Solomon’s Garden
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. 1 Kings 11:7 NASB
Built – The women got him. At least that’s the way most of us were taught (if we were taught anything at all about Solomon’s sexual exploits). One thousand women turned the ideal king’s heart away from God. Stay away from those idolatrous women. Even contemporary Christian thinkers like Philip Ryken seem to conclude that the real lesson of Solomon is avoiding “unequally yoked” relationships. As you might have guessed, I consider this pandering to Victorian morality, not exegetical rigor. But it is a problem. How could the wisest man who ever lived, recipient of a divine impartation of knowledge, end up in such a mess?
The rabbis struggled with this. They were particularly concerned that Chronicles “simply eliminated the episode of Solomon’s sin.”[1] The book of Kings may have revealed his darker side, but apparently Chronicles sought to redeem him by simply overlooking the mistake. Things like this led a famous rabbi to say, “Whoever says that Solomon sinned is mistaken.”[2] How does rabbi Yonatan ignore the verse in 1 Kings 11:7? Weitzman explains:
“the verb ‘built’ is in the past tense, but only when read in the context and in the light of what we now know about the grammar of biblical Hebrew. Without that knowledge, the verb (yivneh) appears in a tense used to describe actions not yet completed—in other words, its form allows it to be understood as ‘he was going to build’ or ‘he would have built.’ Read literally in this way, the text can be construed as saying that while Solomon intended to commit idolatry, he didn’t necessarily act on the impulse.”[3]
That might have worked for the first century, but it won’t work today. Today we have the contradiction staring us in the face. Solomon loved God but worshipped idols. How is this possible? There is a more plausible tradition that does not blame the female gender (as powerful as it is). “According to this interpretation, Solomon falls into sin not because he forgot what his wisdom taught him or because his intellect was overcome by some emotion or passion; his wisdom is itself the cause of his sinfulness. How so? By revealing the secrets of life, wisdom removes the barriers that ordinarily confine human ambition. . . . Knowing what God knows, he simply is not constrained in the same way ordinary mortals are. But humans, the Bible contends, need limits. If nothing is hidden from them, if no secret or power is beyond their reach, they go too far, and this proves true even of Solomon, who knows so much that he thinks, falsely, that he can bypass the restrictions imposed on the rest of Israel.”[4] In other words, Solomon takes us back to the Garden, to the temptation to know good and evil. Solomon knows, and this knowing is itself lethal to the soul. God did not forbid the Tree because it represented immorality. He forbade the Tree because being able to know good and evil is itself a divine prerogative and can only be handled by divine beings. It kills human beings.
Modern men and women don’t like to hear this. Because of our worldview, we think that the universe is essentially rational and as rational beings we should be able to understand it in its totality. Eventually. Our quest is to know good and evil, perhaps not by eating some piece of fruit but by applying scientific principles to everything. We are just like Havvah and Solomon is our hero. Ah, if we could only know it all. We never think to ask, “What is the result?” God’s warns us, “and in the day you eat of it you will surely die.” But that doesn’t stop us, does it?
Topical Index: Solomon, idolatry, Shabbat 56a, yivneh, build, 1 Kings 11:7
[1] Steven Weitzman, Solomon: The Lure of Wisdom, p. 154.
[2] Rabbi Yonatan in Tractate Shabbat 56a
[3] Steven Weitzman, op.cit., p. 154.
[4] Steven Weitzman, Ibid., p. 164.
Skip could we go answer has to say we need to rebuke the old teachings so that we would stay away from them? Recently did a study on the sins of David going to Solomon something about three arrows with the children? And someone killed on the roof hanging between Earth and Heaven I’d have to look at my notes unless you know or someone else might know? Our pastor called it measure for measure excellent teaching!
The videos……. so fun! What a way to “begin class!” I have blues in my head trying to read about Solomon …… fantastic points…. must reflect and think now….. would he have listened to blues … usually that is the listening choice for lovelorn or lonely…….
Mind blowing angles that don’t occur to me…… I appreciate you so much!
