Reading: 1 Kings 8-10, Psalm 96

We continue the rising action of the reign of Solomon for one more day, before the seeds of his fall into disobedience begin to grow. Following the completion of the temple, Solomon brings the Ark and the tabernacle into the city in a massive celebration, culminating in a reaffirmation of the covenant law. He constructs a glorious throne for himself, entertains foreign rulers and impresses them greatly. Finally, he acquires outrageous amounts of wealth and power to the point it devalues the common currency. The reign of Solomon is marked by splendor to the point it becomes proverbial to speak of the splendor and wealth of Solomon.

We begin with bringing the Ark into the Temple, along with the old tabernacle tent and all the sacred gold objects inside it. The outer court items like the bronze altar and the basin where replaced in yesterday’s readings, but the instruments used inside the Temple were likely, at this point at least, the originals from the wilderness of Sinai. The Ark itself was of course the same, though we are told here that it only contains the tablets of the covenant, not the rod of Aaron or the jar of manna.

While there is a great deal of ceremony and celebration, showing that the people of Israel at this point are quite devout in their appreciate of their God, there is something deeply significant in the absence of the rod of Aaron, signifying his High Priesthood, and the jar of Manna, showing the provision of the God of Israel for his people. We have already seen the failure of the priestly line through the book of Judges and on into the reign of David, where many priests changed sides for political convenience. The office of High Priest will continue through the next thousand years or so, until 70 A.D., but I think the absence of Aaron’s rod in the Ark is supposed to tell us something: the priesthood is departing from the house of Levi. It is through David’s descendants that God will act to for redemption, not the descendants of Levi. The manna is similar. God has moved his promise of provision into the covenant law and the house of David. There will not be “bread from heaven” like manna, though one day there will be the “bread of life” in the person of David’s descendant.

Speaking of David’s descendant, Solomon makes a fantastic prayer of dedication for the Temple. He begins with gratitude for God’s covenant with his father David, recites the covenant promises and curses, and ends with a reaffirmation of the covenant from the books of Moses. Solomon is acting as covenant mediator here, like Moses before him, and like his descendant Jesus will. By reciting this in front of all the people with such great ceremony, Solomon is making a public, binding agreement with the God of Israel, and God responds quite favorably. His glory fills the Temple as it had once filled the tabernacle in the wilderness. He speak to Solomon, promising to fulfill all his covenant promises, blessings and curses, as well as his promise to the house of David. Its a really amazing moment in the history of Israel. Unfortunately, Solomon will not live up to his words, as we shall see tomorrow.

Following the Temple dedication, we get some more stories about Solomon’s personal greatness. He has a massive ivory throne made, with lions framing it. He acquires so much gold for the kingdom that the common currency of the ancient near east, silver, loses its value. This is actually a known problem in a number of very prosperous ancient kingdoms- their understanding of the economics of currency was still developing.

Solomon begins entertaining foreign dignitaries, most famously the Queen of Sheba. Sheba was an ancient name for the region of the Arabian peninsula that is presently Yemen. Due to it’s favorable position in sea trade, Sheba was a wealthy and knowledgeable nation for much of antiquity. This Queen comes to evaluate Solomon as the ruler of a new and powerful nation, and perhaps as a rival. Remember that prior to David and Solomon, Israel was insignificant on the world stage. David could have been a blip, but Solomon’s ascendance indicates this dynasty is something to pay attention to. So she comes and tests him with questions. It is likely that these were as much questions of statecraft as riddles or scientific inquiries, but she finds herself quite impressed. The Queen and Solomon exchange a great deal of gifts, as was typical of friendly monarchs of the day, and she leaves. There are a great many stories about this meeting that take it down a romantic route, usually ending up with the Queen giving birth to a son of Solomon named Menelik, who founds the kingdom of Ethiopia, but there is no history supporting this, and the story here certainly indicates nothing of the kind. The point of this and the stories about Hiram is that Solomon was internationally respected.

This is the peak of Solomon’s story. Tomorrow we will turn to the later part of his reign in which his great wealth and political power turn him in the wrong direction. We started the book of Kings with the search for a faithful king, the anointed one of the book of Samuel. The ascendance of Solomon is a good start, and he even acts in a covenantal role during the Temple dedication. But even here we see his concern turning to his own glory, with his massive house and ivory throne rivaling the glory of the throne of the God of Israel. Solomon is an anointed one, but he is not the Anointed One. The search continues.