Working Preacher - Narrative Commentary on 1 Kings 3:4-28 by Cameron B.R. Howard for Sunday, 26 October 2014

Working Preacher - Narrative Commentary on 1 Kings 3:4-28 by Cameron B.R. Howard for Sunday, 26 October 2014
Lectionary Scripture:
1 Kings 3:4-28
Scritpure Texts:
1 Kings 3:4-5 The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, God appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, “What can I give you? Ask.”
6 Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne.
7-8 “And now here I am: God, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count.
9 “Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?”
10-14 God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon’s response. And God said to him, “Because you have asked for this and haven’t grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I’ll give you what you’ve asked for—I’m giving you a wise and mature heart. There’s never been one like you before; and there’ll be no one after. As a bonus, I’m giving you both the wealth and glory you didn’t ask for—there’s not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I’ll also give you a long life.”
15 Solomon woke up—what a dream! He returned to Jerusalem, took his place before the Chest of the Covenant of God, and worshiped by sacrificing Whole-Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings. Then he laid out a banquet for everyone in his service.
16-21 The very next thing, two prostitutes showed up before the king. The one woman said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. While we were living together, I had a baby. Three days after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone—there wasn’t anyone else in the house except for the two of us. The infant son of this woman died one night when she rolled over on him in her sleep. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son—I was sound asleep, mind you!—and put him at her breast and put her dead son at my breast. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, here was this dead baby! But when I looked at him in the morning light, I saw immediately that he wasn’t my baby.”
22 “Not so!” said the other woman. “The living one’s mine; the dead one’s yours.”
The first woman countered, “No! Your son’s the dead one; mine’s the living one.”
They went back and forth this way in front of the king.
23 The king said, “What are we to do? This woman says, ‘The living son is mine and the dead one is yours,’ and this woman says, ‘No, the dead one’s yours and the living one’s mine.’”
24 After a moment the king said, “Bring me a sword.” They brought the sword to the king.
25 Then he said, “Cut the living baby in two—give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The real mother of the living baby was overcome with emotion for her son and said, “Oh no, master! Give her the whole baby alive; don’t kill him!”
But the other one said, “If I can’t have him, you can’t have him—cut away!”
27 The king gave his decision: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Nobody is going to kill this baby. She is the real mother.”
28 The word got around—everyone in Israel heard of the king’s judgment. They were all in awe of the king, realizing that it was God’s wisdom that enabled him to judge truly.
Commentary on 1 Kings 3:4-28 by Cameron B.R. Howard
This week’s passage from 1 Kings 3 introduces Solomon from two angles: private and public. 
First, the private view: in verses 4-15, the narrator gets us right into the sleeping brain of Solomon. In his dream, Solomon talks with God. God starts the conversation with a command: “Ask what I should give you” (verse 5 NRSV). Different translations yield slightly different renderings of this line, but the first word God utters, “ask”(Hebrew she’al), is inarguably an imperative.
While in some ways this command to “ask” feels as if God is offering Solomon a blank check, it strikes me as more of a test of Solomon’s fitness for kingship. Will Solomon answer rightly? After all, the narrator of 1 Kings has already expressed ambivalence about Solomon, saying, “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places” (1 Kings 3:3).
This is the classic struggle of the Deuteronomistic History, which revels in the glory brought to ancient Israel by the monarchy, and yet also condemns the apostasies of the kings that ruled it.1 The narrative will demonstrate this ambivalence throughout its account of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 3-11), praising the king’s wisdom, wealth, and work, yet lamenting his worship of the foreign gods of his many wives.
If God’s command is indeed a test, Solomon passes with flying colors; readers ancient and modern are assured of Solomon’s divine fitness for office. God is so pleased that Solomon has asked for discernment instead of money, long life, or revenge, that God grants Solomon’s request with some bonuses to help him along the way. Solomon will receive unparalleled wisdom (verse 12) and unparalleled riches and honor (verse 13). God also offers him long life, but this time with conditions: “If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments … ” (verse 14).
