1 KINGS CHAPTER 1 - 6

Jude Thu 09 May 2013, 03:06

THE BOOK OF KINGS

The Books of Kings begin with the final events of the life of David, the establishment of Solomon upon the throne, the story of the building of the temple, and go on through the history of the kings of Israel and Judah up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E.

The Books of Kings form a consistent whole, being structured around the twelve kings of the dynasty of David who are declared righteous. This cycle of twelve thus appears following the cycle of twelve patriarchs in Genesis and the cycle of twelve judges in the book of Judges. The twelve good kings of Judah are David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah. The established cycle of twelve is thus continued in this line of divinely appointed leaders.

The criterion for determining who is a good and who is a bad king is simple and direct. Those who adhere to the worship of the one true God alone, setting aside idolatry, are declared good. This criterion of evaluation is reaffirmed again and again in the books, and remains still the first and most important characteristic, not only of leaders, but of every individual and every religious movement representing true faith.

1 KINGS 1

1 And king David was old indeed
Stricken in years, an invalid,
And they covered him with blankets,
But he could not get warm for frets.
2 And so his servants told him, “Let
Be found now for my lord the king
A young virgin, and let her get
Before the king for cherishing,
And let her lie upon your breast,
That my lord king may warmth ingest.”
3 So they looked for a pretty lass
Throughout all Israel’s lands and grass,
And found Abishag Shunammite,
And brought her into the king’s sight.
And the lass was a pretty sort,
And cherished the king at the court,
And served him, but the king did not
Lay lawless leg upon her plot.

I’d think a lady of the middle age
Might do as well for heat in patronage.
Why make such issue that the girl was pretty?
Why not as well make issue of her city
And lineage? But instead in repetition
Her beauty reads out in the fine admission.
I’d think a buxom matron would do better
For bringing heat out in kingly go-getter.
The more flesh the more heat I’d think would be
The rule of thumb to follow by decree.
Instead they find a likely lass to flaunt
New-ripened breasts upon the royal font.
Beloved, there’s no text in the sacred writ
More gaudily raunchy to cause a fit.

5 Then Adonijah Haggith’s son
Exalted himself, said when done,
“I will be king,” and he prepared
Himself chariots and horsemen scared,
And fifty men to run in front
Of him to praise and bear the brunt.
6 And his father had never said
A word of discipline that led
Him ever in his life, and he
Was very handsome man to see,
Born after Absalom was fed.

The wonder, my Beloved, is that men choose
To lead a folk who never came to use
On self a spot of discipline and who
Were left by parents without guidance too.
Who never learned to obey father can
Never learn to rule self with cord and ban,
And who never ruled self can never rule
Another, even with years done in school.
Beloved, the ruler is the man who most
Has learned Your yoke of guidance without boast,
Not he who at the polls gets most in votes.
Beloved, the brazen sower of wild oats
Is always people’s choice. I cast my ballot
Against democracy for its spoiled palate.

7 And he conferred with Joab son
Of Zeruiah, and when done
With Abiathar priest, and they
Followed Adonijah to help.

Adonijah! How poorly chosen is
That splendid, sacred, wondered name of his!
YHWH is my Lord. And yet if Lord is YHWH,
Then it should be seen in the things I do.
But Adonijah denies his own name
In his rebellion to his father’s shame.
That’s the whole problem with religious claim
To follow this or that famous guru.
Beloved, in all my ways and thoughts let me
Make You my Lord, and thus set my soul free
Of every false usurping canopy
That spreads its shadow on the burning sand
Of Palestine or any other land.
Let me, Beloved, take hold Your guiding hand.

8 But Zadok the priest and Benaiah
Son of Jehoiada and higher,
And Nathan the prophet, Shimei,
And Rei and the heroes brought nigh
To David, were not with the man
Adonijah in his foul plan.

I should think not! That even the man chosen
To be a prophet would rather be frozen
Than join in rebellion against the one
Anointed to be king of Zion’s run.
Some priests of course might well rebel, I know
The way the mind of priest is like to go.
But not a prophet, surely, very thought
Is shocking to my senses under-wrought.
Beloved, let me be loyal to Your name
And to the ones You send to hold Your fame
Before the maudlin crowd, before the weight
Of situation and the people’s fate.
Beloved, I stand firm for Davidic throne
And fly to You who are sovereign alone.

9 And Adonijah slaughtered sheep
And oxen and fatlings to keep
By the stone of Zoheleth, which
Is beside En-rogel in pitch,
And he called all his brothers there,
The king’s sons and also the fair
Men of Judah, king’s servants’ share.

When there are gathered men of state, renown,
Then I am sure to follow with a frown,
Since I know that the crowd is noted for
Their rebellion to You at every door.
Remember this one thing, Beloved, that there
Is not one single sect that takes a care
Even to keep the ten words You declare
On Sinai to be law and bound to last.
Beloved, I see the time that now has passed
Does nothing to correct the lame excuse.
Men always find a reason for abuse.
And so I join the party with ill-ease
And let the neighbour taste the wine and cheese
While I stand back and ask the thing You please.

10 But Nathan the prophet and yet
Benaiah, and the mighty set
And Solomon his brother, he
Did not call to rebellious spree.
Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba
Mother of Solomon in awe,
11 Saying “Have you not heard that one
Adonijah and what he’s done
The son of Haggith that he might
Reign and David our lord in sight
Does not know of the thing not right?
12 So now then, please, let me advise
How to save yourself from the spies
And Solomon your son’s life too,
For treachery’s a prince’s due.
13 Go get you in before the king
David and say to him a thing,
‘Did you not, O my lord the king,
Swear to your handmaid when you said,
“Surely Solomon your son bred
Shall reign after me, and he’ll sit
Upon my throne? Then is it fit
That Adonijah reign to wit?”’
14 “And see, while you are speaking still
With the king, I’ll come after, will
Confirm your words to fit the bill.”

