(The following teaching was written by Rich Oka at The Messianic Revolution.)
"Shlomo formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. He brought her into the City of David, [where she lived] until he had finished building his own palace, the house of Adonai and the wall around Yerushalayim."-1 Kings 3:1
In chapter 2, we saw how Solomon eliminated all potential rivals and rebels.
This gave him a rock-solid foundation from which to run his government.
The next step was to begin creating alliances with the surrounding nations.
Verse 1 doesn't waste any time in explaining that Solomon married the Pharaoh's daughter to establish an alliance with Egypt.
Interestingly, the author tells that after marrying the Egyptian princess, Solomon had her live in the City of David until his palace and the Temple were finished.
These are things that wouldn't happen until much later.
So what does this tell us?
It tells us the writer recorded these events much later than they actually took place.
A lot of homies get bent out of shape when they hear a particular Bible book was penned a couple of centuries or more later than the time the characters in the book lived.
They're reacting like it's some kind of heresy or something.
My response?
Calm the hell down, man.
Look, most of the books in the Bible were written a helluva long time after the events depicted in them occurred.
This doesn't reduce their credibility one iota.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Why?
Because it gave the Scripture writers a chance to dig deep into other source material in addition to working from all of the oral traditions that were handed down throughout the years.
Ya feel me here?
I've already discussed how the Book of Kings was put together by pulling from other records.
The books themselves attest to that and name three primary sources as follows
The Annals of Solomon (mentioned in 1 Kings 11).
The Annals of the Kings of Israel (mentioned actually 17 times in 1 Kings 14 and 2 Kings 15).
And the Annals of the Kings of Judah (mentioned 15 times in 1 Kings 14, 2 Kings 24, and other spots).
So again, stop popping a blood vessel every time you hear that the books of the Bible were compiled, written, and edited much later than the events depicted occurred.
The bottom line is that some of the best and most accurate history books were written in recent times.
As Tom Bradford mentioned in his awesome Torah class, modern publications about the American Civil War are perfect examples.
The authors were able to tap into a vast array of information, such as government documents and private memoirs of army generals, as well as letters written by soldiers to their families from a variety of locations in the US while the war was going on.
It’s only later, when someone gathers the info, that the full picture starts to emerge like a jigsaw puzzle that only makes sense after the pieces are gathered and put together.
Ya feel me here?
This leads to our takeaway for today.
The process I mentioned should strengthen our faith in the divine origin of the Scriptures, and not weaken it.
The Bible is unique because it was written:
Over about 1,500 years...
By 40+ different authors...
In different locations (Israel, Babylon, Egypt, Rome, etc.)...
In different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek)...
By people with very different backgrounds (kings, shepherds, prophets, fishermen)...
Yet, despite that, it tells one consistent story about one God, one moral standard, one problem (sin), and one plan of redemption, pointing to the coming of the Messiah.
If the Bible were a manmade book, it would be all over the freakin' place.
Different authors would contradict each other, and the message would shift over time.
But that ain't what we see.
From Exodus to Matthew, the message is consistent.
That's not random.
That's evidence pointing to a divine hand guiding the process.
Ya feel me?
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
"All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the servant of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work."
-2 Timothy 3:16-17
P.S. Click HERE (https://messianic-revolution.com/) for more teachings like this.
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