This morning we heard from the Song of Solomon. This is the only time in our three year lectionary cycle that the Song of Solomon is read, and the Song of Solomon is one of the few books in the Bible where God is never mentioned in the entire book.
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Printer-Friendly Version In this morning’s reading from the Hebrew Scriptures we heard the story of the Ark of the Covenant being brought to the newly constructed Temple in Jerusalem. This is Solomon’s Temple that was built after his father David’s death. This story is found in the First Book of Kings and follows the many stories we have been listening to this summer from the books of First and Second Samuel.
Printer-Friendly Version In our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures this morning we heard that King David has died, and that his son Solomon has assumed the throne. We then heard that God came to Solomon in a dream and asked Solomon what might be his one desire … his one wish from God. Solomon responded that he wanted “an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil …” God said that because Solomon did not ask for something for himself, God would grant Solomon “a wise and discerning mind,” and, since it was such a selfless request, God would also grant him “riches and honor all [his] life. “
I don’t know if you have noticed, but for the past three weeks we have been reading from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. In the earlier part of the summer ... late May, June, and most of July ... our Gospel readings were from Mark. Then, just as Mark is getting ready to tell the story of the feeding of the 5,000 we switched to John’s gospel to hear him tell the story and we have been reading in sequence ever since. Not only are they in sequence … the readings have acted almost like a tag team in professional wrestling.
Last week I was prepared to preach on the story of David and Bathsheba … but a muse got in the way. So I promised I would preach about David and Bathsheba … and the prophet Nathan … this Sunday. A number of you actually mentioned it to me this week … I just hope it lives up to your expectations.
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REV. TED VOORHEES
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