It is a smart prayer for a boy who doesn’t know how to come
or go. One wonders how he thought to pray it. You would expect him to pray for
the death of his enemies since the boy king had so many. A long life generally follows
praying a shorter one for one’s enemies. Riches almost always makes it to the
top of the wish list and despite his estimation of God’s people as great a
little extra cash is always appreciated. God is surprised and certainly quite
pleased that this second son of Bathsheba and David’s badly begun union turns
out to be a king worthy of the title. God grants Solomon understanding and a
discerning mind and all the rest as well and for a time there really is no king
like him. Unfortunately for Israel, and I suppose for God as well, Solomon gives
up on the gift of discernment in favor of the counsel of foreign wives and the
golden age of Israel ends with a kingdom divided between warring sons. It is
the stuff of Shakespeare and the great Greek tragedies and more times than we
care to admit our own tales of fortune and folly. It will take a long time but
there will be a king born in Bethlehem who eclipses Solomon and all his splendor. He will never
know riches and his life will be cut short by his enemies but in the end his
poverty is our wealth and his death and resurrection the only hope for friend
and enemy alike.
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