The Biblical Age of Kings #1: Walk Faithfully Before God

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This week, our church in Fresno begins a three-month, congregational study on 1 & 2 Kings. The title of the study is "The Peril of Power & the Power of Prophetic Resistance." This material covers 400 years of Israelite history, from the ascension of Solomon in 961 BC to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Most of the prophetic books overlap with this time period. The books of 1 & 2 Chronicles mostly duplicate these stories. In other words, there's no shortage of biblical material spanning these four centuries. Covering all this in 13 weeks will be no easy task.

As we'll see throughout our study, these books aren't purely history. While they certainly deal with the history of Israel and Judah, the books of 1 & 2 Kings provide theological reflection upon history. They give us a divine critique of Israel & Judah's failed experiment with monarchies. These stories show us in living color what happened when the people of God failed to remember the words of Moses as recounted in the book of Deuteronomy. They flesh out what is sometimes called a "Torah theology" in which the prosperity or adversity of God's people was a direct result of the people's obedience or lack thereof.

The story of Solomon begins with a big IF. David's dying words to Solomon are a reminder that God's promises are contingent upon obedience to God's teaching. The future prosperity of Israel and of Solomon's heirs is guaranteed IF they will walk faithfully before God.

The story of David's rise to power back in the books of 1 & 2 Samuel is a conflicted account of a man "after God's own heart" while being deeply stained by violence & sexual immorality. Although Solomon inherits a mostly peaceful state of affairs, his path to secure the throne requires compromises on many fronts. Solomon would go on to build an extremely prosperous and prestigious nation, but his immorality and oppression sow the seeds of the kingdom's division and ultimate destruction.

King David's life was a contradiction. While he loved God, David at times acted as if he were above God's ways, and the biblical narrators didn't sugarcoat the consequences. In a similar vein, David's final words reveal this duplicity. He warns Solomon to be faithful to God (1 Kings 2:1-4), but he then negates his words by giving Solomon advice that disregards Torah (2:5-9).

Simply put, the power of totalitarian rule brings out the worst qualities even in good men. This two-faced way of thinking & acting soon becomes apparent in Solomon's reign. When we pay careful attention to the narrators' reflection upon these events, it's not hard to discover why the monarchy was such a disaster for the people of God. Solomon may have been the most "successful" king in Israel's history, but his failure to heed the IF of God's word is a message of warning for us all today.

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