King of Peace: Covenant Structure in 1 Kings 1-11

Solomon broke the laws given by Moses for Israel’s kings. 1 Kings records his rise and fall with five cycles that recapitulate the Torah’s covenant pattern in a blaze of literary brilliance.

Yahweh’s “firstborn” is rarely Man’s firstborn. God chose Abel over Cain, Jacob over Esau, Israel over Egypt, and ultimately Jesus over the sons of Herod. The true son of Man (that is, son of Adam) is always a son of God, that is, a mediator (Matthew 5:9). But like Adam, who refused to wait until he was qualified, and who hot-wired the world with the intent of taking it for an unlicensed spin, the nation of Israel also seized kingdom before God’s time.

However, as with Adam, we do know that kingdom was God’s ultimate goal in both Israel and among the nations via the Church because Moses and Jesus both decreed laws for these respective stages in history.

A priestly heart that is submissive to God is always the qualifying factor for lasting kingdom. That is why the glorious Temple of Solomon featured two pillars fashioned of earthy bronze that symbolized the two trees in the Garden of Eden: Jachin (“Yah establishes” – priesthood: forming) and Boaz (“Strength” – kingdom: filling), followed by God’s presence as a “Shekinah” pillar of fire (Settling/dwelling – prophecy: future). Lined with costly wood and engraved with trees and flowers, this was Eden’s earthy “nature” cut down like Adam and resurrected as spiritual “culture,” the bridal counterpart to the Adamic tent of Moses. Instead of being robed with the rough skins of animals its garment was quarried rock—a smooth, glorious covering of local limestone which reflected the light of the sun.

Like Adam, Israel’s first king had disobeyed God in the Garden (Word: he failed to wait for Samuel to make the priestly sacrifice); like Cain, he disobeyed in the Land (Sacrament: he rashly withheld food from his troops); and finally he treated a sworn enemy of Israel as a brother in the World (Government: he spared Agag the Amalekite). Saul was thus the failure of the entire antediluvian world in a nutshell.

David committed worse sins than Saul—the kingly “sins of the flesh” at the center of the Ten Words, murder and adultery. But unlike Saul, David repented of his sin and was spared. For behaving like a Pharaoh, God took David’s “firstborn” by Bathsheba. However, since faith always trumps birth order in the court of God, in God’s lovingkindness to David it would be Bathsheba’s second-born who would be granted the Covenant Succession.

David’s failure sowed division within his family, but even before his fall there had been enemies on every side and no rest for the king. Peace would only come with the prince of peace, the true ab-shalom, King Solomon, the wisest judge in history until the incarnation of the Son of God.

How are we to understand the difference between the character of the reign of David and that of Solomon? David was a man of blood, and Solomon was a man of peace. Together they comprised a process of regal “death-and-resurrection,” the old body offered on the altar rising in a glorious garment of flame and fragrant smoke.¹For an analysis of this pattern throughout Old Testament history, see Destroy this Temple. But the era also predicted the events in the first century, the shift in focus from the Land of Israel to the nations of the World via the destruction of “Jerusalem below.” Like David, Jesus ascended to the throne given to Him by God and ruled over Jerusalem for forty years. This was a “local” reign over the Land. In contrast, Solomon’s reign was cosmopolitan, stretching the “garment” of ministry and accountability across the surrounding nations. The reign of the Davidic kings, although a flawed and temporary image, was a new and grander prefigurement of the coming reign of Christ over the nations.

A fledgling geopolitics also required greater wisdom and diplomatic skill. This was the beginning of empire, a stage that was always God’s ultimate intention. Empire is not evil per se, any more than kingdom or any other authority is inherently evil. What makes the difference is the character of that authority. The predatory nature of the rule of Nebuchadnezzar changed entirely after he was “cut down” and humbled by the God of Daniel. In the plan of God, there must always be a Lamb’s heart before the court of heaven in the rule of a Lion in a court on earth. Solomon began his reign in submission to God, and was thus given great wisdom, power, and wealth. Each of the seven steps to his throne was flanked by lions, surrounded by beasts like the throne of God in heaven. He was what Adam was intended to be, and what Christ is now—a wise shepherd who jealously serves and guards His people, and rules over all “beasts” with a rod of iron.

But where David’s heart was circumcised before God for behaving like Pharaoh, Solomon forsook the task of godly “intermarriage” with the Gentile nations by despising and ultimately robbing faithful Hiram of Tyre, who had brought the riches of the nations into the house of God. Instead, Solomon not only dallied with Egypt, committing the same sins as the Sethite priesthood before the Great Flood, but also took on the characteristics of a Pharaoh in precisely the ways that Moses had forbidden.

“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:14-20)²For an analysis of this passage, see “Guns, Girls and Gold” in Michael Bull, Inquiétude: Essays for a People without Eyes.

