WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.825 --> 00:00:04.125 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord 2 00:00:04.125 --> 00:00:05.825 and Savior Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:06.325 --> 00:00:06.725 Amen. 4 00:00:06.725 --> 00:00:09.225 The text for our consideration 5 00:00:09.225 --> 00:00:14.625 today is the Old Testament lesson from the Second Sunday of Christmas. 6 00:00:14.925 --> 00:00:15.225 Yes, 7 00:00:15.225 --> 00:00:19.825 we are still in the Christmas season, you might have observed Epiphany 8 00:00:19.825 --> 00:00:21.925 yesterday, but that's really not until Thursday. 9 00:00:21.925 --> 00:00:28.125 So, our text is from First Kings chapter 3, which we have just heard. 10 00:00:28.825 --> 00:00:30.925 Now it is a coincidence 11 00:00:30.925 --> 00:00:34.525 but to me, I find it interesting that the last couple of times I've 12 00:00:34.525 --> 00:00:36.125 been asked to preach in Chapel. 13 00:00:36.125 --> 00:00:40.425 It's been on an Old Testament text but a text that has to do with some 14 00:00:40.425 --> 00:00:45.925 very powerful and influential men. Just a few weeks ago 15 00:00:45.925 --> 00:00:51.825 it was Daniel who was an example of steadfast faith that stood strong 16 00:00:51.825 --> 00:00:55.425 in the face of Temptation, especially the temptation of all, of the, 17 00:00:55.725 --> 00:00:57.925 all of the Power and the influence that he had. 18 00:00:57.925 --> 00:00:58.425 And yet, 19 00:00:58.725 --> 00:01:01.625 he did not allow it to go to his head. 20 00:01:02.525 --> 00:01:07.225 Well, our lesson for today for the Second Sunday after Christmas tells 21 00:01:07.225 --> 00:01:09.725 us about King Solomon. 22 00:01:11.525 --> 00:01:15.225 Well, his story is a little bit more complicated. 23 00:01:15.325 --> 00:01:16.125 So to speak. 24 00:01:16.125 --> 00:01:22.125 In fact, the story of Solomon is often described as a good example of 25 00:01:22.225 --> 00:01:24.025 literary tragedy. 26 00:01:24.825 --> 00:01:27.425 A literary tragedy is not that 27 00:01:27.425 --> 00:01:31.525 just something bad happens, like a hurricane hits or a plane crashes. 28 00:01:31.525 --> 00:01:35.525 But a literary tragedy really has to do with someone who has a so much 29 00:01:35.525 --> 00:01:37.825 going for himself or herself. 30 00:01:38.025 --> 00:01:43.125 It is on a rise is just making a good impression upon everybody and 31 00:01:43.125 --> 00:01:44.625 doing well and doing great. 32 00:01:44.925 --> 00:01:51.125 And then yet there's this one, fatal flaw that brings it all to rack 33 00:01:51.125 --> 00:01:54.425 and ruin. It brings about a disastrous end to 34 00:01:54.625 --> 00:01:58.325 that individual's status or reputation. 35 00:02:00.025 --> 00:02:04.825 Now, some commentators have asked whether we should love Solomon or 36 00:02:04.825 --> 00:02:06.225 whether we should hate him. 37 00:02:07.025 --> 00:02:11.825 Was he a good and worthy King to be emulated or was he horrible 38 00:02:11.825 --> 00:02:15.025 example of weak faith and debauchery? 39 00:02:16.825 --> 00:02:22.325 Others ask did Solomon lose his faith in entirely, so that he was 40 00:02:22.325 --> 00:02:27.925 doomed to Eternal destruction. Or others, speculate that maybe 41 00:02:27.925 --> 00:02:31.525 well, you know, with all of his wisdom certainly on his deathbed. 