1 Kings 2:1-4: Don’t forget your roots.

Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on July 27, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay

(Note: below is just the written text. The actual spoken sermon turned out to be very different - the Lord is good. The Lord is faithful.)

Friday Susan, the girls and I headed out to the Silver Stream fair – the Connaught fair. That is near where my grandma grew up. We even saw the old school and the old bell from those days. Afterwards we headed out to the Silver Stream cemetery and saw where some of our relatives’ were laid to rest.

This area of Saskatchewan has real significance for me and it always has even before we ever lived here. It is part of our history. It is a part of our family. It is a part of our life. Last week too, my mom’s cousin who owns a farm in the New Osgood area came to our church in Tisdale with a nephew who is helping him out for the summer. They invited us back to the farm afterwards. This was neat. The girls loved seeing the cows up so close. I enjoyed talking to my mom’s cousin and seeing where our family’s first quarter of land was in the area, where the old homestead was; I saw where my grandfather went to school and the old cemetery there where the remains of some of my relatives were laid to rest. North East Saskatchewan, New Osgood, Silver Stream, this whole area from Tisdale to Nipawin is my family’s old stomping ground and the kids and I are really enjoying getting to know it and a bit more about our roots.

For all of us, our history and the things we learn from our Christian family traditions are very important roots from which to draw for generations to come. Likewise, upbringings in anti-Christian households are many times a struggle to get over that can be every bit as brutal as any addiction. Traditions, roots, history, good and bad, generational curses and generational blessing have bearings on us all and they had a bearing on the patriarchs, on Moses, on David and on Solomon. David did not want Solomon to forget his roots.

David inherited a significant covenant blessing (2 Samuel 7) and in the first few chapters of 1 Kings here we see that Solomon receives for himself a part of that blessing – albeit conditionally. Now David, as sure as he was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), was still just a man and he was not necessarily the best father in the world but he is still the vehicle for the blessing of Israel and indeed the world.

David was to have a descendant sit on the throne forever and now he does in the person of Jesus, the Christ. David himself was one of the most powerful kings that Israel would ever have and the founder of a dynasty that would last without a break for the millennium and now with the advent of Christ, the re-established kingdom will ultimately last forever. King David was a man after God’s own heart. God loved him and in his early days he followed the Lord religiously sought the Lord’s council in everything he did, and was walking in a strong relationship with YHWH. These are the roots that David wants to pass to Solomon, to the people of Israel.

Remember that Solomon wasn’t even born though before much of David’s heroic deeds had been accomplished already. He wasn’t born until long after David was made King of both Judah and Israel; until after a civil war or two; and until after the relocation of the capital city to Jerusalem but still Solomon must have heard the stories about his father, his history, and his roots when he was growing up.

He must have heard the stories about how his father and his cousins (Aunt Zeruiah’s kids – Joab, Abishai and Asahel) how they lived their life on the edge for a long time fighting as mercenaries and committing all sorts of heroic acts. He must have heard about how David was anointed as a young shepherd boy and then rose to be King of this Kingdom. He must have heard the stories about how his dad had slain the giant Goliath and about how he was victorious in the civil war. He must have heard how his dad loved and served YHWH.[1] These are part of his roots. These are a part of our roots as believers. These are his (our) good roots.

But there are other roots that Solomon has as well. When the princes were growing up, the King, David, was not around, which may explain some of their rebellion against him. There were some problems too when Dad, David was around. You remember how David met Solomon’s mom right? – Bathsheeba? She was bathing on a rooftop, he saw her, he wanted her, she slept with her and then he murdered her husband.

David had his warts (and some pretty serious ones at that) but they key is that he repented as repentance is needed and he indeed is remembered as a man after God’s own heart. This repentance is an important part of David and his life and his heritage for his descendents (It is one of the major differenced between he and King Saul.).

