hence ultimately God is replaced by the pastor during the weekly meetings supposedly devoted to God, and the weekly meetings become venues for disrespect of what is respected by God.
But I intend to address the issue of full-time professional pastors and small congregations in depth in a separate blog-post.
Life of King Solomon Timeline
BD= years before death of Solomon; <40 BD = less than 40 years before death of Solomon. >40 BD = more than 40 years before death of Solomon. Sol= Solomon
80 BD. Sol is born,
>50 BD. Sol 30 or younger. Sol has daughters Taphah & Basmath
41 BD. Sol39 years old. Sol has son Rehoboam (heir) born of Naamah the Ammonite
>40 BD. Sol younger than 40. Sol executes Adonijah & Joab, because of their past crimes and current suspicion of usurpation conspiracy
40 BD. Sol 40 years old. Sol starts reign
40-36 BD. Sol 40-44 years old. Sol sacrifices & burns incense in high places, marries daughter of Pharaoh, has married daughters, has produced 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs
36-27 years BD: Sol 44-51 years old. Sol constructs temple producing images of pomegranates lions oxen palm-trees & flowers (in contradiction of command against making of images of things found on earth),
27 BD: Sol 53 years old. Sol & his temple blessed by God.
<27 BD: Sol older than 53. Sol becomes paganized, God condemns him for betrayal.
This timeline is significant because of the emphatic nature of the blessing Solomon and his congregation received circa 27 BD:
"Then Solomon assembled...then the house (Solomon's temple) was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God...the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house" (2 Chronicles chapters 5-7).
The account in Kings does not contain this passage, and that Kings condemns Solomon for falling away from the monotheistic faith, whereas Chronicles does not.
Standard interpretation concludes that what is desribed in Chronicles occurred even though Kings does not mention it, and what is described in Kings occurred even though Chronicles does not mention it.
If indeed Solomon and his congregation were so richly blessed 27 years before the death of Solomon, Solomon's conduct before the blessing is significant.
Apparently, before the big blessing Solomon and his congregation received 27 BD, Solomon: let himself be guided by an older priest when at the beginning his reign was endangered; executed rivals for their past crimes combined with their suspected rivalry for the throne; abrogated laws against making images of things found on earth; had more than one wife; abrogated laws against marrying certain foreign ethnic groups; engaged in big-time building projects; sponsored instrumental and vocal music.
The fact that Solomon's son Rehoboam, whose mother was an Ammonite, was 41 years old when he succeeded Solomon on the throne, indicates that Solomon's marrying of foreign wives started before the big blessing (27 BD).
Solomon ended up with 1000 wives/concubines. Solomon was married at an age younger than 30. Assuming he was married at 25, over 55 years of married life he added 18 wives per year. At 18 wives per year by the time he was 53 (the year he and his congregation got the big blessing c. 27 BD), he would have had 504 wives/concubines.
The only wives specifically mentioned as existing before the big blessing @ 27 BD are Pharaoh's daughter & Naamah the Ammonite. However one expects that if Solomon had deviated from the Davidic & Royal-Israelite traditions
That Solomon would be greatly blessed despite the fact that he somewhat abrogated some of the most important and emphatic commandments of his religion, in my mind is a mark against literalist fundamentalism.
The Solomon who was blessed 27 BD, was not a literalist fundamentalist thinker. Rather he was: the type who sees how with the passage of time and the change of circumstance the extent to which a religious law must be enforced varies.
That Solomon should be so richly blessed despite his disobedience, reminds us that virtues can more than balance out sins.
I don't understand pastors who declare, 'I find it impossible to be a Christian, if I don't believe that every word of the Bible is literally true' (this even after it has been proved to them that the scripture contains internal contradictions). It is actually MORE DIFFICULT to believe every word of the Bible is literally true, compared to believing that Christ is the Son of God. So if a man has to believe that every word is literally true ( difficult) to be able to believe in Christ (easy), I wonder whether he has real faith in Christ.
If he can't do the simple thing (believe in Christ as the Son of God without believing every word of the Bible is literally true), and the simple thing is easier than doing the difficult thing (believing every word of the Bible is literally true), then how can he do the difficult thing? And since he can't do the difficult thing which he has to do in order to be able to do the simple thing, then how can he do the simple thing?
I think it was the famous preacher Mr Spurgeon who pointed out (I paraphrase): People who don't know God, but desire to have important positions in Church, get in the way of people who do know God.
How can persons fail to realize, that when people 'join the fray' in the sense of becoming yet another entity raising funds for itself, their fund-raising competes with the respectable fund-raising that already exists?
I have become that there is a real problem when full-time professional pastors who lack financial security preside over small folksy congregations: the pastor's financial self-concern, results in the pastor and also the congregation showing disrespect for respectable individuals and groups, who compete with the pastor as potential beneficiaries of donated funds. Hence ultimately God is replaced by the pastor during the weekly meetings supposedly devoted to God, and the weekly meetings become venues for disrespect of what is respected by God.
But I intend to address the issue of full-time professional pastors and small congregations in depth in a separate blog-post.
posted by David Virgil at 10:08 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home