Healing for our wayward heart
1 Kings 5:1-18
A driver was heading to an important meeting and found the parking lot seemingly full. Fearing that he might be late, he was praying frantically for a space circling around on the lookout for any cars pulling out. Nothing. More prayers. ‘Please, Lord, help me find parking, pleeeeeease!’ Still nothing. Then he spotted an empty space in the next row and as he turned the corner, he prayed, ‘Actually, Lord, don’t bother, I’ve found one!’ Humorous as this incident is, it highlights our tendency to call on God in our desperation but claim the credit and leave Him behind once difficulties are resolved. Israel was warned not to forget their hardship in the wilderness and to remember that they must rely on God in times of plenty not just in need (Deut 8:11-20). The temptation is even greater for Solomon who inherited his ‘rest’ from enemies because David made the conquests that enabled the country to have peace.
Rest and temple building
Solomon, however, stresses that it is the Lord who gives rest from enemies (1 Kings 5:3-4). Neither does he use the sense of having arrived to take his ease and enjoy life’s benefits. Rather, he recognises the charge laid on him by God to build a temple once Israel is settled and at rest in the land (1 Kings 5:5 cf. Deut 12:9-11). To this end, Solomon responds favourably to the friendly overtures of the king of Tyre knowing well that the Sidonians’ materials and expertise are exactly what is needed for the temple project (1 Kings 5:1, 6).[1] A deal is struck with the timber floated down the sea and lavish provisions made in return for the royal household in Tyre (1 Kings 5:8-11). Solomon’s wisdom in all this is praised again (1 Kings 5:12). While the idea of forced labour (1 Kings 5:13) seems repugnant to modern readers, it was standard practice in the ancient world. Neither is it in service of the king’s aggrandisement but for the benefit of furthering the relationship with God for all.[2] The details suggest the grand scale of the project and the careful planning needed for getting people and materials organised (1 Kings 5:14-18).
Self-interest or desiring God?
In the parable of the sower, Jesus describes one soil where riches and desires for other things choke the seed sown (Mk 4:18-19). While worries of this world may also do the same, difficulties can draw us to God because we recognise our dependence on His help. However, wellbeing and life at its best can make us think that we no longer need Him. It can reveal our heart’s self-interest, only looking to benefit from the blessings we receive but not really desiring Him personally. It is a particularly strong temptation in our Western context because we have so much to enjoy and distract us. Nevertheless, it is also a universal human condition that the exiles would have recognised in themselves. Yet, they were given a model for a different way of living in Solomon’s early reign.
Healing for our wayward heart
What then is the remedy for our wayward heart? Solomon’s attitude teaches us that acknowledging the Lord as the source of all our blessings and ‘the rest’ we experience is the beginning. Although not specifically mentioned in our passage, the underlying assumption behind such recognition is ultimately the acknowledgement that He is the one who saved Israel from slavery (cf. Deut 8:12-14). Their rest from enemies encompasses their whole story of redemption from hard labour to living in their own land without fear. As Christians, we know that beyond those ‘fringe benefits’ we may enjoy in our material life, there is the greater redemption of our heart and life from the domain of darkness, the slavery of sin. We are forgiven, cleansed and loved! It is this that is the motivation for seeking out the Lord. Thus, Solomon remembers and acts on the charge laid on him to build a temple. While we no longer look to a physical building to have fellowship with the Lord, the effort and cost Solomon expanded on a place where God could be encountered encourages us to create those opportunities in our life that foster the relationship with God.
[1] Tyre and Sidon were two Phoenician cities on the north-western coastline of Israel and the term ‘Sidonians’ here encompasses Tyre as well. They were a seafaring trading people without arable land, so needed agricultural produce in exchange for goods they traded in. An alliance with Israel was to be cultivated for several reasons. David earlier subdued the Philistines (a competitor for Tyre) on the southern coastline and Israel could ensure Tyre’s access to inland trade routes. Thus, Hiram was friendly with David and supplied him with building material for his palace (2 Sam 5:11) and he was obviously hoping for a similarly advantageous relationship with Solomon.
[2] David himself used forced labour and had the same foreman, Adoram (2 Sam 20:24), a variant for Adoniram (1 Kings 5:14; 12:18). Forced labour will eventually become an issue in Solomon’s reign because he used the system extensively for his own building projects as well, which fit better with Samuel’s warning about the king taking and taking (2 Sam 8:10-17). That the burden of taxation and labour was heavy on the people becomes evident after Solomon’s death when a delegation asks his son, Rehoboam, to lighten their hard service (1 Kings 12:4).
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