Exegesis

1 Kings 11:1-13
Solomon's Wives

1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.

7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

Quality over quantity my dear Kate. Unfortunately, I don't think this post will be that interesting. Let me know.

Exegesis, for those who don't attend a theological college that has its own set of weird words and language (that even church kids like me have to look up), is something along the lines of "looking at the meaning of the text in the context that it was written". I guess it's a fancy way of saying "what is the passage trying to say", without just walking up to it as a 21st century, western-world christian and deciding what it means based upon my own presuppositions about life, the universe and everything.

I have to write an essay on the passage above that basically shows how it fits into the story of Solomon, particularly in contrast to the way God treated his father King David (as in David & Goliath). Then I assume I'm going to waffle on for a bit about how the whole thing fits into the history and plight of the nation of Israel and thus ties in with some "themes" that are consistent throughout the whole bible.

The point is not to be a revolutionary that discovers some hidden secret that all the real bible scholars missed. The point is to demonstrate an ability to think both critically and outside one's own perspective in analysing the text. I like the concept quite a lot. The amount of debate and scrunity over the texts that comprise the bible is phenomenal just among the christians.

That said, if you'd put the idea of such a thing to me a year ago, I probably would have been a bit apprehensive. After the amount of background reading I've done though, it's actually probably going to be a bit of fun. I never really got into it with high-school english classes (probably because either the books were so contrived, or the teachers, or combinations of both, really sucked). But this time I'm sort of looking forward to it.