An Overview of Israel’s Kings

Transcript

GR 2118
3/10/19
An Overview of Israel's Kings
Ecclesiastes 1:1, 1 Samuel-2 Chronicles
Gil Rugh


It's time to start a new study. We spent some time in the book of Revelation, and that talks about future things, so I want to change our focus and direction. Want to go to the Old Testament and talk about a book that talks about how we are to live our life day by day with wisdom, and that's the book of Ecclesiastes. So, if you would turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. We won't be spending much time in the book today. I want to do some background material and then we will work our way into it.

There are different views on the book of Ecclesiastes. Some view it as a book written during the down period of Solomon's life, a man who had so much going for him and he had failed. Got involved in false worship and you see something of the emptiness and frustration of his life reflected in the book of Ecclesiastes. I'm going to be taking a little different view of the book of Ecclesiastes, as you will see as we progress in our coming weeks' studies. I think the book of Ecclesiastes is wisdom recorded by the wisest man who ever lived, under the direction of the Spirit of God, instructing us in how to live happy, joyful lives as we face the ups and downs of life. It is in one sense focused on today with a reminder of the future.

The book opens up, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” We'll say a little more about the word translated preacher, but it basically means someone who gathers a group together, and this is what Solomon would do. People came from all over the world to hear him. So, it's not preacher in the sense we would think of, doing even a necessarily religious activity. Paul says this is a spiritual ministry here, but it is gathering a group together to hear what is to be said or taught. The one who is the preacher, the qoheleth as he would be titled, is the son of David, king in Jerusalem. And I take this to be Solomon, and I think that becomes clear as we move through the book as well. He is the king in Jerusalem, he is the son of David, and he is the one who would fit the book as well.

Let me just share with you, when I was a student in Bible school many, many years ago I had a professor who taught the book of Ecclesiastes and he gave out his notes, and I still have those notes and I profited greatly from his ministry. He was an older man, dean of the school. Very, very knowledgeable, a very good Bible teacher. But he had a little different view of Ecclesiastes than I have come to hold. He said the book of Ecclesiastes is inspired because everything in it is accurately recorded, but it is not revelation from God. In other words, God is directing Solomon to accurately record the emptiness, frustration and futility of his life, as one who has turned to false worship. So, he goes on to say in this book that by inspiration God gives us an absolutely accurate account of what Solomon, while wandering from God, thought about in his searchings under the sun. But they are to be recognized only as that, the best reasoning of man possible apart from God's revelation. Therefore, his theories and sayings are not to be accepted as God's solution to the problems discussed, and no statement of this book should be considered the full truth of God or final authority, except it be confirmed by other Scripture. This is Solomon's mere human reasoning in the matter and it was wrong.

I disagree with that. I think just the opposite. And I won't be doing the explanation of this until we get into further studies. I think this is God using the wisest man who ever lived to direct us in the wisdom that will enable us as God's people to have full, meaningful lives as we confront the varying ups and downs of life day by day. In that sense it is a very practical book, like the book of Proverbs, most of which was written by Solomon also. Very practical, down-to-earth wisdom for the life and lives that we live. So that will be something of the perspective we will take.

Jump over to Ecclesiastes 12, and we will have to talk about the expression that is repeated in verse 8 that was initially said in Ecclesiastes 1:2. We'll talk about that in our next study,vanity of vanities. I would have a different interpretation and different translation of the word vanity. But then in verse 9 he says, “In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.” I think that tells us something of what the book of Ecclesiastes is. It is the words of the man that God gave the greatest wisdom to and he now records for our benefit under the direction of the Spirit, not just empty frustration, as maybe vanity of vanities would give the idea, but clear, wise instruction in how we handle life. And it does have its good times and its bad times, its ups and its downs. It's a book that I go to when I want encouragement, when I may be having difficulty. I find it an encouraging book. We'll look at the repeated emphasis through the book that stresses conducting yourself wisely like this enables you to have a happy life, a joyful life, a life as God intended you to have. Sometimes we think of Ecclesiastes bringing more of a negative, discouraging emphasis, even as that professor I mentioned.

Part of the problem comes, I think, is we focus on Solomon's failure. He became involved in pagan worship and there is no excuse for that. But that does not mean God was done with Solomon. I want to do an overview a little bit of the kings of Israel, three kings—Saul, David and Solomon. We'll talk a little bit about their situation. Since Solomon is the writer of the book, I think he is writing as one inspired by God. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete, all that God intends him to be. We want to come to this book appreciating that.

