This is the Bible Book Club. I'm Heather and I'm Susan. And we're in the book of First Kings.

Welcome to the club.

Well, in chapter two of First Kings, David gave Solomon some final instructions on how to be a good king and a few unpleasant deathbed regrets disguised as

tasks for Solomon. King David then died and the golden age of Solomon began. His first action

was to secure the throne with the death of Adonijah, the retirement of Abiaathar, the death of Joab,

the house arrest, and subsequent death of Shimmy. The focus for the next nine chapters will be Solomon's reign. But in reflecting on this,

I thought it was kind of cool, the contrast between them. David reigned through war. Solomon

reigned in peace. David was called to battle for the land. Solomon was called to build on the

land. David had a heart for the Lord and Solomon had wisdom from the Lord. Both are examples to us of how

God transforms our desires into a story for his glory. The focus of this episode is Solomon's wisdom. How and where does one

attain wisdom? First, you have to ask for it. Scene one, Solomon asks for wisdom. Chapter

3. Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and married his daughter.

He brought her to the city of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the

Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. Okay, I read that and I was like, wait, what? Solomon married

an Egyptian? Was this the beginning of a spiritual downfall already? Some of the commentaries

say that it was not a transcription of the law to marry an Egyptian, that it was only

marriages with Canaanite women that were prohibited. And certainly, Deuteronomy 7 lists the Canaanites specifically when prohibiting

intermarriage. But the spirit of the law was to prevent the Israelites from being introduced to the

idol worship of foreign gods. And an Egyptian was foreign. So many commentaries assume that this foreign wife must have converted

and confessed her faith in the God of Israel, because the marriage took place in the first year of

Solomon's reign, and he adhered so faithfully to the Lord during the first years of his reign,

that it seems unlikely that he would

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