42 00:02:31.725 --> 00:02:38.225 He must have repented so that he entered into the next life in a state 43 00:02:38.225 --> 00:02:41.025 of grace, and into the Eternal mansions. 44 00:02:43.425 --> 00:02:47.325 Well, I would say as we look at this text in the other stories that we 45 00:02:47.325 --> 00:02:51.525 have of the great figures of the Hebrew scriptures that these are 46 00:02:51.525 --> 00:02:54.625 probably the wrong questions to be asking. 47 00:02:55.725 --> 00:02:59.825 I would say also that this story isn't just a little bit more, 48 00:02:59.925 --> 00:03:02.925 complicated, kind of like life 49 00:03:03.025 --> 00:03:08.625 you know. Finally, I would say that, like, the Book of Daniel, the 50 00:03:08.625 --> 00:03:12.125 faithfulness that we see here and the, the question of faithfulness, 51 00:03:12.125 --> 00:03:16.525 whether that be Daniel or King Solomon, but the most important thing 52 00:03:16.525 --> 00:03:20.025 to see in these stories is the faithfulness of God. 53 00:03:20.625 --> 00:03:23.825 Even in the face of the unfaithfulness of men. 54 00:03:25.725 --> 00:03:30.325 Now this text when we just take this lesson, as we have read it today 55 00:03:30.325 --> 00:03:34.325 and heard it today, just in and of itself is a heartwarming story to 56 00:03:34.325 --> 00:03:40.725 be sure. Early on in his reign, King Solomon goes to Gibeon to offer a 57 00:03:40.725 --> 00:03:44.625 sacrifice to the Lord and the Lord comes to him in a dream. 58 00:03:44.625 --> 00:03:47.525 And he says ask whatever you want and I will give it to you. 59 00:03:47.625 --> 00:03:48.625 Ask me anything. 60 00:03:49.525 --> 00:03:55.225 And Solomon responds, rightly so by recognizing the Lord's, great 61 00:03:55.225 --> 00:03:58.925 mercy and love, and forgiveness that he had shown toward his father, 62 00:03:58.925 --> 00:04:01.425 David and Solomon talks about that. 63 00:04:01.425 --> 00:04:07.225 And then he talks in in humbleness about the fact that he is incapable 64 00:04:07.225 --> 00:04:10.425 of ruling this great people. That he is like a child 65 00:04:10.425 --> 00:04:14.925 in fact, he says, and in fact, it seems like he was only about 20 66 00:04:14.925 --> 00:04:17.325 years old, when he became king suddenly. 67 00:04:18.725 --> 00:04:22.525 So, all he asks for is an understanding mind. 68 00:04:24.925 --> 00:04:25.325 Well 69 00:04:27.625 --> 00:04:29.325 that's not exactly what it says. 70 00:04:30.125 --> 00:04:32.825 The original is more like a heart 71 00:04:33.325 --> 00:04:34.325 that hears. 72 00:04:35.525 --> 00:04:40.825 He asks for a discerning heart to discern between good and evil so 73 00:04:40.825 --> 00:04:44.825 that he could govern, well, the kingdom that he had inherited. 74 00:04:45.625 --> 00:04:50.725 And of course, this request, please the Lord God and he said he would 75 00:04:50.725 --> 00:04:51.225 have it. 76 00:04:51.725 --> 00:04:52.125 The Lord 77 00:04:52.125 --> 00:04:54.725 would grant him a discerning heart. 78 00:04:57.225 --> 00:05:00.525 Maybe I'm splitting hairs or reading too much into it. 79 00:05:00.525 --> 00:05:05.925 But to me to say heart rather than mind, as we heard from the 80 00:05:05.925 --> 00:05:09.825 translation that we heard from this morning, but to say, heart means 81 00:05:09.825 --> 00:05:11.525 something a little bit more. 82 00:05:12.125 --> 00:05:13.625 It means that what David was out. 83 00:05:13.625 --> 00:05:18.625 I'm sorry that Solomon was asking for was not merely a mental 84 00:05:18.625 --> 00:05:21.425 capacity, an intellectual capacity. 