Monday, February 9, 2009

A Valentine for Solomon

David's last prayer was a prayer for Solomon.
Ps 72:20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

In this Psalm, David lays his desires for his son before the Lord. Knowing at this time that Solomon would reign in his stead, David petitions the Lord for good judgment, prosperity, dominion, spirituality and honor for Solomon.

One curious request I see that the Lord answered in a manner with quite a twist, verse 10 asks, maybe even prophecies that the kings of Sheba and Seba would offer gifts to his son during his reign as king. Verse 15 says that to him shall be given the gold of Sheba. I suppose, at that time, Sheba had a king. Little did he know that in Solomon's day, Sheba (Ethiopia) would be ruled by a queen.

In I Kings 10 we read the story of the visit of the queen of Sheba who had heard of Solomon's fame and came to check it out. She brought, as a gift, 120 talents of gold. That's a huge chunk of change! In fact, we are told that nobody brought him bigger gifts than she did.

Well, Solomon had an eye for the ladies and apparently, he was as impressed with her as she was with him and we are told they got hitched. Some say that the Song of Solomon, the love story between he and his wife, was written about none other than the queen of Sheba. Take a gander at Canticles 1:5-6a, I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me:

Well, be careful what you pray for, you might just get it. And in this final prayer of David, he unwittingly got a future daughter in law. Instead of a king, the family got a real queen.

What a nice Valentine's day story!

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