Good Vibes

1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 8, Proverbs 25 &26

1 Kings 9:3 “My eyes and my heart will always be here.” 

The LORD appears to Solomon to re-emphasize the importance of obedience to the covenant.  And I took a peek back to Deuteronomy 29.   Holy living in this promised land of plenty. 

How do you devise a framework for living in the here and now, forward walking, and not live with the threat of potential curses hanging over your head, like a big “or else”.  And yet it is so clearly stated. 

1 Kings 9:6 “If you turn away I will cut you off…I will reject this temple and the name of Israel will become a by-word, and an object of scorn and ridicule. “

Do you live with the fear of your ending hanging over your beginning?

Or do you live as though have just charged out of the gate, embracing this blessing and plenty and abundance, with gratitude?  

But there is so much more to Solomon’s life than just construction and raising up magnificent buildings. He oversees a large conscripted labor force, fortifies cities, invests in horses and chariots to grow his army, and builds a fleet of ships.   He continues to forge good relationships, including Hiram, King of Tyre.   Like they are peers.   And I wonder if it is difficult to find someone who knows exactly what your life is like when you are king of a nation?  “Solomon built the ships and Hiram sent men – sailors who knew the sea – to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men.” (1 Kings 6:26 & 27).   Because if anyone was ever a ‘land-lubber’ it would be this desert walking people of Israel.   This relationship between Hiram and Solomon led to establishing very lucrative trade-routes.

There is an interesting discrepancy between these two stories, where the version in Kings states that Solomon gave 20 towns to Hiram because he became more indebted to Hiram than anticipated through the building of the palace and the temple.  But that Hiram rejected the towns calling them the “Land of Cabul” or “good for nothing”. The Chronicler states that Solomon rebuilt the 20 towns Hiram game him and settled Israelites in them.

I wonder what it would be like to sit in a history class as a young Israelite scholar and you came to the life and times of the Davidic Dynasty and had to tackle the interpretive differences between Kings and Chronicles.   And listening to different teachers holding prescribing to one version over the other.   With fiery debates about piety and impressions.  

And we read two more Proverbs. 

Prov 25:11 “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” 

13 Like the coolness of snow at harvest time

Is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him;

He refreshes the spirit of his masters.”

25 Like cold water to a weary soul

Is good news from a weary land. 

16 If you find honey

Eat just enough-

Too much and you will vomit.”

Milk and honey.  

Is that a very subtle warning? 

Against gluttony in a land of plenty?  

A word aptly spoken?

The NIV Notes mention that Proverbs 25 to 29 is another collection of Solomon’s Proverbs.  Some of them sound familiar.  Verse 1 states that they are copied by the men of King Hezekiah.   This future mention in our story today.  

There was a great revival in the reign of Hezekiah and this king restored singing to its proper place after the people had lost their voice and desire to sing.  His interest in the words of David corresponds to this support of compiling Solomon’s Proverbs. 

Like a kind of greatest hits album, or an anthology that gathers these words and publishes them in one binding. We can relate to that kind of rationale.

Revival of the old songs to new tunes in a new time.  

Words that are relevant then and relevant now.

Of living life everyday.

Like cold water to a weary soul.  

Milk and honey. 

To rely on God’s abundance and not the plenty of this world.

To remind us of the very good beginning and encourage us to keep finishing strong.