Solomon’s diplomatic pandering to, and emulation of, Gentile kings eventually backfired towards the end of his rule: the reigning Pharaoh nurtured Hadad the Edomite who had fled from Solomon, and also protected Jeroboam after he was commissioned by the prophet Ahijah.³For more discussion, see James B. Jordan, “Solomon’s Disastrous Geopolitics (Chronologies and Kings IV),” Biblical Chronology Vol. 3, No. 10.

Overview: The Biblical Covenant Pattern

The Books of Kings are in fact a single book, a text whose unity is demonstrated in the fact that it is structured according to the sevenfold biblical pattern of dominion.⁴See The Shape of Kings. 1 Kings 1-11 comprises the first major cycle of this sevenfold architecture, and as the first section it is governed by the same legal rubric as the Pentateuch.

The major difference between this sequence and that of the Pentateuch is that Israel’s sin occurred in the Oath/Sanctions step (Numbers) and the old generation was cursed to be cut off. In this case, the kingly nature of the pattern is expressed in the fact that Solomon’s sin occurs in the final step of the sequence. He had already attained to glory but failed to maintain it through continued obedience to God.

Analysis: Heptamerous Cycles within the Covenant Pattern

TRANSCENDENCE

Identification of the steps within the first cycle puts an Adamic spin on the self-exaltation of Adonijah, Solomon’s older brother. It also explains the inclusion of the separate testimonies of Bathsheba, Nathan, and Jonathan as steps in the pattern. At the Passover step, Adonijah’s exaltation is rightly perceived as an attack on the bride and her offspring, like that of Pharaoh against Sarah and against the nation of Israel. Nathan’s appeal at Ascension repeats many of the details but adds a mention of Adonijah’s table (an ascension symbol), as well as the fact that, like Solomon, Zadok the priest and Benaiah the lion killer, one of David’s mighty men, were not invited to the festivities. These points shift the narrative into realm of the rivalry between Cain and Abel. Peter Leithart writes:

Ironically, Adonijah means “Yah is master.” In spite of his efforts to make himself master, Adonijah’s life history demonstrates that Yah is indeed master. Adonijah, an Adam figure, attempts to seize the forbidden fruit of the kingdom and is cast out as a result… Adonijah has powerful allies, but he does not have access to David or his bedroom, and that private access is a key to political success. Nathan plans a response in cooperation with Bathsheba, offering to “save” her and her son and developing his plan in two stages to convince David with a “double witness.” Bathsheba first goes to appeal to David, humbling herself as a “maidservant” and appealing to David not as her husband but as her “lord the king.” Nathan instructs Bathsheba to base her appeal on an earlier oath. Commentators sometimes suggest that this oath is fictitious and that David is fooled into a false memory (1 Kings 1:30). First Chronicles, however, records that David appoints Solomon while remaining on the throne (1 Chronicles 23:1; 29:22). From the perspective of Chronicles, Adonijah is not attempting to fill a power vacuum but to overthrow a prince who already serves with David as crown prince. Bathsheba, whose name means “daughter of oath,” reminds David of his promise and asks him to keep it. After Bathsheba leaves, Nathan is to enter the king’s chambers to confirm her words.⁵Peter J. Leithart, 1-2 Kings, 30-31.

David, making his kingly decree, is the Lampstand at the center of the cycle (with Zadok bearing the royal oil), and Jonathan’s testimony at the Prophecy step is a stink in the nostrils of the self-styled king, whose Maturity celebrations are spoiled. The political “plunder” turns to “plagues.”

At Atonement, Adonijah is spared from having his own blood splashed against the altar to atone for his sin against his brother. The liturgical sequences ends with David commissioning Solomon to not only keep the Law of Moses but also to carry out blessings and curses on his behalf. Succession is about the Son receiving the authority of the Father.

HIERARCHY

Hierarchy begins with another, but more subtle, “attack on the bride.” Satan is a roaring lion only when in power. Otherwise, he is a cowardly opportunist, a “creeping thing” who attacks Adam via Eve. This time, the creeping thing is an unrepentant Adonijah, whom Solomon then has executed. The ensuing purge, in which Solomon follows David’s instructions to “clean house,” was entirely just. Like the Lord, Solomon again showed mercy where appropriate. When that mercy was betrayed by Shimei, the true heart of the recipient was exposed. These initial acts were a righteous discipline, a “pruning” of the royal court, after which there could be the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:7-11). A godly king is not a tyrant, but neither is he spineless when dealing with evil. Adam was a tyrant as he stood by and said nothing while Eve was seduced by the serpent, and he was an invertebrate who failed to crush the serpent according to the revealed Word of God.

