A Thousand Burnt Offerings
(1Kgs3: 1ampsim15)
In order to cut off our evil as a spiritual man, we need to make a resolute decision followed by a thousand repentances. Solomon gave his thousand burnt offerings, which had the greatest influence upon the church so far. Yet a thousand burnt offerings calls for a good interpretation from the perspective of redemption history. Lets see the bright and dark aspects of these thousand burnt offerings.
1. A thousand burnt offerings of our own zeal is the seed of disobedience. Solomons first actions after his enthronement were non-faith intermarriage and worshiping at high places, which became the seeds of his disobedience. Lets see how they did so.
1) Hisnon-faithmarriages
After the kingdom was now firmly established in Solomons hands in chapter 2, Solomon made an alliance with the Pharaoh of Egypt and married his daughter. He might have had a sense of crisis after suppressing Adonijahs rebellion and executing a few key subjects. He might have thought that his marriage could be a way of preventing an invasion from Egypt and making it the protector of Israel. Considering that Solomon needed to take hold of his country, it was no wonder that he wanted to marry the princess of Egypt, for which his people had served as slaves for 400 years. The Pharaohs daughter stayed in the city of David for 20 years. Besides, according to the book of the annals, she was later converted to Judaism. In this aspect, Solomons decision seemed reasonable. Yet it was against Gods command that the Israelites should not intermarry and that the king must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt. Moreover, Solomon not only loved the Pharaohs daughter but also fell in love with other gentile women obsessively. He should have not given an inch to evil as a king. Unlike David, who became a forefather of Jesus after passing through many trials in desert, Solomon started his kingship with his fathers great inheritance, which misled him to his thousand burnt offerings as a means of rationalizing his non-faith marriages.
2) Hishigh-placeworship
The Israelites offered their sacrifices to God in high places because their temple was not built. God had commanded them to destroy their high places (Numbers 33:52), but they were deprived of the ark by the Philistines and had to offer their sacrifices in high places. When David brought the ark back to Jerusalem, however, the practice of high-place sacrifice had become rampant and the worship furnishings were located in the Gibeon high places, which had made the Israelites used to the practice. At first, they started with worshiping God but later fell into idolatry and religious syncretism. Solomons women brought their gods of Molech and Ashtoreth when they came to Israel and worshipped them when they had to stay apart from Solomon and endure loneliness. This made Solomon turn a blind-eye to their idolatry. High-place worship is imperfect because it chases only prosperity without the Word. It was the seedbed of the depravity of Israel. Yet Solomons thousand burnt offerings became all the rage from generation to generation because of its strong influence towards the prosperity gospel. Yet his wealth and prosperity became the seed of his disobedience and the divided kingdom of Israel.
2. A true thousand burnt offerings is that of a thousand repentances, which pleases God. Lets see the bright side of a thousand burnt offerings. God appeared to Solomon in his dream and filled up his spiritual capacity noticing his limitation. Gods appearance proves that he was pleased with Solomons offering. There is a variety of opinions concerning whether it actually refers to a thousand sacrifices or not. A thousand is a perfect number and a burnt offering refers to incinerating the sacrifice. Therefore a thousand burnt offering means devoting oneself as a whole sacrifice to God with patience. It was not easy for a powerful king to see his shortcomings with his thousand repentances. This proves that he worshiped God with spirit and truth at least in those days. We enjoy Gods presence where we thoroughly empty and devote ourselves to God. Pleased with Solomons prayer, God appeared to him in his dream, saying 'Ask for whatever you want me to give you.' Solomon asked God for a discerning heart. Solomon ascribed his kingship to his father, confessing that he was nothing but a little child. Only a discerning heart enables us to distinguish between right and wrong. It is a mind-set of wisdom and crucifixion. Prayer is a process through which we discern Gods will and devote ourselves to him. The most proper attitude after our prayer is obedience rather than anticipation of our prayer requests answered. The best answer to our thousand burnt offerings is a discerning heart. Servant leadership comes from the divine wisdom that God gives us when we listen to others suffering. This spiritual gift precedes other blessings like longevity and wealth. We need to put a right priority on everything. God promised Solomon that he would give him a long life if he walked in his ways and obeyed his commands. God also wants us to enjoy his blessing by being spiritually awake. Unfortunately, however, Solomon turned away from his first resolution into depravity by worshiping idols. A true thousand burnt offerings is the constant repentance that David made while passing through his fifteen spiritual battlefields. A thousand burnt offerings enables drives us to walk together with our community as Solomon 'gave a feast for all his court' Thus the result of our thousand burnt offerings is our mission. We need to repent, pray, and meditate on the Word in order to rise with our community. May God bless us to seek a discerning heart through our thousand burnt offering of repentance!
The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar (1Kgs 3:4).