I plan my words, Beloved, to save my life
Before democracy as sharp as knife.
In ancient times and other places it
Was and is enough merely to be fit
To please one man, the king, and then arise
In freedom to pursue one’s duty’s prize.
But now one has to look at every vote
And please both small as well as men of note.
Beloved, I long to see a righteous king
Sit once more on David’s throne and to sing.
Perhaps the world will then sit down from strife
And every man can focus on his wife
Instead of the survival of the great.
The fittest, well, they always come in late.

15 So Bathsheba went to the king
Into the chamber, and the king
Was very old and Abishag
The Shunammite served without shag
Before the king. 16 Bathsheba bowed
And did obeisance as allowed
Unto the king. And the king said
“What do you want of drink or bread?”
17 And she said to him, “My lord, you
Swore by your Ælohim and YHWH
To your handmaid, ‘Assuredly
Solomon your son after me
Shall reign, and he shall sit upon
My throne.’ 18 “And now with horrid brawn
See Adonijah reigns instead
And you, my lord king, don’t see red.
19 “And he has slaughtered oxen and
Fat cattle and sheep lots in hand,
And has called all the king’s sons there,
And Abiathar priest to dare,
And Joab chief of the army,
But Solomon your servant free
He has not called to join the spree.
20 “And you, my lord king, all the eyes
Of Israel are on you to prize
That you should tell them who shall sit
On the throne of my lord king fit
After him. 21 “Otherwise it may
Come to pass, when my lord king’s way
Shall be to sleep in fathers’ den,
That I and my son Solomon
Shall be counted offenders then.”

The first queen from the cradle stings the rest.
All earthly monarchies it is confessed
Whether of human or of beastly breast
Rely upon the killing of the crowd
Of princes waiting for their father’s shroud.
I thank You, my Beloved, I am low born
Of mere retainers below courtly scorn,
And though Carrick is still a monarch’s land,
I don’t pretend to give a helping hand
To lord or bailiff as my fathers did.
Instead I’ve learned to wander who once hid.
So now Bathsheba, once for beauty taken,
Fears that she and her son may be forsaken.
Beloved, stand up and shout for the next bid.

22 And see while she was talking still
With the king, Nathan, fit to kill,
The prophet also came to court.
23 And they said to the king in short
“See, here is Nathan who’s the prophet.”
And when he came before the soffit
To see the king, he bowed before
The king with his face to the floor.

This is one thing I hate about the kings
That do or do not submit to Your things.
Even Your prophets come before the throne,
Or before the bed where they’re not alone,
To bow and scrape, indeed to fall upon
The stony floor with ashen forehead drawn
To meet its coldness and to steel the soul
Against the body’s trembling at the shoal.
Beloved, see Nathan bend before the cage
Where slumbers David’s soul for patronage.
I come before Your throne, Beloved, to seek
A boon in answer to my witness meek
That traitors wait beside Your oaken door
To break through and melt all Your gospel lore.

24 And Nathan said “My lord, O king,
Have you said ‘Adonijah’s wing
Shall reign after me, and he’ll sit
Upon my throne in form and fit?’
25 “For he has gone down today and
Has sacrificed oxen on land
And fat cattle and sheep in lots
And called all the king’s sons in plots,
And captains of the army too,
Abiathar the priest in view,
And they are eating, drinking too,
In front of him and shouting due,
‘God save king Adonijah’s crew.’
26 “But me your servant and Zadok
The priest, and Benaiah the stock
Of Jehoiada, and your slave
Solomon, has he not called grave.
27 “Is this thing done by my lord king,
And you have not revealed the thing
To your servant, who should sit down
On the throne of my lord renown
And king after him?” 28 Then the king
David answered and said a thing,
“Call me Bathsheba.”And she came
Into the king’s presence and fame,
And stood before the king in claim.

Well Adonijah made fatal mistake
When he failed to call Nathan to the wake,
And left out Zadok from the party list.
He should have known at least those two were missed.
If Adonijah had not failed to bring
The priest and prophet into such a thing,
He might have succeeded in drawing off
Support to Solomon, for all men scoff
At those whose power has left them in the lurch.
That’s so in court and country and the church.
For that mistake the man may well lose all
As lose those who attempt to beat the pall
Of power in every place where power corrupts:
The earth must shake and volcano errupts.

And the king swore and said “As YHWH
Lives who has redeemed my soul true
Out of all distress, 30 “even as
I swore you by YHWH Ælohim
Of Israel, saying whereas,
‘In truth Solomon your son’s beam
Shall shine after me, and he’ll sit
Upon my throne in my stead fit,’
Even so will I certainly
Perform the thing today, just see.”

The king took up Your lovely Name to make
An affirmation for Solomon’s sake
And for his mother Bathsheba who won
The king’s heart in the shaky thing she’d done.
Could You, Beloved, not just as well have made
Adonijah a jewel instead of spade?
Your workings are beyond the ken of man
And even women have to stretch to scan
Your justice and to know the heavenly plan.
While I do not fill throne, nor do desire
The provenance of stately pomp and fire,
I fill the place perhaps that You have meant
When You gave me my breath in this world sent.
Beloved, look on the thing now and relent.

31 Then Bathsheba bowed with her face
To the earth, to reverence trace
Before the king, and said “Let my
Lord king David live to the sky.”
32 And king David said “Call me then
Zadok the priest and Nathan ken
The prophet, and Benaiah son
Of Jehoiada, and when done
They came before the king to stun.

