I Kings 11

Despite writing a book of wisdom, Solomon has hundreds of wives and concubines. There actually was no proverb on having multiple wives, although there were many on happy marriages and faithful women vis a vis prostitutes. The influence of these women lead Solomon astray and he builds shrines to other local gods. This is in full contradiction to what God said to Solomon when God twice appeared to him.

I wonder how this happened to a man who was full of wisdom. Maybe Solomon's wealth, power, and prestige inflated his ego and he became over confident.

God decides to take away most of the kingdom of Israel, but will leave the Davidic dynasty in control over one tribe. The other 10 tribes will go to Jeroboam, to whom God offers a covenant/dynasty similar to one that God offered David.

Jeroboam was an administrator working under Solomon when God sent Ahijah from Shiloh (that's where the ark was before it was moved to Jerusalem) to tell Jeroboam about this. The text states that Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam so presumably Solomon heard about God's choice. Jeroboam escapes and lives in exile in Egypt until Solomon dies. A lot of this reminds me of David escaping from Saul.

V. 39 states that God will punish the Davidic dynasty on account of Solomon's actions, but it is a temporary punishment. I wonder if God had in mind a reunification of all Israel and a unification of the Davidic-Jeroboam dynasties, perhaps by marriage.

God sent a few other adversaries against Solomon who caused trouble during his reign.

Solomon dies and is succeeded by Rehoboam.

Song of Solomon

The Bible contains a love dialogue between a man and woman. They describe their love and desire for each other with language that is full of lofty metaphors and even sexual imagery. The man's dialogue frequently refers to descriptions of the woman's body, including her breasts.

It is attributed to Solomon but there are lot of interesting questions to ponder. For starters, was this an actual dialogue between Solomon and his first wife Pharaoh's daughter? It refers to the woman being more beautiful than Pharaoh's mares, but then again it also refers to the wife traveling from Lebanon.

Or, was this a compilation of dialogues between Solomon and his many of wives, but was written in it's final form as one wife?

Or, was this stuff that Solomon heard other people say and that he compiled it?

If Solomon was the genius king and author of Proverbs then I think we can safely say that he was quite capable of writing this. But he still could have been inspired from the love poetry of others.

So, why is this even in the Bible? I think it is God's example of marriage. I am actually kind of surprised this book is not read more often in weddings. That would be kind of cool. I think that may have been one of its purposes.

Proverbs 23-24

23:1-3 don't eat too much at a banquet before a ruler and restrain yourself from eating everything. This is interesting. I certainly have restrained myself at job interview lunches ehile in law school, particularly if they offered me wine.

23:14-15 - use physical discipline on your kids. I wonder what Solomon would think of "time out" chairs.

23:29-35 - a lifestyle of long hours at the tavern leads to fighting, anguish, and sorrow. I wonder what taverns looked like in his day.

24 - honesty is an extra focus in this chapter.

24:30-34 - Solomon describes with disapproval a vineyard overgrown with weeds. He chastises the owner for being lazy as it will lead him to poverty. I find it an interesting contrast to the end of chapter 23 which describes the effects of too much wine. Wine comes from productive vineyards. So, Solomon is not chastising wine production (quite the contrary), but excessive consumption thereof.

Proverbs 20-22

20:3 - avoiding a fight is honorable. It reminds me of the first lesson of mature martial artists - avoid the fight! It also reminds me of another axiom, to secure peace, you must prepare for war.

20:10 - false weights ands unequal measures are detestable to God. It reminds me of the importance of honesty in my time clock at work.

20:12 - eyes to see and ears to hear are gifts from God. I see several levels here. First, literal anatomical. I love my sight and hearing and would hate to lose them. Who doesn't. second, more figuratively it sounds like understanding and perception is a gift from God. Let us pray for it. Third, Jesus referred to this phrase in conjunction with his parables, so it has a specific application with that.

20:30 - physical punishment cleanses evil. Ouch! I wonder if Solomon grounded his kids or just spanked them until they were adults. 22:15 associates physical punishment with the youth.

