Special Sunday Edition
Ethan Barton, Pastoral Resident, Tallowood Baptist Church
If we recall back to Deuteronomy 28, we’ll remember that God was abundantly, extensively clear about his covenant policy. Obey my commandments and I will bless you; disobey, and I’ll take those blessings back. Like it or not, God fulfills his promises. Sure enough, as soon as Solomon turned from pursing God’s glory to pursuing his own, the flourishing and peace of his kingdom ended.
How could a king with such renowned wisdom fall so far? Little by little. The first time that Solomon took a foreign wife, he probably thought it was only a little sin. But a defiance of God is a defiance of God! Next thing you know, he’s taken a thousand woman for his own pleasure, grown apathetic about his relationship with Yahweh, and fallen into idolatry. Oh how the mighty have fallen. There is no such thing as a little sin; every sin is a horrendous crime of cosmic proportions.
Understood simply as literature, the Hebrew Bible is extremely bizarre. It was common for cultures to write about their kings in the best light possible, to make their own nation look good. But not Israel for some reason! Every stalwart of God’s faithful people—every patriarch, commander, judge, and king, now including Solomon—failed embarrassingly. Israel’s written history is not flattering. It always leaves us wanting more. But that’s because the Bible is not merely man’s words, but God’s Word as well, and God is pointing us forward into a future age.
Jesus is the perfect king the entire Old Testament longed for. Jesus is the perfect king that Solomon should have been. Left to their own devices, even the greatest in the world crash and burn, because sin is a more dominant power even than the mightiest of us. But Christ has defeated sin once and for all!
Solomon’s story of his rise and fall should remind us how desperately we need Jesus. The entire Old Testament prepares for and yearns for him. Sin is more vile and pervasive than we think, but Christ’s gospel of grace is mightier and more wonderful than we could imagine. Let’s grow to fully recognize both, and then fall on our knees to worship our perfect king!
