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Dr. George A. Purnell
“It’s All About What You Ask For”
I Kings 2:10-12; 3:1-14
August 16, 2009
When I was a young boy, I used to wonder what I would ask for if I was given one wish. Like most young boys, I dreamed of being like grown men I knew who seemed happy and successful…who had a house, a car, a family, and a job that was important.
My father died when I was young, so I watched the fathers of my friends and imagined what it would be like to be them. Greg’s dad was a pediatrician; Mike’s dad an OBGYN doctor; Jerry’s dad a life insurance salesman; David’s dad a fireman. I watched other men around town too, such as my high school baseball coach, who also taught biology. Would I ask to live in a town like Vincennes and be a doctor…or a salesman…or a fireman…or a coach?
While my world was pretty small, I did sometimes dream big. I imagined myself growing up to be famous: a television star, or a major league baseball star, or the president. I thought celebrities must be the luckiest and happiest people in the whole world.
What I would ask for if I could ask for anything has changed over time. I have seen some of the most famous people in the world be people who never seemed to get enough – enough material possessions, enough love, enough fame, enough happiness. The most recent example would be Michael Jackson – whose estate is allegedly hundreds of millions of dollars in the red, despite estimated lifetime earnings in the $700 million range – and whose personal life seemed troubled. His death is being investigated because of the drug use that apparently prompted it, and because of his inner court’s complicity in his deteriorating lifestyle and his sudden death.
But Jackson is one of a long line of the rich and famous whose lives were unhappy, and whose deaths could be attributed to recklessness on their part and irresponsibility on the parts of people in their entourages. It sometimes seems that the cost of membership to be in the rich and famous club is a sad life and tragic end of life.
(Of course, many rich and famous people are emotionally healthy and are admirable for their generosity to worthy causes and for their tireless efforts to reduce suffering in the world. Bill Gates and Brad Pitt are two examples that come quickly to mind.)
What would I ask for today? Would I ask wisely? Or would I ask selfishly? What would my “ask” reveal about me?
I think most of us hope that one thing we acquire more of as we live is wisdom. And when we think of wisdom, we often think of King Solomon (thus the phrase, he/she has the ‘wisdom of Solomon’).
Our reading today from 1 Kings tells us about Solomon as a young man. Our story begins with a brief mention of King David’s death. King David had been the legendary king over Israel for an entire generation (40 years). We all probably remember that as a boy, David gained notoriety in a battle with the Philistine warrior, the giant Goliath. Goliath had taunted the Israelites to come out and to battle with him, but none came forth. They were frightened by Goliath’s size. But David accepted the challenge and defeated Goliath, and his legend grew from there. His years as a warrior-king resulted in Israel becoming the dominant power in the near east.
When we begin today, “Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.” (This comment that his kingdom was firmly established speaks to the intrigue and competition between rival factions that occurred before David died. This struggle for power is described in chapters one and two. It resulted in the death of several people, including Solomon’s brother Adonijah; who was jealous that his younger brother sat on the throne he thought was rightfully his. Solomon had his brother put to death, because he saw him to be a threat to his rule.)
The picture we get of Solomon when we pick up the story is that of a pious and solicitous young man. “Solomon loved the Lord” and walked in “the statutes of his father David, we read.” So, he is presented as a faithful Jewish man…
However, Solomon is clearly a shrewd political operative too. For example, in contradiction to Jewish law and custom, which prohibit taking foreign wives, “Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt.” He married a daughter of the Pharaoh and brought her into the city of David. We also read that Solomon went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, again in contradiction to a Deuteronomic principle, namely that God chooses the place where sacrifices will be made (Deuteronomy 12).
While he slept at Gibeon, God came to Solomon in a dream and said: “Ask what I should give you.” Solomon responds by praising God for God’s “great and steadfast love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you.” This response seems contrived, since David had a mixed record of faithfulness and uprightness. (Adultery with Bathsheba, which resulted in pregnancy, and arranging to have her husband left alone to die in battle.)