I think Bathsheba was noted somehow
From the first day in how she knew to bow.
Some wives of kings have disrespectful tongues
And let the evil air come from their lungs.
Some wives of kings remember that too late,
Perhaps because their husbands have full pate
Of hair and are still young upon the throne.
The wife of king must plan the decades grown
If she would see her own son beat the mass
That waits for honour to anoint the crass.
Beloved, Bathsheba knows now when to lay
Her forehead in the dust in the king’s way.

33 The king also said to them, “Take
With you the servants for the sake
Of your lord and cause Solomon
My son to ride on my own dun
Mule and bring him down to Gihon.
34 And let Zadok the priest there and
Nathan the prophet oil in hand
Anoint him there king of the land
Of Israel, and blow the horn
And say ‘God save the king new-sworn,
Solomon’, do by my command.”

My own great grandfather was prone to sit
Upon a mule because he was not fit
And felt in limb the old paralysis
That in his childhood nearly made him miss
The right to rule the county from his farm.
He rode upon a mule to keep from harm.
But he was not anointed in his place,
Not least because he was not chosen race.
Beloved, I hear the blowing of the horn
About the ears of those You hold in scorn.
But Solomon rides with the right to see
The people bowing by royal decree.
How rare to find a king elected once
By You instead of every prairie dunce!

1 KINGS 2

1 Now David’s time to die came near,
He ordered Solomon in fear,
Saying 2 “I go the way of all
The earth, so be strong to the call,
And show yourself a man withal,
3 “And keep the charge of YHWH your God
To walk in His ways on the sod,
To keep His statutes and His laws,
And his judgements and hold the clause
Of His testimonies as it
Is written in Moses’ law fit,
That you may prosper in all that
You do and where you turn you at,
4 “That YHWH may continue His word
That He spoke about me when stirred,
Saying ‘If your children take heed
To their way to do every deed
Before Me in truth with all their
Heart and with all their soul with care,
There shall not fail you one to sit
On Israel’s throne in form and fit.’
5 “Moreover you know also what
Joab son of Zeruiah mutt
Did to me, and what he did to
The two captains of the hosts true
Of Israel, to Abner son
Of Ner and to Amasa son
Of Jether, whom he killed and shed
The blood of war in peace instead,
And put the blood of war upon
His belt around his waist once drawn,
And on his shoes upon his feet.
6 “Do therefore by your wisdom and
Let not his grey head meet the sand
Of the grave in peace. 7 “But be good
To Barzillai’s sons from the wood
Of Gilead, and let them be
Eating at your own table free,
For they came to my aid when I
Fled from your brother on the sly
From Absalom in cunning try.
8 “And see, there is with you Shimei
The son of Gera, Benjamite
Of Bahurim, who cursed my sight
With horrid curses on the day
When I went to Mahanaim’s way,
But he came down to meet me at
Jordan, and I swore where he sat
By YHWH, saying, ‘I will not put
You to death with the sword on foot.’
9 “Now therefore hold him not guiltless,
For you are a wise man to guess
And know what you should do to him,
But his grey head bring down and dim
To the grave with the blood of him.”

Although I tell my daughter and her son
To keep the laws of Moses and be done,
I do not tell them of the ones who’ve cursed
My grey head and tried to do me their worst.
It’s of no use, Beloved, among the weak
And powerless to proclaim wrong and seek
The vengeance on the wicked for their wrong.
That is for the wealthy alone as song.
It’s no use, my Beloved, to stand and wait
For You to bring the wicked to their fate.
While Your grief is greater than I could make,
Your mercy always trembles in the wake.
So there’s naught left but suffer and forget
The crown of thorns and all the rogues I’ve met.

10 So David slept with his fathers,
And was buried as it occurs
In David’s city with all stirs.
11 And David reigned in Israel
For forty years, and seven to tell
He reigned in Hebron, and three years
And thirty in Jerusalem.
12 Then Solomon, as it appears,
Sat on the throne in David’s hem
Who was his father, and his reign
Was well established to regain.

Beloved, I long to have lived on the soil
Where David reigned in forty years of toil.
I’d like to hear in my reality
The token of his harp in psalmistry.
Instead I find my way to where he sings
In dreams and visions when the night takes wings
And carries me up to the brazen hill
Where his voice sounds resounding silver still.
Beloved, I wish that I might find the throne
Upon which David sits and when I’ve shown
My plaint upon the walls that bear him up,
To take to my lips alabaster cup
And drink the mead that tells the vision grand
That You, Beloved, on shepherd boy once planned.

13 Then Adonijah Haggith’s son
Came to Bathsheba on the run
Who was mother of Solomon.
And she said “Do you come in peace?”
And he said “In peace for release.”
14 He said further “I’ve aught to say
To you.” And she said “Have your way.”
15 And he said “You know that the seat
Of kingdom was mine, and the meet
Of all Israel had set the face
In my favour to reign in place,
And yet the kingdom’s turned about
And become my brother’s devout,
For it was his from YHWH’s look-out.
16 “And now I ask of you one thing,
Do not deny me.” Replying
She said “Say on.” 17 And he said “Speak,
Please, to Solomon, go and seek
From him because he’ll not say no
To you, that he give me a go
At having Abishag as wife,
The Shunammite with wedding fife.”

Adonijah is like contemporary,
Well-fraught with self-esteem to mind the berry.
If one kingdom is lost, no matter now,
He’ll pluck the cherry from Abishag’s bough.
There’s no harm in trying, such say when they
Set aside pride and wonder for the day
And stride into the glory for a smile
And pretend all is done and without guile.
Success and not reluctance at the tower
Is for the man who grasps the fatal hour.
Beloved, I lend my hand to smaller things
That do not catch the eye of new-clad kings.
Let Adonijah join the cheap and crass
And I shall wait for You till his times pass.