But let's start talking about the three kings, the only kings that ruled over a united kingdom of Israel. I have a slide for you that will put this in perspective, so you can see it; Saul, David and Solomon and you can see those there in the color. I appreciate John who puts these together. Green is Saul, he is the first king. Leading up to this, remember we had Moses. Israel comes out of Egypt a nation. Went down into Egypt 400 years earlier as a family, Jacob's family. They multiplied in Egypt, they come out a nation of perhaps 2 million people. Moses leads them and then following Moses, Joshua leads them. Then we come to the time of the judges where there are different men and women identified as judges in Israel. The last of those judges is Samuel and his ministry is recorded in 1 Samuel. He will be the transition person. He is a judge, he is a prophet, and he will lead the way into now a greater emphasis and focus on prophetic ministries in the Old Testament. So, in a way he is the end of the time of the judges. He is the beginning, not that there weren't prophets before him, but the real focus, we come to prophets playing a dominant, prominent role in Israel, following Samuel—Elijah, Elisha, the great writing prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. So, we are transitioning.

We come to Saul, and you will note on each of these—Saul, David and Solomon—you have underneath, each reigned 40 years. David 40½, 7½ in Hebron and then transferred the capital to Jerusalem, but we usually round it off and talk about 40. And, also Solomon. Now what I put in the Scripture up top here, under each name is the passage where you find it says they reigned 40 years. I did that because sometimes you look in the Old Testament for Saul, but you can't find him. Here is one passage that gives some figures regarding the reign of Saul in Chronicles, but if you'll note when you go to that, the numbers are in italics. In other words, there were no numbers, they had gotten dropped out somehow. So, they just guess and put in some numbers but there is no real way to know.

But when you get to Acts13:21, the Apostle Paul is rehearsing the history of Israel. And he comes up to the time of the kings and he mentions Saul of the tribe of Benjamin who reigned for 40 years over Israel. So, we know he had a 40-year reign. The Old Testament clearly lays out David's reign and Solomon's reign as 40 years. Interesting, each of them having about the same length of time and before Saul there was no king. Samuel ruled as a judge, he had authority, he traveled about administering justice and so on, but there was no centralized kingdom like will come with Saul, who now rules over all twelve tribes as recognized king. The Scripture for Saul is 1 Samuel 8 through the rest of the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 31. That will tell you about the reign of Saul and his 40 years.

In 1 Samuel 13 Saul is rejected. Come back to 1 Samuel 13. If you want the anointing of Saul as king and all those events you can go back and start in 1 Samuel 8, but for time we are just going to highlight some things. In 1 Samuel 13 Saul disobeys the Lord and intrudes into the priestly office by offering a burnt offering. Samuel had instructed Saul to wait and don't do anything until I come, and we offer the sacrifices because they are getting ready to go to battle with the Philistines. And verse 5 tells you this Philistine army is quite significant, “Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore…” Israel is afraid. Now we are a united kingdom, we have a king like we wanted, this looks like an overwhelming force.

Now verse 8, “Now he,” referring to Saul, “waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come” in seven days. And the people are getting nervous and some of them are starting to maybe head for home. Well, you have to keep an army together when you are going to face an army like the Philistines. “So Saul said,” verse 9, ‘Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.’ And he offered the burnt offering.” Now Samuel was not only prophet, judge, he was also priest. But Saul took upon himself, he is of the tribe of Benjamin, he is not qualified. But he had good intentions—I want to get the blessing of the Lord before we go to war, and you have to offer the sacrifice. If Samuel doesn't get here, the people are going to scatter and then Philistines will attack us. So, he offers the sacrifice. No sooner is he done than who arrives but Samuel.

Verse 13, and Saul's answer is I forced myself to do it. I didn't want to do it, but the people were pressuring me, and I had to do it. No excuses. So, verse 13, “Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.’” Now what we are going to see is Saul sinned, there is no doubt about that, there is no excuse for it, but there is no way back for Saul. There is nothing he can do to undo what has been done. He is rejected, God has already set aside the man that will replace him that Saul will appoint a little bit later in the book of 1 Samuel. So, Saul's reign will be 40 years, but he has no successor in his own line. In other words, none of his sons will become king. It is over with Saul.

