Solomon, The Imperfect King

SUN., DEC. 3, 1995, 5:51 AM SOLOMON, THE IMPERFECT KING
FARM, STUDY

I have told you, several times, that there is no form of government that is perfect for the development of spirit, and that I have no favorite… except, perhaps, a benevolent king. The Biblical record tells however, that I, as Almighty God, did not want to name a king for Israel. The people wanted a king, so I relented and designated Saul as that first king. But then, as Saul was just “getting the hand” of being the monarch, along came David, and even as a young lad he was perceived as a threat and Saul became so jealous and so insecure that he “lost it” as a ruler. I had David anointed as king, but he still had to fight for the “job”, since he was not in line to ascent to the throne, as would be expected in kingdoms.

I obviously wanted David as the next king, for he was chosen by Me for that honor. (I still was not sold on kingly rule, and I made that clear in My life here on earth as Jesus, but I wanted Who I wanted as the king, despite traditions about succession.) David was about as good a king as there could be. He was a good warrior, with My help, but I didn’t let him build the Temple because he had other matters to attend to, in establishing the united kingdom that I wanted. He had the desire, but not the capacity to build the temple that I eventually wanted.

David’s story includes adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. I let this drama play out, and she became one of his wives and the mother of Solomon. This lad was My choice to be the next king, but David had other sons… and there were, in effect, “political parties” in relation to government then, too. I led just enough to have Solomon become the one David chose, and I gave Solomon the gift of wisdom, for which he asked. He was wiser than his father, David, and he got his kingdom into the trading business, successfully. He built the temple, but that took money, and, as now, people were unhappy about taxation.

I have limits on how far I will go in manipulation. Finally, Solomon had to be the best king he could be, and, in a sense, his success also brought his failure. In his wisdom, in his latter years, he wrote that all is vanity and a chasing after wind. He could not be a perfect king. He knew it. I knew it. And he knew I knew it. Success in one way meant lack of success in others. (It’s similar to your Wellspring concept… as you work to raise one Wellspring to perfection, others may be diminished in the process. Solomon assessed his reign as king in such a way.). If you try too hard to be humble, your humility diminishes because of the pride in effort.

Whoever is elected President in your culture’s system of governance can never be perfect, in the eyes of everyone, and thus there is dissatisfaction. There is very little of the intrigue and violence that was part of the experiences of kings Saul, David, and Solomon, but the competition can be just as fierce, and democratic institutions complicate ruling considerably.