18 And Bathsheba said “Well, I’ll speak
To the king for the thing you seek.”
19 Bathsheba therefore went in to
The king Solomon with the view
Of speaking to him for the thing
Adonijah brought to the king.
20 Then she said “I desire one small
Petition of you at your call,
Don’t tell me no.” And the king said
To her, “Just ask, mom, do not dread
That I will tell you no instead.”
21 And she said “Then let Abishag
Be given as Adonijah’s hag,
To your brother as wife in bag.”
22 King Solomon answered and said
To his mother, “Why were you led
To ask Abishag Shunammite
For Adonijah in my sight?
Ask for him the kingdom also,
For he’s my elder brother, so
Too for Abiathar the priest,
And for Joab who was not least
The son of Zeruiah’s feast.”

Which of these too is foolish in Your sight,
The mother preyed upon or the up-tight
King who is angry at a small request?
Tell me, Beloved, which of these did her best?
How many times the rogues come to my fame
And ask a service as though not in blame,
And I go out to foot the bill and stake?
How often do I make the same mistake
As Solomon whose anger jumped to life
Like a dog sleeping just before the strife?
Beloved, let sleeping dogs fly in the wind
And tell me quickly before I have sinned
That Adonijah’s knocking at my door.
Let me not answer, though he knock a score.

23 King Solomon swore by YHWH, said
“God do me in and more than read,
If Adonijah did not speak
This word against his own life weak.
24 “Now therefore as YHWH lives who set
Me on the throne established yet
Of David my father, and who
Has made me a house by His cue,
This very day Adonijah
Shall swing and meet his death by law.

Here’s just one more occasion for the weak
Hand of a king to set his kingdom sleek
By doing in an example to stir
The hearts of subjects, let their fear incur
Disdain of those who love democracy.
No government is so outright friendly.
All have a scapegoat by which fear arises
In populace, the rag-assed jock despises.
There is no place in some society
Where soul can grow to grandeur and to see
The hope of Your creation at its peak.
You who invented both the oak and teak
Could not polish the body nor the soul
Of humankind before the barber pole.

25 King Solomon sent by the hand
Of Benaiah son in command
Of Jehoiada, and he fell
On him so he died at the knell.
26 And to Abiathar the priest
The king said “Get to Anathoth,
To your own fields and their increased,
For you are worthy now of death,
But I will not now execute
You, because you carried to boot
The ark of the Lord YHWH before
David my father and the store
Of his afflictions shared the more.

All kingdoms are established in the wake
Of fratricide, the only course to take.
One can neglect it, but when one does so,
One’s own brother will come to steal the show
And lodge a dagger in the heart to last.
No, fratricide is surely never past
As long as kingdoms and nations have those
Who rule the masses and come to dispose
Of wealth and transportation and the songs
Taught to the school children with chimes and gongs.
The new king must have officers both new
And fresh, favourable, above all true
To the new king instead of to the old.
Who rules the nation must kill and be bold.

27 So Solomon threw out the priest
Abiathar before YHWH’s feast,
That he might carry out the word
Of YHWH which He spoke as when stirred
Against the house of Ali in
Shiloh for judgement and for sin.

I cannot help but find here in this word
Hypocrisy for what once more occurred
In justifying what’s expedient
But record to a prophecy well spent.
You might have forgiven the house that lost
It’s favour because of two sons embossed
With their corruption, such does not mean that
Their offspring too will wickedly get fat.
Is not the visitation of the dad
And what he did for evil and for bad
Limited to generations in three
Or four at most? Here You do wonderfully.
But Solomon needs prophecy to make
Good on his kingdom and enlarge his stake.

28 The news came to Joab, for he
Joab had turned in treachery
After Adonijah, though he
Did not turn after Absalom.
And Joab fled ad libitum
Into YHWH’s tent and caught hold on
The horns of the altar up drawn.
29 And it was told king Solomon
That Joab had fled to the tent
Of YHWH, and see, where the man went
By the altar. Then Solomon
Sent Benaiah Jehoiada’s son,
Saying “Go kill him, have it done.”

If I’ve a shred of pity for the fate
Of Abiathar at the temple gate,
And if I disdain Adonijah’s way
Of self-serving along the royal play,
I find less pity, more disdain for this
Captain of the guard who had gone amiss.
Joab indeed killed two men in cold blood.
I only ask why David when the flood
Was fresh did not enquire upon the guilt?
The truth is Joab knew to joust and tilt
And was of use to David to the hilt.
Beloved, I share the condemnation sought,
But still doubt purity of motives bought.
But what am I to give the song a lilt?

30 And Benaiah came to the tent
Of YHWH and said when he was sent,
“The king says ‘Come out.’” But he said
“No, I would rather have this bed.”
And Benaiah brought back the word
To the king and said what occurred,
“So says Joab who answered me.”
31 And the king said to him, “Do what
He wants, and fall upon his gut
And bury him and take away
The innocent blood from the way
Joab killed from me and the room
Of my father for Joab’s doom.

How does the vengeance dealt upon the head
Of the guilty gainsay the benefit
That the crown obtained from the battle lit
By Joab after he had made his bed?
The heathen superstition that the spread
Of blood in execution makes all fit
Is awful and atrocious where I sit.
Atonement by death makes my eyes see red.
But what I think is not a care at all.
I come to You, Beloved, and ask reprieve
From pagan watches that would break the scroll.
No sacrifice of blood can fill the wall
Or close the breach once it has torn the sleeve.
Stones, needle, thread and sweat repair the soul.