David will be appointed in 1 Samuel 16. What you have is Saul as the focus in 1 Samuel 8-31, but really, we have picked up David earlier in 1 Samuel and we'll have David becoming a key figure from 1 Samuel 8 to the end of 1 Samuel. And all of 2 Samuel will be about David. We're not going to spend any more time on Saul, but we ought to recognize Saul sins. God says it's over. Now David will sin, and it won't be over. Solomon will sin, and it won't be over. God decides. The consequence for Saul is your reign will end with you, you will have no dynasty, you will have no family line reigning. You shouldn't have offered the sacrifice. You were told to wait until Samuel came. Well, I think we should have given him other chances. But, it's not our decision, it is God's decision. He sets up kings, He takes down kings. So, without going into other things about Saul's life and some of the failures, we leave it there. He is done, and David will be appointed in 1 Samuel 16. He will be the focal point. 1 Samuel 8 began with Saul and 1 Samuel 16 begins with David.

What you have to do, is read 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and then you will be ready for next week. But just a few highlights in case you don't get that done, with your other reading that you are doing every day. David as you are aware becomes the most famous king. You have the dates here just in case you like to know where we are. 1051 was when Saul begins to reign, he reigns until 1011. That is not their life. That is the time they are reigning. Then David begins to reign in 1011 officially. So even though he is anointed in 1 Samuel 16, he doesn't become king until Saul dies. He is, if you will, the king in waiting, the king, designate. But David recognizes Saul as having the authority as king and he will not officially become king, so his reign and his life will be recorded in 2 Samuel. But 2 Samuel 16-31 talks about before he is king. All of 2 Samuel is about David, all 24 chapters, it's about the reign of David. Also, all of 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles has 29 chapters and they are all about David's reign. Chronicles does a lot of chronicling and you have genealogies, and so on, but talking about the reign of David also.

So just the reign of David has over 50 chapters. 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles are all about the reign of David, plus you have David being a key figure in 1 Samuel 16-31. He is a very prominent person. You ask people about David. What do you know about David? Well, David and Goliath, he defeated Goliath. David and Bathsheba. I remember David killed the giant, Goliath, and I remember David got involved with Bathsheba. But you realize those are minor, and particularly when it is focused on the sin of David. Out of over 50 chapters, and if you count the time where he is a prominent figure even while Saul is reigning, you are getting up close to 70 chapters of the Bible talking about David. But the blot on David's life stands out.

Come to 2 Samuel 11. This is David's sin with Bathsheba, and this is a very serious sin that we would not want to minimize in any way. We are doing it as part of the background for Solomon, but I think sometimes the sin becomes so great in our sight that we fail to appreciate where God is in His dealing with these men. David's sin with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11, it becomes one of the most familiar periods of David's life and it does stand out as a blot. This along with his numbering of the people in 2 Samuel 24. One very good commentator on these books thinks that the numbering of the people was his most egregious sin, it would seem to follow through of the sin with Bathsheba as the longer consequences, but 70,000 people will die when he numbers the people. That is great impact as a sin. But here we have in 2 Samuel 11 David's sin with Bathsheba, and there is no excuse for it, it is not acceptable.

So, 2 Samuel 12 opens, “Then the Lord sent Nathan to David.” And he tells that story of the man who had one young lamb and so on, a very touching story. David has no sensitivity at this point to his guilt, it seems. He doesn't say to Nathan, Nathan, that is me. No, David says that man deserves severe punishment. And then Nathan tells David, you are the man. Verse 7 “Nathan then said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah.’” And if that hadn't been enough, I would have been willing to give you more, David. But no, you went and took someone else's wife.

Verse 9, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife.” You used other people to be your instrument. Remember he had him put in a vulnerable place with other Israelites. So other soldiers had to die to cover what David was doing with Uriah. Verse 11, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives from your eyes, and give them to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it secretly, but I will do this before all Israel, and under the sun.’” That, is serious consequences. Thus far David hasn't even repented yet or acknowledged his guilt.

Now he says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Well of course you have and there is no wiggle room here. Nathan didn't come and tell David, I want you to tell me what you did. Nathan comes, and he already knows what David did because God told him. David knows Nathan comes with God's authority because he is the prophet of God and he has told him exactly what happened. And note what he says, “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.’” What a difference from Saul. Saul is not going to die right away, but his line of being king is over. Just a matter of time now, God has already picked out someone else, Saul. You will have no successor from your family. But he says to David, the Lord has taken away your sin, already been dealt with, and you are not going to die. “’However, because by this deed you have occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die.’” It now caused David sorrow. But you know once the child dies, David gets up, takes a bath and says to his servants, prepare me dinner, I'm hungry. He says, the child died, I can't do anything about that now.

