We become like what we love
Although Job does not appear in our readings today, I wish to use him as a contrast to the great king Solomon. The book of Job is one of the world’s oldest, most influential, and most powerfully written works of Literature. Because it is very old and the book does not identify the author, some have speculated that it is an allegory or parable. The setting makes no reference to the Hebrews, the priesthood or Temple sacrifices. Like Homer’s Iliad it is an epic written in poetic form. In Ezekial (14:14,20) God, through the prophet mentions Noah, Daniel and Job as examples of righteousness. The assumption of Ezekial was that Job is as historical as Noah or Daniel. The NT book of James (5:11) refers to Job as an example of spiritual endurance, as well as Abraham, Rahab and Elijah. Job was historical.
He lived in the time of the patriarch Abraham. God declared him to be a righteous man and the greatest man of all the people of the East. (Job 1:1.3) Yet God permitted him to suffer the loss of his children, his home, his wealth and his health. Job does not understand why. His wife, angry and heartbroken at the loss of her children and home told her husband to “curse God and die!” But Job held firm in his faith in God. Stripped of everything dear to him he humbly declared:
“Naked came I from my mother’s womb and naked shall I depart, the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21)
These lines convey humility, one of the classical Seven Virtues. Job was everything that the nation of Israel should have been. As would the Messiah 2000 years later he accepted God’s plan for him and his family. He became like the Lord that he loved. In the face of such deprivation would we continue our faith and trust in God? Job trusted absolutely in God, and thus his character reflected that trust. Like Jesus, he suffered terribly and was restored by God the Father. I studied the Book of Job years ago, for most of a year with a friend. It was for me the most intellectually demanding of the Old Testament Wisdom literature. And if you read the entire book, there is a very happy ending.
The author of Job might have been Moses or Samuel or King Solomon, the most poetic of the OT writers. He was the 3rd and last king of a United Kingdom of Israel. Ruling for 40 years, (970-930 BC) he was the 10th son of King David, and God would give him never to be equaled wisdom. After the death of King David his father,
“… the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon answered … give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. "For who is able to govern this great people of yours? Therefore, give Your servant an understanding heart to judge” (1 Kings 3:9)
The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So, God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream. (1 Kings 3;11-15)
Solomon set up an organized state in Israel dividing the state into 12 districts with separate officials. Each state provided for the royal court and armies one month each year. The system was fair and just until late in his reign, distributing the tax burden equally over the entire country. He accumulated thousands of horses and chariots for his army which enabled him to secure peace with his neighbors and became the wealthiest king of his time.
Solomon built the first Temple on Mount Moriah, a seven-year task, described in chapter 6 of first Kings. It became one of the wonders of the ancient world. He spent 13 years building a majestic palace, calling it the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon, with gigantic stone foundations and walls, cast bronze pillars and beams and ceilings of cedar from Lebanon. The palace had extensive gardens, as did the city and government buildings.
Solomon means ‘peaceful’ and is derived from the Hebrew word ‘shalom’. He would author Song of Songs and Proverbs, early in his reign and Ecclesiastes toward the end of his reign. A theme in Proverbs is integrity and humility, as is seen in chapter 16: Kings detest wrongdoing, for a throne is established in righteousness. (v.12) and Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall. (v.18)
The Song of Solomon is a love poem. Solomon uses passionate language to describe his bride and their love (4;1-15) He clearly loved the Shulammite for her beauty as well as her character. (6:9) The Song describes a bride and groom who were physically and emotionally in love and demonstrate respect for each other. It is an ideal beginning and points to the probability that this story is about Solomon’s first marriage. Whoever the Shulammite was, she was Hebrew and Solomon’s first and truest love. The following lines are spoken by the young bride.
My beloved spoke and said to me,
Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
(Song of Songs 2:10-13)
Solomon in another place describes why she captivates him.
You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume
more than any spice!
Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
milk and honey are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments
is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride;
you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
(4:9-12)
The poem is readable and enchantingly erotic. I advise all young married couples to read it. God created sexual attraction between men and women. It affirms the sanctity of marriage and may be also seen as a picture of God’s love for his people. But it also conveys the need for inner qualities that keep love alive: spirituality, sensitivity and sincerity. The root of the word sincerity is sin cere, ‘without wax’ and originated in ancient Athens. Potters with cracks in a pot would often put wax in the cracks to hide the flaws and keep them in the shade. So honest potters would always display their pots in the sun to show they were ‘without wax.’ We men and women should also be sin cere.
Life is a series of choices. In Solomon gives good advice to his oldest son and heir: “May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer—may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. (Proverbs 5:18,19)
But, later in life, he will not follow his own advice regarding marriage, integrity and pride. Perhaps Solomon’s most difficult issue was dealing with the enormous amount of attention that his wisdom brought him. Scripture tells us that,
King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules. Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. (1Kings 10:24-27)
The greatest accolades came from the Queen of the African nation of Sheba.
When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.
She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.” (1 Kings 10:1-6) But Solomon’s wisdom would degrade.
“He loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. (1Kings 11:1,2,4)
For all of his wisdom, Solomon developed a growing desire for wealth and power. He ignored the truths he had so brilliantly described in Proverbs and Song of Songs, when he was humble and faithful. He disobeyed God to please his pagan wives. His youthful prayers to God for wisdom demonstrated faith akin to his father David, but even the wisest man or woman can fall into disobedience. And the more Solomon loved his wives, the more like them he became, and the less like his creator in whose image he had been made. May the LORD our God, keep us humble and faithful like Job.
God be Praised,
Christ the King Church in Quincy Joseph Muñoz Professor Emeritus Feather River College