32 “And YHWH shall return his blood on
His own head, who had fallen on
Two men more righteous than he was
And better too, and in his claws
Killed them with the sword, while my dad
David did not know that he had,
Abner the son of Ner and chief
Of Israel’s army to his grief
And Amasa son of Jether,
Chief of Judah’s army and pure.
33 “Their blood shall therefore return on
The head of Joab, and upon
The head of his seed to endure,
But on David and on his seed
And on his house and on indeed
His throne shall there be peace for aye
From YHWH for ever by and by.”
34 Benaiah Jehoiada’s son
Went up and fell on him when done
And killed him, and they buried him
In his own house in desert dim.

Beloved, I thank You that I have no place
As civil servant in this year of grace.
For civil servants obey orders now
As they did under Solomon’s grim brow.
Beloved, I thank You that monopoly
Of power is something I shall never see,
For bloody hand is bloody hand’s degree
No matter who tells one to lift the sword.
Some kill no doubt just because they are bored,
And today only those and the outraged
Are stricken for their deeds when they are paged.
Those who obey their orders are applauded
For all the bloody soaked lands they’ve marauded.
The civil servant’s faithful, ripe and aged.

1 KINGS 3

1 Solomon made a treaty with
Pharaoh king of Egypt for kith
To take Pharaoh’s daughter and brought
Her to David’s city and lot
Until he finished building his
Own house, also YHWH’s house to sizz
And the wall of Jerusalem
Around about it for a hem.
2 Only the folk sacrificed on
The high places, since none had drawn
A house for the name of YHWH till
Those very days upon the hill.
3 And Solomon loved YHWH and walked
In the laws his dad David talked,
Only he sacrificed and burnt
Incense in high places unlearnt.
And the king went to Gibeon
To sacrifice there, since it’s drawn
A great high place there, and he set
A thousand burnt offerings to get,
Did Solomon upon the altar.
5 In Gibeon YHWH without falter
Appeared to Solomon who dreamed
At night and God said “Ask me what
I shall give you in wealth to glut.”

Is Gibeon one of the high place sites
Where in days past idolatry for spites
Arose and flourished to be put to rights
By righteous prophets and kings flying kites?
So Solomon worshipped You in the place
Where Canaanite chose to worship disgrace,
And in that did not stray from the path chosen
By centuries of Christians in their hosen.
The thing is overlooked by You it seems,
Although it no doubt led the folk to dreams
Of Baal, yet there was precedent and holy
In Abraham who never built place lowly
For sacrifice. Beloved, You answer prayer
Addressed to You anytime, anywhere.

6 And Solomon said “You have shown
Your servant David on the throne
Great mercy according to how
He acted toward You in the prow
Of truth, and in his righteousness,
And in heart uprightness to bless
With You, and You have kept for him
This great kindness, that You not grim
Have given a son to him to sit
On his throne as this day and fit.
7 “And now, YHWH my Ælohim, You
Have made Your servant king on cue
Instead of my dad David true,
And I’m a little child, I do
Not know to go out or come in.
8 “And your servant is in the bin
Of Your people that You have chosen,
A great folk that cannot for hosen
Be numbered or counted for crew.
9 “So give Your servant a wise heart
To judge Your people on Your part,
To distinguish between the good
And the bad, for who ever could
Judge this Your so great multitude?”

You never came to me, Beloved, to ask
What wealth I desired for my faithful task.
And yet I think if You had given me
The choice to own what of the world freely,
I might have chosen just this square and place
Where I have so heartily sought Your face.
I might have chosen just these forest trails,
And just these granite boulders with their grails,
And just these justling crags of quartzite drawn
Across the blushing countenance of dawn.
I might have chosen just this garden well
And this nasturtium-covered citadel.
I might have asked the wisdom to come late
To bless my hands and feet and balding pate.

10 And what he said pleased YHWH because
Solomon asked for such in paws.
11 And God told him, “Because you’ve asked
This thing and have not rather basked
In begging for yourself long life,
Nor asked for wealth to sound of fife,
Nor begged Me kill your enemies,
But asked to understand decrees
Of judgement, 12 “see then, I have done
According to your words begun,
And see, I give you in your heart
Understanding, so no man’s part
Before you nor after you can
Rise up to stand before your plan.
13 “And I have also given you
The things you didn’t ask Me to,
Both wealth and honour, so there’ll not
Be any kings like you in plot
All the days of your life and lot.
14 “And if you’ll just walk in My ways
To keep My statutes and the maze
Of My commandments as your dad
David did walking, then I’ll pad
With length and strength all of your days.”

Is long life blessing? For some it is not.
For those who suffer in the planting plot
Long life is burdensome, and then some caught
In old-age sins had better meet the rot
In youth and rest in righteous grave unsought.
Is long life blessing? Perhaps when it runs
Its course in the commandments and in tons
Of honour to both mom and dad that stuns
The lookers on who say that simpletons
Must earn respect and honour with their guns.
Beloved, I want no long life, but today
The life that is led in Your guiding way
Until I find the last field and last ray
That takes me to the place where I shall stay.

15 And Solomon woke up and see
It was a dream. And so then he
Came to Jerusalem and stood
Before ark of covenant good
Of YHWH and offered up the burnt
Sacrifices as he had learnt,
And peace offerings, and made a feast
For all his servants great to least.

Beloved, I’m not sure I would trust a dream.
Why did You not appear outright in scheme
To give the man assurance of the trust
That You had in him, though made of the dust?
The fact is You always leave room to doubt
And cast a shadow on thinking about.
There is no certainty, and yet men come
To offer sacrifice to You and strum
The harp and guitar in Your praise unknown.
They come before Your great and unseen throne.
Beloved, give me no dreams, for I shall fail
To take them in the way that I’d prevail.
If You cannot be seen, then be not seen
And I shall struggle to maintain the mean.