Then he says in verse 24, I have to go comfort my wife Bathsheba. So, he “went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the Lord's sake.” Jedidiah, the one the Lord loves, beloved of the Lord. Wait a minute, I mean, Saul is done, and the Spirit departs from him, the blessing of the Lord as king will be transferred to David. David commits adultery, has Uriah and other men murdered and he says I have sinned. And the prophet says, God has already taken it away, you are not going to die. There will be two things, the sword will not depart from your family and your child is going to die. But you will continue to be king with God's blessing and you will have an unending line, as we will see in a moment.

Come over to 1 Chronicles 3. You go from Samuel to Kings to Chronicles in descending—S, K, C. So, I remember which order they are in. 1 Chronicles 3, and here we have something of the line of David, and we sometimes say Solomon's problem was he had too many wives. Well, that is a problem. But, so did David. Let's look. The chapter opens up in 1 Chronicles 3:1, “Now these were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron.” Remember he is going to be king in Hebron for 7½ years, he is going to have six sons in Hebron, all by a different wife, six different wives. “The firstborn was Amnon, by Ahimoam the Jezreelitess; the second was Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelitess; the third was Absolam the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth was Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth was Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth was Ithream, by his wife Eglah.” He does good just remembering them. Some of you have three kids and can't keep their names straight. He has six wives, six children with six different wives. “Six were born to him in Hebron, and there he reigned seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.” That's where we get the 40½ years for David's reign. “And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. And these were born to him in Jerusalem.” Now note these four. “Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon, four by Bath-shua.” Do you know who Bath-shua is? Bathsheba. And in Hebrew this is called a vocalization, it's a change in vocalization but the consonants are the same. Original Hebrew didn't have vowels, just consonants, like our vowels—a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y, well the Hebrew didn't have those. They just had a string of consonants, you just learned how to pronounce the words. So, later on, they put in the vowels, so you could have a consistent vocalizing and people could learn it that way.

This is Bathsheba. David didn't just father the child that died and then father Solomon, he fathered three other sons with Bathsheba. That's what it tells us here. “Four were born to him in Jerusalem, these four.” Solomon is named last, but he is the first surviving son, so we call him the first because he is the only one that counts. He is named last here because it is his line that is going to be picked up in verse 10, connected with Bathsheba. He is the only one of these four with Bathsheba that really counts in passing on the line, he is the key figure. So, Solomon is mentioned here.

Now why in the world God would choose Solomon with Bathsheba? Only the Lord knows. It is enough that He lets David continue to live and continue to be the head of a dynasty that will culminate with the Messiah, but He is also going to honor him and Bathsheba with the son that He chooses to be David's greatest successor until the Messiah comes. The one that will be honored with the privilege of building the temple that David could not build.

Then David is not done, you have nine more sons mentioned in verses 6-8. You have to count them because at the end of verse 8 it says “nine.” “All these were the sons of David” by his wives, because this is “besides the sons of the concubines.” And then there is one daughter named, “Tamar was their sister” because she plays a key role in the disastrous punishment that David has to endure within his own family. 1 Chronicles doesn't even mention that, it just mentions Bathsheba here as Bath-shua and some commentators say they probably used a different vocalization because they didn't want to focus on that time in David's life. But Tamar is mentioned here. So, David has 19 sons by wives, and do you know what? At least six of these are older than Solomon but he is elevated to the head of the line. That is going to be a problem for one of them, remember in the conflict, in the family turmoil, the one son is going to come and make an appeal to Bathsheba saying, you know Solomon took my place. I am older, I should have gotten that.

God is sovereign, keep that in mind when we go to Ecclesiastes, that will be a factor that we recognize and accept and move on. One thing for sure we know, this is the way God did it. Why would he bless David's relationship with Bathsheba and choose Solomon? Choose someone in an untainted setting. Well, it does magnify the mercy and grace of God. When it says God has put away your sin, He has. You will live out the consequences, but it doesn't mean now that your relationship with God is over. Do you know what? David is going to write more Scripture, like Psalm 51, like Psalm 32 probably. He is going to be one blessed of God.