21:2 - people are right in their own eyes, but God examines the heart. Even mafia members believe they are "good people". I guess it's easy to convince yourself you're not doing wrong, when you are.

21:3 - God is more pleased with doing right than with sacrifices. Samuel said this to Saul when he spared the king of the Edomites.

21:9/21:19 - living alone in an uncomfortable place is better than living in luxury with a quarrelsome wife. Oh yeah. I'm glad I didnt marry some of my ex-girl friends.

21:14 - a secret gift calms anger. Good advice if someone is mad at you.

21:28 - a false witness will be cut off, but a credible witness will be allowed to speak. I have seen this in a courtroom, where he judge stops believing someone. He probably will let him continue talking, but just not listen to the bad witness.

22:24 - don't befriend angry people of you will be like them. Your friends can have positive or negative effect on you and Solomon advises us go avoid bad friends.

Proverbs 17-19

17:1 - better a dry crust eaten in peace than a house filled with feasting and conflict. This resonates with me at this point in my life. I feel like my life is like eating drug crust as im recovering from surgery, am literally disabled since I can only use one arm, and am facing addiction to pain killers and months of expensive physical therapy. But yet, I am at peace. I'm not bitter. I'm not discouraged by this. I'm happy for the most part.

17.6 - grandchildren are the glory of the old while parents are the pride of their children. I think this is an interesting look at generational dynamics.

17:22 - cheerful heart is good medicine. That stands out for similar reasons as 17:1.

17:28 - fools are considered wise if they remain silent. Hey, if in doubt, keep your mouth shut. I think this is good advice generally. There are times when silence is the absolute wrong thing to do.

18:5 - it is wrong to acquit the guilty. Well, that does assume that the justice system is functioning properly. If not, then there will be abuse either way, which is what this proverb seems to be addressing. I can remember a number of times where there is a huge public outcry where juries acquit who the public believes to be guilty (OJ Simpson, the police that beat Rodney King, Casey Anthony).

18:15 - intelligent people are ready to learn; their ears are open to knowledge. I have come to respect George W Bush more so now that he's been out of office for a few years. But I do believe that the book of Proverbs would indite him as a terrible leader and poor example of a Christian leader because of his anti-intellectualism attitude. Same with Sarah Palin.

19:3 - people ruin their own lives by their foolishness and then are angry at the Lord. I've been guilty of this.

Proverbs 14-16

These are also dense. Here are those that stand out to me:

14:4 - without oxen, the stable stays clean, but the ox is needed for a large harvest. The unstated thing is then that the large harvest will necessitate an unclean stable. This stands out to me because I am little "messy".

14:24 - wealth is the crown of the wise. Solomon is not anti-wealth. Rather, it is a sign of wisdom.

14:28 - a growing population is the king's glory; a prince without subjects has nothing. Here Solomon is giving some political advice and he encourages population growth. Granted, he had the resources to feed them.

15:1 - a gentle answer defects anger. This is something I have remembered and used in my own life a lot actually. I think it is one of the most important proverbs and can save anyone from a lot of trouble.

15:22 - plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers brings success. Whats unstated is that the advisers must feel comfortable giving their advice. That would be the leader's responsibility for setting the culture. Having "yes-men" would not be the same as having advisers.

16:7 - when people's lives please the Lord, even their enemies are at peace with them. For starters, you're not going around spreading lies or sleeping with someone's spouse, but I think this proverb goes deeper than that and speaks of a blessing by God.

16:33 - God determines how dice fall. Think about it.

Proverbs 11-13

Proverbs 11-13 are thick and full of pithy little statements. A lot of them seem to be a cause and effect: do something bad and bad things happen; do something good and good things happen. A few stuck out to me -

11:22 - a beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig's snout. Ouch. Personally, I think a nose ring can turn a beautiful woman into a pig.

12:10 - the godly care for their animals while the wicked are cruel. Solomon seems to support the humane society.