16 Then there came two women, harlots
Before the king and stood for plots.
17 And one woman said “O my lord,
I and this woman share one board,
And I gave birth to boy with her
In the house. 18 “And it did occur
On the third day after I had
The baby, this woman unclad
Also had a child, and we were
Together, no stranger to stir
With us in the house, just the two
Of us in the house, there so few.
19 “And this woman’s child in the night
Died because she lay on the mite.
20 “And she got up at midnight and
Took my son from beside my hand
While your handmaid lay there asleep,
And took my son from arms to keep,
And laid him on her breast to rest
And laid her dead son on my breast.
21 “And in the morning when I rose
To suckle my child, see the pose
Was dead, but when I saw the thing
In the morning, see regarding
It was not my son that took wing.”
22 And the other woman said “No,
But the living’s my son and so
The dead is your son.” But she said
“No, your son is the one that’s dead,
And the living is mine instead.”
So they spoke before the king’s row.

I come to You, Beloved, and bring the claim
Of children that I’ve born to bear my name
And children that I’ve slain once in my sleep,
And children that I’ve held up safe to keep.
And as I join the milling throng before
Your throne, Beloved, though pushed back to the door,
I raise my voice to join the clamour that
Cries justice, justice before where You sat.
Beloved, though I am nothing more to share
The board and bait beneath the earth’s bright care
Than any other harlot at the gate,
Still I stand here and for Your justice wait.
Beloved, in wisdom come investigate
The truth of what I say or not relate.

23 Then said the king, “The one says ‘This
Is my son alive, and you kiss
The dead,’ and the other one says
‘No, rather your son’s lived his days
While my son is one living still.’”
24 Then the king spoke up with a will,
“Bring me a sword.” And so they brought
A sword before the king who sought.
25 And the king said “Divide the child
Alive in two and reconciled
Give half to the one and the half
To the other like fatted calf.”

Who knows who started this relation of
Wisdom in judgement as described above?
But Solomon, it seems he was the first,
And yet the verdict was never the worst,
For Ali too once brought it out to bear
When two women came to him with their share
Of stories for his judgement in their case.
The child divided has become a race.
Beloved, let wisdom once begun in that
Fair word that people heard where the king sat
Cover the world with comfort for the true,
Even if they are now resigned and few.
And I shall stand with sword drawn if You will
To break down the oppression of the till.

26 Then the woman whose child it was
Spoke up to the king for the cause
That her pity yearned on her son,
And she said “O my lord, be done
To give her the live child and do
Not in any case kill curlew.”
But the other one spoke instead,
“Let it be neither mine nor bred
For you, but divide limb and head.”
27 Then the king answered and said “Give
Her the living child, let it live,
She is the mother of it.” 28 And
All Israel heard the king’s command
In judgement as he judged, and they
Feared the king, for they saw the way
God’s wisdom was in him to do
Justice to Israel and crew.

The judgement has gone stale. Beloved, the light
Of Solomon is known in every fight.
Today the guilty are more cunning far
At demonizing innocence with tar.
The newspaper and television start
The reputation of the knave and tart
Before the evidence has come to light.
If evidence appears, by then the sight
Is too late to save any from the harm.
Beloved, lift up Your great and saving arm,
For that is all that can today prevent
The judgement by the fire and water vent.
The witch trial is the only way men know
To deal with others, the pyre and its glow.

1 KINGS 4

1 So king Solomon was the king
Over all Israel reigning.
2 And these were the princes he had,
Azariah the son and lad
Of Zadok the priest, 3 Elihoreph,
And Ahiah, sons of Shisha
Scribes, and recorder and still more if
We count Jehoshaphat the son
Of Ahilud, 4 And Benaiah
The son of Jehoiada won
Over the army, and Zadok
And Abiathar of the flock
Of priests, 5 and Azariah son
Of Nathan over officers,
And Zabud Nathan’s son occurs
As principal officer and
The king’s friend set at his right hand.
6 And Ahishar over household,
And Adoniram the son bold
Of Abda over the tribute,
All of these great men in suite.

The son of Zadok. Well, the generations
Go in for inherited posts’ elations.
It’s safer to take on the progeny
Of civil servants to collect in fee
Than to take on an unknown quantity
In bringing farm-lads to the court to bask.
That was Saul’s real mistake, he had to ask
Whose son the stripling was who deigned to come
Against Goliath and kill him to strum
A harp the rest of the day under sun
Beside the sheep when the foul deed was done.
Beloved, You seem to stick with safe and known
In letting the world go as it is prone.
I would have invented another gun.

7 Solomon had twelve officers
Over all Israel to provide
Victuals for king and all that stirs
In his household, each man did
His month in turn around the lid
Of one year in provision’s bid.
8 And these are their names: son of Hur
In mount Ephraim. 9 And Ben-Dekar
In Makaz, and in Shaalbim,
And Bethshemesh, Elon bethhanan.
10 Hesed’s son in Aruboth, man
To whom was Sochoh, and to him
All the land of Hepher to scan.
11 Son of Abinadab in all
The region of Dor and its stall,
Who had as wife Taphath daughter
Of Solomon and to confer.

Even in Your grand lodge and church, Beloved,
The hand of nepotism comes ungloved.
The son-in-law of the king always wins
A place beside the altar, by the bins
Of gemstones caught and polished to a shine.
The son-in-law of king always drinks wine.
Give me no benefice of bishop’s seat,
Give me no place in parliament to greet
The mouth of the corrupt with a word sweet.
I look instead for pine-cone and wild vine.
Beloved, though Your chosen to represent
You on this earth cannot escape the bent
Of favourites, I still return to You
In anarchy to find the royal view.

12 Baana the son of Ahilud
With Taanach and Megiddo’s crude
And all Bethshean by Zartanah
Below Jezreel out from the raw
Bethshean to Abelmeholah,
To beyond Jokneam for a straw.

