The Lord told Solomon that He would give the kingdom to a
servant of the king and so we should not be surprised to hear the prophet
Ahijah come to Jeroboam and give the word that the Lord had chosen him, a
servant of the king, to be ruler over the ten tribes. Jeroboam was like Joseph in some ways, a man
who was industrious and therefore raised up by the king as an overseer over the
forced labor of Joseph. When the king
hears of this prophetic encounter he is enraged against Jeroboam and where does
the servant flee but to Egypt. The
prophetic promise, however, isn’t to come to pass until after Solomon’s death. Why didn’t Solomon repent of his sin and do
what he prayed at the dedication of the temple?
He prayed that when the people sinned and repented in prayer that the
Lord would forgive them but when it was his turn to repent he failed to do
that.
The wine mixed with myrrh was to dull the senses and thus,
the pain of the crucifixion, but Jesus refused it. He needed His faculties to be undiminished if
He was to persevere to the end. As He
hung on that cross the soldiers gambled for His few possessions, His garments.
The chief priests and scribes were there also, referring to Him as the one who
said He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days, the Christ,
and the King of Israel and offering to believe if Jesus would come down from
the cross. For all the world it looked
like they had won, their unbelief vindicated in His suffering and death on the
cross, but appearances can indeed be deceiving.
I wonder what their inward reaction was when they heard the soldiers
tell the tale of Easter Sunday? We know
they cooked up another story about the disciples stealing the body but what did
they think when they heard the story from the guards? Did they remember their own words this day?
Jesus said something very like this when someone asked Him
to divide an inheritance between him and his brother. He told a parable about a rich fool who had a
bountiful crop and built bigger barns in which to store his harvest and then
attempted to rest his soul in his prosperity.
The kicker was the end of the parable when Jesus said the man was a fool
because he had no idea if his life would be demanded that day. James says we should not waste our time
making plans for the future of our business dealings because we don’t know what
tomorrow will bring. James also wasn’t
impressed in wealth or its accumulation as a way of life. He was more interested in the ethical life
than the material life. How we live and
love is more important that what we have. Real knowledge and understanding is a
scarce commodity and it comes from focusing on the kingdom of God, not the
kingdom of man.
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