When we appreciate a person and want to get to know more about them it is often fascinating to learn of their background and birth, as we say their roots. Sometimes we learn surprising things. It has been a convention in modern biography to begin with something about the subject’s birth and background and early years. That is how we want to begin this study of Solomon.
We know that he reigned for about 40 years altogether. He was probably about 20 when he became king. There is very little detail about those first 20 years but some few things can be gleaned. He was probably married, for example, just before his coronation. His bride was Naamah, an Ammonite princess, the mother of their firstborn, Rehoboam. This comes out in 2 Chr 12:13.
Here we consider what we know about the early years, before Solomon rose to prominence and seek to learn lessons.
We know that he reigned for about 40 years altogether. He was probably about 20 when he became king. There is very little detail about those first 20 years but some few things can be gleaned. He was probably married, for example, just before his coronation. His bride was Naamah, an Ammonite princess, the mother of their firstborn, Rehoboam. This comes out in 2 Chr 12:13.
Here we consider what we know about the early years, before Solomon rose to prominence and seek to learn lessons.
God wills that we inherit good and bad from our parents
Who were Solomon’s parents? It is well known that he was King David’s son. Who was his mother? Bathsheba. She was originally the wife of Uriah the Hittite but David, in a sinful act of lust and murder, first took Bathsheba to his bed and committed adultery then had her husband killed in battle.
We know very little about Bathsheba but we can assume that she was a beautiful woman and no doubt in many ways a godly woman. Yet she was clearly a sinner. The fact that Uriah, a godly man of great integrity, was her husband says a lot for her spirituality but her failure to resist David’s advances is something of a black mark against her. It would have been very difficult to refuse the king, no doubt, but she clearly should not have acceded to David’s demands. As for David, although this was a grievous sin in his life we know that he was otherwise a godly man, a prophet and a great leader.
Undoubtedly Solomon inherited certain traits from both father and mother – good and bad. Probably he inherited the good looks and native intelligence of both parents. Certainly he inherited some of David’s qualities of leadership and readiness to work hard. But he also inherited his parents’ sinful nature. There is no escaping this, of course. We all inherit a sinful nature from our parents. David had many wives, Solomon had even more, and many concubines too. We know that they did him harm, eventually leading him into idolatry.
The ways in which our parents are good must be emulated. The ways in which they are sinful must be avoided. We cannot assume that their good qualities will rub off on us automatically or pass to us genetically. We cannot make their sins an excuse for ours, either. Under God we must seek rather to be at least as good as our parents and, if God is gracious, better still. If they have good qualities that they have developed then we have something of a head start. Learn from their good example. Learn also from their mistakes.
Who were Solomon’s parents? It is well known that he was King David’s son. Who was his mother? Bathsheba. She was originally the wife of Uriah the Hittite but David, in a sinful act of lust and murder, first took Bathsheba to his bed and committed adultery then had her husband killed in battle.
We know very little about Bathsheba but we can assume that she was a beautiful woman and no doubt in many ways a godly woman. Yet she was clearly a sinner. The fact that Uriah, a godly man of great integrity, was her husband says a lot for her spirituality but her failure to resist David’s advances is something of a black mark against her. It would have been very difficult to refuse the king, no doubt, but she clearly should not have acceded to David’s demands. As for David, although this was a grievous sin in his life we know that he was otherwise a godly man, a prophet and a great leader.
Undoubtedly Solomon inherited certain traits from both father and mother – good and bad. Probably he inherited the good looks and native intelligence of both parents. Certainly he inherited some of David’s qualities of leadership and readiness to work hard. But he also inherited his parents’ sinful nature. There is no escaping this, of course. We all inherit a sinful nature from our parents. David had many wives, Solomon had even more, and many concubines too. We know that they did him harm, eventually leading him into idolatry.
The ways in which our parents are good must be emulated. The ways in which they are sinful must be avoided. We cannot assume that their good qualities will rub off on us automatically or pass to us genetically. We cannot make their sins an excuse for ours, either. Under God we must seek rather to be at least as good as our parents and, if God is gracious, better still. If they have good qualities that they have developed then we have something of a head start. Learn from their good example. Learn also from their mistakes.
God can produce great good despite an unpromising start
The fact Solomon’s parents first came together in an act of adultery is worth considering. You may remember that the baby that was born following the adultery died but at the end of 2 Sam 12, in verses 24 and 25, we read 'Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.'
Despite everything, that chapter and the whole episode ends on a quite unexpectedly high and positive note. Such a fact should encourage us. We tend to think, when there are troubles, that nothing good come out of this? It is hopeless. And yet God is a God who delights to turn the tables and bring about good despite the way things look.
Is that not, in summary form at least, the history of this world? Think how Adam sinned so that the world fell and all the consequences of that. Yet God is turning things around in a marvellous way so that his good purposes will triumph. Is this not what the cross is all about? The greatest good from the worst evil. This is not to condone sin or to treat it lightly but to remind ourselves that God is not hampered in his overall purposes by sin and by failure. In often surprising ways he moves to bring about his will. As William Cowper put it so well
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
Perhaps, like Solomon you had a less than ideal conception. It must have been a hard day for Solomon when he learned of his origins. I have met people born as a result of fornication, adultery, rape or born into a loveless marriage. Some are conceived through various sorts of arrangements that modern technology today allows. You may not actually know anything much about your conception or had a mum or dad as such. Such realities can be painful. However, in the end, such facts do not define us. Solomon's parents married after a night of lustful, adulterous passion but there is a whole lot more to him than that as we shall see.
The fact Solomon’s parents first came together in an act of adultery is worth considering. You may remember that the baby that was born following the adultery died but at the end of 2 Sam 12, in verses 24 and 25, we read 'Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.'
Despite everything, that chapter and the whole episode ends on a quite unexpectedly high and positive note. Such a fact should encourage us. We tend to think, when there are troubles, that nothing good come out of this? It is hopeless. And yet God is a God who delights to turn the tables and bring about good despite the way things look.
Is that not, in summary form at least, the history of this world? Think how Adam sinned so that the world fell and all the consequences of that. Yet God is turning things around in a marvellous way so that his good purposes will triumph. Is this not what the cross is all about? The greatest good from the worst evil. This is not to condone sin or to treat it lightly but to remind ourselves that God is not hampered in his overall purposes by sin and by failure. In often surprising ways he moves to bring about his will. As William Cowper put it so well
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
Perhaps, like Solomon you had a less than ideal conception. It must have been a hard day for Solomon when he learned of his origins. I have met people born as a result of fornication, adultery, rape or born into a loveless marriage. Some are conceived through various sorts of arrangements that modern technology today allows. You may not actually know anything much about your conception or had a mum or dad as such. Such realities can be painful. However, in the end, such facts do not define us. Solomon's parents married after a night of lustful, adulterous passion but there is a whole lot more to him than that as we shall see.
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