May 12, 2022: Day 101 – I Kings 1-5 and Proverbs 1

The smooth and peaceful transition of power from David to his son Solomon takes place even though there is another son who tries to take the throne from David by calling his people together and setting up a rival group of people who would put him on the throne.  But David speaks and clears up whatever confusion there might be by clearly telling the people that it is Solomon who has been chosen and no one else should pretend that they are the ruler simply because they want to be the ruler and say that they are the ruler loud enough.  David chose, the system worked, and Solomon is placed in power.  

As a result Solomon does a bit of a purge of his father’s enemies after waiting a little bit.  He also receives from God a wisdom that far surpasses anything the people of that day had seen before.  He marries the daughter of Pharaoh, which is smart because that then keeps the peace with Egypt.  He asks one of his neighbors if they could provide wood for the building of the temple and skilled craftsmen to build the temple, which is smart because in return he would give them food that would provide them with stability.  In general, there is peace in the land and the people are happy and do not have to worry about war, which had been, up to now, a daily concern.

The rule of Solomon begins well and he makes some pretty important decisions at the beginning of his reign that will prove to help him out in the future.  In Proverbs, which again is attributed to Solomon, the verse that we ought to pay attention to is vs.21-22: “For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.”