85 00:05:21.825 --> 00:05:23.125 But rather he was matter 86 00:05:23.125 --> 00:05:26.225 he was asking for something that was a matter of his personal 87 00:05:26.525 --> 00:05:30.525 character. You know, was like his father David before had pleaded to 88 00:05:30.525 --> 00:05:32.925 God create in me a pure heart. 89 00:05:33.925 --> 00:05:38.425 And it's like, Solomon is saying create in me, a discerning heart, a 90 00:05:38.425 --> 00:05:43.425 pure heart, so that I can govern, justly and righteously. Make me, and 91 00:05:43.425 --> 00:05:47.725 help me be the kind of man that I need to be to rule this people and 92 00:05:47.725 --> 00:05:50.325 they bring prosperity and peace to the land. 93 00:05:51.125 --> 00:05:52.725 I think Solomon understood something 94 00:05:52.725 --> 00:05:56.225 I heard from Martin Friedman leadership, Guru, who said that 95 00:05:56.225 --> 00:06:00.525 leadership is not about how you govern others, but it's about how you 96 00:06:00.725 --> 00:06:02.025 govern yourself. 97 00:06:04.525 --> 00:06:06.425 Well, this request pleased 98 00:06:06.425 --> 00:06:08.025 the Lord so much that he gave him 99 00:06:08.025 --> 00:06:09.725 not only wisdom. 100 00:06:10.825 --> 00:06:16.825 But that which he didn't ask for power and riches and honor beyond any 101 00:06:16.825 --> 00:06:17.925 other king. 102 00:06:20.125 --> 00:06:25.025 Now, if you just take this text in isolation to be sure, it is a 103 00:06:25.025 --> 00:06:32.325 heartwarming story and yet as the story unfolds there are questions 104 00:06:32.325 --> 00:06:33.525 that make you wonder. 105 00:06:34.625 --> 00:06:40.425 As you look at this story in its larger context even from the very 106 00:06:40.425 --> 00:06:41.125 beginning. 107 00:06:42.325 --> 00:06:46.225 There are things that are not easy to explain away. 108 00:06:47.425 --> 00:06:51.325 For example, just in the words right before our lesson. 109 00:06:52.025 --> 00:06:58.225 It says that King Solomon, followed and showed his love for the Lord 110 00:06:58.425 --> 00:07:02.625 by walking in the ways of his father David except. 111 00:07:04.525 --> 00:07:07.825 He showed his love for the Lord, by walking in the ways of his father, 112 00:07:07.825 --> 00:07:10.825 David, except one little thing. 113 00:07:10.825 --> 00:07:14.825 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. 114 00:07:15.925 --> 00:07:20.825 It was unlawful for Israelites to worship, even to worship the one 115 00:07:20.825 --> 00:07:24.925 true God in places that had been dedicated to pagan worship and 116 00:07:24.925 --> 00:07:30.825 sacrifice as these high places, where Solomon worship, no doubt were. 117 00:07:32.725 --> 00:07:35.825 And not only that in the verses again right in chapter 3. 118 00:07:35.825 --> 00:07:41.325 Right before our tax is says that Solomon made a pact with the king of 119 00:07:41.525 --> 00:07:46.925 with pharaoh of Egypt to take one of pharaohs daughters as a wife. 120 00:07:48.025 --> 00:07:51.025 Now the Israelites had been clearly warned that they were not to 121 00:07:51.025 --> 00:07:54.725 take foreign wives who would bring with them, their foreign gods. 122 00:07:55.925 --> 00:07:57.525 But here are Solomon, does it right 123 00:07:57.525 --> 00:08:02.125 at the very beginning of his reign. You know, it just seems to me it 124 00:08:02.125 --> 00:08:04.425 kind of strikes me like it's a little cloud. 