Like Father, Like Son
Oh hey, short on time? No worries! I'd love to join you on your commute or daily walk/run, or shoot, even while you take care of that to-do list. We can't let these things get in the way of this friendship. It's just starting to get good! Click below to listen to the blogcast.
Quick recap from last week -
Soon, the people want a king because everyone else has a king. Saul becomes the strong, warrior king, but he disobeys God's instruction and God regrets making him king.
So, God uses an unlikely person (He likes to do this) named David to be king. He is far from perfect and makes big mistakes but always returns to God and he is described as "a man after God's own heart."
David becomes King, and he and Bathsheba have a son named Solomon. But before we get to Solomon's reign, let's take a moment to breathe a sigh of relief.
One of the most comforting things about reading The Bible is seeing how we're all messed up people trying to figure it out. Even King David's family fits this description.
David has another son named Absalom who tries to steal the throne. We see David running and hiding in caves. His own son is trying to kill him!
I'm tellin' ya, pop some popcorn next time you open The Bible. It's more dramatic than daytime television!
Then, we see more drama. David performs a census of Israel and God is not happy about it. So much so, He sends a plague to the land and David buys land to build a temple for God to stop the plague.
David creates the plan for the temple, but he's not the one called to build it. And that's where we're starting today. Got your hard hat and your hammer?
Good. Time's a wastin'!
Like Father, Like Son
Both David and Solomon began their reign with a deep desire to honor God. In a dream, the Lord tells Solomon to ask for anything - anything - and it would be given to him.
Okay, if this was you and me - if tonight, God were to ask us anything we wanted, what would you ask for? I really want to hope I'd have the humility and perspective of Solomon but so often I'm near-sighted and want less worthy things to comfort me. Just me? Alrighty then...
Like we were saying, Solomon has great humility and perspective and asks God for wisdom and discernment. God grants it lavishly upon Solomon. All the people would sing, "Whatta man, whatta man, whatta mighty wise man" all throughout the town. Okay, maybe not, but I bet they were thinking it.
They came to Solomon for deep questions about the meaning of life. He shares some of these thoughts with us in Ecclesiastes and Proverbs. Not only this but he is focused with the task his father left him and he builds the temple.
Oh, the splendor! Oh, the detail!
It's magnificent!
Then, just as we saw with his father, Solomon experienced a downfall. You may remember the first ten chapters of 2 Samuel are all "GO DAVID!" and then chapter 11 is "WHOAAAA, DAVID!" Well, the first ten chapters of 1 Kings is "GO SOLOMON!" and then, yep... chapter 11 is "WHOAAAA, SOLOMON!"
We hate to see it. I so wish I could relate ...but I just can't.
Kidding. Kidding. Kidding!
Gosh, we all have these whoa moments and it's incredibly comforting to see God keeps His promises through our GO and WHOA moments alike. He's faithful even when we're faithless. It's that whole covenant thing. PRAISE GOD.
So in that whole whoa time in Solomon's life - like father, like son - he had an eye for ladies. Some of these women were from pagan cultures, leading his heart astray from the one true God. And, as we can imagine, God's not happy about it.
And now the "like father, like son" tide turns... While David was known for uniting the kingdom, because of Solomon's sin, God now allows the kingdom to be divided.
The Northern Kingdom (think 10 tribes) is called Israel, while the Southern Kingdom (2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin) is called Judah. There are a lot of details in 1 Kings 12 - 2 Kings describing all of this, but today you get to read CSV, the Candace Standard Version.
There were kings and chaos. Israel never had a good king again.
Israel is conquered aka destroyed by the Assyrians (722 B.C. - these dates are for all you history buffs out there)
About 125 years later, Babylonians conquer Judah. (2 Kings 17-25)
The beautiful, incredible, magnificent temple which Solomon built was demolished by the Babylonians (think Nebuchadnezzar - yep, "The Bunny" for all my avid Veggie Tales fans) in 586 B.C.
It's a low, dark time for God's people. The promised land has been taken from them. The temple where the Word of God was held is now destroyed.
Jews are in exile for 70 years ...but not forever, aka it's not the end for our beloved Hebrews.
After 70 years, Cyrus, the King of Persia, allows the Jews to build a temple in Jerusalem, so now we see some of the Jews return to Judah.
Y'all, we have covered so much history together, but there are still 17 more books in the Old Testament. What are these?
Don't worry, I'm not gonna leave ya hanging. We'll cover these next week!
P.S. I bet you never thought of Grease the Musical in relation to The Bible before... but maybe after next week you will!
May we find strength in the Word of God. May our joy for reading scripture grow as we intentionally choose to set aside time to spend reading it each day. May our peace overflow as the Word of God reads us and changes us from the inside out. Then, we will know rest that this world can't give.
The good life, well it starts with a good day. Then another. Then another. Let's choose to live #TheGoodDay one day at a time.
Remember how we said 5 minutes a day can change your day, your life and even your eternity? Well, here's what I'll be reading this week. I really hope you'll join me!
I love hearing from you, so go ahead. Leave a comment. Be brave. Maybe your comment will speak life into someone else!
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