Scripture Reading: Matt. 1:6b; 1 Kings 3:12; 4:29-30; Eccl. 1:2b; 3:11; S. S. 6:4a, 13a
Ⅰ
"David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah"—Matt. 1:6b:
A
After David had repented of his sin and was forgiven by God, he begot Solomon—2 Sam. 12:1-13, 24.
B
Solomon is the issue of man's transgression and repentance plus God's forgiveness— Psa. 51:1-4, 7, 9, 17-18:
１
The origin of Solomon is a spiritual marriage—the marriage of David's transgression and repentance with God's forgiveness; this marriage brought forth Solomon, who built the temple of God.
２
The church is always built by this kind of person, Solomon, who is the issue of our transgression and repentance plus God's forgiveness and who is peaceful to us and beloved of the Lord; such a person will build up the church as the temple of God—2 Sam. 12:24-25; 1 Cor. 3:9, 16.
C
After David received God's forgiveness and the joy of his salvation was restored, he prayed, "Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion; / Build the walls of Jerusalem" (Psa. 51:18); the "good" here includes God's building up the church as the temple of God and His filling the church with His glory.
Ⅱ
"I now give you a heart of wisdom and understanding, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor will one rise up after you like you"— 1 Kings 3:12:
A
"Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt"—4:30.
B
"They came from all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom"—v. 34.
C
Solomon's wisdom was a shadow of the real wisdom to come; the real wisdom is God, and God is embodied in Christ, who has become our wisdom to be in us, making us one with God and making us the same as God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead—Col. 2:9; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30.
Ⅲ
"Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is by the sea in multitude…God gave Solomon wisdom and very much understanding and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore"—1 Kings 4:20, 29:
A
Wisdom and largeness of heart are two aspects of one thing; the secret of wisdom is to have a large heart—3:12; 5:12a:
１
Those who have a large heart are wise, but those who have a narrow heart are foolish.
２
When a person is narrow and his heart is narrow, it is easy for him to be proud; pride is the expression of the narrowness of a person.
B
If we would be enlarged in our heart for the building of the temple of God, we need to be fully reconciled to God—2 Cor 5:20; 6:11-13:
１
How large our heart is depends on the degree of our reconciliation to God.
２
Narrowness of heart is a strong indication that we have been reconciled to God only partially and that the percentage of our salvation is quite low—v. 2; Rom. 5:10.
３
If we are able to forgive an offense and then forget it, that is a sign that we have become a person with a large heart—Matt. 18:21-35; Eph. 4:32.
Ⅳ
"Vanity of vanities; all is vanity"—Eccl. 1:2b:
A
Through all the experiences of the human life under the sun, Solomon was deeply impressed and occupied with the vanity of human life—vv. 12-14, 17.
B
God has put eternity, an aspiration for something eternal, into man's heart so that man will seek God, the eternal One—the ever-living, secret, mysterious One, who is the eternal life—3:11; 8:17; Gen. 21:33:
１
Because of this aspiration in our heart, temporal things cannot satisfy us; only the eternal God, who is Christ, can satisfy the deep sense of purpose in the human heart—Eph. 1:9, 11.
２
God's eternal purpose is to have a corporate expression of Himself through the New Jerusalem as the temple of God; we were saved for God's own purpose, and only when His purpose becomes our purpose will we have full and deep satisfaction—2:21-22; Rev. 21:22; 2 Tim. 1:9; 3:10.
Ⅴ
"The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's"—S. S. 1:1:
A
"You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem"—6:4a:
１
Tirzah signifies the sanctuary of God, the dwelling place of God the King, and Jerusalem was the safeguard of God's dwelling place.
２
The lover of Christ has become the building of God—1 Cor. 3:9-12:
ａ
In the Old Testament the building of God is typified by Tirzah and Jerusalem; in the New Testament this building is the organic Body of Christ—Eph. 4:16.
ｂ
Ultimately, the building up of the organic Body of Christ will consummate the New Jerusalem as the consummation of the Holy of Holies— Rev. 21:2-3, 16, 22.
B
The Shulammite, as Solomon's reproduction and counterpart, signifies that in the maturity of Christ's life the lover of Christ becomes the reproduction of Christ—the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function (but not in the Godhead)—to become the New Jerusalem—S. S. 6:13a; Rev. 21:9-10.