1 Kings 4 -- Way Too Much Like Our Own Country Today?

Solomon may have been very wise, but he let a blind spot develop and it related to his own administration.  Bureaucracy and frivolous government spending were setting up trends that my commentary said were like “the secret worm … gnawing all the time in the royal staff upon which Solomon leaned.”  He’d started his reign with good devotion to the Lord, but becoming a big shot would soon take its toll on the relationship as well.

 

For instance, in verse 7 he appointed 12 governors over various districts of Israel, primarily to secure and provide food for his own household and his HORSES!  A listing of the daily food requirements at the palace was enough to choke down any government and speaks of hangers-on and cronyism and waste.

 

Going against God’s law, he had 12,000 horses and he even created special cities to care for them!

 

One of the hazards of great intelligence is a creeping sense of overimportance, entitlement, and often elitism that causes one to lose a sense of groundedness based on good old common sense.  Showing off that intelligence becomes almost a requirement as vanity feeds upon itself.

 

Solomon’s public works projects conscripted foreigners, but he also began a forced-work program from Israelites during the building of the Temple, requiring citizens to devote 1/3 of a year to the service!

 

The special districts he set up “ignored the traditional boundaries of the tribes,” possibly hoping to diminish the old tribal loyalties, but it did just the opposite, for Judah wasn’t included in those new districts and was administered separately as a royal zone.

 

The seeds were being sown for tribal jealousies and resentment of the monarchy simply because fairness wasn’t being followed in livelihood or taxation.  And “wise” king Solomon couldn’t see it coming.

 

Father, this sounds way too much like what’s going on in our own country today, and those in power appear to be as blind to it as Solomon was.  Give us wisdom to learn from their mistakes so that we won’t be doomed to repeat them.  We so need godly wisdom!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford