Solomon and the Sabbath

In the story of Solomon, all of God’s fundamental principles are discussed. Yet nowhere is the Sabbath explicitly mentioned. Yet all through Solomon’s story the law of God is clearly a focus and a requirement of success. "And the Word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: Concerning this house which thou art building, if thou wilt walk in my statues, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform My Word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: and I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel." I Kings 6:11-13. And of course at the end of Solomon’s experience he clearly states the summation of the whole of life "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13 So it is clearly seen that Solomon was aware of all of God’s commandments including Sabbath.

Solomon’s experience was like that of His fathers all the way back to Adam. Adam was given the commandments of God and especially the commandment to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and to keep the Sabbath. Genesis 2:16-17; 3:11 and Genesis 2:1-3. By the time of Noah man had come to the point of thinking evil continuously and were wicked. Genesis 6:5. Wickedness, or sinful, is identified by breaking the laws of God. I John 3:4. Conversely, if one keeps the law, doesn’t sin, then that person is blessed of God. Roman 6:23. God identifies Abraham as such a person when He states "Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statues, and my laws." Genesis 26:5 This phenomenon is present all through Scriptures and is an all-encompassing principle. Obedience to God, and His commandments, is blessed, rebellion against God, and His commandments, is cursed. Revelation 14:1-12; 22:9-19 Solomon was clearly aware of this principle and God kept reminding him as well.

But going back to Sabbath for a moment. God tells us that the Sabbath is a special part of the law and that this law has many special features attached to it. Jesus first presents the Sabbath as a special testimony of His creative act. Genesis 2:1-3. The Sabbath is a day especially blessed, and sanctified. This principle is restated when Jesus gives the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20:8-11 In this Scripture Jesus adds the concept of the Sabbath being hallowed. In Exodus 31:12-17 another concept is added and that is the Sabbath is identified as a sign of God’s care and His covenant between Himself and His people. Wherever God’s people go they must present this sign as a testimony of their relationship with God. Ezekiel 20:12,20 also adds an idea in that Ezekiel states that the sign of Sabbath is given to allow us to know that God sanctifies us. Exodus 16 tells the story of Sabbath as a sign of Jesus being our provider of earthly needs. In Luke 23:50-56 Sabbath is identified as a day when Jesus rested from His work to save us. Jesus died on Friday, rested on Sabbath, and went back to work on Sunday. So Sabbath is a sign of Jesus, the Creator and Jesus the Saviour who grants us salvation. And finally, in this brief listing, Jesus claims that Sabbath is a sign of His ability to grant us rest from sin. Hebrews 4:1-11 tells this story of our needing rest. And the issue of rest is what brings us back to the story of Solomon.

Solomon is first introduced in the Bible in reference to David’s sin with Bathsheeba. After David’s sin the prophet Nathan confronts him and David eventually sees his sin and repents. As part of the process of redemption Jesus allows David to see that the death of his son is part of saving David. The death of his first son through Bathsheeba is a symbol of the eventual death of Jesus, David’s son, for his sins. Then the Bible tells us that David comforts Bathsheeba and has another son and David calls this son Solomon which by definition means peace. Then Jesus sends His prophet and renames Solomon Jedidiah – Beloved of the Lord. Thus communicating a message of peace to David. God picks up this story in I Chronicles 22:6-13 and David states that God promised him a son. David describes this promise in the following way: "Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days." I Chronicles 22:9
　
The above text tells us that Sabbath was being observed by Solomon and his people during the good part of his reign. As a result of having rest and prosperity in the land we know that Solomon was surrendered to Jesus. We know this because when Israel did not keep the law of God, and did not observe the Sabbath, the prophets were sent to them to confront them about their sin. When Moses came to Israel in Egypt he first showed them the three signs given by Jesus and the people believed and they worshipped. Exodus4:29-31. This worship must include the Sabbath for that is the only specified day to worship Jesus on. In addition we are told in the next chapter that Pharaoh was angry with Moses and the people because they were "resting" from their burdens. Patriarchs and Prophets confirms that this was Sabbath as well:

"Tidings of them and of the interest they were exciting among the people had already reached the king. His anger was kindled. "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let [hinder] the people from their works?" he said. "Get you unto your burdens." Already the kingdom had suffered loss by the interference of these strangers. At thought of this he added, "Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens."

