Solomon’s Splendor
Photo Credit: www.oneyearbibleblog.com

It is interesting what a different perspective brings on the latter portion of Solomon‘s life and the beginning of Rehoboam’s reign in Judah.  There isn’t a great deal written about how Solomon took so many wives from other nations and eventually was lured into the worship of false gods.  Much of the negative portion of the life of Solomon is omitted from the Chronicles.  However, as the Hebrew people were of an “Oral Culture,” these stories would have been passed down, and certainly not forgotten.  Yet again we encounter the text from a certain perspective with an author that is trying to make a theological point about the nature and identity of the people of God.  As is true and will be true with all of the kings that we will read about in 2 Chronicles, the point here seems to be that when the people and their leaders follow God, the blessings that follow are unfathomable.

One thing I noticed in the story of Solomon that caught my attention very quickly was a certain number that was talked about when we were reading about Solomon’s wealth.  2 Chronicles 9:13-14 reads, “Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, besides that which the explorers and merchants brought.”  It is this number, the number 666 that shows up in Revelation 13:18 as the mark of the beast and has become synonymous with evil and the source of a great deal of debate about its means.  There are some that believe that this number is pure evil and when we see this particular number showing up in relationship to money take it as a point that it was money that ultimately corrupted Solomon.  If you couple this thought with the verse from 1 Timothy 6:10 that says, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” you can create a halfway cogent notion about the nature and relationship between money and evil.  I suppose, in some ways this is a good lesson that we can take out of this passage, however I don’t think that this was the author’s intent.

Numbers were important to the people of Israel and have a considerable amount of meaning infused in them.  For instance, the number 40 shows up many times throughout Scripture, often involving some sort of a wilderness experience.  40 days and nights of rain for Noah.  40 days was Moses on the Mount Sinai.  40 years in the desert for Israel.  40 Days in the desert for Jesus.  The number 3 shows up often as well and is associated with God.  3 visitors to Abraham.  Father, Son, and Spirit are the Trinity (a notion developed but never expressly stated in the Bible). In this same line of thinking, the number 7 appears quite often as well.  7 is associated as the number of completeness, holiness, and perfection.  Putting some of these symbols together, the number 777 would be the number of God as being complete and perfect in every way.  So when we see the number 666 we see that it is not quite 777, but it is imperfect… lacking in every way.  With that in mind the author here, and perhaps also in John’s revelation are making the point that there is nothing that measures up to the perfection and goodness that is in God alone, and therefore there is nothing on this earth, no blessing or amount of wealth that can be placed in front of, above, or even close to alongside of God.  Following after anything other than God is simply a complete lacking of all that we should be doing.  The writer of 2 Chronicles is making the point that even in the midst of these enormous blessings, Solomon still needs to seek after the one who is bringing them on him.

The United Kingdom of Solomon breaks up, with Jeroboam ruling over the Northern Kingdom of Israel (in green on the map). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So as we read on April 10 and April 11, after Solomon dies, Rehoboam takes over as King and flubs it in a major way, so much so that the Kingdom of Israel is divided into the North and the South, with Rehoboam becoming king of the Southern Kingdom, known as Judah.  Remember too the audience to which the books of the Chronicles are written, the returned exiles of Judah.  Therefore as we continue in this narrative in 2 Chronicles, remember that our readings will focus in on the Southern Kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah, for when the Northern Kingdom goes into exile, they will never return.  Today we read an account of King Rehoboam as he secures the throne of Judah. Clearly the wisdom of his father Solomon is not passed down to him, yet for the time being, at least for today’s reading, it seems as though he is doing a fairly decent job at building up Judah and defending it well.  However, as you know, the story doesn’t stay that way for long…

Remember through this journey, the words that are repeated again and again in 2 Kings, “for the sake of the Lord’s servant David” does Judah and the line of kings continue…

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