1 Kings Ch 3:
Solomon loved the Lord.
This is a statement in scripture exceedingly rare.
It has no religious fervor attached to it.
The statement has a stamp of perfection upon it. And when it is read it has a distinct horizontal affect upon the heart, it brings a release of tension, and an exhaling of human effort, it relaxes the soul and breathes a purpose into life that may have been missed through all the clutter.
And while the horizontal breaking forth of harmony oozes out from these words, we know that the Lord is the Lord, and he abides in heaven, yet this statement has brought Him down to earth in a manner that can be seen, touched and tasted, a fullness of grace within a man to behold.
Career building courses, motivational speeches from people who have attained a measure of success and hunger for more of it through the sale of their secrets to success. This statement cuts right through all the noise of life and aspirations, and presents a wholly different reason for living.
It gives a foundation for the heart of family life, community living and the fragrance for a nation. The Queen of Sheba, brought spices from the heart of Africa, because she knew that a nation ought to have a welcoming love within its borders that transforms the hearts of men.
Solomon loved the Lord.
It concerns the nature of two distinct characters.
Yet, the distinction is interwoven with oneness due to the bond that connects them being love. And in this great truth, we see the Lord Jesus in one another within the Church of Jesus Christ.
Solomon loved the Lord. Solomon had a pure heart, and he was given clear sight of God. Solomon understood the heart of God, that his was a great Shepherds heart. But more than this, he loved the creative uniqueness of love to communicate its nature. The nature of love must communicate, as love does not seek its own.
When we see Gods love in another brother, when we witness God using a brother and glimpse a measure of their creative connection with his love, we ourselves are liberated by it. It is shared with us to communicate with us deeply his personal love for us. This is the multiplication of Gods thoughts towards us, individually and corporately. For this reason we know that we are born of God when we love the brethren. For this reason we must guard are speech and refrain from all words of criticism that are not underpinned by love.
Why did Solomon love the Lord? For certain it was not due to Calvins doctrine of election. One thing that is indisputable about Solomons birth, is that it was not preordained in the heavenlies. Within God is no darkness at all, and therefore, God did not withhold from King David providential grace when he abused his position as King and did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. It was not the will of God, that David sinned. It was not the will of God that the enemies of the Lord were given ammunition, or that a faithful servant was severed from knowing the joys of a happy family life.
Solomon loved Lord.
This statement is not calculated. It is not applied science. Despite the background to how his father and mother had come to be, Solomon was still made in the image of God, as all the sons of men are. This is a wonderful redemptive truth, Jesus Christ as the second Adam died for the transgressions of every man, it is not the will of God that any man should perish.
Being made in the image of love, to love is inbuilt within mans DNA. The horror of sin is that it corrupts the original blueprint. We need the Lord to enable us to love. Solomon loved the Lord, Solomon saw in the Lord the love and the man he aspired to be, working a redemptive infusion into the fabric of his person.
What had laid the foundation in Solomon life so that he loved the Lord? This is an essential question for the Church of Jesus Christ. The purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ is that being built together, we together, grow into a holy temple in the Lord. Being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
It is not by chance that the Lord appears to Solomon and that it is before the foundation is set for the temple.
This question is not an exclusive question for those who have been fortunate enough to have a Christian heritage and godly parentage. It is a question for the Church concerning those who are afar off and the critical role of discipleship and mentoring, a Church wide ministry for all to support in and with.
‘Walking in the statutes of David his Father’! The prerequisite of Solomons love for the Lord was the example and relationship that Solomon had with his Father. In this we have the original blueprint of the very fabric of life, of all creative life. God the Father, made all things through Jesus Christ his Son.
For this reason when Jesus Christ had come, the old covenant had to be made new and the laws that had brought the knowledge of good and evil had to be superseded by a principle of dynamic spiritual ‘life’.
