Please read as much as you can of I Kings for Thursday. Please read especially closely the chapters on Solomon. Does it seems to you that the I Kings account of Solomon has in it the makings of a good tragedy? Or is the I kings account better viewed as history, biography, or prophecy rather than as tragedy. Cite below any passages/verses you think particularly support your view.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I Kings
Please read as much as you can of I Kings for Thursday. Please read especially closely the chapters on Solomon. Does it seems to you that the I Kings account of Solomon has in it the makings of a good tragedy? Or is the I kings account better viewed as history, biography, or prophecy rather than as tragedy. Cite below any passages/verses you think particularly support your view.
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I think the account of Solomon has the makings of a good tragedy. It also has the value of giving good historical information and biographical information as well. The most tragic thing about Solomon appears to be what happens in Chapter 11. In verses 1 and 2 of that chapter it says Solomon loved many strange women and that the Lord warned the people of Israel not to go to these women because their hearts would turn to other Gods. In verse 7 and 8 Solomon worships the other Gods, he builds some sort of statue or altar for Chemosh and he burns incense and sacrifices to these other Gods. This decision to worship other Gods is a tragedy in that earlier in his life Solomon prayed for wisdom. In Chapter 3 v 9, Solomon asks for an understanding heart, his request for wisdom pleases the Lord. It is noted that Solomon was not selfish as many other people are when they pray to God, Solomon does not ask God for personal benefit. In verse 11 it says Solomon did not ask for long life, or for riches. Solomon becomes a very wise person and makes the correct judgment when it comes to the two women arguing over a baby. For Solomon it seems that he started off on the right foot with God, but it is told in Chap 11 v 6, that Solomon did not follow the Lord as his father David did. The way Solomon life turns out in the end seems to be an example of tragedy.
David is exactly right on the tragedy and historical account. It gives great information on what is going on in Israel and the surrounding areas at the time. It also makes for an amazing tragedy as well. Right from the beginning, Solomon is seen and billed as this great man. 3:12 “Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” He makes the right choice with the baby. He makes the house to God. God talks to him not once, but twice. Everything seems to be going good for this guy. This could not be going better for Solomon until, the verse where it talks about loving strange women. He eventually has 700 wives and 300 concubines. It is hard enough to keep one woman happy. Can you imagine Valentines Day? Valentines Day is the least of Solomon’s worries because he starts going along with the women’s gods and breaks the covenant with God. It all goes down hill from here.
QUESTIONS FOR THE MASSES: Why does the book of First Kings put so much time and effort into describing this house that Solomon is building for God? It seems like Joab is still pretty effective right up until he dies, but doesn’t he have to be pretty old by this time after serving for both David and Solomon.
1 Kings appears to be both tragedy and history. Solomon was a man of great wisdom, but little common sense. What man in his right mind would have 700 wives? There is an old saying about women,"the right one can make you and the wrong one can break you". If even a quarter of those women were the "wrong one", poor Solomon never had a chance. The historical aspect of 1 Kings deals with the succession of the kings of Israel. Each king becomes more evil in the eyes of God than the previous one. As in the book of Judges, Israel strays and then comes back to God, over and over again. Does Judges prove the past is prelude? In this one instance it might.
I Kings definitely shows the tragedy of Solomon. He received a wonderful gift from God, the gift of wisdom. In the beginning, he used it for the betterment of the entire people, but very quickly he becomes selfish in his actions.
In I Kings 3, 4-15 Solomon asks God for wisdom, but later he exploits his people and taxes them heavily to build his extravagant city – not caring about them at all. Even worse in chapter 11, he begins worshiping many gods even after God warned him not to. After receiving such a wonderful gift you would hope he would adhere to God’s commandments, but he is human after all, just as we all are.
I also agree with Solomon's story being a tragedy. He starts out so well with having wisdom from God (chapter 3) and using it for such things like judging which woman the baby belongs to (3:16). As I was reading this, I thought to myself 'how is this tragedy? He seems to be doing well in everything'. Then I kept reading and it became obvious to me. He had many wives and concubines like David, only Solomon had wives who served different gods and he also began to worship them. God had specifically told him not to do this but he does it anyhow. This definitely spells out tragedy.
I Kings,3:5-15; Solomon tells the Lord that he is young, not just in physical years but in wisdom. He asked for wisdom instead of riches or long life.
God gave him more wisdom than any other Kings and also riches. As
long as you follow my ways says the Lord.
This was a very good start for Solomon but in the end the women he married led him astray from the worship of the Lord.
