Solomon’s succession to his father David’s throne was not quite as smooth as he, David, and maybe most importantly, his mother, Bathsheba had hoped; there has been palace intrigues and pretenders’ plots worthy of Robert Graves’ I, Claudius, but by the time we arrive at this evening’s reading, Solomon is on his father’s throne, and his rivals despatched and international recognition secured with a marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter.
We can, however, read some seeds of dissent in Solomon’s trip to Gibeon. We are told that he had sacrificed and burnt incense in several high places, but now came to Gibeon “the great High Place”. Such rival locations would of course become insignificant once the Temple was built at Jerusalem, but meanwhile Solomon’s huge sacrifice would provide a focus on him and his worship of the one God. The need for central focus can be heard too in Solomon’s description of his “great people, that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude” No doubt each of those people had his or her own opinion (and the unity of Israel did not survive Solomon’s reign) We do not need much reminding that Solomon’s filial piety and emphasis on his father’s righteousness have as background David’s rebellious children and his decidedly murky behaviour in securing Solomon’s mother as his wife.
This trip to Gibeon is Solomon making a new start, uniting and solidifying dynasty and kingdom with Solomon as God’s appointed at its centre. He doesn’t seek God’s advice, but it’s no surprise that he is dreaming about his future reign and how he should rule.
For us it’s appropriate that this reflection of kingship should come at the start of the Kingdom Season, between All saints and Advent. That Kingdom is mostly the Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven, that place beyond this life or beyond time, but we also think about the arrival of the kingdom of God on earth and the possibility of God’s heavenly Will being done here and now.
Those perceptions or imaginings of heaven have always been formed by contemporary ideas of the ideal society, and very often a royal court. Here is the problem for the 21st century preacher; how should politics in our world influence our idea of the Kingdom of Heaven and how should we interpret ideas of Heaven-as revealed in the Gospels-in contemporary society? Or what sort of politics should I speak, and you hear, from the pulpit?
One of the main difficulties is the concept of kingship itself. There are places in the Old and New Testaments where the idea of kingship is questioned and criticised, and alternatives proposed, but overall, it is accepted as the only structure for the ideal society. We are, I suggest, rather more sceptical about royalty but may be reluctant to go as far as talking about “the Republic of God” or even “the Constitutional Monarchy of Heaven”. Nevertheless an absolute monarchy doesn’t seem to fit in very well with our assumption that democracy is the best-or least bad- system for appointing governments and rulers.
Democracy is, however, a compromise; it’s the way we have choosing and justifying the cement of the social contract. We recognise that we can’t all go our individual way; we may not like rules, but we know life is better with them than without them and some sort of democratic system is necessary for letting everyone have some say in what the rules should be. God, however, knows what is best for us (He wouldn’t be God if he didn’t) and the rules he makes as king of Heaven will be what we really need (whatever we may think); democracy will be redundant. Building the Kingdom of God on earth is unfortunately not quite like that, as Solomon realises.
Notice that Solomon does not seek God’s advice; ‘the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream …and asked “What shall I give you?”’ The initiative comes from God and Solomon recognises, as we and our rulers should, that lasting authority and real power come from God, our creator. We can discern the will of God in our love for our neighbour; in our respect for each other and all creation; in our promotion of fairness and sharing; and our humility. Power may briefly come from being chosen more or less democratically but lasting authority will come from respect for these principles; that is from God.
To exercise authority as God wills, our rulers need the understanding which Solomon asks for; ‘an understanding mind to govern [the] people, that I may discern between good and evil’. This understanding is something close to democracy- which should be the means, in a variety of ways including actual voting, in which the ruled express their desires and concerns to their rulers, and, of course, ultimately, the choice of those rulers.
We live in a constitutional monarchy run on representational democratic lines. The need for representation is partly practical (although becoming less and less a functional necessity with the advent of mass media through which everyone may express their opinion on anything). But it is perhaps more an important part of the understanding process, whereby government can understand in a structured way what the governed want and need and working in the other direction, the electorate can be educated in their choices and constraints.
I’m conscious that all this appears leading to the rather Whig conclusion that British Democracy is the best in the world, and it’s been getting better and better through history. I do certainly think we are lucky in this country, but I see no ground for complacency; populism and anarchic mass media both threaten the system and we have seen (in my opinion) unfortunate recourse to referendums and the frankly disastrous choice of leaders by a very small electorate. The worst of this is the failure of understanding and the breakdown of the mechanisms for achieving it. Behind that failure is the increasing disregard for God’s authority in the mistaken belief that human ingenuity and force can supplant divine principles. Solomon was a wise and successful ruler in that he sought understanding to link righteousness, that is the will of God-with the needs of his “great people”. Attempting to encourage and articulate that understanding has a place in both the pulpit and the pew. Amen.