The outer pattern that speaks of better things had come, a word made flesh unveiled, speaking mercy through every beat of his heart, that makes the blood flow out to every part of the body. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
‘Walking in the statutes of David his Father’.
While the relationship between them was central, David and Solomon, scripture does not imply that David’s time was disproportionately given unto his son Solomon. In fact very little indeed is said, and had it not been for Nathan the prophet in Davids latter days, Solomon would not have been anointed as the succeeding King over Israel.
Therefore, the statement is broader than just the personal relationship. This is central to the teachings of the Church, and for the making of men and women in the kingdom. Western society has been disproportionately affected by the demise of true masculinity and the ascent of distorted feminism, this has resulted in confusion in children concerning their identity, their mental health and that which is good and that which is evil.
Every society needs balance, and a liberal mindset can often see the harshness and impact of authoritarian shortsightedness. But we cannot produce good fruit as God intended for multiplication if their is not the correct blueprint concerning the masculine and feminine role within family.
The demise of true masculinity, means many have not been raised having had a true father who has taught in word, deed and example what being a man is. But the remedy for this short fall will not necessarily be found through the disproportionate amount of time required to fill this short fall. New birth is intentionally an impossibility as only with God is such a shortfall able to be redeemed. Learning then to walk in the Spirit, is the key to growth and maturity.
‘Walking in the statutes of David his Father’.
David penned most of the Psalms, he is known as the sweet Psalmist of Israel.
But this statement does not convey a mere melody.
It coveys something from the ages, it is full of masculine strength and stability. It conveys something passed on from the ‘Ancient of days’.
1 Chronicles Ch 22 v11-13: ‘Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Fear not; do not be dismayed.
Do not these words echo Joshua’s after Moses has died and the people of Israel must cross the Jordan. And who was it that spake to Moses on that mount?
Scripture notes that Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him.
Deuteronomy Ch 33: This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death.
He said, ‘The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.
“Yes he loved his people, all his holy ones were in his hand; so they followed in your steps, receiving direction from you”
‘When Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob’.
‘Thus the Lord became king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes together’.
Jeshurun, I understand is referring to Israel in a poetical sense. The name is linked to ‘beloved ones’ and ‘upright/righteous ones’. Cornhill Schultz denote it as ‘the righteous little people’, which I like considering all that Jesus taught concerning receiving his Kingdom.
The abraim publications offer some very helpful insights concerns the roots in Hebrew of the name ‘Jeshurun’. And most commentaries also associate the name with being ‘supremely happy’.
https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Jeshurun.html#.X5T_vorLehA
Moses, here then is giving us an incredible insight into the ministry of Jesus Christ, the prophet to come who was greater then he. Moses has just been told that he cannot enter the promised land, having been head and shoulders above all the other men in Israel, God singles him out at this juncture due to his servant having broken faith with him in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh. Moses had not treated the Lord as holy in the midst of the people of Israel! Incredible, Gods nature is so set apart never having known corruption and being incorruptible! Moses had acted in a manner that had not revealed the love of the Cross of Calvary, where the Father allowed the rock to be struck once and for all, for all of time and eternity. The rock by which the gates of hades shall not prevail against.
King David, was clearly informed that he could not be the one who would build the temple. And here we have a distinct parallel, Solomon even being given wisdom due to the legacy of his Father. Oh, is this not the blessing that God commands as the last of the prophets speaks before the one is born who grew in grace, and wisdom before all Israel, none daring to ask him anymore questions, knowing he was the answer. Malachi Ch Ch 4 v4-6. The northern kingdom is only really brought back into the sealing of the setting sun, once the prophet from Nazareth who walked in the land of Zebulun finishes his 42 month ministry, passing the baton onto his friends the Jeshuruns’ – all being gathered together in once accord, a level place.
Yes, Chapter and verse came afterwards. But I believe aspects are inspired, such as Genesis having 50 chapters and all the books totaling 66.