125 00:08:04.725 --> 00:08:10.425 A small Cloud already forming over the reign of Solomon which we know 126 00:08:10.425 --> 00:08:15.125 will eventually mushroom into a storm of apostasy. 127 00:08:16.625 --> 00:08:20.825 And yet our text seems to ignore it as if these things were 128 00:08:20.825 --> 00:08:21.925 inconsequential. 129 00:08:23.225 --> 00:08:28.125 But eventually these acts would be like a dormant infection that would 130 00:08:28.125 --> 00:08:33.025 gradually and insidiously eat away at Solomon's devotion until you 131 00:08:33.025 --> 00:08:36.925 would come to the point that his heart, the heart that he had begged 132 00:08:36.925 --> 00:08:42.625 to God, to help keep him pure would be turned from the one true God. 133 00:08:43.625 --> 00:08:46.625 The God Who had given him all of this wisdom and all of this honor and 134 00:08:46.625 --> 00:08:52.125 power influence that God he would turn from to go after other false 135 00:08:52.125 --> 00:08:52.725 gods. 136 00:08:55.325 --> 00:09:00.225 Just like the main protagonist of any literary tragedy Solomon had 137 00:09:00.225 --> 00:09:02.625 been warned many times. 138 00:09:03.625 --> 00:09:06.725 If he would have heeded, those warnings, he could have avoided those 139 00:09:06.725 --> 00:09:08.225 things that brought him to ruin. 140 00:09:10.025 --> 00:09:12.025 We as outside observers 141 00:09:12.025 --> 00:09:13.025 we can see it happening. 142 00:09:13.025 --> 00:09:14.625 We can see those things happening. 143 00:09:14.625 --> 00:09:15.725 We can see it coming. 144 00:09:16.325 --> 00:09:19.925 As we read through First Kings, and yet Solomon seems to have been 145 00:09:19.925 --> 00:09:20.725 oblivious. 146 00:09:22.025 --> 00:09:26.425 His success, his honor, his wisdom, the extent of his kingdom, 147 00:09:26.425 --> 00:09:28.325 his eloquence, his charisma. 148 00:09:28.525 --> 00:09:32.025 These things that inspired even the Queen of Sheba to come and see 149 00:09:32.025 --> 00:09:33.125 them for herself. 150 00:09:33.125 --> 00:09:35.725 And she lauded him and in complemented him. 151 00:09:35.725 --> 00:09:41.325 And was so thankful to have seen a man of such wisdom and authority 152 00:09:41.325 --> 00:09:43.625 and power and over such a great Kingdom. 153 00:09:43.625 --> 00:09:48.325 All of these things that God had given him bring with them incredible 154 00:09:48.325 --> 00:09:49.125 temptation. 155 00:09:50.825 --> 00:09:54.325 And so in the end, of course, we know, and we're told that when 156 00:09:54.325 --> 00:10:00.825 Solomon was old, his wives turned away, his heart after other gods and 157 00:10:00.825 --> 00:10:04.525 his heart was not wholly, true to the Lord his God. 158 00:10:05.225 --> 00:10:10.125 He even went so far as to build high places of worship to detestable 159 00:10:10.125 --> 00:10:14.425 deities, like Astoah the goddess of the Sidonians and Moloch the 160 00:10:14.425 --> 00:10:18.625 detestable god of the Ammonites. He built a high place to chemische 161 00:10:18.625 --> 00:10:19.725 the detestable god of Moab. 162 00:10:19.825 --> 00:10:20.625 What were they say 163 00:10:20.625 --> 00:10:24.725 they even worshipped or I mean sacrifice children possibly and he 164 00:10:24.725 --> 00:10:28.125 built places to worship the gods of all of his foreign wives. 