God comes to His people
Monday of Fifth week in year
Solomon thought that he was a chip off the old block, the rock of Israel’s faith, King David. But there was something wrong with Solomon, something that even his reputation as a great solver of problems couldn’t fix. Jewish tradition tells us that Solomon was wise, but he lost something as he aged. Solomon was clever, and he was organized, even idolized. In his early years he showed remarkable ability to discern right from wrong, but that changed as he grew older.
Remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Both David and Bathsheba, his mother, must have taught him that virtue. Now “fear of the Lord” is not dread of what God is going to do to us. No, it’s more like piety, like an unwavering devotion to God as the highest good. It’s an unwillingness to let anything get in the way of our service to the Lord, a decision not to put any person, place or thing between us and God.
The difference between David and Solomon was more of nurture than nature. Remember that David was the youngest son of a rancher, Jesse. He spent lots of time in contact with the common people. For a time he was an outlaw, running with an outlaw army. He learned that we all are only an inch away from death at any time. He learned to trust God, and to fear Him in the best sense.
Solomon was also a youngest son, but a bit coddled. He was Bathsheba’s second-born, and replaced the dead child of her adulterous relationship with David. So he was probably over-protected by mommy, and, like many children of wealth, thought he was insulated from the harsher realities of life. The Scriptures, time after time, imply that Solomon was a spoiled brat.
So when Solomon built and dedicated the great temple of the Lord, with all these sacrificed beasts and all that incense and all the music his daddy wrote, he probably thought he was domesticating the Lord. He certainly acted in his personal life like the Lord was his household “god.”
In time, Solomon began making his own definition of life and piety. He even tried to redefine the tribes of Israel. He made foreign alliances and took foreign wives into his harem, and even worshiped their gods. But the Lord is a jealous God. He’s not jealous for His own sake, but for ours. He knows that we are made for Him, and cannot, as Augustine says, find rest until we rest in Him. So we have marvelous writings from Solomon, whole books of the Scriptures worth our study and memorization. But we cannot imitate him in his old age.
Jesus was God and man both. He was the true dwelling place of God among men. The people around the lake of Galilee recognized that, and were immediately attracted to Him so they could be healed and forgiven. He preached not a God of darkness, but of light. Not a God for Solomon only, or for the Israelites only, but for all humans. His dwelling place is with us now, certainly in sacrament, but forever in our hearts. Will we place other things, other needs, other desires before Him, or will we like Mary and Jesus place Him above all things, and praise Him for His mercy?
