A Listening Heart - rewritten

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3-14
Eph 5: 15-20

“A Listening Heart”

Have you ever played the game three wishes. This is where you and your friends imagine what you would do if genie were to swoop down and ask you for three wishes.
My friends wished for things such as dream houses, handsome and rich husbands, cute ponies and clothes closets bursting with the latest fashions. I on the other hand surpassed them in wisdom and intellect by telling them that I would ask the genie for three more wishes.

Solomon was also a wise guy, I mean a man of great wisdom. He knows what to ask for. He begins his request with praise and thanksgiving for the steadfast love that God gave the previous king, his father David. He then humbly recognizes his inexperience as ruler stating, “I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in…” He doesn’t ask God for riches or a long life. Instead he asks for something beyond material needs, he asks God for an understanding mind so that he would be able to know good from evil.

At an ordination that I attended last week, Rev._______, a retired prison chaplain preached a sermon about prayer and how it changes the prayer. In her sermon she shared her story about how she knew she was reaching the end of her ministry as a chaplain for the state women’s prison. She was near the age of retirement and realized that her health was not allowing her to do the work that was needed for her ministry. She prayed to God to change her circumstances so that she could continue doing the work that she loved so dearly.

Instead she got more work. She was asked to supervise an intern from the seminary.
However, the seminarian sent, ________, changed Rev. _______’s attitude toward the chaplaincy because she saw that ______ had the gifts and graces to replace Rev. _______ in her position as chaplain. God gave Rev. ________ the wisdom to realize how the gifts of another colleague could sustain the ministry at the women’s prison.
So Rev. _________ brought _______ into the fold of the prison ministry and eventually __________did replace Rev.______ as the prison chaplain. It was bittersweet for both of them however this transition led to the celebration of ______’s ordination which happened last Sunday. In her sermon at _________’s ordination, Rev. ________ reminded all of us that God doesn't change things because we prayed for it but rather God changes us through our prayers.

Now Solomon prayed for wisdom and God is pleased that Solomon had asked for it. It is believed that because Solomon was wise by walking in the Lord’s ways that during his reign as King, Israel enjoyed its greatest economic, commercial and political influence.

He was given what God had promised him, “riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare to you.” Israel was enjoying its greatest economic and political prosperity due to Solomon’s political prowess and national management. Solomon’s empire stretched from the border of Egypt to the border of Babylonia, and peace prevailed.

However, this Solomon strays from the wisdom way and we find out later in 1 Kings that he is shown breaking God’s commandments and turning his heart away from God to worship and build shrines to the many god’s of his foreign wives. In Chapter 11 it states, “King Solomon loved many foreign women…For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David….So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not completely follow the LORD, as his father David had done.” (1 Kings 11: 1, 4-6) Oh how the mighty has fallen. How does one who was revered as the wisest of all Kings do something as unwise as blatantly breaking the commandment against worshiping false gods and idols.

And most importantly how did such a story end up in the bible.

In order to answer these questions, we have to understand the audience for whom this is written for. If we look at the political history of Israel at the time of Solomon and then go forward 900 years to the time of Jesus, we find a country in turmoil. In the centuries after Solomon’s reign as King of Israel, the kingdom goes through many traumas, beginning with a split in the kingdom after Solomon’s death to the invasion of Jerusalem by the Babylonians four centuries later. This was their September 11th. The fall of Jerusalem was devastating for the Israelite people because their capital was destroyed and the leaders and members the Israelite elite were taken into captivity for several years in Babylon. It is believed that the text from which this morning’s scripture comes from may have been written before the invasion and then edited while the elite were in captivity in Babylon.

The writers of this text were historians who were trying to figure out what went wrong. They looked back to previous stories and found that the story of God’s covenant as mediated by Moses between God and the people of Israel after the exodus from Egypt provided an explanation as to why Israel had fallen. This covenant is in our scriptures in the book of Deuteronomy which is where we get our ten commandments among other things.