Again I pray “create in me a clean heart… and renew a right spirit within me” with Salomon’s Dad. for “out of the heart flow the issues of life”.. David was a man “After God’s own heart” because he lead from the heart not the head. and if it is in the right place it won’t lead you astray. Of course keeping it in the right place is the challenge. The longest distance I have heard is the 14″ between the heart and the head. And that leads me to recall the 1990’s album “love and theft” by my favorite theologian Bob Dylan. In the prophetic song “making my last go round” he sings as Messiah of the two Yetzer’s when he tells us “I’ll baptize you with fire so you can sin no more. I’ll establish my rule through Civil War”. That war continually rages in me, I won a few last night and lost a few. That makes me very grateful for the mercy and forgiveness available in Messiah, Yeshua. Yet I am also reminded and called out of complacency by the Commandment in Mathew 5:8 “be perfect as the father is perfect” and so we all go on “and the leaves that are green turn to brown.”…
Mark skip has written in the past and also has some excellent audio downloads on prayer Hebrew perspective in Greek perspective. Prayer the way of the heart. Reminds me of something very important kneeling and bowing down the heart the body worship is what we are created for. The Navigators Ministry published the famous witnessing tract the four spiritual laws simply put. We live in a society or the head is the master but when we come to Christ he must be on the throne. Changes from feelings fact then faith. To Act faith two feelings our actions always follow our beliefs so if our beliefs based on facts then we must study and show ourselves approved for the man of God must know how to divide the word of Truth so he will be acceptable in his lifestyle before God
I’m not trying to be contentious but when I read this I’m left with a question…why would it please God for Solomon to ask for discernment and for God to give these gifts (? If I understand 1 Kings 3) if it’s “lethal to the soul” and “can only be handled by divine human beings”? I’m probably just misunderstanding something…
Back to the Garden. Perhaps the story os Solomon’s request is really a way for us to recognize both sides of knowing. Maybe human beings aren’t meant to know everything, but the temptation is always there. So we need a story about what happens when we are given this kind of knowledge.
Thanks for the response. I can appreciate the “maybes” and “perhaps” and I’m learning to find joy in the wonder! or is it wander? Perhaps it’s both!! ?
LOL…….color me with the blues … loved it and still smiling! 🙂
“He forbade the Tree because being able to know good and evil is itself a divine prerogative and can only be handled by divine beings. It kills human beings.” This draws me to Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel. Vrs 6 “And YHVH said, ‘Behold, the people is one; and they have one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” Praise YHVH that He was involved and “saved” us from ourselves!
Love on Display
My Confession
I am a simple man. And yes, I do love “simplicity.” My question to all is this: What is the wisest thing any man (Solomon included btw) can do? Yes, it is to obey God. Amen. And end of story. The wisest man who ever lived? Nope. Not Solomon, it was Yeshua HaMashiach, our LORD and Savior, Jesus (who is the) Christ. Unlike all those other guys and gals (self included!), He obeyed the Father constantly, consciously and consistently (even unto Death!). And btw, He was “in all points” tempted as we are, yet without sin. Could Solomon (or you and I) say, “Which of you convinces me of sin?” Friend, the Scriptures rightly say: Jesus “THE” (One and only) righteous. (1 John 2.1)
Yes, “all these things” were written for our example. Adam and Eve sinned, (disobeyed the Father) and “paid for it” (dearly). And so it began. The first sin, the second, the third and so it goes — every choice to sin (to disobey our Father) comes with a consequence. Solomon, ol’ buddy, – “you gotta pay to play.” #seriously. (Just the facts, m’am) — “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
Enuf “negativity?” Yes, “the wages of death is death…” (But.) But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD. Friend, Christ is now a sure cure for the curse. O Hallelujah for the cross!! And what (sumdumguy inquired) are the consequences of obedience? What parent or grandparent among us does not delight in obedient children? (Hello?)
What if? What if we willingly choose to obey our Father? What if? What if God has our “yes?” If we confess our sins (ALL have sinned!) [Then] He is [both] Faithful and Just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from ALL [Hallelujah!] unrighteousness.” (1John 1.9). This, btw, is not a (get-out-of-jail-free) ticket to sin! Again, what do the scriptures say? (This is how we roll.) “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” And the answer is? “God forbid.” Sin is damning, debilitating, destructive, disillusioning and just plain “stoopid!” Succinctly, “sin is the worst form of insanity.”
Perhaps we might say Solomon didn’t know any better. Or did he? but chose to disobey God anyway. For one who was the wisest man ever to have lived, by his own foolish choices, he sure ended up a fool.
