David and Solomon
King David proved to be a wise and effective leader for Israel. However, it can be said that his son, Solomon, made several mistakes during his reign. Many of his problems originated from his Temple, a stucture that was conceptualized by his father to be a deterrent against the paganism, which infested the land. Yet, it seemed as if several of Solomon’s policies actually encouraged paganism rather than deter it.
King David, a member of the tribe of Judah was chosen by God to lead his people. As everyone knows, he proved by his wise choices to be a very effective leader. As a great military strategist David united the tribes and extended the national boundaries so that in his time Israel enjoyed a greater fraction of the land promised to Abraham than has ever since been the case. David ruled as king for seven years and Hebron, then established his throne in Jerusalem after overcoming the ancient Jebusite community there. His reign continued there in Jerusalem for the next 32 years. Secure on his throne and dwelling in a magnificent palace of cedar and stone, David began to be concerned that he, the visible king, dwelled in a magnificent house, but the invisible King of kings still dwelt in an aging temporary tent, the Tabernacle of Moses. At first the prophet Nathan gave David approval to construct a temple, but the following night God intervened. Speaking to Nathan in a dream God laid out for David an amazing covenant whose promises continue to this present day. God committed himself to establishing the house of David forever, to a specific land and people ,Israel, and to a temple.
David, a man of war, was not, however, to build the First Temple. That task was given to his son Solomon, although David drew up the plans. The fact that other nations had temples and Israel did not is not the reason The First Temple was to be built. The Temple was to be a memorial to Israel to turn her heart away from the idols of the surrounding nations. The Temple would provide them for an incentive not to practice the same evil things as the Canaanites. However, as good as the original intentions for the Temple were, Solomon proved to be a less effective leader than his father. Some of his decisions proved to be unwise and weakened the stability of Israel for along time to come.
Much of the trouble which occurred in Solomon...
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After the magnificent reign of King David, which laid the foundation for a centralized cult, the reign of Solomon stimulated a regression back to pagan beliefs and practices. The temple was built for aesthetic and personal reasons, it seemed, while its religious significance was compromised. The implications of this compromise was that it triggered relapses into paganism and also a sense of religious synchretism which lasted roughly two generations. This period of religious uncertainty was finally ended by reformist kings, such as Hezekiah and Josiah, that implemented policies that would purge the land of paganism and centralize the cult.
Works Cited
Rosovsky, Nitza, ed. City of the Great King . Boston : Harvard UP, 1996.
Alt, A. “The Monarachy in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.” Essays on Old
Testament History and Religion . New York : Oxford UP, 1966.
Albright, William Foxwell . Archeology and the religion of Israel . Baltimore : John’s
Hopkins Press, 1968 .
May, Herbert G. and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The Book of Kings. New Oxford Annotated
Bible. New York : Oxford UP, 1973.
Many authors have employed the religious beliefs of their cultures in literature. The deities contained in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Biblical book of Exodus reflect the nature of the gods in their respective societies. Upon examination of these two works, there are three major areas where the gods of the Greek epic seem to directly contrast the nature of the God of the Israelites: the way problems are solved, the prestige and status that separates the divine from the masses, and the extent of power among the immortal beings.
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
David came to the Philistine in the name of the Lord of hosts. God allowed David to slay the giant because he was a faithful believer. “Then David said to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” (KJV, 1 Samuel 17:45). David’s courage to face the giant as a youth was proof of his undeniable courage. David was resented by Saul and was constantly eluding Saul’s attempts to kill him. Saul had a great desire to eliminate his presence, but God protected David from any harm. For a long time David was kept in continual apprehension of falling by the hand of Saul, yet he persevered in meek and respectful behavior towards his persecutor (Henry, 2001). David remained faithful to God’s plan to make him King. One glance at David’s life can’t miss the glaring mistakes he made, but David never tried to blame others or make excuses for his sins (Fackler, 2006). David was patient to take the throne of Israel although he had to wait a very long time for Saul’s reign to be over. David remained courageous throughout Saul’s persecution. Many local churches can teach of how David’s courage and faithfulness to the Lord can generate blessings. The demonstration of expressing courage within our lives sets an important
The story of the state of Israel began with a man named Abraham, and a promise that God made to him. God told him to leave his homeland, promising Abraham and his descendants a new home in the land of Canaan, known as present day Israel(Rich, 1). Abraham was a firm believer in God, and decided to carry out his commands, since he knew God would be able to fulfill His promise to him. It was here, that God gave Abraham a unique homeland for his descendents to form a model nation. In the Torah, The Land of Israel was claimed to be the only place on the earth where the Jewish people could create the model nation(Spiro, 1). Jews desired to fulfill God’s plan to create the model nation, forming a strong connection between the land and the people for all eternity. Nonetheless, the Jews have not always been in political control of Israel; foreign nations had always been attacking the land...
