Wisdom and Obedience Must Go Together (1 Kings 3-4 & 2 Chronicles 1)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Have you ever asked God for wisdom to make a good decision, all while living in disobedience to his Word?

This was the story of Solomon. As we turn to Solomon’s reign in 1 Kings 3, we see this mixed bag of good and bad. On the one hand, Solomon is married to the Egyptian Pharaoh’s daughter, something Deuteronomy 17:16 warned against. In fact, Deuteronomy 7:3-4 says, ³ “You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, ⁴ because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will swiftly destroy you.”

But then the first part of verse 3 says he “loved the Lord by walking in the statutes of his father David,” only to have the last part of this verse say, “but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.” The implied reason this is seen as a negative was likely because Solomon was too complacent in his building of the temple.

As Iain Provan writes, “At the very least, then, the authors are again asking us to see (as in 3:1a) that Solomon’s love for God, even at this early stage in his career, was not entirely wholehearted. He does not keep the law of Moses; he does not take action quickly enough with regard to this matter of worship.”^[1] Provan goes on to say, “First Kings 3:1–3 presents us, then, with a Solomon who loves God—who does share his father David’s basic commitment to God (3:3)—but who right at the beginning of his reign also carries with him the seeds of his own destruction.”^[2]

After Solomon goes to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to the Lord, God tells Solomon, “Ask. What should I give you?” Solomon replies by starting with this fascinating statement to God in verse 6: “You have shown great and faithful love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.” It’s this word “because” that is troubling because it indicates Solomon believes Yahweh’s covenantal “faithful love” (or hesed) is based on human merit.

To Solomon’s credit, rather than asking for wealth or fame, in verse 9, he says, “So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?” Paul House writes, “This phrase literally means ‘a listening heart’ or ‘an obedient heart.’ In the Old Testament, ‘hearing’ and ‘obeying’ come from the same word, a linguistic trait with practical implications. Only those who obey authority figures have really heard them.”^[3]