Sowing Seeds of Destruction

KEY VERSE: “If ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, … then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them.” —I Kings 9:6,7

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: I Kings 9:1-7; 11:9-12

AFTER David died, Solomon began the construction of the Temple in the fourth year of his reign, and it was finished in the eleventh year. It was a magnificent structure, and the materials the Lord had permitted David to accumulate were used in its building. When the building was completed the furniture from the temporary Tabernacle was transferred to the permanent house of God.

The Ark of the Covenant was placed in the new Most Holy of the Temple, which was beautifully designed to represent the very presence of Jehovah. In former times while the Ark dwelt in the temporary tent of the Tabernacle, the staves for carrying it about were always kept in the rings fastened to the outer sides of the Ark. But when the Ark was placed in the Temple, the staves were removed, which pictured that, at last, the Ark of God had found a permanent resting place. “It came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.”—I Kings 8:10,11

“Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven.” (I Kings 8:22) He uttered a most wonderful prayer, praying for God’s mercy upon Israel and pledging their faithfulness. Previous to this the Lord had appeared to Solomon in Gibeon and asked what he should give him. And Solomon answered, “O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child. … 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?” (I Kings 3:7,9) The speech pleased the Lord and he promised to give him wisdom and understanding above any other person, and because he had not asked for himself, the Lord promised to give him the things he had not asked for, namely, riches and power above anything known in his time. But the Lord required that Solomon be obedient to his statutes and commandments.

In the course of time, however, Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. “He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.” (I Kings 11:3,4) The Lord was angry with Solomon and appeared to him and said, “Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.”—vss. 11,12

The Lord did rend the kingdom (that is, the line through which the sure mercies of David were to be fulfilled) from Solomon and established it with Nathan, the second son of David by Bathsheba. In Luke 3:23-38 is given the genealogy of Jesus, the heir of the kingdom, tracing forward from David through Nathan, and finally, Mary, who was the mother of Jesus. In Matthew 1:1-16 is given the genealogy of Solomon’s line which starts with David, Solomon, and finally ends with Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was not the father of Jesus. The sentence was carried out upon Solomon so that it was not of his line that the heavenly phase of the kingdom was to be brought into being.

The angel who appeared to Mary, when he announced that she was to bear a child and call his name Jesus, stated: “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”—Luke 1:32,33

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