Sweet excellence or coriander luck
Seem to be the meaning of the strange puck
Of Megiddo, and yet I doubt the twain,
And figure looking at the word is vain.
The failing vanity goes down to be
The railing mourning of a patient’s fee
Or sweeter meadow of her dance to rest
On Abelmeholah’s comforting breast.
Your word, Beloved, as soon I come to stand
Outside the ten words of Your loved command,
Is filled with bright and darkness, swirling mist
To lose my way in what I found and kissed.

13 The son of Geber in Ramoth
Of Gilead to him were both
The towns of Jair who was the son
Of Manasseh, which are begun
In Gilead, to him the place
Of Argob, which of Bashan’s race
There are sixty great cities there
With stony wall and brazen bar.
14 Ahinadab son of Iddo
With Mahanaim for the kiddo.
15 Ahimaaz in Naphtali, he
Also took Basmath, daughter see
Of Solomon as wife to be.

The question I ask now is why the king
Solomon ever came to do the thing.
He gave his daughter such a name to wear
That I’d be shamed to have her in my care.
Basmath means desolation in my book,
And devastation everywhere I look.
If I were the princess, I’d change my name
And rid myself of mom’s and my dad’s shame.
Beloved, I do not know by what thing said
In darkness and in secret at the bed
Of my conceiving gave me name at birth.
I do not know what You whisper in worth
In memory of me, and yet I know
By what names I lift up Your power and glow.

16 Baanah the son of Hushai in
Asher and in Aloth for bin.
17 Jehoshaphat Paruah’s son
In Issachar for all he won.
18 Shimei the son of Elah in
The populace of Benjamin.
19 Geber the son of Uri in
The country of Gilead’s win,
The country of Sihon the king
Of Amorites and of Og king
Of Bashan, and the only sting
Who in the land was gathering.

In every time and place a prophet stands,
In every country held beneath his hands,
Whether as king or hidden ruler of
The hidden ones who look to You in love,
There are twelve princes decked and sealed sweet
To witness to Your name and always greet
Both sun and cart that graces market street.
So Solomon too appoints twelve men meet.
Beloved, I search the record of the past
To find the blessed names and hold them fast
In heart and tongue that my hand might employ
Their counsel in my actions to my joy.
Hidden or shown, the twelve whirl on to make
The world a better place and for Your sake.

20 Judah and Israel were many,
And like the sand beside the sea
For multitude, and eating and
Drinking and enjoying the land.
21 And Solomon reigned over all
Kingdoms from the river to pall
Of the land of the Philistines,
And to Egypt’s border in vines,
And they brought tribute and they served
Solomon all his days unswerved.
22 Solomon’s victuals for one day
Was thirty kors in fine flour’s way,
And sixty kors of meal to sway,
23 Ten fat oxen and twenty more
Out of the pastures, so a score,
And then a hundred sheep, beside
Stags, gazelles, roebuck to abide
What fatted fowl cackled and cried.
24 For he reigned over all this side
Of the river from Tiphsah’s pride
To Gaza, over all the kings
On this side of the river wings.
And He had peace on all sides round
About him from the people’s sound.

The banquet never stops beneath the sun,
Despite the rivers filled with blood that run
From Basrah upstream far as Babylon.
The divine feast goes on despite the fire
That burns the innocent at wealth’s desire
Before which righteous men would fain retire.
The divine concert and the living speech
That binds the human heart each one to each
Is never finish with or without peach.
The festival of angel and of men
Springs from the hidden forest and the glen
To dowse the cry of pain now and again.
Beloved, the reign of Solomon’s increase
Continues under canopy’s release.

25 And Judah and Israel safely
Lived each man under his fig tree
And under vine from Dan clear to
Beersheba all Solomon’s due.
26 Solomon had forty thousand
Stall of horses for chariots’ hand
And twelve thousand horsemen to stand.
27 And those officers did provide
Victuals for king Solomon’s side,
And for all who came to the board
Of king Solomon, each man shored
In his own month, they lacked no stored.
28 Barely also and straw replete
For horses and donkeys both fleet
They brought to the place where they were,
Every man as his charge infer.

The hidden warriors of Your pomp and train
Come out when needed to battle the vain,
And secret sentinals rise on the walls
To warn the failing traveller by their calls.
The military clout that would stand up
Before Your unseen armies like a tup
Falls down at the last moment when You rise
Invisibly beyond both star and skies.
Beloved, the hope of centuries is cast
In the engraven footprint come to last
From the chosen one’s horse as it arose
And found the secret place of heart’s repose.
From this height of seeing I look out on
A world destroyed and safe beneath the dawn.

29 And Ælohim gave Solomon
Wisdom and understanding won
And greatness of heart as the sand
That lies between the sea and land.
30 And Solomon’s wisdom excelled
The wisdom of all those who dwelled
In the east country, and all great
Wisdom that was in Egypt late.
31 For he was wiser than all men,
Than Ethan the Ezrahite then
And Heman, and Chalcol, Darda,
The sons of Mahol, held in awe
Was his fame in all nations round.

The wondrous thing is that wisdom profound
Was recognized by any folk around.
More like today the ones we think are wise
Are just the bait of vicious, buzzing flies.
The truly wise are hidden from the view
Of those whose nose is fixed upon the few
That television raises to estate.
I spit upon the wise and shining pate.
Beloved, I searched with car and bus and train
For wisdom in the world, I searched in vain
Until I found the ink scratch of Your word
And delved into its secrets undeterred.
The gem I know is rarely taken out
Before the crowds and acclaimed with a shout.

