Covenant Promises (part 2 of 2)

Returning to Deuteronomy and making explicit the connection with what was said to Abraham and what can we read about Solomon, it can be found that “the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth,” and that “all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they will respect you” (28:1b,10). 

In the same line of thinking and beyond Deuteronomic connection, and in conjunction with the rule of Solomon and the experience of the people of the covenant God’s concerning His covenant blessings, one reads that “All the people of Judah and Israel had security; everyone from Dan to Beer Sheba enjoyed the produce of their vines and fig trees throughout Solomon’s lifetime” (1 Kings 4:25).  With a continual reminder of what was understood to be the Creator God’s faithful fulfillment of His covenant promises, the author picks up the theme from the twentieth verse and says 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).  It seems to be increasingly clear that this chapter was designed to actively point Israel towards their God and what should be recognized as His ongoing faithfulness to His covenant people.

While one looks at these passages and the life of Solomon, and rightfully looks back to the Creator God’s covenant promises, an examination would be incomplete if the opportunity was not taken to look forward.  This is especially so when one considers that the way in which the rule of Solomon, perhaps even more so than that of David, is much more closely tied to Israel’s expectations concerning their Messiah. 

Though David was recognized and remembered as a man of military force and prowess, and is said to have been responsible for putting down Israel’s enemies, it is the reign of Solomon that is looked to as the time in which Israel experienced it’s greatest blessings in line with covenant expectations, and in which Israel experiences peace on all sides, blessing all peoples as a number of nations paid tribute to Israel and looked to its King for his wisdom.  A Solomonic type of reign would seem to be somewhere in the mind of the Isaianic visionary, as he presented an image of the future age which so served to shape messianic expectations and the expected golden age of Israel that would accompany the presence and reign of its messiah. 

Accordingly, and moving on to the fifth chapter, Solomon can be heard saying, “But now the Lord my God has made me secure on all fronts; there is no adversary or dangerous threat” (5:4).  This can certainly be seen as yet another allusion to the promised blessings of Deuteronomy in regards to the Lord putting down the enemies of His people.  He goes on and says, “So I have decided to build a temple to honor the Lord my God” (5:5a). 

Here, it would seem to be more than appropriate to take the opportunity to recognize and honor the looked to as King and Savior---finding the very work of His hands reflected in the words of Solomon.  When death and the grave was conquered through Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection, Jesus could quite rightly say, as King and representative of the people of the Creator God’s newly inaugurated kingdom on earth, that “now the Lord my God has made Me secure on all fronts; there is no adversary or dangerous threat.”  Going on, Jesus could also say along with Solomon, “So I have decided to build a temple to honor the Lord my God.” 

Seemingly, the Apostle Paul would pick up on this idea, and in writing about the kingdom of God that would be composed of a people that would come together through a believing union with Christ, he would continue the unbroken redemptive, defined-by-covenant story of the Scriptures and speak of this kingdom as being “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20b).  Adding to this, he would write, “In Him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in Whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (2:21-22).  As one reads this book of the Kings, found there are consistent reminders of a faithful God, powerful and more than capable of fulfilling His promises, who is worthy of all trust.