In their bondage the Israelites had to some extent lost the knowledge of God's law, and they had departed from its precepts. The Sabbath had been generally disregarded, and the exactions of their taskmasters made its observance apparently impossible. But Moses had shown his people that obedience to God was the first condition of deliverance; and the efforts made to restore the observance of the Sabbath had come to the notice of their oppressors." Patriarchs and Prophets 257-258

So we can see that when we are repentant for our sins, Jesus brings us back to His laws and re-instructs us. Our obedience is a testimony that we are willing to cooperate with Jesus in the things He requires of us. Obedience to the law does not save us, but obedience to the law, shows that we love Jesus and will obey His commands. I John 5:3
　
Jeremiah was also sent to do the same work as Moses. Israel had turned away from God and they were refusing to follow His law, and thus rejecting Jesus in the Sabbath. Jeremiah speaks to Israel about their sins and how these sins would be graven upon their hearts. Jeremiah warns the people that since they are in this state of rebellion their observance of Sabbath clearly reveals this. They must change or God will burn the city down. It is clear that rejection of Sabbath is a rejection of Jesus and His covenant. They must change in order for the covenant to be maintained and the protection of Jesus to be maintained. Since they rebelled, and would not receive instruction from Jeremiah, they lost their covenant relationship and God chose to discipline them by sending them to Babylon, especially over their refusal to keep Sabbath. II Chronicles 36: 11-21.

God tells this same story again in Nehemiah 13:15-22. He wants to establish the principle that Sabbath is a sign of His covenantal relationship. No Sabbath no covenant. God has stated this over and over to establish the principle that God does not change. He is the same Creator from Eden, Genesis 2:1-3, to Eden restored in Revelation 22:1-3. Since He does not change, His Sabbath sign has not changed either.

Solomon’s story is interesting in that His whole early experience is around the subjects of rest and peace. As long as Solomon obeyed God things went well for the kingdom. When Solomon began to disobey the prophecy, in the law of God, about specific things to do and not to do, then things began to become more and more difficult. When Solomon obeyed he had rest from his enemies. When Solomon rebelled the Lord stirred up adversaries to unto Solomon. I Kings 11:14.
One of the primary reasons for losing rest is because whenever the Bible introduces heathen worship one of the issues is that of breaking the Sabbath. This happens because every single form of heathen worship is in rebellion against God. The sign of their rebellion is a refusal to worship God in accordance with His law. Rebellion against God’s law always shows up n rebellion against the primary sign of God’s law – the Sabbath. This lesson is shown to us in the above stories of Israel in rebellion against Jeremiah and Nehemiah as well as that, which was revealed in the story of Ezekiel. Jesus showed Ezekiel some of the secret sins of the priesthood and the final culminating sin of worshipping the sun – worshipping the sun on the day of the sun – Sunday. Ezekiel 8:15-16.

When Solomon began to turn his heart from Jesus through the worship services of Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech sun worship became a central part of his worship activities. Thus there would have been a required change of his devotion from Jesus and His sign – Sabbath, to pagan worship and their sign – worshipping the sun on the day of the sun- Sunday. Thus God confronted Solomon with his refusal to keep what Jesus had commanded him. I Kings 11:1-10.
When Solomon repented, as described in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon concluded that to keep the commandments of God was of great importance. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. Inherent in this belief must have been a return to God’s law and the sign of His covenant relationship through the Sabbath.

Solomon, as we have discussed before was a fabulous example of what Jesus will do with His people if they will surrender to Him in quietness and confidence. Isaiah 30:15. Solomon was to be a man of rest and peace, Solomon was to be an example of what Sabbath means and does to God’s people. But Solomon was also an example of a follower of Messiah who rebels against God. When Solomon chose to disobey the prophecy especially given to him in Deuteronomy 17 then he rebelled in all ways, including that of Sabbath, and became a type of Anti-Christ. Let us learn this lesson well so that we do not have to walk the path of Solomon. Let us choose to stay with Jesus at all times and keep the sign of His covenant.