Solomon has this dream at Gibeon, where he has traveled to offer sacrifices. In Deuteronomistic perspective, Jerusalem is the only proper place to worship. It is “the place that the LORD your God will chose” that we hear about so often in Deuteronomy. While we might give the king the benefit of the doubt because the Temple has not yet been built in Jerusalem (see verse 2), the arc of this story points toward a symbolic transformation in Solomon.
After his encounter with God in his dream, Solomon moves to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices there in front of the Ark of the Covenant instead of staying at Gibeon (verse 15). His worship at Jerusalem gives evidence that his gift of discernment has begun to take hold, even if some of his later worship practices will invite reproach.
Having established Solomon’s private piety, the narrative now turns to his public persona. The account of the dispute between the two prostitutes is offered as further evidence that God has blessed the king with wisdom. At its conclusion we learn that “All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice” (verse 28). This story is great for Solomon’s PR campaign!
The king, at the highest rung of the social ladder, is adjudicating an argument between two women who are very close to its lowest rung. They have little to no political, social, or economic capital, even within the narrative itself, where they are never named beyond “the first woman” and “the other woman.” Solomon’s attention is accessible; he attends even to the least powerful in society.
However, the same power dynamic that showcases Solomon’s accessibility also allows a spectacle to be made of the two women. Yes, the story presents a clever riddle, but it is also a heartbreaking tale of cruelty, loss, and grief. Is Solomon as macabre as he is wise? Would he ever blink in this game of chicken? Will the true mother reveal herself before Solomon slices apart the baby?
The power that Solomon holds in this moment is breathtaking. In many paintings of this story, guards dangle the baby upside-down, clutching the infant’s ankle in one hand and a sword in the other.2 That detail reinforces the vulnerability of the people under Solomon’s charge. Babies, prostitutes, widows, orphans: society’s most defenseless members live and die at the will or whim of the king.
Even as this story illustrates the depth of Solomon’s wisdom, it reinforces for the reader that Solomon’s personal piety is necessarily a political issue. If the king wants riches above all else, those riches will come at the expense of the poor. By choosing wisdom and discernment, Solomon has chosen care for his subjects over glory for himself.
For the narrator, this story is not about the women or their babies; it is all about Solomon. Nevertheless, readers will doubtless be drawn into questions about the scenario itself. Is the accusing woman trustworthy? How does she know the infant’s cause of death, if, by her own admission, she was sleeping when it happened (see verses 19-21)?
The story also operates on some troubling assumptions about the grieving mother, namely that, in the depth of her grief, she would be indifferent to the death of another baby, even after she went to the trouble of trying to make the second infant her own. But that kind of wrenching, irrational, violent grief is acknowledged elsewhere in Scripture, and particularly in the psalms of lament.
The troubling ending to Psalm 137 -- “Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!” -- comes particularly to mind. Neither of these texts should be read as advocacy for violence in the face of grief; instead, they are startling reminders of the depths of human despair and our continual yearning for God’s presence among us.
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Notes:
1 Many scholars believe Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings all share the same authorial and/or editorial perspective steeped in Deuteronomic theology. Looking back from exile at the history of the Israelite and Judean monarchies, the narrative blames the kings for breaking the covenant and causing Israel to be sent into exile, even as it celebrates some of their achievements. This ambivalence to the monarchy can be identified to a greater or lesser extent in all of those books.
2 For examples, see Peter Paul Rubens’ “Salomons Dom” and Raphael’s “The Judgment of Solomon.”
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PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Generous God, you gave your servant Solomon wisdom so that he might govern your people well. Grant us your wisdom, so that we might perform our life’s duties with gratitude and wisdom. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
HYMNS:
"God whose almighty word" by  John Marriott (1813)
1. God, whose almighty word,
chaos and darkness heard,
and took their flight:
hear us, we humbly pray,
and where the gospel-day
sheds not its glorious ray,
let there be light.