David was a hero to the Israelites because he was able to kill Goliath, who had
The Israelite cult is set apart from other cults in that the people were bound together to worship one God. “The distinctiveness of the Israelite cult is nothing other than the limitation of cultic activity to one particular patron deity” (Anderson, 1987;3). The cult’s foundation of worship centered on those sacrificial gifts and offerings that were given to Yahweh. In addition, the Israelite cults were village centered. In the beginning of the 12th century BC, settlements on the hill country of Judea and Ephraim began to increase in number and density. The farming that took place on these hills allowed Israelites to gain an independent economy from surrounding cult economies (Anderson, 1987;23).
In 40 B.C., the Roman Senate assigned Herod to be the ruler of Judea. Herod, or Herod the Great, ruled over Judea for the next 36 years. During his reign, he began various building projects including a temple in Jerusalem that would be used to worship God. The building took decades to complete, and required an enormous amount of money as well as labor. Once completed, the temple is a marvelous structure of astounding proportions.
David is the first king that God chooses to lead His people (Saul was chosen by the Israelites). God makes a covenant with him that there will always be a descendant of his on the
The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Eds. Michael D. Coogan, et al. 3rd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
... temple had four points- North, South, West and East which indicated the relationship to the sky. Only rich and people who had powerful standing were allowed in the temple. It is an example of the power structure at its finest. The sovereign was making rules and other people have to be obey them no matter what. According to ruler, poor people were allowed outside of the temple and never inside (Mesopotamia, February 5th 2014).
Before becoming a king, David is solely dependent on God. However, after realizing that kingship comes with many powers, David starts to rely on his will to overpower his judgment and knowledge of God and His will. Although it may seem like David’s sin begins at the moment he lays his eyes on the beautiful Bathsheba bathing on the rooftop, his sins actually begin many nights before when he makes decisions that turn his focus from the will of God to the will of self. Thus, David’s first sin of focusing on his own will, rather than God’s, leads to one sin after another which eventually causes a curse to fall upon David’s household.
According to the book of Matthew, “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,” indicating he was born between 6 and 4 BCE (Matthew 2:1). The Bible refers to this as the virgin birth because Joseph and Mary never conceived him. He was a human being in which God took his form. Very little is known about his childhood and the Bible only reveals a picture of Jesus and his teachings when he was approximately 30 years of age. Whatever happened to Jesus during these years is a mystery to us all, but whatever happened transformed him into the divine being which he is today.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957.
...f the divine world but the kings were in charge of vocalizing god’s wishes on earth. The most famous of these law codes was Hammurabi’s law code. The Hebrews tried to establish order by using Yahweh’s Ten Commandments and the Torah. Mesopotamian deities were hard to please and easily angered. The Mesopotamians constantly felt they were letting their gods down and usually didn’t even know the reason behind it. Hebrews had a much more forgiving god. Through texts like “The Book of Job”, it is apparent that Yahweh was a tough god but always forgiving and fair in the end. He had few demands of his people and all of them were ethical and easy to adhere to. As long as his devotees followed Yahweh’s laws, they were all capable of receiving his blessings. Through it all, it seemed that God and religion was at the center of every aspect of life in the ancient civilization.