Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
FRIDAY, August 26
1 Kings 5:1—6:1, 7. The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him…King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel.
The book of 1 Kings tries to highlight the good things about Solomon, such as his peace-through-trade treaty with King Hiram of Tyre. But Solomon’s weaknesses cannot be hidden. Solomon was already beginning to show that he was turning into a king who would make slaves of his subjects as Samuel had prophesied when Israel first asked for a king like other nations (1 Samuel 8).
Solomon had a reputation for wisdom, but this pertained more to grandiose schemes than to wisdom in judgment. The size and wealth of his court. Trade with other nations. The awe with which other kings and queens regarded him. His foreign—and non-Jewish-wives and concubines —everything piled up in impossibly huge numbers.
He was the last king of a unified Israel, and after the superficial magnificence of his court it all seems to have gone downhill, unless we can see God’s purposes hidden in this history. All kingdoms end in dust, except that of God which relies not on earthly riches and glamor, but on the heart given to seeking God’s presence in the ordinary stuff of life.
PRAY for the Diocese of Sambalpur (North India)
Ps 16, 17 * 22; Acts 28:1-16; Mark 14:27-42
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