The man we meet in the Garden of Eden was a babe. The fruit he ate was good, but Adam was just not ready for it. By the time we get to the Son of David, it looks like man has finally grown up and is ready to take, eat and govern what God has given him.
That’s Solomon, and as far as the Old Testament goes, Solomon represents the mature man. A new Adam, ready to discern good and evil.
This progression from infancy to maturity is one of the subplots to biblical (human) history. In the Gospel, we see that history move from the shadow of Solomon to the reality of Jesus Christ.
Like Adam, Solomon is interested in a knowledge of good and evil. Unlike Adam, he doesn’t grasp at it. He asks, and God gives it to him.
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? (1 Kings 3:9)
Whereas folly is bound up in the heart of a child, wisdom is an aspect of maturity. And so, Lady Wisdom,
By me, kings reign, and rulers decree justice… (Proverbs 8:15)
In Solomon, we have a shadow of the mature man. Ready to govern God’s people with wisdom.
We see this same pattern of maturity in many of the works unique to Solomon. Solomon is a new Adam made in God’s image who brings forth a new creation. Throughout his life, we learn that he is a botanist, architect, poet, planner, economist, and more. He investigates and discerns creation. He lays hold of it and transforms it with wisdom into something beautiful.
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. (Proverbs 24:3-4)
This is especially seen in Solomon’s temple – God’s earthly dwelling place.
Moses’ Tabernacle was glorious inside but all you saw on the outside was goat hair. Now, in Solomon, that tent of the Lord becomes a Palace. It is glorious inside and out.
Paul applies this same pattern of maturity to the Church in Ephesians 2:19-22 and 4:10-16.
With a man of maturity on the throne it’s no surprise that we start to see a fulfilment of so much that was promised to Israel.
Not only does Solomon explicitly say that what was promised through Moses and later through David, was being fulfilled in His reign, but also the promises that were made to Abraham.
As promised in Abraham, Solomon is a blessing to the nations and the Gentiles bring their treasure, flowing in to hear his wisdom.
In Solomon’s reign, Israel is described as being like the sand on the seashore. They have peace on all sides and they possess the gates of their enemies, from the Euphrates to Egypt, as promised to Abraham (1 Kings 4:20-21).
Abraham was also promised that God would live in the midst of his descendants and Solomon claims to be fulfilling this in the building of the temple.
All these were shadows of the reality, which is Christ, who comes to us as the better and more permanent tabernacle. But that doesn’t reduce the importance of Solomon: Shadows are real.
In other words, though we see that Solomon was foreshadowing who Christ would be and what He would accomplish, this in no way diminishes the reality of what God was doing for His people then.
Another significant development in the story of God’s plan to dwell in a house with His people is that unlike the Tabernacle of Moses and David, where God was their neighbour, in the Temple of Solomon, the people, through Solomon, “move in” to God’s House.
The building and dedication of the temple take place in 1 Kings 6-8. But right in the middle of all this building and constructing and dedicating, a whole section is devoted to the building of Solomon’s house.
Descriptions about Solomon’s Palace come in the middle of the passage talking about the Temple in 1 Kings and teaches that Solomon’s Palace and the Temple are part of something called, “The House of the Lord”.
Whereas God was in the Tabernacle of Moses and David was a neighbour, now for the first time since Adam in the Garden, God was sharing His sanctuary with Man.
Of course, in all of this, and like all shadows, Solomon is far from perfect.
In Deuteronomy 17, the Lord commands kings not to multiply horses or gold or silver. But Solomon is into taxation in a big way and taxes the people for 666 talents of gold each year.
He gathers horses from Egypt and like the sons of God in the days before Noah, he marries foreign women – daughters of Cain, who do what the daughters of Cain always do – turn the king’s heart away from the Lord to follow worthless idols.
Like Adam, Solomon’s household would be divided and go to war with each other. And so, as He did with Adam, God will hold back Israel’s inheritance, but He will not completely forsake them.
From this, we also learn that although God had fulfilled many of His promises in David and Solomon, He had not finished His work in this world by a long shot. David and Solomon were truly great, but, like the judges that went before them, they died.
True greatness would not come until someone was able to surmount all of the obstacles to life, most significantly, the obstacles of death.
In the gospel, Jesus, the son of David, becomes the temple: The meeting place between man and God. He is the resurrected King who reigns eternally over the house of David and to whom all the nation’s bring their treasures.
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