QnA in Text Message Land

Q: Can you resolve I Kings 11:4 and 11:6?


11:4 - "For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father."



11:6 - "And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father."

Does verse 6 mean that Solomon, LIKE David, did evil in the sight of the Lord? Or does it mean that Solomon went not fully after the Lord, UNLIKE David his father?And, either way, what do these verses tell us about Solomon's and David's respective salvation? What difference between David and Solomon is being underscored here?

A: A biblical principle we have to keep in mind on questions like this is God looks at the true believers from two different vantage points. On the one hand, sometimes God looks at the true believers in their regenerate spiritual essence only. When He does this, he sees as as perfect and totally holy, which, in our spiritual essence we are in fact totally without sin. Looking at our spiritual essence, God says such things as

"Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." 1 John 3:9

Yet, at times God also speaks of the true believers while taking into account our unregenerate physical bodies. This is why, in the very same epistle of First John, God says:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10

So, in one chapter we are perfect, and in another, we are sinners. Both are true, but are harmonized when we consider God is looking at us from the two vantage points described above.

God frequently will switch vantage points. For example, we read of Zacarias and wife Elizabeth in Luke 1:5-6

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Here God clearly is looking at Zacarias and his wife as they are in their perfect, regenerate spiritual selves. Yet, starting in verse 18 of Luke 1, Zacarias does not trust God and is struck dumb by God because of it. Here God begins to deal with Zacarias taking into account his sinful nature (flesh) in conjunction with his regenerate spiritual nature.

So, in the verses you cite in 1 Kings, God is contrasting two men who the Bible identifies elsewhere as true believers. David is held forth as an example of righteousness, and Solomon is taken to task for his sinful departure from biblical morality in his old age. Reasons for this include God wanting to communicate his expectation that people will follow after the biblical morality of their parents. Another possible reason is to call attention to the fact that David is a type of Christ, Who is the true benchmark of all morality.