In later history when David is mentioned, this king wasn't faithful to God as my servant David. He is held up as the one who is faithful to God. We want to be careful that we don't take that and make it the blot that cannot be removed. In one sense it is there, but it doesn't keep God from honoring David, from exalting David and continuing to refer to him. This becomes important as we talk about Solomon. Some people view that Solomon could only write something in Ecclesiastes from his empty, worthless life as it had come to be. Who said God was done with him? God wasn't done with David.

Come back to 2 Samuel 7. Now we are not minimizing sin, but you don't magnify sin to the point that you minimize grace. We want to see God is at work. I think some of the difficulty in handling a book like Ecclesiastes is we magnify the blot in Solomon's life, that we forget that he is an instrument that God used and continued to use. In chapter 7 David wants to build a temple. He moved to Jerusalem, he feels like God ought to have more. We move a tabernacle here, I'm living in a palace and God is going to live in a tent? He is not going to be moved around anymore, we have an established kingdom now with the king of God's choosing there. God is not going to have him build a temple, but He is going to have his son build the temple. And it won't just be any son, it will be the seventh son that God pulls out and puts to the top, that comes out of a, what we would say, a tainted relationship at best, with the woman that David acquired first with immorality and then to legitimize marrying her, having her husband and some other men murdered. And then going on like it wasn't so bad. He told Joab, people die in battle all the time, don't worry about it. And this is the man?

Here is the Davidic Covenant. Verse 8, the prophet is to tell David, “Now therefore, you shall say to My servant David.” And this repeated way to refer to David tells something of his relationship to God, which makes his sin so sad, so serious. God tells, I took you from nothing, you were a shepherd. “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be ruler over My people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies... I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth.” Here we are, 3000 years after David, you can see the years of David's reign, 1011 to 971. Three thousand years plus go by, David is famous. People who are even semi-religious at least familiar with David and the biblical David. We don't find that out from secular history, we find out from the Bible that David is named with the great men.

“I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again.” We're going to see here, that compression that takes place in the Old Testament. We sometimes talk about things that are more immediate, you include in that some things that will not be fulfilled until a greater time. The Lord declares He has given them peace, they will have their place, be free from their enemies, give you rest from your enemies. Verse 11, “The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you.” That's a dynasty, something Saul was told he would not have. David is going to have a house. A house is a dynasty. Those who descend from you will be the ruling line. “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a Father to him and he will be a son to Me.” The ultimate realization of that, we get just a taste of it with Solomon, but it cannot be realized until the ultimate Son of David, and the Jews knew that. They were looking for the Messiah, the Son of David to come. That's why the genealogies as you start Matthew and Luke will connect Him back.

“I will be a Father to him, and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men.” Well that doesn't apply to Christ, but it is going to apply for the line to be kept going. That line will never be broken. As with Saul, it was cut off. So, it doesn't matter, it won't be cut off after David, won't be cut off after Solomon, won't be cut off after Rehoboam. We've gone down the line, and even today even though there is no king, Christ has come, and He is the fulfillment of that. And until He comes back, there will be no legitimate king over Israel.

But “when he commits iniquity, I will correct him,” verse 14. “but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him.” Keep that in mind as we talk about Solomon. That's different than Saul, there is a promise there. When your son, David, commits iniquity. Solomon would fit down the line with those who would come, but there will be nothing to break the line. And we will successfully get to Christ. That's why I say the genealogies, like in Matthew, shows the connection back. Luke does as well in a little different connection.

Look at verse 15. “But My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” That's it, God has spoken, that's it. So, there will be sin, but it won't break the line. And so, with David, he will sin, we saw that in 2 Samuel 11. He'll sin again in 2 Samuel 24, number the people. Seventy thousand men die in Israel and David said it is all my sin. Now when you read the account in Chronicles it said the devil stood up against David and moved him to number the people. And you find out, you put the two together, like Job God gave permission to the devil to afflict Job. God gave permission to Satan. But that doesn't excuse anyone. Israel is guilty of their sin and God is going to use the sin of David to punish them, and David will be held accountable for his sin, and Israel will be held accountable for them.

But come back to the end of 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel 24. You see again the grace of God. And we want to be careful, sometimes I think we are so afraid to talk about God's grace in picking up someone and continuing to use them for fear it will look like we are soft on sin, that we want to play down what God does. God brought severe consequences to David, the pain of having his own son want to kill him and all that goes on in his family. What a tragedy! But God is not done with David. He is still using him. He is still the king that God is blessing and using, still the one that will transfer the kingdom to the son of God's choosing, Solomon.