165 00:10:30.225 --> 00:10:35.325 The tragic story of how this most favored king of Israel came to such 166 00:10:35.425 --> 00:10:41.725 a wretched end, in spite of the great god-given wisdom and power and 167 00:10:41.725 --> 00:10:42.325 wealth. 168 00:10:43.525 --> 00:10:45.525 It's a pathetic story in my view. 169 00:10:46.725 --> 00:10:50.925 The tragic sequence of events, should be a lesson to all of us. 170 00:10:51.025 --> 00:10:51.325 Lest 171 00:10:51.325 --> 00:10:55.925 we fall to the same kind of temptations, even in our own little ways. 172 00:10:58.225 --> 00:11:04.225 But this story of Solomon and how he squandered it all away is, it's 173 00:11:04.225 --> 00:11:06.325 not just a moralistic fable. 174 00:11:07.525 --> 00:11:11.525 It is not recorded nor are the other stories of the Hebrew scriptures 175 00:11:11.525 --> 00:11:15.725 recorded and handed down to us merely so that we can be warned about 176 00:11:15.725 --> 00:11:19.125 temptation and the consequences of giving in to it. 177 00:11:20.125 --> 00:11:23.425 When we read the stories of all of the Saints of old. 178 00:11:23.525 --> 00:11:28.925 We know that the true story and the most important moral of the story 179 00:11:29.425 --> 00:11:34.225 is about the faithfulness of God who keeps his promises despite the 180 00:11:34.225 --> 00:11:35.025 disasters. 181 00:11:35.425 --> 00:11:37.225 Despite even the tragedies that we 182 00:11:37.425 --> 00:11:40.525 are so capable of bringing down upon ourselves. 183 00:11:41.725 --> 00:11:42.425 And this is true 184 00:11:42.425 --> 00:11:44.725 in the case of Solomon also. 185 00:11:45.925 --> 00:11:48.425 God, had warned Solomon more than once. 186 00:11:49.725 --> 00:11:53.625 But in those warnings, and even as he gave those warnings, God always 187 00:11:53.625 --> 00:11:58.525 said he would keep true to his promise to keep the line of David 188 00:11:58.625 --> 00:11:59.325 alive. 189 00:12:00.025 --> 00:12:05.825 He called it a lamp in Jerusalem from which as we know would come the 190 00:12:05.825 --> 00:12:06.225 Savior 191 00:12:06.225 --> 00:12:10.225 Jesus, the Christ, who would reign in truth and righteousness and 192 00:12:10.225 --> 00:12:12.325 bring peace on Earth. 193 00:12:13.825 --> 00:12:17.225 The kingdom of Solomon would be destroyed torn apart like a piece of 194 00:12:17.225 --> 00:12:21.925 cloth cloth, but that does not mean that God was done with the 195 00:12:21.925 --> 00:12:23.425 promises that he had made. 196 00:12:23.425 --> 00:12:27.125 He continued to work through the tragic figures of the Hebrew 197 00:12:27.125 --> 00:12:30.925 scriptures to bring about the just and righteous rule of his son 198 00:12:30.925 --> 00:12:35.725 Jesus Christ, whose birth, we still are celebrating in this season. 199 00:12:37.625 --> 00:12:41.725 In fact, some would say that, even in spite of Solomon's tragic 200 00:12:41.725 --> 00:12:42.225 failure. 201 00:12:42.225 --> 00:12:45.525 He is still even a type of Christ. 202 00:12:45.625 --> 00:12:48.025 In other words, in Solomon 203 00:12:48.025 --> 00:12:51.625 you can see some things that maybe give us a shadow 204 00:12:51.625 --> 00:12:55.125 a foreshadow of something about the kingdom of Christ. 205 00:12:56.925 --> 00:12:59.025 For one thing, take his wisdom. 206 00:13:00.025 --> 00:13:01.325 The wisdom of Solomon. 