Here the historians found the ways that their people fell short on their promises to God.In Deuteronomy the most important commandment God put forth to the people of Israel was, “you shall not put any other God’s before me.” which is explicitly stated in the Ten Commandments and throughout the covenant. Now these historians interpreted the covenant to be conditional. As long as the people adhere to God and obey God’s law, God will protect the people and give them land. If the people turn away from one God Yahweh and pray to the other lesser gods, God will tear their land from them.

Some believe that the purpose of the written history of 1 and 2 Kings was to show the Babylonian captives that their situation was a result of infidelity to the covenant as set forth between God and God’s people.

Now it looks like according to this morning’s text, Solomon starts out on the right foot. He comes to God with humbleness asking God to give him an understanding mind to govern the people and be able to know good from evil and God is pleased with his request and gives him a wise and discerning mind, literally a listening heart. But looking closer into the details of the story, we find slight things wrong with the story. It appears on the surface that the writer of this scripture is openly praising Solomon but then upon a closer reading of the scripture we find an action that shows us how really Solomon fell short of following the covenant.

It’s ironic that this conversation between Solomon and God happens in a high place where Solomon gives a burnt offering which was a questionable worship practice according to the covenant. If you look at the text prior to the one we read this morning, it states that Solomon married the Egyptian Pharaoh’s daughter and the covenant clearly states that Israelites are forbidden from marrying foreign women. It also says that in his reign he attains much silver and horses from Egypt, another thing forbidden by the covenant. Even the narrative of the building of the Temple of Israel is riddled with irony, Solomon bragged that he built the temple for God to live in and God appears to Solomon to remind him that God built the temple and that God will only dwell among the people if they keep God’s commandments. The narrator is quick to point out that while it took Solomon seven years to build the Temple for God to live in, it took him thirteen years to build his palace and royal complex. Thus giving the subtle implication that Solomon’s priorities were more about himself than about God.

The ultimate downfall of King Solomon was that he attained his great riches by oppressing the Israelite people to meet his goals. He set heavy taxes and used slave labor to build the temple and his royal complex. Once again, actions that broke the commandments of the covenant and it is due to this oppression that the kingdom of Israel starts to fall apart.

The story of Solomon is a cautionary tale for us in today’s society. We live in a culture that believes in separation of church and state but yet religious beliefs and claims of authority are brought into the public arena. There are some political leaders speak piously of their faith life which is fine, however it is some of these same folk that neglect making sure all of God’s people have the basic goods of life – in other words, they neglect‘the widow, the poor and the foreigner in our midst’-those most vulnerable and in need.

The core of the covenant between God and God’s people is this, that God calls all of us to live in right relationship with God and with each other. This is the spirit of shalom where all are whole, well and prosperous and all are working towards the well being of all of God’s creation. This is what it means to follow all of God’s commandments and walk in God’s ways.

Living according to the will and way of God calls us to turn away from the false gods of individualism and greed in order to pursue a more divine and wise calling. It is not about following the mainstream, but rather calling everything into question and asking does this contribute to the well being of all creation. Paul exhorts the Ephesians to be careful how they live, to not be like everyone else around them. That being wise means living differently in the society around them by choosing to live a life of integrity and commitment to God. He calls the people to be wise and to understand the will of the Lord and to be filled with the spirit and give thanks to God at all times. For the lifestyle lived in the purpose of shalom is a blessing in itself and the abundance and peace given by this surpasses all the benefits of material success and prosperity.

It was only when Solomon came to God with an open heart that God was pleased. Solomon only asked God for a listening heart to be able to discern between good and evil. At that time he had a proper ordering of priorities. At that time he did not ask for long life, riches or the destructions of his enemies. God was pleased and gave him a listening heart. However as Solomon gained wealth and prestige, he became less devoted to God to pursue the false gods of material wealth and power. I pray that we remember this story and hold ourselves accountable to it. That we remember that prayer-filled discernment is not a one shot deal but a way of living that is pleasing to God. Let us all listen for the still speaking voice of God, calling us to be the hands, feet and voice of God in building the Kingdom of God. Where all of God’s creation lives in wholeness, prosperity and wellness.
May it be so. Amen.