2. Saviour, who came to bring
on your redeeming wing
healing and sight,
health to the sick in mind,
sight to the inly blind:
now to all humankind
let there be light.
3. Spirit of truth and love,
life-giving, holy dove,
speed forth your flight;
move o'er the water's face,
bearing the lamp of grace
and in earth's darkest place
let there be light.
4. Blessèd and holy Three,
glorious Trinity,
Wisdom, Love, Might,
boundless as ocean's tide
rolling in fullest pride
through the world far and wide,

let there be light.
"If you but trust in God to guide you" by Georg Neumark (1641); Translator: Catherine Winkworth (1855, 1863)          
1. If you but trust in God to guide you
and place your confidence in him,
you'll find him always there beside you
to give you hope and strength within;
for those who trust God's changeless love
build on the rock that will not move.
2. Only be still and wait his pleasure
in cheerful hope with heart content.
He fills your needs to fullest measure
with what discerning love has sent;
doubt not our inmost wants are known
to him who chose us for his own.
3. Sing, pray, and keep his ways unswerving,
offer your service faithfully,
and trust his word; though undeserving,
you'll find his promise true to be.
God never will forsake in need

the soul that trusts in him indeed. 
"Forgive our sins as we forgive" by Rosamond E. Herklots (1969)
1. 'Forgive our sins as we forgive,'
you taught us, Lord, to pray,
but you alone can grant us grace
to live the words we say.
2. How can your pardon reach and bless
the unforgiving heart,
that broods on wrongs and will not let
old bitterness depart?
3. In blazing light your cross reveals
the truth we dimly knew:
what trivial debts are owed to us,
how great our debt to you!
4. Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls,
and bid resentment cease;
then, bound to all in bonds of love,
our lives will spread your peace.
CHORAL:
"Pater Noster" by Igor Stravinsky
Latin: 

Pater noster, qui es in cælis,
Sanctificetur nomen tuum,
Adveniat regnum tuum,
Fiat voluntas tua,
Sicut in cælo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum
da nobis hodie,
Et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
Sicut et nos dimittimus
debitoribus nostris.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem,
Sed libera nos a malo.
Amen
English:
Our Father, who is in heaven,
Blessed be Your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
As it is in heaven, and on earth.
Our daily bread
Give to us this day,
And forgive us of our debts,
As we also forgive
Our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But rather free us from evil.
Amen.
"Our Father" by Harry T. Burleigh
1. Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
now and for ever. Amen.
2. Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance;
Govern and uphold them, now and always.
Day by day we bless you;
We praise your Name for ever.
Lord, keep us from all sin today;
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
Lord, show us your love and mercy;
For we put our trust in you.
In you, Lord, is our hope;

And we shall never hope in vain.
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary:
1 Kings 3:4-28
Verse 6
[6] And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
Truth — In the true worship of God, in the profession, belief, practice and defence of the true religion. So truth here contains all duties to God, as righteousness doth his duties to men, and uprightness the right manner of performing both sorts of duties.
With thee — That is, in thy judgment, to whom he often appealed as the witness of his integrity.
Verse 7
[7] And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
Child — So he was in years: not above twenty years old; and withal (which he principally intends) he was raw and unexperienced, as a child, in state affairs.
Go out, … — To govern my people, and manage affairs.
Verse 8
[8] And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
In the midst — Is set over them to rule and guide them. A metaphor from the overseer of divers workmen, who usually is in the midst of them, that he may the better observe how each of them discharges his office.
Chosen — Thy peculiar people, whom thou takest special care of, and therefore wilt expect a more punctual account of my government of them.
Verse 9
[9] Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
An understanding heart — Whereby I may both clearly discern, and faithfully perform all the parts of my duty: for both these are spoken of in scripture, as the effects of a good understanding; and he that lives in the neglect of his duties, or the practice of wickedness, is called a fool, and one void of understanding.