207 00:13:02.125 --> 00:13:07.025 You could say that foreshadows Jesus Christ, who the Apostle Paul says 208 00:13:07.025 --> 00:13:09.525 has become for us the wisdom of God. 209 00:13:10.825 --> 00:13:14.025 And if you heard the gospel lesson from yesterday, you heard the story 210 00:13:14.025 --> 00:13:17.025 about when Jesus went to the temple and he was 12 years old and was 211 00:13:17.025 --> 00:13:19.125 already full of wisdom. 212 00:13:21.725 --> 00:13:24.825 And the name Solomon which comes from the Hebrew word. 213 00:13:24.825 --> 00:13:25.525 Shalom 214 00:13:27.325 --> 00:13:32.925 means peaceable. Solomon's rule was largely characterized by piece. 215 00:13:33.425 --> 00:13:34.625 Although it was a temporary 216 00:13:34.625 --> 00:13:35.225 peace. 217 00:13:35.325 --> 00:13:37.725 Not like the Eternal peace that God 218 00:13:37.725 --> 00:13:42.025 grants us in the newborn King Jesus Christ. Or you could talk about 219 00:13:42.025 --> 00:13:44.025 the extent of Solomon's kingdom. 220 00:13:44.925 --> 00:13:46.625 That it was so far and wide. 221 00:13:46.625 --> 00:13:51.425 Now, it had its limits obviously, but it's still the entire first part 222 00:13:51.425 --> 00:13:56.025 of First Kings tells us all about the extent in the grandeur of the 223 00:13:56.025 --> 00:13:57.025 Kingdom, that 224 00:13:57.125 --> 00:13:58.325 Solomon ruled over. 225 00:13:59.625 --> 00:14:03.325 And so we can say that, yes, there are certain things about Solomon 226 00:14:03.625 --> 00:14:06.725 that we can learn even about Christ and his kingdom. 227 00:14:08.425 --> 00:14:13.525 But finally, I would agree with Luther, we should not excuse the 228 00:14:13.525 --> 00:14:15.525 father's. Yet 229 00:14:15.525 --> 00:14:19.925 Luther says, he's glad to hear about the weaknesses and the sins of 230 00:14:19.925 --> 00:14:20.725 the Saints. 231 00:14:21.225 --> 00:14:25.325 We don't praise those weaknesses as something to be proud of, or 232 00:14:25.325 --> 00:14:29.425 something to take lightly. But we see in their stories 233 00:14:29.425 --> 00:14:32.825 the true nature of the kingdom of Christ. 234 00:14:33.125 --> 00:14:35.725 We see that God is true to his promises. 235 00:14:36.625 --> 00:14:41.225 And that Christ's kingdom is made up of weak and sinful beings, whose 236 00:14:41.225 --> 00:14:46.625 lives are sometimes full of tragedy, but who are loved by God, who can 237 00:14:46.625 --> 00:14:52.325 be forgiven by God restored and brought to peace with him and used by 238 00:14:52.325 --> 00:14:57.325 him as he has worked, and will continue to work in the lives of sinful 239 00:14:57.325 --> 00:14:57.825 people. 240 00:14:59.325 --> 00:15:04.225 God even used a tragic figure like King Solomon to foreshadow 241 00:15:04.625 --> 00:15:08.125 what was to come in the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. 242 00:15:08.525 --> 00:15:15.225 And God can and does and will continue to use us for his purposes in 243 00:15:15.225 --> 00:15:17.325 his kingdom. To him 244 00:15:17.325 --> 00:15:22.925 be all glory forever and ever to our Lord who rules the world with 245 00:15:22.925 --> 00:15:28.325 truth and Grace and makes the nation's prove the glories of his 246 00:15:28.325 --> 00:15:29.025 righteousness. 247 00:15:30.025 --> 00:15:33.025 And the wonders of his love in Jesus name. 248 00:15:33.325 --> 00:15:33.925 Amen. 249 00:15:34.725 --> 00:15:37.225 And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding. 250 00:15:37.225 --> 00:15:39.825 Keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 251 00:15:40.325 --> 00:15:43.225 Amen. Please rise for the Kyrie.