In our story today, the king is now long past his effectiveness however. He is impotent politically and in other ways as well (1 Kings 1:2-4). He is dying. He has been persuaded by the prophet Nathan and by Solomon’s mother to make Solomon king (1 Kings 1:11ff) and as he does so he gives an important charge to his son, his successor, as he tells him not to forget his roots, he says:

1Ki 2:2ff “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a man, 1Ki 2:3 and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go, 1Ki 2:4 and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

These are important words of advice that David passes on to his successor, to his son, as he is leaving office for the final time. These are words that should stick with Solomon his whole life because look – this is important - 1Ki 2:4: the promise - that is part of his roots – the promise that Solomon is inheriting with his Kingship – the promise which relates through 2 Samuel 7:16 all the way back to Genesis Chapter 11 (verses 3) where it says that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham – this promise here is conditional. David tells Solomon that ‘IF your descendants watch how they live, and IF they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ This is important and it is meant to frame his entire kingship.

I don’t know if you have ever had moments like that that stick with you forever. When I was a teenager I had a very close group of friends. We were a diverse group of teenagers. We – not unlike David and his men at times, I’m sure - were both rebellious and ‘good kids’ all at the same time. Sure we may have skipped class once to often, and done some other bad things in those days but many of us did pray, read the Bible, talk to and about God a lot and / or go to church. I came to know the Lord as a young child and that has always been the important part of my roots.

When we were teenagers, we were still used by God to good effect, when we remembered to put Him first of course. This is the time in my life where I can actually relate to David quite well. I was certainly a part of the late night partying crowd, whose members got in trouble but – and I praise the Lord for it – as I was there, I was able to spend many teenage nights staying up all night talking to my friends who had lost family members, who had been arrested, who found out they were pregnant, who were in trouble. I was able to stay up all night leading my friends to the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Lord put me where He would use me and just as He used others to minister to me,when I was in crisis, He used me to help out my friends. Through a series of crises we had become very close to each other and I had become even closer to my Lord. I remember when I was coming to the end of those days of strong fellowship and beginning new days of post-secondary education.

God speaks to me though a friend and I will never forget it. I can remember just before I went of to College where – separated from my intimate friends - my struggles and my whole life would be very different. I remember walking along the street talking with Trevor – an old friend – we were talking about the things that 18 year-olds talked about cars, girls, politics, God, when all of a sudden Trevor –out of nowhere - tells me not to forget my roots. “Don’t forget your roots,” he says, as I go off to school.

This was to be very important for me to hear. As I went off to Teacher training, then into the business world, as I started to build a career in the business, education and publishing magazines, as I was establishing businesses and running colleges, Trevor’s words came back to me, “don’t forget your roots.”

Don’t forget your roots. For me this meant a lot. For me my roots and helping friends in crisis and telling them about Jesus. And indeed for all of us who share a Christian heritage these are our roots as well. We mustn’t forget our roots. We mustn’t forget what God has done through our ancestors in the Bilbe, Moses, Abraham, David. We mustn’t forget what the Lord has done through us and we musn’t forget our roots which are indeed Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Salvation. We mustn’t forget these roots.

It is important too for Solomon to remember his family’s, his ancestors roots of serving God - particualrly if the promise that Solomon inherits is conditional – while how does Solomon do at observing what the LORD our God requires: Walking in his ways, and keeping his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses. How does he do at remembering these roots of the Law of Moses?

As a young ruler Solomon genuinely asks YHWH for wisdom. When he is still a young ruler, Solomon begins work on the temple in Jerusalem so that people can come from all over Israel to worship God in this magnificent structure. That’s good. It is gigantic building - but interestingly – Solomon makes his own house even bigger (1 Ki 5-8).

But as Solomon gets older, instead of looking to his roots and looking out for the poor, the needy, and the oppressed, he divides the historical tribes of Israel and makes slaves of his own people so that he can do all this building.[2]

He promotes the worship of other gods and Solomon even disobeys the command from God not to intermarry and not to get horses from Egypt (Cf. Deut 7:1-6; 17; 20:16-18; Joshua 9; Judges 2:1-5) and in all likelihood Solomon uses these and his chariots as weapons of war against his own people. Solomon, 1 Kings 11:6 says, Solomon, “he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.” He seems to have forgotten his roots.