Solomon continues to speak to God in this dream in language that seems disingenuous, saying, in effect:
O Lord, my God, my father was your servant…I am your servant…oh mercy me, I am but a little child, yet you have put me over your chosen people…a great and numerous people…as their king…you are just too good to me… (This from a man who has consolidated his power by force, which included killing his own brother.)
Solomon does display wisdom, mixed with his craftiness, when he recognizes that he is inexperienced in matters of governing. He is not “a little child” chronologically, as he is a man old enough to marry, but he is assuming an enormous responsibility at a young age. His father, David, had been a powerful and effective ruler of Israel, and now Solomon was succeeding his father.
“Ask what I should give you,” God says. I am young and inexperienced, Solomon says. I am becoming the leader over a people many in number and mighty in power; a nation accustomed to effective leadership from its king. “Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil…”
God is pleased that Solomon did not ask for material gifts for himself, but rather for gifts of character that would make him a better leader, and thereby benefit the people. So, God grants Solomon those things he did not request: riches, honor, fame, and “if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments”…a long life.
Solomon’s choice of what to ask for showed a proper ordering of priorities. Things like success and fame and wealth may come to a person, but these can never be the goal. And the fact that God gave Solomon these things he had not asked for makes the theological point that these blessings are secondary. They are the byproduct of having sought things of real value, and like everything else, they come from God.
What would you wish for? As a young man Solomon wishes for the right things. He chooses to govern with the spirit of a servant…
Solomon strayed from these priorities the longer he ruled. We read about the glory of Solomon in the chapters that follow, of his magnificent building projects and the fame these brought him. But like his father, David, Solomon allowed power to erode his honor.
Later in life “King Solomon loved many foreign women,” despite the word from the Lord: “You shall not enter into marriage with them (foreign women)…for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods.” Chapter 11 tells us that among his wives, “were 700 princesses,” and “his wives turned away his heart after other gods.” (11:1-3) Solomon built altars to the gods of his foreign wives, which made God so angry that God raised adversaries, who rebelled against Solomon.
Solomon dies at the end of chapter 11, and Israel divides into two kingdoms after his death. Because of his failure to remain faithful to the God of his ancestors, part of Solomon’s legacy became that he was the last king to rule over a unified Israel.
Imagine that God appeared to you in a dream and said, “Ask what I should give you.” What would you ask for?
In fun, we could come up with a number of replies. I could use a winning ticket in the $230 million dollar Powerball draw this weekend! How about a paid off mortgage?
More seriously, we might ask that out husband’s cancer be taken away. We might ask that someone we have deeply hurt be able to find it in their heart to forgive us. After losing what we thought was a secure job, we might ask for a new job. We might ask that our child’s marriage be saved…
But will any of these satisfy our need? Or will we find what we need when we order our priorities in a way that is pleasing to God?
Last week I quoted from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount where he told the crowds not to worry about what they will eat, or what they will drink, or what they will wear. The birds of the air have plenty to eat and drink, even though they don’t plant or harvest…and the lilies of the field are dressed beautifully, even though they neither toil nor spin wool. “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things,” so “strive first for… righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:32-33)
Our material needs will be met at some level. Some of us will have gourmet food off fine china in high end restaurants, while others will eat in alleyways off paper plates with plastic forks. Some of us will dress fashionably, while others will pick through the selection at the thrift store. Some of us will be housed in luxury, and others find shelter in a room we pay for by the day.
If we ask for the right things…if we don’t forget our priorities and lose our moral compass when we enjoy success…and if we don’t allow discouragement to grow into hopelessness and rob us of faith and joy…we will be okay. That is the lesson from our scripture, and it is a fundamental part of my faith.
Even if our cancer is not cured, even if our marriage is not saved, even if our job is not restored, even if a broken relationship cannot be mended, we will be okay; as long as when God asks “what should I give you,” our reply is for the wisdom to know God. Amen.
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