Solomon’s prayer for wisdom as the “Facebread” on the Table corresponds to the various events concerning the “opening of the scroll” throughout Scripture. This looks backwards to Joseph as the interpreter of Pharaoh’s dreams and forward to both Daniel and Jesus who also “opened the mystery.” Knowing the Law of God is only a foundation for ruling in God’s stead. No legal situation can be dealt with purely “by the book.” Even Moses and his team of judges were required to discern that which had not been explicitly revealed by God, including the depths of the human heart. This was also the failure of Adam, who was expected to make his own conclusions regarding the words of the serpent in the light of the single Law given to Him by the Lord. This leads naturally into the Pentecost cycle, which concerns the wily discernment of hearts through a kingly ruse. The allusion to the harlotry committed by Israel in the book of Numbers is revealed through the location of this passage within the greater sequence. In chapter 10, the materials used in the construction of Solomon’s throne correspond to the faculties of the wise king: the eye for eye and tooth for tooth justice of the Law of Moses would be executed by a man gifted with holy discernment (eye: judge) seated upon a throne of gold and ivory (tooth: executioner). The fact that we have a God who sees through human hearts ought to terrify us. The Law brings us to Christ, the priest-king who is also seated upon a great white throne. But Christ then arms the repentant with His Word, a sword with which we too can discern the hearts of men as His flame-eyed watchers in the world.

The placement of the list of Solomon’s officials and their given domains ties together the themes of Trumpets (a mustered, holy host) and the Incense Altar (a “resurrected” land divided among the nations). The list mentions the use of forced labor, a hint that the seeds of Solomon’s downfall have already been sown. In the next cycle, the mentions of his myriad horses and chariots compounds this growing likeness to Pharaoh, but that sequence ends with an image of what Adam might have been had he obeyed God—Solomon is the Man whose wisdom conquered not only literature (as a Great Prophet) but also science (he “names” the animals). Like Jacob, he had by faith crushed and outsmarted all of the serpents who would keep him from inheriting the promises of God. But like Israel in the book of Judges, he would be expected to continue in that faith (Colossians 1:23; 2:6).

Notice that the Glorification step is not actual glory, merely a preparation to receive the promise of glory, like the divided raw materials of the sacrifice laid upon the altar of Mount Zion awaiting the holy fire. The entire history of Israel, with its priestly taboos and demarcations, was such a preparation for the coming kingdom of Christ.

ETHICS

The third major cycle describes the building of the Temple and corresponds in this kingly “Pentateuch” to the book of Leviticus. Since the Temple, like the Tabernacle, would serve as a sacrificial microcosmos, the detailed descriptions carefully work through the Creation Week. Because history had shifted from the “cosmic reality” to the “social model” via the circumcision, it would be the nations that would rise like a flood against Israel, avoiding an actual global deluge. That is why all of the prophets, including Jesus, used “cosmic language.” This beautiful house was not only a venue for the sacrifice, it would if necessary, also be the sacrifice.⁶See Cosmic Language – Part 1.

Notice that the construction of Solomon’s house occurs at the Kingdom step of the historical process, and flanking it here in its literary form is the Sanctuary as the window to heaven, and the two bronze pillars are legs and feet, the door to the dominion of the earth. The Tabernacle possessed no legs. The Temple also had iron gates, which symbolized a dominion that worked from the pure gold of the throne of heaven, via bridal silver and Judaic bronze, down to the iron of the Gentile empires.

Notice also the shift from the Israelite “head” in the passage to the Jew-Gentile “body” in the work of Hiram. With Solomon and his queen and court as the “sun, moon and stars” at the center of this architecture, the pattern does what the Ten Words do—it works from “above” to “beside” to “below.” Under the pillars are the sea and water chariots, an image of the Gospel of Christ ready to charge out into the World. This step corresponds not only to the Laver in the Tabernacle pattern, but also to Israel’s journey across the Jordan into Canaan, and to the Day of Atonement. Unlike the arrangement in the Tabernacle, the bronze sea was not “above” the altar but beside it. Thus, the complete image is of a great angel with two “fiery” bronze legs, standing with one foot upon the Land and the other foot upon the Sea. Whereas the Tabernacle “floated” above the heavenly sea (lawful head), the Temple was firmly established upon the pillars of the earth (fruitful body).

Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. (Revelation 10:1-3)

There are other significant differences from the Tabernacle that are pregnant with meaning. Instead of a single Table (Priesthood) and a single Lampstand (Kingdom), there are ten of each, arranged in pairs as a troop of Priest-Kings. This also points to the nature of the New Covenant. Whereas the Table in the Tabernacle was in the north and the Lampstand in the south, the priestly and kingly pillars were the other way around. This inversion highlights the “bridal” nature of the Temple as a kind of “Eve” that is a helper suitable for the Adamic Tabernacle of Moses. His left side corresponds to her right side, and vice versa. Like Ginger Rogers, the glorious counterpart in this holy dance did everything Fred Astaire did, except “backwards and in high heels.”