As the wisest Man who ever lived said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments!’ (John 14.15)
Thank you for this, your timing is again impeccable! Just yesterday one of my kids (who is an extreme planner, organizer… should I say seems to think he is in need of control?) and I were discussing that we don’t always need to KNOW everything ahead, that we can relax and trust that things are going to work out OK whether we have it figured out or not… Maybe it’s my own simple mind, but time and again I fall back on “ignorance is bliss.” But of course, I have learned enough here to realize ignorance can also lead me astray… it’s a fine line and I struggle to know when to try and cross it… recently I was reminded that until I am obeying what I already know YHWH really doesn’t need to reveal anything else, so maybe for me, that’s the line. Thinking out loud/rambling here, sorry. Anyway, thank you and I agree with Lesli “fun videos!”
We don’t know how we would have learned the difference between good and evil if we had not eaten from the Tree. Because evil was already on the loose in the universe, it was necessary that the universe understand it, and I am sure we would have been given a way to understand from the safe position of obedience, if we had passed the Tree test. Why was not ha-satan destroyed when his heart became corrupted by his own volition? Surely it was because the rest of creation needed to understand what they were looking at; not only so that they would know why they should NOT do the same, but also if YHVH had immediately destroyed ha-satan when he rebelled (or us either) He could have been construed as being unfair and cruel. Justice needs vindication; it needs to be seen as fair, but to do that, the rebellion also needs to be seen for what it is, and what the end of it is, if allowed to play out. When we ate from the Tree, we made the decision that evil would be able to be played out on our planet; in other words, experience.
Solomon was post Tree. Think about it. How could he have ‘had’ knowledge of evil without experience? This is disturbing. I don’t think we are doomed to sin. I think we have been given the Torah so that we can still choose NOT to sin, but knowledge of sin, to us post Tree, can only be learned through experience, as is also the case with righteousness. We don’t gain knowledge through esoteric or mysterious means. That is an illusion, and now impossible for us mortals. Even our knowledge of God can only come through our experience of Him. Knowledge of sin on this planet will always involve the death of someone, for that is the “wages”, or, end result of that experience. Solomon was not doomed to death through his knowledge, but the temptation to skate really close to that edge had to have been increased exponentially. He could always repent, and I like to think that he may have, in the end, for he also had the knowledge (experience) of the goodness of YHVH, too, although the baleful results of his sin that he left for his nation to reap would have been too late to reverse.
Laurita
You have touched an interesting question. Why was Satan not destroyed…
Look at the collateral damage. Lives destroyed, people killed etc. Is he destroyable or just containable. And now we debate obedience when the cause of disobedience is free to continue and we are doomed to containment and punishment… What are we missing, given Solomon’s wisdom he could justify and provide answers for everyone but himself.
Given God’s power why is evil still controlling or did Solomon discover that their is no condemnation for natural acts but only for spiritual… What that may be…
Pretty interesting thoughts Seeker, if I may propose some thoughts for consideration and perhaps open a can of worms for continuing dialogue.
To go back to the garden for a moment, we often perceive evil as something that has been imposed on the world we live in and yet Genesis tells us quite clearly that, at least the propensity for, it already existed and that it wasn’t “imposed” as much as given a free hand, and that, by choices. I say that to clarify the thought that, perhaps our thinking concerning the eradication of evil is in error and that our “method” of dealing with it is, in fact, conducive to its propagation. Our “concern” is to overcome evil, with good. The eradication of it, if He so chooses to accomplish that, is God’s work. As an example of our “misconduct” concerning the handling of evil, I’ll use the often misunderstood law of an eye for an eye. Note that I’m not speaking of our defense against one who chooses to commit an evil act against us, but rather our response to them in the aftermath. So, speaking simply, if one puts out my eye and justice entails that I put out their eye, have I added to or subtracted from the power of evil to rule over me and others? Look at how the Messiah conquered the power of the grave, not by feeding the grave with the corpses of those who feed it but by committing righteousness and leaving the justice to YHWH. He became a conduit for the Kingdom of Heaven to work through by expanding righteousness in His works, instead of evil. It doesn’t seem we’ve learned much from the days of the disciples as when they were rejected, they asked if fire should be called down from heaven to consume those men and Yeshua rebuked them with the words, “you don’t know what manner of spirit you are of, for the son of man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” We have to begin to understand that our obedience is not just about identification, but it has to do with the expansion of the Kingdom of God because it’s through love of God and man that evil is overcome, not through the eradication of evil. But these are touchy subjects, and bound to be misunderstood, perhaps because of doctrine and/or affiliation, or perhaps because of lack of ability to express, but I’m thinking this is one of the lessons we will face in increasing measure as we navigate these tenacious times.