1 Kings 11:9 says, “The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD… So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees… I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you.” King Solomon did not ‘defend the cause of the poor of the people, deliver the needy, and crush the oppressor’. He did not remember his roots and the united Kingdom of Israel died with him.[3]

Solomon was promised so much if he would just follow the Lord but instead he was led astray by his wives and his disobedience and indeed he lost his complete inheritance – it was torn from him.[4] Solomon – as we will see as we read through 1 Kings fails and war and division come to his country again as Solomon forgets his roots.

But God saves us all – He saves whosever will be saved - in spite of the fact that Solomon did not live up to his potential, of course. Even though Solomon falls, the Lord still blesses the world through Abraham (cf. Genesis 12-17) and God still has David’s descendent, Jesus, sitting on His throne forever. The Lord is faithful; like the good news of Romans 3:3,4 says, “what if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means!” By no means! The Lord is still faithful.

The atonement offered through Jesus’ death and resurrection was a general atonement for ‘whosoever may be saved.’ God is faithful in this and if we are unfaithful like Solomon, it cannot change that faithfulness of God but it may effect our reaping of the benefits.

Solomon lost the Kingdom for his son because he forgot his roots of David, Moses, Abraham, the Word of God and YHWH. Well, how can we avoid that same trap? How can we avoid that separation from God?

We can do this by remembering our roots. We can remember our roots by sharing testimonies with each other, by telling what the Lord has done in our lives. We can remember our roots by reading our Bibles and seeing what the Lord has done for and through Abraham, Moses, Israel, and throughout history. We can remember our roots by coming to the Lord and praying, talking to him. We can remember our roots; we can turn to the Lord and live.

- shorter version ends here-

-longer ending continued below-

This is like we learned in studying King Saul recently (1 Samuel 28 & 29). People fail. When we try to do things on our own we fail. We know this from Solomon and we know this in our own lives. We know that some people choose the devastating consequences that come from serving themselves and making their decisions by doing what they see as right in their own eyes instead (Judges 21:25) and thus separating themselves from God, instead of seeking the Lord through prayer and study. We know that some people, like the Israelites in the desert (Number 13), die outside of the promised inheritance that is there just waiting for us (repeat). We know that we, like Solomon, if we fail to serve the Lord, we can fail to possess this inheritance.

But we know also from the stories of Abraham (Gen 12-17), Samson (Judges 13-16), and David (1&2 Samuel) – of whom we have read lately - that no matter what happens, the Lord is always faithful. He never gives we don’t have to die outside of the promise, we don’t have to because He NEVER gives up on us. He NEVER gives up on us.

This is an important thing to remember. So let’s remember our roots as people of God. Let us remember as Abraham, Samson, David, and other heroes of the faith did (Hebrews 11) – who even though they all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) – as they repented, as they turned to God they were saved. So then as Jesus proved himself faithful by dying on the cross because of our unfaithfulness, let us turn to him in faithful obedience, remember our roots, call upon the Lord, and be saved.

May all that come behind us find us faithful.

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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay. 2 Samuel 13-18: Taking Matters in His Own Hands: the Story of Prince Absalom. Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps November 18, 2007. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/11/2-samuel-13-18-taking-matters-in-his.html
[2] He makes slaves of everyone in the country EXCEPT the ones from his home province. He doesn’t make the people from Judah, his own tribe, do any of the work. Right, that would be like Harper saying everyone starting tomorrow must spend two years doing hard labour – except Toronto, Ontario, where he was born – and we in Saskatchewan or wherever, you must make up the difference.
[3] Captain Michael Ramsay. Psalm 72: The Credit Card of Justice and Righteousness. Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps July 01, 2007. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/psalm-72-credit-card-of-justice-and.html
[4] This has consequences because remember too that this covenant that Solomon has transgressed relates to the covenant that a descendant of David will never fail to sit on the throne (2 Samuel 7) and that all the nations of the earth will be blessed though Abraham (Genesis 11:3). The promised salvation from God was intermingled into this commission to Solomon and Solomon has let down his father, Solomon has let down his sons, Solomon is a disappointment to his roots, and Solomon has let down even all the inheritors of this promise including you and me.