Moses has been told by the Lord that he is to die! He had no ill health, his strength and sight had not subsided. Reading Hudson Taylor in is early years, it is a great testimony to hear Mr John Wesley affirm in his 80’s that he had not know weariness for 20 years. Surely, testimony to his yoke being easy especially in the era of horse and cart.
He was not in the prime of his life as Jesus was, but he was healthy enough to ask God for this mountain, he more than had the legs to cross the Jordan. Early this morning I watched a Spirit filled funeral service in which the deceased on the day he died had had a prophetic dream concerning his eternal journey into the Lord presence.
Oh how Gods love must have been impressed deeply into Moses his servant. Through Gods communicated contrast, through Gods unique holiness, Moses is incorporated into that ground upon which he had misrepresented Gods character.
It is appointed that all men must die. The soul that sins must die. All have fallen short of the glory of God.
The love of God must have been seamless into Moses’s heart as out from it comes this blessing to the people of Israel who shall enter the land of promise. The land he had heard about while being nursed inside the grounds of the daughter of Pharaohs palace.
‘There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms’.
‘Happy are you, O Israel! ‘Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph!
Does this not convey the Spirit of the Lord, that rested upon the ministry of King Jesus after he had overcome Satan during those 40 days in the wilderness. Is not the heart of God, that his people should know Joy, pressed down and unspeakable. Did he not make a promise to Peter, after informing him that he would indeed deny that he ever knew him three times, that he had a prepared place for him, in the City of God, that city which has foundations, hence why the Lord prayed concerning his faith, broken in himself at his inability to be holy during his masters trial. But, as Paul writes to the Church at Ephesus, But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not in the crucified ONE, set apart to make men holy.
‘Yes, he loved his people, all his holy ones in his hand; so they followed in your steps, receiving direction from you’.
1 Peter Ch 1 v1-5 – The multiplication of his thoughts towards us is a faith that sees a seamless light during the night, a universe without any borders but filled by an innumerable amount of promises fulfilled.
A friend once described the stars as pin pricks through a canvas. The analogy is helpful concerning that which John saw upon the isle of Patmos.
Your Word, is a lamp unto my feet.
John Ch 10 v25- 30 – The Message MSG.
A dying thief, seeing the rock, the Holy Son of God, acquires wisdom through the correct fear of God. What an exchange, ‘Today you will be one of my Jeshuruns’ for all eternity’. Oh how was God able to breath into Moses such a blessing unto the children of Israel, was it not the deep deep love of Jesus, who died to call them all his own:
While the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
The Centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, ‘Certainly this man was Jeshurun’
A Jewish thief? Taking what didn’t belong legally to him, being punished according to the law. He asks, as Solomon did, and has his petition granted, as he feared the Holy One of Israel. He feared rejecting, as David penned, the incredible holiness of Gods mercy.
The veil is town in two. Inside the temple, inside the promised land an uncircumcised solider, sees the Holy One of Israel who had spoken from the mercy seat, better things than the blood of Abel. He praised God, in his praise he knew intuitively that evil had been conquered by that cry.
Luke Ch 24 v12-53.
Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph!
The last words of David, 2 Samuel Ch23 v1-7 – 1 Chronicles Ch 22 v12 – 1 Chronicles Ch 28 v11 – Gods provided rock of sacrifice. On the mount of the Lord it shall be provide.
I suspect that Moses pondered this ground for longer as he surveyed the land.
1 Kings Ch 2 v1 – 4. Do we love J R Tolkien’s imaginative plagiarism, the return of the King and its call unto the brotherhood of men. The Bible is the authentic journey of life, it covers all the progress. But what Tolkien lacked, the Bible magnifies, the only truly messianic figure is the Lion from the tribe of Judah, he alone opens the door into eternity.
Poetry and symmetry. Harmony between Moses and Elijah as they conferred with Jesus.
King David, instructs Joab and the commander of the army of Jeshurun, to number the people!
I don’t fully understand this, but 1 Chronicles Ch 21 v1 cast light on it.
