Solomon crosses the Wadi Kidron

A long poem about the king who just couldn't get enough

January is a long month. Congrats for making it this far.

Today it felt like the right time to share a long poem. Solomon crosses the Wadi Kidron unpacks a moment in the reign of David’s son that has always stood out to me.

His reign was filled with glory. The highest heights. He started so well. He ended so poorly. All the wisdom and riches in the world. But he broke a covenant, breached a promise he was meant to keep.

We all are tempted to cross boundaries. Set off trip wires. This poem explores the tragic, human pull away from the promise. I hope you enjoy it and that it makes you think.

~ AK

Solomon crosses the Wadi Kidron

it was no trick
nor was it impossible

none of it is ever easy, child
none

you must understand an old story first

when David was king
Absalom his son turned against him
he was a beautiful son 
but he had the curse

he went into his father’s lovers,
his wives and concubines,
defiantly
before all the people he did it
without hiding and
claimed to be king

David, in humility and fear fled
unwilling to go to war
against a beloved son
heartbroken by the knowledge of his own sin
the seeds from his own life planted
whose fruit would be
rebellion in his own house

on the way to a safe place 
Shimei the son of Gera
who belonged to the house of Saul
the man David replaced as king 
(for David waited for the Lord 
and Saul did not)
Shimei came at David running
stones and curses in his hand
shamed the king with 
murderer, scoundrel!
named him a man of blood

David, the man of blood,
did not put his hand to his sword 
but left the words
in the hands of God

When Solomon was made king
it was left to him to cleanse the kingdom
and avenge his father’s house

Build yourself a house in Jerusalem
live there
and do not go out from there to any place whatever
For on the day you go out, and cross the Wadi Kidron
know for certain that you shall die
your blood shall be on your own head
Solomon said to Shimei
and Shimei agreed the sentence was fair

Not three years later
Shimei saddled his donkey and went to Achish in Gath
the king to whom some of his slaves ran

Solomon summoned Shimei
when he learned of his trip

Did I not make you swear by the Lord?

and so Shimei died, for he did not keep the word
he had sworn to keep
the word he knew would preserve his life

you see, child
Solomon’s story is Shimei’s
if you pare away the flesh and look at the heart of it
the circumstances are different, but
for Solomon, the same basic transgression occurred
his was not the Wadi Kidron crossed
but another boundary he knew well defined

like Shimei, he was given a house
in Jerusalem
but his mind wandered
and then his heart
to Achish in Gath and then beyond
after lovers

Love is as strong as death
passion as fierce as the grave, it’s true
its flashes are flashes of fire
a raging flame

these were the commands he was asked to keep
his boundary lines:
be strong, be courageous
keep the law
be faithful in your heart and in your soul

Solomon!

he began his reign
with proof he could navigate
the treacherous territory 
of the throne
showing mercy to Adonijah the rebellious
but wisely killed him for his deceitful scheme

you see, Adonijah, like Saul who sought to establish
his own kingdom and did not follow God with his heart, 
purposed to marry Abishag, King David’s virgin wife in his old age
Solomon made the difficult decision to keep the 
kingly line pure
by killing the brother who meant to supplant him, 
God’s chosen ruler

but he was not perfect from the start
his first marriage was to the daughter of Pharaoh of Egypt
a marriage alliance between a promising country
and a great one
two nations with a history
made ties that were never to be made:

he must not acquire many horses for himself
or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses
since the Lord has said to you, 
‘you must never return that way
again.’

if Solomon was not to look to Egypt for wealth
could he look there for wives?

but 
Solomon loved the Lord
and walked in the ways of his father David
for a time
only he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places

at Gibeon, the highest
place

elaborate sacrifice

a thousand burnt offerings on that altar

Solomon knew he was sinning
This deviant nature in all of us 
accelerating 
beyond him already
so early in his kingship

the standard to live up to so high:
God’s law
and, the amazing 
though imperfect example 
of his father David.

already two strikes against him 
(the Egyptian alliance and the high places)

what did he try to do?

look at his beautiful heart 
Solomon loved the Lord
wanted to honour God
to be clean

and yet he could not escape his sinfulness, 
could not subvert his ability to morally fail
Though he wanted to be clean, he sought cleansing at the wrong altar,
at Gibeon the high place:

If anyone of the house of Israel
slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp
or slaughters it outside the camp
and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting
to present it as an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord
he shall be held guilty of bloodshed
he has shed blood and he shall be cut off from the people

damning evidence

and what did God do?