Discern — Namely in causes and controversies among my people; that I may not through mistake, or prejudice, or passion, give wrong sentences, and call evil good, or good evil. Absalom, that was a fool, wished himself a judge: Solomon, that was a wise man, trembles at the undertaking. The more knowing and considerate men are, the more jealous they are of themselves.
Verse 13
[13] And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
All thy days — Whereby he signifies that these gifts of God were not transient, as they were in Saul, but such as should abide with him whilst he lived.
Verse 14
[14] And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
And if — This caution God gives him, lest his wisdom should make him proud, careless, or presumptuous.
Verse 15
[15] And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.
A dream — Not a vain dream, wherewith men are commonly deluded; but a divine dream, assuring him of the thing: which he knew, by a divine impression after he was awakened: and by the vast alteration which he presently found within himself in point of wisdom and knowledge.
The ark — Which was there in the city of David, 2 Samuel 6:17, before which he presented himself in a way of holy adoration.
Burnt offerings — Chiefly for the expiation of his and his peoples sin, through the blood of Christ, manifestly signified in these sacrifices.
Peace offerings — Solemnly to praise God for all his mercies, and especially for giving him quiet possession of the kingdom, and for his glorious appearance to him in the dream, and for the promise therein made to him, and the actual accomplishment of it.
Verse 16
[16] Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
Harlots — Or, victuallers: for the Hebrew words signifies both. Yet that they are unmarried persons, seems probable, both because there is no mention of any husbands, whose office it was, if there were any such, to contest for their wives; and because they lived a solitary life in one house.
Verse 19
[19] And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it.
Overlaid it — And so smothered it: which she justly conjectures, because there were evidences of that kind of death, but no appearance of any other cause thereof.
Verse 25
[25] And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
Said — Though with a design far above the reach of the two women, or of the people present, who probably with horror expected the execution of it.
Verse 27
[27] Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
She is the mother — As is evident from her natural affection to the child, which she had rather have given away from her, than destroyed.
Verse 28
[28] And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.
Wisdom of God — Divine wisdom with which God had inspired him for the government of his people.
Sermon Story "Asking For Discernment" by Gary Lee Parker for Sunday, 26 October 2014
Here we have Solomon going to Gibeon to sacrifice to God which is in a high place. Could it be that Solomon remembered before the Ark of The Tabernacle was moved to Jerusalem that this was a place to scrifice to God. So, King Solomon goes to this place and sacrifices to God, but afterwards when he is sleeping God appears to him asking him to ask anything and it will be given to him. Solomon talks about his father, David, who was a great king and that he is only a child that does not know right from wrong and does not know how to rule God's people as their king. God is pleased that Solomon did not ask for long life or great riches, but asked for understanding to rule the People of God in a way worthy of being God's king. God did give Solomon more riches than any other king or ruler and long life as long as he stayed faithful to God's way of life. Now, Solomon left Gibeon and went back to Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was and he sacrificed to the Lord God the way God has called His people to sacrifice to Him with a contrite and obedient heart. Solomon again went to sleep for the night, then the next day two women came to him to ask King Solomon to judge who is the real mother of the child. King Solomon heard the story that as one slept the other women rolled over on her child and the child died. This woman whose child died picked up the dead child and placed him at the sleeeping woman's breast taking the live child at her own breast. Both women argued back and forth in front of King Solomon and King Solomon asked for a sword to divide the child in half giving each woman half of the child. The real mother apparently was so overcome with compassion saying do not kill the child but give her to the other woman while the other woman said the King Solomon should go ahead and kill the child. King Solomon now knew who the real mother is and said to give the live child to her. This story got out and the people realized that King Solomon ruled by God's wisdom not his own. How do you understand the happenings in this story? Are there particular characters in this story that you relate to or not relate to? How do you seek or ask for discernment for great wealth and long life or just to be pleasing and give gret glory to God?
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