YHWH bless you and keep you……..
Robert,
I am with you. Yeshua made a revealing statement or so the records reveal… He turned to Peter and said get behind me Satan as you think the way of man not god (own words)…
Back to choices, the three temptation Yeshua overcame.. All results in our reach if we bow down to serve them God gave all we need there is no new plant or fruit we create, we do manipulate but that’s that.
From eden till now the bible beckons back to live as God intended off his creation.
As Egypt and Babylon we are still desiring what man creates. Go back to the 10 commandments. Every time I see a picture of nature and stand in awe then buy it as it is nice to admire… What am I indirectly doing worshipping an image of the creation not seeking the actual creation to stand in awe and admire…
Now consider good and evil. Both choices, is evil any natural act or is evil unnatural?…
Must I overcome my inclination to go beyond or create something I desire that is not made by God or that what God created and intended…
1John 2 the world I must not love are the similar things Yeshua refused to kneel down to…
Robert, you say “it’s through love of God and man that evil is overcome, not through the eradication of evil.” First of all, I second the motion! Next, I would like to propose, following your succinct observation, that evil is not a ‘thing’ that can be eradicated. Evil is a condition of fracture. Simply. To ‘eradicate it’ (wrong action entirely), then, is as simple of reestablishing connection, which is what you said. So what remains is the question of what to do about “evil spirits”?
I don’t think we are going to get anywhere with our understanding, much less a resolution of, this problem, unless and until we decide to go back and look at the dichotomy of thought we currently are operating under when it comes to thinking about spirit VS matter: immaterial vs reality. We think spiritual ‘things’ have some sort of ideal Greek form that we can then sort, classify and DO THINGS WITH. Really? If evil is a malfunction in my junction what am I supposed to do about it? Cast ‘it’ out, or reconnect the hose?
Hey, Seeker and Laurita, glad to hear your responses as they allow us to open up this can of worms and see what we can discover, never mind the fact that what both of you stated is rather thought provoking. I’m going to say something here that I understand is controversial, but I’ll attempt to touch it as lightly as possible as not to cause offence. On the other thread, rebuking the devil, there seems to be much discussion as to whether or not evil spirits exist as a real entity or whether they are “manifestations” of our own making. While I’ll withhold my opinion (as it’s only that) I would propose that it is largely an immaterial debate, as what matters is not about who or what they are but rather what we do concerning the dilemma. If we agree that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is truly God and there is no other, then we also believe His claims of sovereignty and that all things that exist do so by His explicit permission. On that note, I’ll go a bit further on the observation of evil, insofar as God claims that He creates it and that it, along with the rest of creation, serves His explicit purposes. I know I’ve written on Genesis, day 2 before, but this is an opportunity to further clarify some of these things that are hard to wrap our heads around. In short, day 2 speaks of 2 heavens, 1 above and one below, but “the heavens” is properly a place of authority and the above is M-AL (FROM-over, or the true authority) and the below is M-T,CH,T (FROM-instead of, or the “other authority” we choose) either way an expansion takes place as it’s choices of activities that propagate the expansion and therefore what authority rules over us. This takes us back to what I said concerning Yeshua and his acts of obedience. This is the authority all believers have, in Yeshua, to diminish the realm or authority of evil and to enhance and broaden the authority of the Kingdom of God, BY OUR ACTS OF OBEDIENCE, as that is what adds too the M-AL heavens. This is what we need to learn and exercise. Retaliation, poking out ones eye in response, adds to the “instead of authority” and it gives that authority permission to rule over us, not returning evil for evil, enhances the true authority and allows God to operate through and in us to His good pleasure. Is it any wonder that this day is not deemed as KI TOV, but we err greatly in regards to these things, and there’s much more to learn and do if we desire to become effectual in the Kingdom of Heaven.
YHWH bless you and keep you……..
If I understand correct two options face us, fashion versus eternity, evil versus good, temporarily versus permanent… Our task is to seek the things that create a worthy legacy rather than a wow…
Further discussion on rebuking myself…
Interesting take. But what about “missing” scripture during this time? Josiah’s reforms beg the question – were scriptures prohibiting idolatry and instructions on Passover suppressed or missing during the first few king’s reigns?
“Surely such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah.” 2 Kings 23:22
David was a man after God’s own heart and he meditated on God’s law daily,… but did he have all of it? Did Solomon? Do these sins then fit into a category of “unintentional sin” (Numbers 15)?