Only Son (part 10)

God speaks to King David about his dynasty and about his own son, and says “I will become his Father and he will become My son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings. But My loyal love will not be removed from him” (2 Samuel 7:14-15a). This is joyous, ominous, and reassuring; and yet again, with these words, Israel’s God, the same one that is being referenced by Jesus when He says “For this is the way God loved the world,” speaks of His son. We know that this reference is to Solomon, because before the words of verse fourteen and fifteen, we read “He will build a house for My name, and I will make his dynasty permanent” (7:13). Solomon, of course, would build the Temple in Jerusalem, as a glorious house to represent the God of Israel.

As we consider what it means for Solomon to be considered as a son of God, we must do so in the context of God’s intended role for Israel in the world (as the firstborn son of God), and that role as connected to the Abrahamic and Deuteronomic covenants. As Solomon is firmly entrenched on the throne of Israel, we read that “The people of Judah and Israel were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:20a). A few verses later, it is said that “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment; the breadth of his understanding was as infinite as the sand on the seashore” (4:29). This is quite telling. It tells us that God is blessing Israel. Of course, with these words, the author is connecting the prosperous blessings being enjoyed by God’s people under the rule of Solomon with the covenant promises given to Abraham. In Genesis, God informed Abraham, following His intervention to spare the life of Isaac, that “I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore” (22:17a). There, God goes on to say “Because you have obeyed Me, all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants” (22:18).

As the author alludes to the promise to Abraham by his statement concerning “sand on the seashore,” he is not attempting to call to mind just one particular story from Abraham’s life, but rather, the whole of the story of Abraham. The story of Abraham, naturally, is resolutely fastened to the story of creation and of the whole of the world, as the initial call of God to Abraham has Him speaking of all nations, as well as Abraham’s exemplification of divine blessing (Genesis 12:1-3). It is through Abraham and his descendants, that God is going to accomplish the restoration of the world, in order to fulfill that at which Adam failed. Calling to mind the story of Abraham, and particularly the covenant and its purpose, not only brings to mind the failure of Adam, but also brings to mind the story of Israel, along with its covenant and its purpose. So with the simple use of a phrase such as “sand on the seashore,” Solomon (and his mission as the king over God’s chosen people) is intimately linked with Adam (son of God) and Israel (son of God), with this link fostered by a reference to the Abrahamic covenant, which stands as the bridge between Adam and Israel, thus making sense of God referring to Solomon as His son. If the author of the first book of the Kings is doing this, then we can reasonably suppose that Jesus is doing the same type of thing.

Based on what we can go on to read about during the reign of Solomon, it will become apparent that Israel, during part of this time (and perhaps only during this time) is fulfilling its purpose of being a blessing to the nations, reflecting the glory of God into the world, and causing all nations to seek the God of Israel because of the immense blessings that are being poured out on the nation in an obvious way. Israel under Solomon---presumably because God has gifted Solomon (upon his request) with “the ability to make wise judicial decisions” (3:11), so as to “distinguish right from wrong” (3:9) on behalf of God’s people---was approaching that which God had intended for Adam, as well as what He had intended for Israel when He called them out of Egypt. Adam’s charge, of course, had been to secure God’s ongoing blessings for the whole of creation, with this being reflected in the covenant with Abraham, whereas Israel’s charge had been to be and to do for their promised land what Adam was supposed to have been and done for the world. Faithfulness to this charge would cause God to enter in, and through Israel, extend His blessings to the whole of the world, as nations would look to Israel and subsequently to its God.

We would know that this was occurring for Israel in the light of the Deuteronomic covenant. So when we read that “they had plenty to eat and drink and were happy” (1 Kings 4:20b), that “Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt” (4:21a), that “these kingdoms paid tribute as Solomon’s subjects throughout his lifetime” (4:21b), and that kings and queens would come to Solomon (as representatives of the people that they ruled), we read these things in a state of reflection on the promised blessings of Deuteronomy twenty-eight, with its blessings upon produce and livestock and the promise that “the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they will respect you” (28:10).