Today’s reading gives us one more opportunity to be reminded from Solomon’s supreme example of man’s inability to remain faithful to God. Recall that Solomon had every advantage: the first-hand example of his father, whom God himself called faithful (although he certainly wasn’t without sin). The heritage of a father who so pleased God that God would show mercy to Solomon for the sake of his father David. God’s special love that showed in the name He gave to Solomon. The wisdom Solomon had requested. Wealth. Power over his enemies. Peacetime in which to build (which he also could have used to seek God). Solomon enjoyed every advantage a human being could enjoy, and represented man’s best hope for pleasing God – and he failed miserably. We would be foolish to think we can do any better than Solomon did. His failure reminds all of us of our desperate need for God’s help to be faithful to Him. Doesn’t that make you feel grateful for Messiah’s work and your great salvation?
We will read how Solomon’s extreme wealth lasted a single generation. It went to the enemy who gained power over the kingdom during the rule of Solomon’s son. That very wealth made Israel a target. The alliance he made with Egypt didn’t last; even in his lifetime, Solomon’s enemies found refuge in Egypt. So much of what Solomon built was destroyed in his son’s generation, except for the high places he had built for the worship of foreign gods. The Temple and worship of foreign gods were the legacy left by this man who had it all, and the former was perhaps more David’s legacy than Solomon’s. Solomon set the nation up for division – in politics, in geography and in heart. Isn’t that a sad legacy? It’s no worse than what any of us would leave, but for God’s grace. Today’s reading is an opportunity to consider the legacy you are building. Any wealth you leave behind may be gone in a generation; what will be left?
Why the reference to ten tribes and one, instead of a total of twelve tribes? We’ll see in tomorrow’s reading that Benjamin went with Judah. Also, the tribe of Simeon was surrounded by Judah; perhaps over time boundary lines were blurred and with them the distinctiveness of the tribes. Early on the tribe of Dan had relinquished its territory to the surrounding peoples who seemed to want it more than the descendants of Dan did; perhaps they were no longer counted as a tribe. Any of these could be the reason.