GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 1:11-13
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11 God said to Solomon, “Since this was in your heart, and you have not asked for riches, treasure, honor, or the lives of those who hate you, and have not even asked for a long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge so that you can govern my people over whom I have made you king, 12 wisdom and knowledge I will give you. I will also give you riches, treasure, and honor, such as none of the kings who were before you had, and none will have after you.”
God would have blessed whatever Solomon asked for. He is pleased to accomplish great things through small and foolish things. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:17). So God would have given Solomon some other thing if he had asked for it. But he was pleased with Solomon’s choice. In fact, Solomon showed that he already had the beginning of knowledge and a good supply of wisdom to ask for those very things.
God lays out the four most common desires of rulers, despots and kings: Riches, treasure, honor, and revenge. People who seek power usually have one of these things in mind. The difference between riches and treasure is that riches is more on the side of cash, of precious items that could be used to purchase other things. Treasure is more on the side of valuable things that have been purchased. Or we could think of it this way: Riches means being able to afford a Rembrandt; treasure means actually having a Rembrandt. Kings liked to put the treasure side of their wealth on display (Esther 5:11; Isaiah 39:2,4).
Honor includes many other things such as glory, fame, wealth, and admiration. The Hebrew word implies weight and heaviness; your name carries weight and therefore respect when it is spoken. Solomon would later say: “Long life is in wisdom’s right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor” (Proverbs 3:16). Now, this could mean that wisdom brings many other gifts with it, including long life, riches and honor. But Solomon brings up the idea of a right-hand gift and some left-hand gifts, and this could also mean that out of all the things he received, an unspoken, unexpected and especially marvelous gift from God was his long life, and while he appreciated the wealth and honor he had (the left-hand gifts), the long life was something he was especially grateful for. Like his father David, Solomon reigned over Israel for forty years (2 Chronicles 9:30, compare 1 Kings 2:11).
13 When Solomon went up from the high place at Gibeon, he went from the tent of meeting to Jerusalem. And he ruled over Israel.
In 1 Kings 3:15 we are told that Solomon also worshiped God before the ark in Jerusalem, but our author omits that from this telling of the story. It’s not as if he was trying to remove that detail from Scripture. We do something like this when we preach a sermon on a text or teach a Sunday school lesson. Since I do not have hours and hours to pore over every detail with the group, I must choose portions of a text and emphasize them in order to preach law and gospel and to encourage sanctified living. This means that sometimes I might fail to refer to a part of a passage. This is not denial, but rhetoric.
Gibeon is two or three miles (two for a crow, three for one’s feet) north of Jerusalem. There on top of an isolated little hill is a good fountain in a cave. The slopes of the hill are terraced today with trees and vineyards. The fountain feeds a large open pool below, the “pool of Gibeon” mentioned here and there in Israel’s history (2 Samuel 2:13; Jeremiah 41:12), and there was also a massive rock there, too (2 Samuel 20:8). This was the last stopping-place for the tabernacle. Before this it had been at Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:3; 3:3). After worshiping at Gibeon, we are told that Solomon went “up” from there to Jerusalem. Even though it was on a hill, leaving there was called going up when the destination was Jerusalem, since Jerusalem is always spoken of as being “up” in the Scriptures.
What is missing here? Any Christian would read the text and answer, “Nothing.” Solomon prayed, he was answered, and he went to his capital city and began to reign. Period. But what about Solomon’s enemies? Why not ask another god for more blessings? Why not ask Molech, or Asherah, or Baal? You’re a new king. As long as the LORD is in a giving mood, maybe the other local gods are, too.
But you, good Christian, already know the answer to that. A critic, a guy writing a commentary for academic reasons without any real faith, would be flummoxed over it. He would reason: If Solomon bowed to other gods later on, why didn’t he do it now? Does the narrative dictate Solomon’s fall? Is the editor sleeping on the job? No. You keep being a good Christian and knowing the simple and obvious answer. There is nothing missing here. Solomon believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness. Solomon asked for one thing, and God’s answer was not the expected “Yes,” or even “no” or “not yet.” Instead, God gave to Solomon his other answer that he sometimes gives to our prayers: “I will give you what you ask for, and more! You asked for a little, but I will give you a lot.” God loves to answer us this way. He pours out his love and his generosity to us, lavishing us with so much. Does Paul pick up on this very scene when he talks about the grace “that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:7)? What a loving and generous God we have, who floods our lives with blessings, and who fills our hearts with joy.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 1:11-13 I will also give…