This is an example of letting money master you instead of God.
Solomon is indead a story of true tragedy. From a young age Solomon realizes his need for true wisdom but wisdom is nothing if you choose not to use it. He had some great accomplishments however which made him a good person. He was Davids chosen heir to the throne, wrote many psalms and other book so f the bible, built God's temple, and was a diplomate and trader.
His not so great qualities included marrying heathen women to make foreign agreements, allowing his wives to influence his faithfulness, taxing his people, and working them excessively. Allthough Solomon had strict orders from God to not marry foreign women he did any way. Solomon did make mistakes which turned out to be tragic for him. He had a lot going for him but the influences of his wives and concubines made him do bad things.
I Kings definitely confirms the tragedy of Solomon. This is demonstrated with his polygamist relationships. Apart from his Egyptian wife, Solomon also had over 700 wives and 300 concubines from many different nations. The wives make Solomon polytheistic, worshipping the gods of his wives, such as Chemosh, even building high places to them opposite Jerusalem. So God promises Solomon that a part of the kingdom will be removed and given to another during the reign of Solomon's children. (1 Kings 11:1–13).
These wives and concubines obviously put Solomon in a difficult situation. With so many political ties with these marriages, Solomon had to ensure that each was happy, so as not to weaken these political ties he had built.
Whereas I saw I Kings having a few characteristics of a history/biography/prophecy, I found many more examples of how it tells the story of Solomon and his tragic life.
1. Solomon had people (I counted at least three) killed, unlike David who usually found some other form of punishment. When his brother Adonijah asked for David's former concubine as a wife, Solomon saw it as a scheme to undermine his power and had Adonijah killed. Solomon also ordered Joab to be killed, for he had conspired with Adonijah. Shemei was killed after he defied Solomon's command to never leave Jerusalem again. Additionally, when Jeroboam posed a threat to Solomon's power Solomon tried to kill him, but Jeroboam managed to escape. Maybe the acts of these men deserved death, maybe they didnt. Either way, I'm guessing David would have dealt them different, less brutal pubishments.
2. Solomon married a foreigner. Not the most tragic thing in our mindsets, and the marriage would have been a good political strategy, but, if I remember correctly, the law forbid the Israelites from marrying foreigners. I'm sure many Israelites did this anyway, but the king should be one person who can provide the people with a good example of how to live and how to follow religious rules.
3. It's tragic that Solomon, who was given the privilage of being responsible for building the temple of God after the responsibility was refused David, spent more time building a palace for himself (13 years) than building God's dwelling place (7 years).
4. It's tragic that David reminded Solomon of the covenant God had made with his line (serve God and follow his decrees = descendants will rule; turn away to other gods = David's line will no longer produce kings) and that God reminded Solomon of the covenant twice, yet still Solomon turned away. He turned away from God and followed the gods of his many wives, and because of this the covenant was broken.
5. It's tragic that Solomon had more than one wife in the first place. It's extremely tragic that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. My Bible refers to Deut. 17:17 when Moses explicity told the Israelites that kings of Israel should not have many wives lest their hearts be led astray. Still Solomon ignored this and was indeed led astray from God as a result. And, with so many wives and concubines demanding his attention, I'm guessing that Solomon's basic responsibilities as king--those not related to God and religion--received less attention than they deserved and became even harder to fulfill.
I think that this book works well as both a historical work and as a tragedy. More or less, it is a historical book that contains the tragedy of Solomon.
This book serves as history mainly because of the history we get of the Israelite people and with the building of the temple, as well as with the history of the surrounding areas.
Solomon's tragedy is also a big part of the book. As many have pointed out already, Solomon starts off great and then gets into trouble with the 700 wives and 300 concubines. He should not have started believing in these other gods, as this was not acting on the wisdom that he had prayed for.
As we noted in class, a good tradegy take a high prophiled figure and a BIG fall. Solomon exemplifies these features to the dot. At first we see Solomon really making an effort to do whatever he can for his kingdom. In I Kings, 3:11-12, " God said to him, 'because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you." Solomon tries to be the good ruler and God initially sees his effort. But things grow sour...
Solomon later starts worhiping other Gods, and heavily taxing his people. He begins to care more about himself rather than his subjects. He also gets himself into trouble when he marries some 700 wives, and adds on a few concubines... It is impossible to keep all of them happy and they inevitably lead to his downfall. He really begins to anger a lot of people, not only his wives. We see this in I Kings 11:9-10, "Then 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 matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord commanded."
Solomon started out as a strong, faithful man but ended in true tradgedy.
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