000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Proper 15 [20]/Year B
1 Kings 2:10–12; 3:3–14+ (Semicontinuous)
Proper 15 [20]/Year B 175
Today’s reading tells of the death of King David and of Solomon’s conversation
with God in which Solomon asks for “an understanding mind”
or a heart that listens to God (3:9) and God’s gift of “a wise and discerning
mind” (3:12). Stripped from the context of 1 Kings 1–3:14, it risks presenting
a naïve view of Solomon, not unlike the one we learned in Sunday
school where matters of sex, intrigue, and political shenanigans were not
discussed. In context, however, today’s passage is intriguing.
An apt theological adage claims that God works through human sin and
error (errore hominum providentia divina). Those in the past with whom
God worked were ambiguous and so are we; we should be less judgmental
of them and more ready to accept that God can work even through us.
So it was with Solomon, who eventually will be at cross purposes with
God; 1 Kings 1–3:14 sets the stage for that eventuality.
First, some context. The story begins with an old, sexually impotent King
David whom even a “very beautiful” girl was unable to help (1:1–5). Knowing
of David’s age and weakness, Adonijah seeks the kingdom for himself,
recruits allies (1:5–10), and hosts them at a dinner. But the prophet Nathan
and Bathsheba alert David to the situation (1:11–27) and to Bathsheba’s
fears that if Adonijah succeeds, she and Solomon “will be counted offenders”
(1:21) and in all likelihood killed. David installs Solomon as king and
charges him to walk in God’s ways and keep God’s statutes (2:3). Solomon
then has Joab, Shimei, and Adonijah killed (2:5–38), cannily (wisely) securing
his own position. First Kings 3:1 notes that Solomon marries Pharaoh’s
daughter, a comment presaging the later troubles Solomon will get into
because his foreign wives bring other gods into the royal house (11:1–8).
Solomon visited a high place (shrine) at Gibeon (v. 4), at the time an
authentic place for the worship of YHWH. God appeared to Solomon in
a dream, a frequent means of divine revelation in the Scriptures (see Matt.
1:20), and invited him to “ask what I should give you” (3:5). Solomon’s
answer discloses that he is already rather wise (not just shrewd). He refers
to his father David as “your servant” (v. 6) and to himself as “your servant”
(vv. 7, 8, 9). At this stage, Solomon wishes to govern YHWH’s people,
whom he knows to be God’s people, not his own (vv. 8–9), as God’s servant
(compare Mark 10:41–45; Matt. 20:25–28; Luke 22:24–27).
For this reason, Solomon asks for “an understanding mind” (v. 9); more
precisely, a listening heart, to be open to hearing (shema) God’s word; a