Finally, the fact that the Holy of Holies was shaped like a cube, inlaid with gold, is, I believe, a reference to the fact that the camp of the saints is bloody and cruciform (Adam) but the holy city is square (Eve).⁷See Jacob’s Ziggurat. This cube represents the potential tesseract of the Triune Office:

1. Priesthood (submission to heaven – the x-axis) – the priest stands and waits upon God
2. Kingdom (dominion of the land – the y-axis) – the king sits and judges
3. Prophecy (a voice like the waters – the z-axis) – the prophet walks and commands sky and sea⁸For more discussion, see “A Twofold Shadow” in Dark Sayings: Essays for the Eyes of the Heart.

The High Priest on the Day of Atonement was thus a Lamb in the midst of this microcosmic City, but in seed form. The two cherubim who guarded this new Sanctuary would later be seen with their swords turned into plowshares, and finally as angels flanking the slab upon which Christ was laid in the tomb. The three dimensional Holy Place would be measured out in a fourth dimension across the entire world, and ultimately throughout the universe, restoring the Formed, Filled creation and bringing an endless Future of rest and rule for those in Christ. Like Adam, the first Tabernacle, and Christ, the “bridal” future would pour out from his belly as a mighty host.

OATH/SANCTIONS

The Oath/Sanctions cycle works through the pattern of the liturgy, but also through the Heptateuch, with Solomon again as the wise judge, an elohim, at the culmination of the cycle. Solomon himself, as a king like his father who obeyed the Mosaic command to copy out the Law of Moses by hand, is a lamp to the feet of his people, continuing a dynasty of Abrahamic stars that would culminate in the light that shone over Bethlehem. But notice that Solomon is also the “veil of flesh” at Hierarchy. Although the offices of priest and king were still strictly demarcated to avoid the “intermarriage” that resulted in the Great Flood, the rule of Solomon as a king with a priestly heart was one more step towards the reunion of these offices in the Melchizedekian priest-kinghood of Christ.⁹See The Forbidden Feast.

The Lord, the true ruler of this land of peace, appears to him at the culmination of the cycle just as the Lord appeared in a cloud upon Sinai in Exodus 24, which follows the same pattern. Like the worship at Sinai, the liturgy is a miniature Creation Week but with a Spirit-filled Man as the creator replicating the work of God.

SUCCESSION

The final section is a wonderful cluster of images drawn from previous iterations of the sevenfold pattern, but its overall theme relates to the fall of Adam. Solomon’s theft from Hiram looks forward to the money changers in the Temple of Herod, but also back to Adam’s theft and false witness in the Garden. “Will a Man rob God?” (Malachi 3:8). His slaves and ships relate not only to Pharaoh but also to the final curse in Deuteronomy 28, a promise fulfilled by General Titus who sold Jewish slaves to the salt mines in Egypt and transported them by ship.

The one positive event is the visit of the Queen of Sheba, who ascends Zion as an image of the co-regency of Eve following the prior priestly obedience of Adam. The same picture is seen in Esther’s approach to the throne of Darius. This is biblical feminism. The true glory of Solomon was the regard this visiting ruler held for him and his court. The Man and the Woman are to be in awe of each other’s unique glory. The description of Solomon’s court works through the usual heptamerous pattern.¹⁰See Solomon’s Creative Wisdom.

The fall begins, predictably, at Testing, where the description of Solomon’s wealth and wisdom is marred by mentions of his breaking of the other kingly laws of Moses. The number of his talents of gold (666) looks back to Adam’s creation on Day 6 and is alluded to in Revelation 13 as a joke at the expense of the Herods, the self-styled Temple builders who considered themselves to be as wise as Solomon yet built their house on the (metaphorical) sand of the seashore. 666 is a triangular number, an Adamic “ziggurat” with 36 levels, that is, an equilateral triangle with 36 numbers along each side. It is thus the “full exposition” of Man.¹¹See David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance, 347-349.

Notice that Yahweh is the conqueror at step 6 in this cycle, the one who comes to drive Solomon from the Land for behaving like a Canaanite. At Succession, Solomon does not enter fully into God’s rest in a covenantal sense. Like an Adam, he had sown the seeds of destruction for all future kings of Israel. The twelve tribes are the “offspring” (Succession) but here they are divided. The division is comprised of a double “head” (two witnesses, such as the two sons of Rachel, and the two spies in Numbers and Joshua) and a multiplied “body.” God was dividing Israel into a priest-king microcosm to humble her just as He divided the nations into Jew and Gentile.¹²See Jeremiah’s New Covenant.

This brings us to the end of the Creation/Genesis sequence of the Book of Kings. The Division/Exodus sequence starts with the splitting of the kingdom and the construction of Jeroboam’s golden calves. (Continue to Jeroboam’s Table of Demons.)

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