Chapter 1—Solomon
In the reign of David and Solomon, Israel became strong among
the nations and had many opportunities to wield a mighty influence in
behalf of truth and the right. The name of Jehovah was exalted and held
in honor, and the purpose for which the Israelites had been established
in the Land of Promise bade fair of meeting with fulfillment. Barriers
were broken down, and seekers after truth from the lands of the heathen
were not turned away unsatisfied. Conversions took place, and the
church of God on earth was enlarged and prospered.
Solomon was anointed and proclaimed king in the closing years of
his father David, who abdicated in his favor. His early life was bright
with promise, and it was God’s purpose that he should go on from
strength to strength, from glory to glory, ever approaching nearer the
similitude of the character of God, and thus inspiring His people to
fulfill their sacred trust as the depositaries of divine truth.
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David knew that God’s high purpose for Israel could be met only
as rulers and people should seek with unceasing vigilance to attain
to the standard placed before them. He knew that in order for his
son Solomon to fulfill the trust with which God was pleased to honor
him, the youthful ruler must be not merely a warrior, a statesman, and
a sovereign, but a strong, good man, a teacher of righteousness, an
example of fidelity.
With tender earnestness David entreated Solomon to be manly and
noble, to show mercy and loving-kindness to his subjects, and in all
his dealings with the nations of earth to honor and glorify the name
of God and to make manifest the beauty of holiness. The many trying
and remarkable experiences through which David had passed during
his lifetime had taught him the value of the nobler virtues and led him
to declare in his dying charge to Solomon: “He that ruleth over men
must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of
the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as
the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.”
2 Samuel 23:3, 4
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