THE WISE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING

Proverbs 10:1:
A wise son maketh a glad father:
But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

Solomon is one of David’s several sons. King’s children learn to be strong and assertive; they have to learn to lead the people of God. Because of that heavy responsibility, so they also have to be all the more careful with the manner of their lifestyles. One of God’s requirements for the Kings of Israel was that they write the whole Torah during their lifetime. This was a way for them to remember the Laws and Instructions of their God.

David had several wives and even concubines. Each of these women most likely desired for their sons to succeed to the great King David on his throne. Solomon saw first thing the aching of these mothers when their sons foiled these chances by just yielding to their unruly appetites and inclinations. Solomon on the other hand, who seemed to have been more the scholar type, was a recipient, like Isaac of Abraham, of his father’s joy and approbation. He experienced being the cause of his father’s gladness in the midst of what we could consider to be the confusion of a very dysfunctional family.

Solomon was given a very big charge from his father. This charge was to become the greatest accomplishment of his life. The wisdom he received from God was for the accomplishment of this heavy and important task: the building of the Temple. Solomon was faithful to carry out his father’s wishes and this must have made his father glad.

Taking this Proverb ‘home’, I’d like to submit that we should ask ourselves how our heavenly Father looks at us. The image of this Father is that of one who has planted a vineyard. He has a farm, a field, which he worked hard to earn. There is no greater pleasure for as father than to see his sons walk in his footsteps, to see them carry on the work he started. By the same token, there is no greater joy for a woman than to see her husband rejoice in the children she has borne him.

Let us now decide to make our Father glad. Let us now decide to carry on His legacy in the world, the building of His Spiritual Temple: His Church, His Congregation, His Kingdom on earth. Let now rejoice our heavenly Father’s heart by assuring Him of our dedication to keep the ‘farm’ and the ‘vineyard’ going. May our mother’s rejoice and magnify the Lord knowing that God, the father of us all, is pleased with the children they have borne.