Reflections on 1 Kings 4-7

In what follows, I make no claim of originality.

1. Under Solomon’s reign, we see fulfilled God’s promises to Abraham. God’s people are many, and all the nations are blessed through his seed. Moreover, Solomon’s reign extends far and wide, and the wealth of the nations comes into his kingdom.

“Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.” (1 Kings 4, 20-21)

“And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.” (1 Kings 4, 34)

2. Solomon is presented as a new Adam:

“He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beast, and of birds, and of reptiles and of fish.” (1 Kings 4, 33)

3. I make this next suggestion very tentatively indeed. If James Jordan is right, then trees in the Bible represent people (Genesis 2 sets up the connection between men and trees by saying that both men and trees come out of the ground (Genesis 2, 7 and 9), see Judges 9.14-15, see Psalm 1, God’s placing of Israel in the land of Canaan is described as His “planting”, His grove of trees (Exodus 15, 17; Numbers 24, 6; 2 Samuel 7, 10; Psalm 44, 2, Psalm 80, 8-12; Isaiah 5, 2 and 7; Isaiah 60, 21; Isaiah 61, 3; Jeremiah 2, 21; Jeremiah 12, 10; Jeremiah 12, 10; Jeremiah 24, 6; Amos 9, 15). The temple here is made from cedar and cypress from Lebanon (1 Kings 5, 10). Could we see this as symbolizing the inclusion of Gentiles into the house of God?

4. There is a chiasm in 1 Kings 6:

A The start of the building work on the temple (v. 1)
B The outside of the building (vv. 2-10)
C God’s promise to Solomon (vv. 11-13)
B’ The inside of the building (vv. 14-36)
A’ The completion of the building work (v. 37)

This emphasizes that the establishment of the temple and God’s presence with his people all hinged on Solomon’s faithful and obedient life. From the perspective of the exile, the earliest this would have been compiled, it can be seen how Solomon fell short in his later life, with the result that God’s judgment came and his people went into captivity and the glorious promises remain as yet incompletely fulfilled.

5. The temple itself is meant to be a kind of glorious garden like Eden. The walls are panelled with wood carved in the form of palm trees and open gourds and flowers covered with gold. The temple, like Eden, is guarded by cherubim and is chained (1 Kings 6, 18-36). Access is still restricted.

6. Everything only comes to fulfilment, of course, with the coming of Christ, who did walk in all God’s ways. It is because of Christ’s obedience, God’s promise to dwell amongst his people and never forsake them will be fulfilled. It is through Christ’s obedience to death on a cross that full acccess into God’s temple-garden is possible. His rule will extend over all the earth. The wealth of the nations will be his. All peoples will bow before him. And all nations will be included in his house, his temple (cf. 1 Peter 2, 5) as the very construction of the temple here may have advertised.