David and Solomon

        In the first reading of the Mass today (30 March 2014), David was annointed king (1 Sam 16:1, 6-7, 10-13). David was elected by God to replace Saul as the second king of the Israelites. He is often portrayed as a hero among the Israelites and a staunch believer of God because of his heroic and warrior acts like defeating the giant Goliath and their enemies particularly the Philistines as well as his close relationship with God as reflected in many psalms attributed to him and his willingness to repent after adultery. Most important of all, YHWH made the unconditional “Davidic Promise” with David which depicted that, “the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house… I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam 7:11-12). From this perspective, David can be seen as an ideal and perfect king. However, when we look more closely into the biblical passages, many of David’s acts are far from acceptable from the modern (and also the then) ethical standards. A notable example is the Bathsheba affair. David clearly abused his power as king when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. After he had sinned, he furthered the abuse by using different means to avoid bearing the responsibility, eventually leading to the death of her husband Uriah on the battlefront.

        David was also an opportunist. To preserve his power and army when he was being pursued by Saul, he even sided with the Philistia King Ziklag, the primary rivalry of the Israelites, while he was shrewd enough to avoid fighting with his own people. This is a clear indication that he had the ambition to rule over Israel though it was recorded in the Bible that he released Saul from his hands twice as an apologetic act. In 2 Samuel 21, he killed all the descendants of Saul using the Gibeonites as an excuse except the lamed Mephibosheth who would pose no real threat to him. David also did not take good care of his sons and daughters. One of his sons Ammon raped his half-sister Tamar. He did not punish Ammon while another son Absalom killed Ammon in revenge. Absalom eventually rebelled against David but to no success. All in all, despite that David is normally portrayed as an ideal Israelite king and a loyal servant of God, he has many common human weaknesses such as love for power, fame and sex.

        Solomon, the son of David from Bathsheba, succeeded David as king. Upon his enthronement, he took almost immediate actions to kill his brother and main rivalry Adonijah and his supporter Joab, David’s army general. He also deposed the high priest, Abiathar and replaced him with Zabok with the aim to consolidate his power. King Solomon was granted wisdom by God. In 1 Kings 3, it was said that he pleased the Lord by asking Him to give him a wise and discerning mind but not for a long life or riches, or the life of his enemies. The story of judging between the two prostitutes as to who was the mother of the baby won him the fame of a wise king among the Israelites. His wisdom also made him a good diplomat and merchant. He established political alliances through the marriage with pharaoh’s daughter and had successful commercial exchanges with Tyre, Arabia, Orphir, Egypt, Cilicia, etc. Under his reign, Israel had expanded its borders and enhanced its relations with neighboring countries. But these achievements were more in his own glory and wealth than the good of YHWH’s people.

         Perhaps the most important achievement of Solomon over his reign is the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. He was credited with building a central place for worship and offering sacrifices to the Lord, which is also a key aspect of the Deuteronomic laws. However, prompted by his self-interests, Solomon also forced labors to build a luxurious palace for himself and his wives. Worse still, to please his foreign wives, he erected temples for their gods Chemosh and Molech. This was a great evil in the eyes of God. To build these costly structures, he implemented a system to levy heavy taxes from the Israelites. Forced laboring and heavy taxation eventually aroused dissatisfaction among his people and it could be one of the main contributing factors for his kingdom to divide into two upon his death.

        When Solomon is compared to David from the Deuteronomic viewpoint, the former appears to have an edge over the latter by building the Temple of Jerusalem as the central sanctuary of worship. However, this is overshadowed by the latter’s obedience to God since the central theme of Deuteronomy is that “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut 6:5). The Temple is only the means while the whole-heartedness love of God is the ends. David is simply superior to Solomon on his faith in and love of God.