DAVID AND SOLOMON AND THE OBSERVANCE OF
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.
People are always told about the story of David and Goliath but I invite
you for a change to read
another story, the one about about David and
Solomon.
Why was David so successful during most of his life and why was he
according to the heart of Yehoah?
On the other hand, why did Solomon fail so miserably during the second
part of his life?
What are the differences between these two kings separated by only one
generation?
Can we establish a comparison for today's life? What lesson can a
Christian learn from this comparison?
Let us discover the answers to all these questions in the Word of our Father.
King David.
David grew
when the
In the days
before David, when the judges were ruling the country, many wars devastated
the
"Then
Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabeshgilead: and all the men
of Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.
And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, on this condition will I make a covenant
with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes, and lay it for a reproach
upon all
Several times
Oppression is
so strong that one day the Arch of Yehoah was taken by the enemy as a trophy!
"And
the Philistines took the ark of Elohim and brought it from Ebenezer unto
The people are
so despaired that they are looking everywhere for a saver to rule the country
and finally, Yehoah agreed to be replaced by a king named Saul:
"And
Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom Yehoah hath chosen, that there
is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said,
Elohim save the king. Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and
wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the
people away, every man to his house. And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and
there went with him a band of men, whose hearts Elohim had touched. But the
children of Belial said how shall this man save us? And they despised him, and
brought no presents. But he held his peace." (I Samuel 10:24-27).
These passages
summarize rather well the precariousness of the life in
David is the last born of the
large family of Jesse. Like Jesus, he did not have anything to
attract the glance of others. Let us read in the bible how he was found and
anointed by Samuel!
"And
Yehoah said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have
rejected him from reigning over
And
Samuel did that which Yehoah spake, and came to
And
Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth
yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto
Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And
he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful
countenance, and goodly to look to. And Yehoah said, Arise, anoint him: for
this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of
his brethren: and the Spirit of Yehoah came upon David from that day forward.
So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah." (I Samuel 16: 1, 4-7, 11-13).
David did not live in a palace
and he did not receive the education of a future king; on the contrary, he
serves his father as a shepherd on his flock. He is also a servant for his
brothers who however scorned him as we can read in the following story:
"And
the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty
days. And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren
an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy
brethren; and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain
of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.
Now
Saul, and they, and all the men of
And
the men of
And
Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger
was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with
whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and
the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see
the battle. And David said, what have I now done? Is there not a
cause? And he turned from him toward another, and
spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former
manner." (I Samuel 17: 17-20, 25-30).
But, if you
have paid attention, in the same story we can discover the true nature of
David:
Since his early childhood, David did not have any other gods before Yehoah.
The fight and
victory over Goliath took place because David could not accept the insult made
by the Philistine against Yehoah! At the opposite, the army of
First of all
Goliath who frightened them by his gigantic size and his aggressiveness!
Second, their
selfishness, the concern to protect their own lives and a complete lack of
faith in their Lord. By the way, it is the right place to tell you that our
worst enemy in front of our Father is often ourselves and we will address this
point in a forthcoming chapter.
The friends'
circle of David is not very recommendable; indeed, David, after having been anointed
by Yehoah, must face the jealousy of Saul who wants even to kill him. While
escaping in the desert, David is joined by a group of ruined and disappointed people:
"David
therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his
brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to
him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt,
and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he
became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men."
(I Samuel 22:1-2).
David relies
on Yehoah for his daily food as we can read in the following:
"And
David said unto Ahimelech the priest, the king hath commanded me a business,
and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I
send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to
such and such a place. Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me
five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. And the
priest answered David, and said, there is no common bread under mine hand, but
there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from
women. And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women
have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the
vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea,
though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. So the priest gave him
hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken
from before Yehoah, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away."
(I
Samuel 21:2-6).
This fragile
situation did not change when David started officially to reign after the death
of Saul. During most of his life, David was uncertain about what would be
his next day.
