3 Kingdoms
Chapter 1
- Abishag/Abisak warms King David
- Adonias/Adonijah plans to succeed David
- The prophet Nathan tells Bathsheba the plan
- Bathsheba comes before David and bows to him telling him Adonias is seeking the kingdom. Nathan follows after her.
- David confirms Solomon is to be king.
- Solomon anointed king, he agrees to spare Adonias for good behavior.
Chapter 2
- Portions of 3 Kings are rearranged in Greek from Hebrew
- Solomon anointed King
- Solomon commanded to clean house, to kill Joab and Shimei
- David dies
- v 12 transition in Greek (NETS): Kaige to old Greek
- Adonijah asks Bathsheba for Abishag
- Bathsheba goes to the Solomon
- King Solomon bows before his mother and sets her on a throne next to him as Queen Mother
- She makes Adonijah’s request. King Solomon sees it as a request for the Kingdom
- The priest Abiathar is banished
- Joab fled to the altar, and Solomon has him killed from there.
- in Greek, long section in v35 that is from other parts of 3 Kings
- discusses Solomon’s wisdom, marriages, the Temple, and reintroduces Shimei
- Shimei is bound to Jerusalem to not gather support from elsewhere.
- After 3 years, Shimei leaves Jerusalem and is killed.
- Extended portion in v 46 that is from chapter 4 in Hebrew
- Discusses Solomon’s wealth.
Chapter 3
- Solomon wants to build a temple
- Solomon requests wisdom
- Echo of garden of Eden? but then it says it pleased the Lord
- Yet from Solomon’s arc, he did not stay close to the Lord
- v 12 “I have done according to your word” contrast with Mary, “let it be according to your word”
- perhaps we should pray like St Tikhon, “I know not what to ask; give me what is needful for me”
- Lengthening of days conditional upon Solomon walking with the Lord
- Solomon discerns between prostitutes.
Chapter 4
- Solomon sets up his court, with representatives from the 12 tribes
Chapter 5
Largely chapter 4 in English numbering.
- Solomon ruled his kingdom with wisdom
- The kingdom prospered economically, but Solomon married foreign women to secure alliances
- Solomon contracts with Lebanon for the timber of the Temple
Chapter 6
- Solomon builds the temple
- (The text of the Greek appears arranged differently from the Hebrew)
- The description of the Temple
Chapter 7
- The Greek text continues to be arranged differently from the Hebrew, with the temple described first and then Solomon’s palace
- v1 (13) Solomon obtains Ḥiram from Tyre as the craftsman of the temple
- dimensions of various aspects of the temple
- v38 (1) Solomon’s palace described (in far fewer verses)
Chapter 8
- The ark of the covenant is placed in the Temple
- vv 10–11 The glory of the Lord so thick the priests could not minister
- vv 22 ff Solomon’s prayer Cf. Consecration of a Church
- But (at least in translation from Greek) it seems that Solomon is not as much asking God to listen, but asserting he will.
- Solomon commands the people to obey the words of the Lord.
- Solomon offers a sacrifice and the people feast 7 days.