1 KINGS 10 (FROM CAC'S NOTES)
1 KINGS 10 (FROM CAC’S NOTES)
It strikes me that the sacrificial thought is not brought out in this chapter in what the queen and others brought to Solomon. It seems to typify what can come from Gentile hearts in the way of appreciation of Christ in His personal greatness and exaltation. The gold would represent here, as elsewhere, what is connected with Christ’s deity, as in John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1. The spices would refer to that which pertains to Him as Man: myrrh, aloes and cassia are His garments in Psalm 45; love of righteousness and hatred of lawlessness all brought Him into the exercises of a Man here but all are brought through death to resurrection ground. The Head furnishes every grace to His members here. The precious stones would, perhaps, set forth the distinctive offices which He fills and the character of love which marks Him as Saviour, Shepherd, Friend, Prophet, Priest, Advocate, King and Head.
The queen is perhaps a special type of the assembly in her intelligent appreciation of Christ as in heaven; there were no other spices such as she brought, and no other type gives us this. She is not seen as the bride, the wife, but she has in type what no type of the bride had. What satisfaction Christ has in the assembly in this character! There are more than half-a-million church hymns, most of them addressed to Christ. I think the gold, spices and precious stones are these. We should lose a great deal if we left out the Queen of Sheba from the types. She takes in all that in which her glory appears. She represents the intelligent capacity in the assembly to take in the greatness and [p. 110] worth of the Lord Jesus Christ as glorified, and to express it to Him in an appropriate manner.
The sandal-wood comes in at this point, apparently in a parenthetical way, but in line with what the queen typifies. I think, as coming from a far-off clime, it represents saints as having ability to go up into the heavenly. Solomon makes stairs of it, balustrades and harps and lutes. I think the balustrade would be for the ascent, which needs power in a nature which belongs to heavenly ones.
If I am not mistaken the house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7: 2) represents the sons in the place of responsible witness in the Gentile world. They are viewed in this type in their public position in that world as set up in divine stability so as to stand against the hostile influences by which they are surrounded. Hence the prominence given to pillars in the description. James and Cephas and John were conspicuous as being pillars. The assembly is the “pillar and base of the truth” (1 Timothy 3: 15): “establishes us with you in Christ”, 2 Corinthians 1: 21.
The first thing here presented (1 Kings 10: 16) is that targets and shields of beaten gold were there and a large number of them were made, 200 targets and 300 shields. This gives the idea of protection against hostile power. God said to Abraham, “Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield”, Genesis 15: 1. Other references are, “The shield of thy help” (Deuteronomy 33: 29) and “My shield, and the horn of my salvation”, 2 Samuel 22: 3.
Of the gold which came to Solomon he makes 200 targets and 300 shields. That is the king furnished a great deal of protection and these are put in the house of the forest of Lebanon which typifies where the saints are as needing protection and as where the porch of judgment is, and the throne. That is we are now in the kingdom side. It is where we are in contact with what is adverse, so we get [p. 111] many pillars in the house of the forest, speaking of stability, and shields for protection.
It was a solemn thing that in Rehoboam’s day Shishak came up and even “took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made”, 1 Kings 14: 26. There is no defence against the enemy when the throne of judgment ceases to be there in a practical sense. ‘Shield’ is used 17 times (21 in the New Translation) in the Psalms. The shield of faith is quoted in Ephesians 6: 16. The fact that Shishak took the shields would show that the house of the forest of Lebanon was in Jerusalem.
The great throne was there as I think may be gathered from 1 Kings 7: 7. It is the throne viewed as the present place of Christ’s judgment in the assembly as the house of the forest of Lebanon. It was of ivory, intimating that the basis of judgment is the death of Christ. It is overlaid with refined gold, the best kind of refined gold (see 1 Kings 10: 18 and note). All must come to the test of that throne where there is the utmost possible degree of refinement in a moral sense. The refining process has not gone very far with us perhaps, but how do we think of Christ glorified judging? He is all-perfect so how could He have a lower standard for us? Our eternal Lover will not, we might say cannot, be satisfied with less than perfection in us.
The sons as within the house of the forest of Lebanon are seen as standing in relation to the porch of judgment, not as a failure but according to God’s thoughts. If Christ is ministered to there will be shields for His saints. Philadelphia is an example of this. The enemy gets in through unfaithfulness.
“There are three things which have a stately step ... The lion, mighty among beasts, which turneth not away for any”, Proverbs 30: 30. If Christ had not a perfect and divine standard of judgment we should all feel we had [p. 112] lost our Saviour.
And the great throne of ivory was there. It is the character of the administration of the Son of the Father’s love, but contemplating judgment in the perfect discrimination of good and evil. Ivory being secured through death implies that the throne discriminates according to the standard of the death of Christ. What He died to resolve cannot be tolerated.
The throne had six steps. It is elevated with two lions on each step. Majestic power is there. “We must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of the Christ, that each may receive” (2 Corinthians 5: 10). But there is nothing but comfort in this if we are doing what is good and what is in accord with Solomon.
Then we are immediately turned to the thought of how He has reached the throne. It had six steps, and they are to be much considered. ‘Who shall sing that path of worth, That led up to the throne?’ The steps are how He went up.
He went up by way of obedience until He was perfected in resurrection. The way up is seen in Psalm 16. He speaks of being perfected on the third day. Then the twelve lions on the six steps show what victorious power was there against all evil. There was a sign of power on each step. The lions speak of overcoming (Revelation 3: 21). The overcomer’s path will correspond with His. He is morally entitled to sit on the throne of judgment because He has overcome every form of evil Himself. I think the two lions standing beside the arms of the throne are a witness that the One who sits there has been Himself an overcomer. He is in rest now but it is in virtue of overcoming. The house of the forest of Lebanon represents the saints as in the place where overcoming is needed and where Christ judges everything in the life and responsible services here.
Fourteen lions in all show how perfectly the power of overcoming has been worked out in Him, and He judges [p. 113] according to that.
Then all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of precious gold. Would not each of us like to be one of the drinking vessels ministering personal pleasure to Him? All the vessels here are vessels unto honour. That is not what we are as accepted in the Beloved but what we are as overcoming here in a scene of testing and difficulty. The thought conveyed in this type is of the highest possible value. Silver here is not a type of redemption but of something which is, we might say, of second quality. Are any of us content to be second quality saints? We see here that what is not the best is of small account in the days of Solomon. That is, it is a time of superlative excellence, not of things of not much account. It is like the contrast between Philadelphia and Laodicea. He wants Laodicea to have the best. Why should we not have the best?
Does the top of the throne being rounded behind convey that everything in connection with Christ is finished off without any rough corners? There is no thought of any addition being needed to complete what is there.