Indeed, after
having fighted the Philistines and being pursued by Saul, David saw his throne
threatened by his sons and his servants. Even at the end of his reign, he was
obliged to flee
We invite you
to discover in another article entitled "Trials and punishments"
why David had to undergo all these events. This text can only be found in the French part under the title "epreuves et chatiments":
A second aspect
of David's character and the direct consequence of his wish to obey the first commandment,
is his efforts to put an end to his sins. David is investing all his efforts to
eliminate sins from his house in a same way we should eliminate the leaven, a
symbol for sin, from our houses at the time of Passover! Let us read how David speaks
in psalm 119:
Make
me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I
meditate on Your wonderful works. My soul melts from heaviness; strengthen me
according to Your word. Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me Your law
graciously. I have chosen the way of truth; Your
judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not
put me to shame! I will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge
my heart.
Teach
me, O Yehoah, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. Give me
understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my
whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in
it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away my
eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way…
Oh,
how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day…"
(Psalm 119: 27-37 and 97).
All day long, the law of Yehoah is in the back of David's mind and there
is no better proof showing that David is doing all his effort to have no other
god before Yehoah. The fruit of David's behaviour is described in the
continuation of the psalm, verse 151:
"You are near, O
LORD, and all Your commandments are truth.."
A spectacular example of the strong attachement of
David for his Lord is his attitude after his sins of adultery and crime following
the rapt of Bath-sheba, Uriah's wife. With humility and without any spirit of
rebellion, he recognized the serious sins he committed and accepted that his
life was now pending in the hands of Yehoah who is the only one who can save him
from the death penalty, the only wages of sin. This is what Paul writes in his
epistle to the Romans (chapter 6, verse 23).
All this reveals us that our Father likes who is
humble and always looking to help his next. We should never believe that we
have anything to attract the glance of the others and we must recognize that anything
we do that seems worthwhile is a gift from Yehoah and of His Holy Spirit in us
if we are true Christian. This kind of attitude is a key to avoid that our
pride will become like a god before Yehoah!
David lived primarily with
this attitude until his death and tried to never have any god before Yehoah.
King Solomon.
The life of king Solomon is quite different!
Since his birth, Solomon is prepared for the kingdom. He receives an education
of prince in the palace of his father. He does not meet any opposition as we can
read in the following:
"Then Solomon sat on the throne of Yehoah
as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.
All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David,
submitted themselves to King Solomon. So Yehoah exalted Solomon
exceedingly in the sight of all
(I Chronicles 29: 23-25)
During his reign, Solomon never had to face
precarious living conditions and during most of his lifetime, his kingdom was
in peace. Solomon was surrounded by gold and treasures and by a high and educated society.
"So King Solomon surpassed all the kings
of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23And all the kings of the earth
sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which Elohim had put in his
heart. Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold,
garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year. Solomon
had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen
whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at
(II Chronicles 9: 22-27).
On the contrary of David who contemplated the
Word of Yehoah, Solomon did not take into account this warning:
"For Yehoahh your Elohim is bringing you
into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that
flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines
and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which
you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land
whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When
you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless Yehoah your Elohim for the good
land which He has given you.
"Beware that you do not forget Yehoah your Elohim by not keeping His
commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,
lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and
dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver
and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you
forget Yehoah your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage; " (Deutéronome 8: 10-14).
Solomon forgot that each day, Yehoah is the only
One who grants him food, wisdom and wealthiness. Instead of seeking to become
better and to eliminate from his house the leaven, symbol of the sin, Solomon
opened the door to the sin and he disobeyed the first commandment ordering not
to have other gods before Yehoah!
"For it was so, when Solomon was old,
that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal
to Yehoah his Elohim, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after
Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the
Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of Yehoah, and did not
fully follow Yehoah, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place
for Chemosh the abomination of
So
Yehoah became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from Yehoah Elohim
of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, …"
(I Kings 11: 4-9).