But when David numbered the people, 2 Samuel 24:1, “The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, ‘Go number Israel.” The Chronicles account, 1 Chronicles 21:1 says the devil “moved David to number Israel.” Well, God in His plan was ready to judge Israel and He is going to use the sin of one person to judge the sin of another and there are consequences of that. But the fact is David couldn't say, well, Lord, you were just using me to punish Israel. Israel is accountable for their sin, but do you know who else is accountable for his sin? David. We often try to say, and people forget it, it happens to this congregation repeatedly, people forget. One person's sin is never an excuse or cause for your sin. Someone else is never to blame for my sinning, no matter what they do. I don't have to sin. We think our sin is more excusable. No. But when is all said and done, and David acknowledges, in verse 17, It is I who have sinned, it is I who have done wrong. These sheep, what have they done? David realizes, this is my guilt. But we know from the rest of Scripture, it is also the nation Israel's guilt. So, both are guilty. We see what happened, but God is not done with David and with David's line.

In fact, do you know where we go next? David is told by the prophet Gad, verse 18, “…go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” So, David goes, and you are familiar with the account, he comes to Ornan and says, I want to buy your threshing floor. And parallel Scripture, we don't have time now, this is Mt. Moriah. Remember that? That's where Abraham took Isaac when the Lord told him to sacrifice your son Isaac, your only son. And the Lord intervened and provided His own sacrifice. Mt. Moriah. God brought him all that way, everything gone on, the years that have gone by, the thousand years since Abraham to David. And here David is coming to buy the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And he pays for it and offers sacrifice there and that's going to be the place where Solomon will build the temple. God is not done with David, even there. You had this which you did with Bathsheba, having Uriah and those men murdered, now you numbered the people and 70,000 people died. David, we are done. No. Now you go buy the threshing floor of Ornan, and you have the privilege of picking the site, and not only preparing materials, but buying the site where I am going to have your son Solomon build the temple. And the ways of the Lord. We look at it and say, too bad that the sin enters the picture at all. But we need to be just as thankful for the grace that enters in and God just doesn't throw David or Solomon into the rubbish heap and say I'm picking someone else. Be careful. Saul is rejected, and his consequence is his reign will be over, he'll die on the battlefield with his sons and there is no successor. David doesn't minimize the sin, there are serious consequences, but he is privileged to go on.

We have to wrap up with Solomon since that is where we are going. Solomon's life and reign are recorded in 2 Chronicles 1-9. It is easy, 2 Chronicles 1-9 record Solomon's reign, and 1 Kings 1-11. He has about 20 chapters, if I can put it that way, that talk about him. One of those chapters talks about his sin, 1 Kings 11. So, turn over to 1 Kings 11. Samuel and Kings, they record information that Chronicles doesn't. Chronicles is more concerned with recording these kings in the positive light of God using them, David and Solomon. So, they don't record Bathsheba, don't record Solomon's paganism. But it is recorded in Kings, and it is there, it's not that God is hiding it. When it comes to looking at the line and what God is doing, that doesn't stop it.

So, in 1 Kings 11, “Now Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh.” Now David had many wives, so we sometimes think that Solomon's problem is that he had too many wives. Well, David had too many as well, if we are looking at the way God created it to be. David was never rebuked by God for having multiple wives. At that point in time in God's plan He chose to allow that to happen. And it did not withhold His blessing. God didn't say, I am removing the blessing because you've had six sons by six different wives. I can't bless a man like that. You can wrestle that through, we don't have time to talk about it, but that's not the problem.

Solomon has many foreign wives along with the daughter of Pharaoh. She evidently came early, and she is probably the prime queen. And these are relationships. He had 700 wives, verse 3 tells us. What they were, they are business dealings. This foreign king would give one of his daughters to Solomon as a wife, that would bind them together like a contract. That king is not going to attack Solomon because his daughter is one of the queens there. I'm not going to attack my daughter and her husband. And Solomon the same thing, I'm not going to attack my father-in-law. So, it binds them in a mutual relationship. No wonder Solomon had peace, and nobody left.

And this is part of what is going on in the world. David was used of God to crush the enemies of Israel and then there is a power vacuum going on in the broader world. So, it's not that Israel is the most powerful nation that has ever been, it's that the other nations of the time that will grow to be powerful like the Assyrians and Babylonians were not there. There is sort of a power vacuum in the world, at the same time the more immediate enemies of Israel have been crushed, Solomon reigns in a time of great peace. And so, the kingdom can prosper in a way that it could not under David, who had to fight battle after battle, after battle. Part of God's plan.