he appeared to Solomon at Gibeon
in a dream of the night

ask what I should give you

his only words
no stipulations
no strings

You have shown great and
steadfast love to you servant my father David
because he walked before you in faithfulness
righteousness
in uprightness of heart toward you
and you have kept for him this great and
steadfast love
and have given him a son to sit on his throne today

God and man at play

You have made your servant king
in place of my father
though I am only a little child
I do not know how to go out or come in
and your servant is in the midst of a people so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted

give understanding,
discernment so that I might rule

wish and command

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this
‘Because you have asked this
and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies
but for understanding to discern what is right
I give you a discerning mind;
no one like you has been before or will ever be
I give you also what you have not asked
both honour and riches all your life
no other king shall compare to you

If you will walk in my ways,
keeping my statutes and my commandments as your father David
then I will lengthen your life’

child do you see that Solomon, though he pleased God by his request
did not do the one deed required of him that set him up, morally, for life?
he must continue in a path of obedience
stay in the city of Jerusalem, the house of God
and not wander beyond the Wadi Kidron 

Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream

He came to Jerusalem 
stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord
He offered up burnt offerings and offerings of well-being

the law named Solomon a shedder of blood, guilty of great sin
the punishment:
banishment from his people

but there was love behind the law
and grace, too

God is reckless,
child 
foolish even
his kindness could backfire
could, potentially,
reinforce already rotten behavior

the risk of grace

when God could throttle you
leave you to lie in a pool of your
own blood
he shows kindness instead

ask what I should give you

a command, not a
question

he appears to Solomon at his most helpless
at night
in his sleep 
when he’s no longer hard at work
at his sin-control

appears to Solomon at night
to test him,
reveal to Solomon what really
is in his heart

the encounter with God sets Solomon on the right path
he does not play the fault finder  
tests and reveals, 
changes the heart 

shows the king he does not require perfection
but obedience

a narrow but solid line to walk upon

It’s your kindness, Lord, that brings us to repentance

Somehow in the exchange, Solomon does not become defensive
knows enough about God to not shy at admitting 
he needs practical help 
to govern his kingdom 
and his own heart    

I am only a child
and suddenly the multitudes look to me 

at Gibeon
Solomon learned that 
in light of God’s character
it is safe to be honest 
about who you are 
and what you need

yet Solomon’s path is Shimei’s, 
for we know the rest of his story

like Shimei who stayed within the boundary
of the king’s word for three years
Solomon kept God’s law for a time
but then his heart wandered 
far, far from Jerusalem

far from home

Solomon’s path, child, is our own 

like him
we try to appease God 
confess our sin
but in the very act of asking for mercy
we do it from an offensive high place 
at the wrong altar 

we think of a God who is not pleased with us,
we fear God’s reaction
in asking for mercy, we fear he won’t be merciful
and in so doing 
misrepresent the very name we must depend on 
in order to be forgiven 

how many sacrifices we offer to God to cover up our sin

a thousand burnt offerings

it can all seem like a dream, child
a frightening vision in the night

when it does,
remember this:

God appeared to us
not in a dream
but in world history, 
said:

ask and it will be given to you
seek first the kingdom
and all these things will be added to you as well

a test of the heart  
no trick, 

no

King Solomon loved many foreign women
along with the daughter of Pharaoh:
Moabite, 
Ammonite, 
Edomite, 
Sidonian, and
Hittite women
from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the Israelites:

‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, 
neither shall they with you;
for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods’

Solomon clung to these in love
seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines

crawled after them
flesh bent with desire
body hungry for their love

When Solomon was old
his wives turned away his heart 
after other gods
and his heart was not true
to the Lord
his God
as was the heart of his father David

Solomon built a high place for all his foreign wives
who offered incense 
and sacrificed at these high places
to their gods:
	Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians
Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites
Chemosh the abomination of Moab
Molech the abomination of the Ammonites

when Solomon was old

do not grow old, my child

Then 
the Lord was angry with Solomon
his heart turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel
who had appeared to him twice
and had commanded him concerning this matter
that he should not follow other gods
but he did not observe what the Lord commanded

The Lord said to Solomon
‘Since this has been your mind and
you have not kept my covenant
I will surely tear the kingdom from you
and give it to your servant

Yet for the sake of your father
David
I will not do it in your lifetime
nor tear away the entire kingdom’

God is reckless
but no fool
a lover spurned,
his guts get turned inside
out, too

none of it is easy, child
none

---

You made it. If you read this far, thank you.

I hope you enjoyed the poem.

Let me know what you think!