David who had come to the battle line and faced a giant with a sling and five pebbles. And what had given him such confidence, faith that such speech was a reproach not only of the armies of the beloved one, but the beloved one himself. Did this uncircumcised leader of more than a 100 men, not fear the living God, who had parted the Red Sea!
Oh, to number Gods people, in his old age knowing all that he did concerning the way of faith. King David had a breach in his faith, that leaned upon his own understanding rather than the simplicity of trusting in the Lord with all his heart, mind and soul. David looked for how many swords he may acquire during his Gethsemane.
Was not Christ born in Bethlehem, and was it not for-told by the prophet Isaiah 1 Chronicles Ch 22 v9. And did he not teach us to pray, the outworking of the tabernacle and temple; 1 Chronicles Ch 29 10-12. Luke Ch 11 v1 – v13
Solomon asked.
And was he not born there due to Gods foreknowledge of a new world order mandate and censorship. God had to Judge Israel because it was an arm of flesh Satan was weaving for mans crown: a generation curse is the hand that reached out for the tree believing that God had withheld some good thing to be desired, to make one wise!! We talk of Solomons to this day because he asked. The first and original breach of faith in the ONE who alone is GOOD and HOLY HOLY HOLY is his name.
And was it not the man of flesh, who hearing of one born King of the Jews, stretched forth his arm, to slaughter the infants of Bethlehem! God, knows what is in the heart of men, 1 Chronicles Ch 28 v9 – John Ch 2 v24-25 little wonder Jesus knew and taught his ‘ABC’s’, ‘Abraham Believed the Cross’ was the only remedy.
This rock is an eternal rock, and is smashes the empires build on an illusion of happiness. If Peter had only been able to have retained the blessedness of being a little one made righteous by the lamb, he needn’t have boasted then and the evil one wont have had his opportunity. Dear Peter could have died a happy death had he understood his inheritance. But, his ultimate death gave all the glory to GOD, knowing that it was soon to come.
King David, the anointed of God, was not allowed to build the temple.
King David, in the city called his own, Jerusalem, was not allowed to set the foundation stone.
Abraham Believed the Cross, the dwelling place of God, the true mercy seat, God made incorruptible in man. He alone is the sealing of are faith, he alone is the repairer of the breach…Selah.
It is little surprise, 1 Chronicles chronicles in the sequence that it does. The author knew, that Daniel saw another kind of man, the eternal ark of the covenant between God and man, Emmanuel, God having provided himself a sacrifice, with us in the alter of mercies beseeching a lost world to be reconciled. Out of captivity he lead us, out of the misery of Adams fall, out of Egypt and into the promises of life, light an abundance of happiness in singing the corporate psalms of Zion: 1 John Ch 3 v v1.
King David, who penned the whole details of the temple, through writing from the hand of the Spirit of the Lord, Selah. According to the plan, the lamb, slain before the foundation of the world.
Joab and the commander of the army had numbered the people against their own wisdom, knowing themselves that the power in that trajectile was not from that ruddy youths arm. They knew it was the anointing, the anointing oil that brings Joy and gladness, numbers rarely do, as four Scocers once sang.
Had it not been Joab who had risen to the challenge of taking Jerusalem, 1 Chronicles Ch 11 v4-6. The Jebusite had said ‘you will not come in here’! What kind of a statement to make when God is fulfilling a promise he made to Abraham. And any nation or political party that thinks it will prevent Gods sovereign will being done is just as woefully self deceived. Joab who was in harmony with his King, started to repair the city. It would not be incorrect to read it that Joab prepared the city to rest, now that the Son of promise had come. To rest from you warfare.
But that was promised to Davids Son.
God, to keep his covenant promises, gives his King three options. And David picks the third parable.