Well, Solomon enters into all these relationships, and since Solomon's prominence and preeminence, both with his wisdom and his wealth, there were nations that wanted to join with him. Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, that's a thousand. How many kids do you think he had? I don't even want to think about it. You think, what in the world. But you think there are so many you don't have to pay attention to any. But he did.

Look at verse 4, “For it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God.” There are a couple things to note about Solomon. Does not indicate he was never a saved man. Some commentators say that if he turned to worship other gods he couldn't have been a saved man. The indication is, he is, and he has been. But they had an influence on him and he was lured away. Never underestimate, you know we put ourselves in positions that make ourselves vulnerable. Then you say, I don't know what I was thinking, I didn't think I could ever do that. Well don't make the opportunity. David, don't go up and watch the roof, and see who is bathing across there and so on. We put ourselves in a situation and we are caught unaware. Be like Joseph, turn around and run the other direction when you realize you are in that spot. But the best thing in verse 2 tells you Solomon could adjust to listen to the Scripture, “ from the nations concerning which the Lord God said to the sons of Israel, ‘You shall not associate with them, neither shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after other gods.’”

Solomon went a step further, he is reaching out beyond Israel unto these foreign women and getting alliances, and they bring their gods with them. And pretty soon, nothing like a woman pulling the heartstrings, sort of like Samson and Delilah. And you think, what is Samson thinking? Open your eyes. What's going on Solomon? Solomon, if you want me, you'll make room for my gods, and if you love me you'll want to come to my temple, you'll create a temple for my god. And everybody else getting their god. And pretty soon, Solomon's battling from temple to temple. You have it named here, you can't believe it, these are named as detestable idols. And Solomon is involved.

Well there are consequences, but one of the consequences is not the consequences that Saul bore. Because remember God has already covenanted with David, I won't take the kingdom away from your descendants. But the line will continue and there is going to be a division. That's why Solomon is the last of the kings to rule over Israel as a nation, 931. It will split after his death. His son Rehoboam will take the southern kingdom, Judah. Benjamin is so small, it is just usually identified with Judah and you just call it Judah. And then the ten tribes of the north called Israel. And that's where we go. The consequences. It doesn't frustrate God's plan because the line will continue down to the Messiah. But He is not done with David, Solomon, the son of David, the line of David. And so, you get down to 1 Kings 11:42, “Thus the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.” And there is more written about Solomon. Verse 41, “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and whatever he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?” We don't have that, but some of that may be recorded in his view of life, and all of that by Solomon.

All of that to say as we come to the book of Ecclesiastes, I hold that Solomon wrote it. But I don't hold that he wrote it with the despair and emptiness and sense of worthlessness of what his life has come to be, because he got involved in sin. I think there is good probability he came to view the seriousness of his sin and failure, the need to function properly. It is pure guesswork when he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Some say he wrote the book of Song of Solomon early in his reign because he writes this book about erotic marriage love. He must have done that early because when he got up to a thousand women in your life it is hard. But do you know what he says in the book of Song of Solomon? There are 80 queens. So, he hadn't gotten up to 700 yet, so it was maybe early. But early is relative. And some say he wrote Proverbs in his middle life and then Ecclesiastes in his later life. Maybe he did. The fact of the matter, it doesn't matter. What matters is what he wrote, and I take it the book of Ecclesiastes. We have to talk about vanity of vanities. I don't think that is a correct translation of the Hebrew word hebel, but we will have to talk about that. I don't think it's about the worthlessness of life. I think it's about how to have a meaningful, happy, joyful, purposeful life in the good days and in the bad days. And all of us need that wisdom to apply to our lives.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for its riches, for the challenges to us. Lord, even as we have touched upon the lives of Saul, David, and Solomon, Lord, we see something of the ugliness and seriousness of sin, which is always rebellion against you, refusal to trust you and submit to you. But we thank you for the greatness of your grace so clearly seen, that you continue to use these who stumbled in major ways, yet they were men of your choosing, they were used to accomplish your purposes. But Lord we want to take to heart the seriousness of sin, but we appreciate the greatness of grace. We appreciate that we benefit from what has been written about these men and what the Spirit has directed these men to write for our encouragement and growth. May our study as we continue on in the book of Ecclesiastes be an encouragement and enable us to walk wisely in these days in which we live. We pray in Christ's name, amen.