Today in the world.
Didn't we live
these days something similar to David and Solomon for the generations of the twentieth and twenty first
centuries? During first half of the century life was extremely similar to
that of David if one thinks in particular of the two world wars, the value of
the food that was really obtained in the sweat of the face. The starving in the
Eastern European countries of Europe and in particular in Germany and the
crisis of 1929 in the United States are few events showing the precariousness
of life and the need for humbleness. Puting aside the wars, this precariousness
of the life pushed the western world to show some civism in its behaviour and
to transmit some education to their children. But let us jump in the second
half of the twentieth century and this century, and we discover a new type of people, people a
little like Solomon at the end of his reign. There is no more war but peace in
the west, an abundance in all goods, so much food coming from all the parts of
the world that one throws it whereas so many men in the Third World are dying
from starvation. The comfort in our dwellings is unheard of with our fully
equipped kitchens, televisions, video and sound equipment for music
installation, luxurious cars and so on.
But unfortunately today, step by step civism is disappearing as well as morality; the humbleness is replaced by pride,
each one believes he should becone a manager of the others and cannot accept to
be a servant anymore! More and more and without noticing it, all the thoughts
of man turn to evil as our Lord had prophesied when he said:
"But as the days of Noah were, so also
will the coming of the Son of Man be." (Mattieu 24: 37)
Indeed the
thoughts of mankind at the time of Noah was turned only to evil as the Bible is
telling us:
"Then Yehoah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6: 5).
Jesus- Christ knew
well in advance that the people who would live at the end of this world shortly
before his advent would live in abundance and would run the same risk as
Solomon; let us read about this aspect in Luc 21: 34
"But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts
be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life
and that Day come on you unexpectedly...."
Isn't it striking
to see that even the unemployed people or the "poor" in western
countries often are wasting the
"little" which they gain (that would be a fortune for those of the
Third World) by drinking alcohol in excess or smoking while destroying their
health? Matthiew, who wrote under inspiration his book, knew that the warnings
pronounced by Jesus-Christ were addressed to ALL THE READERS of the Bible wherever they are on earth.
These READERS are asked to open very
carefully their eyes to catch and understand the important warnings! Indeed, we can read in
Matthieu 24:15
"... whoever reads, let him understand!"
Today in the Church of the Father.
If the non-Christian
world has a lot of reason to not hear nor listen the warnings of Jesus-Christ,
one would expect that at least the Christians will hear and take into account
all these teachings to save their lives! But unfortunately, here also the
people of our Lord will disapppoint
their Father, as the Churches will
behave in the same way as David and Solomon. Indeed on one side, there will be
a Church conscious of her weakness and which will put all her confidence in her
Father like David did; this is the famous Church of Philadelphia, a Church that
will love her brother according to the meaning of her name.
"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia
write,
"These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the
key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one
opens": "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door,
and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and
have not denied My name. Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan,
who say they are Jews and are not, but lie--indeed I will make them come and
worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you
have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial
which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the
earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that
no one may take your crown. (Apocalypse 3: 7-11).
But unfortunately,
side by side with the Church of Philadelphia, there will be another Church, the
Church of Laodicea! The Church of
Laodicea will live in the same environment as Solomon since she will have the
impression that she is rich and that she doesn' t need anything. She will not follow
the laws of the Bible but, as according to the meaning of her name, she will
follow the laws of the people. Like Solomon, the Church of Laodicea will be seduced
and will be attracted by the materialism of the dying world:
"And to the angel of the church of the
Laodiceans write,
"These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning
of the creation of Elohim: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor
hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, "I
am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know
that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-- I counsel you to buy
from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments,
that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed;
and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I
rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the
door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to
him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Apocalypse 3: 14-20).
Then, before it is
too late, take this advice of Paul:
"Therefore He says:
"Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you
light."
Walk in Wisdom! See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be
unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
(Ephésiens
5: 14-17).