I don’t really understand the reasons behind these events. But we do know that the people of Israel where in Egypt for 400 years because the sin of the Amorites was not yet complete. Their rebellion to Gods ways giving them no legal rights to the territory. And we do know that Saul was rejected from being King because he failed to obey the word of the Lord concerning establishing righteousness between the nations. And how wonderful to see Sudan forsaking an evil and destructive path.
And we know that David had fasted and prayed and obeyed the Word of the Lord, concerning the Gibeonites.
David had personally sinned in having asked Joab to number the people. He had brought a breach right into the heart of the nations defense, the Lord being their strong arm. And Joab who had taken the City had warned him.
But, BUT! A word of prophesy comes to him, through Gad, a commandment from the Lord. It is a wonderful thing that prophesy is also a commandment to obey: Repent and believe and you shall receive not merely the forgiveness of your sins, but a high calling to be in that number around his throne where Glory dwells.
And it is specific, raise an alter on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Some commentaries suggesting he may have been a leader of that area. This, the very ground for the temple, many believing it is the very same territory upon which Abraham was commanded by a word of prophesy to offer his Son as a sacrifice.
A threshing floor, a place that wheat is sifted. But I have prayed for you, that your faith in the provided sacrifice fail not. The grain of wheat that went into the ground, on the third day to die that you may bring forth 100 fold, that the multitude of my thoughts towards you may bring Joy, gladness, singing and dancing. The one who thrusts out the destroyer who is the prince of darkness. The eternal God being are dwelling place and underneath are his everlasting arms. Blessed are you, Simon Bar Johan for flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you, and upon this Rock of provision, shall I build my Church, the sure covenant mercies of David, who believed Gods word that his son would not be corruptible. Happy are those who have this hope abiding in them, in the twinkling of the eye.
(No wonder Elisha, left the oxen, and took up the mantle of the Lamb: Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. 12 yoke of oxen, a United Kingdom made strong through the unity of the Father & the Son. Not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit, raising an army of dry old bones – the dead man leaping out Elisha’s tomb – Gods burden is a life that is light).
King David, unto whom God did not withhold his providential grace!
Woven together Judgement and Mercy, that Grace abounding to the chief of sinners may spread the tiding to every corner of creation, the eternal covenant to all who need a BUT before they appear and kneel before His throne.
Woven together, the need to Judge all the sins of this world. Every murder and every adultery.
Solomon loved the Lord.
Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah because of the Lord. Mr Lucas another plagiarist.
The sure mercies of David, after God has already given consent to the new dwelling place. God did not revoke his covenant, slain the lamb before the foundations of the world.
To be contrasted with Ammons wickedness.
The Lord, had to have a threshing floor for an alter in the heart of Jerusalem. Davids Sin was grave.
But having responded to the prophetic ministry, he received a prophets reward: JESUS the intertwining of all that the law and prophets teach and command. Named to save men from their sins.
God approved of the manner in which he comforted Bathsheba, two wrongs do not make a us righteous. But repentance bears good fruit.
The Lord loves redemption. The Lord loves his covenant of promise, God shall provide himself a sacrifice. No it never gives license, and Solomon is warned in exactly the same manner that all men must revere the Holy One of Israel. Ignore it to your peril.
But when Nathan comes to David, the child is named and named and anointed to be the next king of Israel. Named to be the one who lays the cornerstone of the meeting place of God and man!
God the Father loves the work his dearly beloved Son has finished at Calvary. It is the sealing of the sure mercies of David, he is the only one worthy to open the seal and to number those redeemed through his poured out blood as a sacrifice.
Are you in despair, happiness can still be your song. Jesus speaking as the prophetic voice of his Father said: For this my Son was dead, was lost and is found. That prodigals and prostitutes may be clothed in the righteousness of the Holy one of Jeshua. Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us into his sealed covenant.
Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit. Having atoned for the sins of the entire human race.
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today – Luke Ch 24 v50 -53.
N.B.
The funeral service I stumbled across, encapsulated a Father with a legacy. A man who knew his appointed hour, and has by all accounts left a good testimony for future generations
eternalrays 