Troublesome Topic: Solomon Was Promised the Kingship

Listen to what God told David in I Chron 22:9. “Behold, a son will be born to you; he will be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around, for his name will be Solomon and I will give peace and tranquility to Israel in his days.”

Solomon means “peaceful.” Did God mean that it definitely was the son with the name Solomon or that it would be the son who exemplified the meaning of that name, someone wholesome, complete, and peaceful? I think the people of that day would have thought it could go either way, for they knew that God cares most about man’s character. They also knew that character, reputation and identity always go together.

After this David apparently told Bathsheba that Solomon would one day be the king. I Kings 1:30 indicates that David had even sworn to Bathsheba with an oath that Solomon would become king. That sounds to us like a sure thing. But as we can see in other examples in Scripture, almost everything was conditional. While it appears to have been a solid promise, the people of that day would have seen the meaning of the name and understood that the emphasis was likely on the character qualities described by the name.

David’s promise to Bathsheba was in agreement with the longing of David’s heart. While he was a warrior, and a good one, he wanted all that fighting to stop someday and be replaced by peace.

After David’s son Amnon raped his half-sister, Tamar, which resulted in Absalom killing Amnon, David was more convinced than ever that only Solomon seemed to have the right qualities to be the next king. He was young; in fact, he was possibly David’s youngest son, but he seemed to be developing in a direction that would fulfill God’s statement. He had the right name, Solomon, meaning “peaceful one,” but he also had the right demeanor, he was “wholesome,” which is at the heart of their word for “peace.”

The next lesson is: How Solomon Came to Distrust Women Part 1