The Golden Trap (Day 17: Roots & Shoots)

• The Ornament: The Temple / The Bag of Gold
• The Scripture: 1 Kings 8:22–30 vs. 1 Kings 10:14–29

Timeline Check: The Golden Age

Where we were: Yesterday, David was fighting wars to secure the borders.

Where we are now: The wars are over. David’s son, Solomon, has inherited a peaceful, wealthy kingdom.

The Shift: This is the era of “The United Monarchy.” Israel is no longer a loose group of tribes; it is a global superpower. But with stability comes a new temptation: Comfort. The Israelites are about to find out that it is harder to follow God in a palace than it is in a desert.

The Surface Reading

In the traditional telling, Solomon is the pinnacle of the story. He is the “Wisest Man Who Ever Lived.” He finally builds the House for God (the Temple) that his father David could only dream of.

We picture the glory days of Israel: peace, prosperity, and a King so brilliant that queens traveled from around the world just to hear him speak. We often look at Solomon’s wealth as a sign of God’s blessing and assume this was the “happily ever after.”

A Closer Look

Guide: Rob Bell (Jesus Wants to Save Christians)

But if you keep reading past the dedication of the Temple, the story takes a dark turn.

Rob Bell points out that back in Deuteronomy 17, God gave specific rules for future Kings to ensure they wouldn’t turn into Pharaohs. The rules were simple:

1. Do not acquire many horses (Military Power).
2. Do not acquire many wives (Political Alliances).
3. Do not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold (Hoarded Wealth).

Now, look at Solomon’s resume in 1 Kings 10. He gathers 12,000 horses, marries 700 wives, and makes silver as common as stones in Jerusalem.

But the smoking gun is in verse 28: “Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt.”

This is a Reverse Exodus. God delivered the people out of Egypt to free them from the Empire. Solomon is sending them back to Egypt to buy the military technology of the oppressor.

And the final detail is chilling: The weight of gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents (1 Kings 10:14).

That number isn’t an accident. Solomon has become the Beast. He has become the very thing God saved them from.

The Critique of Power

Lens: Walter Brueggemann / Pete Enns

The tragedy of Solomon is that he built the right building (the Temple) the wrong way.

To build his massive projects, Solomon instituted forced labor (1 Kings 5:13). He enslaved his own people to build a house for the God of Freedom.

Walter Brueggemann argues that Solomon embraced the “royal consciousness.” He forgot the lesson of the manna (only take what you need) and embraced the logic of empire (accumulate as much as possible).

He tried to domesticate God. In the wilderness, God lived in a tent—He was mobile, wild, and free. By locking God in a cedar house in the capital city, Solomon tried to claim God’s endorsement for his regime.

Pete Enns reminds us of the result: The moment Solomon dies, the people revolt, crying out that he had put a “heavy yoke” on them (1 Kings 12:4).

The Temple cannot stand if the foundation is injustice. The lesson of Day 17 is that success is not the same thing as faithfulness. Solomon had the GDP and the army, but he sacrificed the Shalom of his people to build a monument to his own glory.

The Question

It is easy to start out like David (with a pure heart) and end up like Solomon (seduced by “more”). We often justify our “empire building” (at work or in ministry) by saying we are doing it “for God.”

Are you building something impressive on the outside that is actually causing harm on the inside?

Have you justified “going back to Egypt” (using the world’s toxic methods) just to get the job done?