32 And he spoke three thousand of sound
Proverbs, and his songs numbered to
A thousand and five, not a few.
33 And he spoke all about the trees
From cedar tree that knows the breeze
Of Lebanon down to the low
Hyssop that from the wall may grow.
He also spoke of beasts and fowl,
Of creeping things, fishes and owl.

The wisest of all men spoke mainly of
The lowly things of nature in his love.
The voice of ant gave meaning to the ear
That followed the brief paths taught by Your fear.
The whisper of the trees from Lebanon
Down to the fields of Beersheba anon
Gave breath to wise words written on the soul
Of one who sought it from its truest goal.
Though I may be not wise, nor of this world
Nor of the depth of spirit unseen furled,
I too follow the steps of Solomon
To find what wise things I seek in the drum
Of hidden songs of birch and fir that come
At the sunrise in a winter empearled.

34 From all the nations round there came
Folk to hear Solomon’s great fame
Of wisdom, from all kings of earth
Who had heard of his wisdom’s worth.
35 And Solomon took for himself
Pharoah’s daughter as wife and elf,
And brought her to David’s city
Until he’d finished his decree
To build the house of YHWH to be,
And his own house, and wall to see
Around Jerusalem’s city.

For ages men have wondered that the king
Would take Pharoah’s daughter, wife under wing.
Some think he felt the need to make a pact
Of peace through the matrimonial act.
Some think he was attracted by the meat
Of heathen girls instead of what was sweet.
Some think the lady fought to get his smile
Attracted by his wisdom, without guile
Repented of her young idolatry
And embraced You in all Your sovereignty.
The lovers think she loved him and when he
Found her he also loved her for her claim
To wisdom and to beauty and the flame
Of faith in You instead of trinity.

1 KINGS 5

1 And Hiram king of Tyre sent on
His servants up to Solomon,
For he’d heard they’d anointed him
King in his father’s interim,
For Hiram always loved David.
2 And Solomon sent Hiram bid,
Saying 3 “You know David my dad
Could not build a house, it was sad,
To name of YHWH his Ælohim
Because the wars came in between,
Until YHWH set them under feet,
4 “But now YHWH my Ælohim’s treat
To me is rest on every side,
So neither foe nor fiend abide,
5 “And see I intend now to build
A house to the great name instilled
Of YHWH my Ælohim as spoke
YHWH to David my dad in stroke,
Saying ‘Your son, whom I will set
On your throne instead of you met,
He shall build a house to My name.’
6 “So now command them with acclaim
To cut me cedar trees of fame
From Lebanon, and my servants
Shall be with your servants to dance,
And I will give the price of each
Of your servants that come in reach
According to the price you set,
For you know that there’s none to get
With skill among us to cut trees
As the Sidonians in degrees.”

Hiram loved David much and so he sent
His blessings upon Solomon who lent
The throne of David fresh blood and new ways.
He probably would have had the same days
If Adonijah had mounted the throne.
So friendship in this world’s a thing alone
Of chance and who gets what position known.
It is not set on deep affinity
Nor on justice or loving sanity.
Give me no friends at all, Beloved, if they
Are friends because of the imperial sway
Of circumstance! Give me companions that
Reflect to me the beauty where You’re at,
Divinity in human eye that sat.

8 And Hiram sent to Solomon,
Saying “I’ve considered things done
Which you sent me for, I will do
What you want in cedar wood too,
And in fir wood as by your due.

Cedar and fir, not specially hard wood,
Through fragrant for a while in cupboard stood,
And flammable beyond the crackling dare
Of briars in the sheepfold, Lord beware.
I would have built of oak, but that’s because
Of British blood and Saxon in my claws,
And having many centuries of living
What Appalachian mountain woods are giving.
Beloved, I build my temple not of oak
Nor cedar, but of flesh and at the stroke
Of living blood that courses in my veins.
Beloved, I build a weaker house for gains,
For in my house ascends the voices of
The Psalms in praise to You and in Your love.

9 “My servants shall bring them down from
Lebanon to the sea in sum,
And I will transport them by sea
In floats to the place you set me,
And cause them to unload them there,
And you shall get them and to spare,
Just give my household food in share.”

Beloved, see what agreement reigns at last
Between two kings whose friendship is one cast
In commerce rather than in wars of state.
Let that be lesson to those come of late
Whose economic world is made for war
And settling matters tit for tat and score.
Who think that violence is plague of man
Not to avoid do what we ever can
Is plague himself, for archaeology
Shows there has been long-term society
Where never arm nor lock was once employed.
A thousand years without weapon enjoyed
Is possible where men barter instead
Of hitting each other over the head.

10 So Hiram gave to Solomon
Cedar trees and fir trees in sum.
11 And Solomon gave Hiram kor
To twenty thousand in wheat store
To feed his household and on top
Of that twenty kor of the crop
Of beaten oil, so year by year.

A kor of oil, a kor of wheat well spent
Suffices to make right the wear and rent
Between humankind when the word is sent.
So Hiram gave to Solomon what he
Wanted to set his loving heart in glee,
And Solomon gave Hiram food and store
To feed his servants on the hill and shore
Until no hand or mouth there wanted more.
Beloved, exchange in fair exchange with me
The treasures of Your giving field and tree
As I look out upon the morning wood
To find Your fading tracks where squirrels should
Be hiding what they too need for their sport
Of mealtime instead of defending fort.

A kor of water is all that I need
To bury body like the planter’s seed
In the grave of ablution to regain
The purity that You want to maintain.
Of course that also implies I have been
Circumcised or purified from the din
Of menstruous flow, whichever case may be.
A kor of water clean to sight’s decree
And without adverse taste or smell to show
Corruption of water not on the go.
Beloved, a kor of water or of wine
Is all a man needs to be feeling fine.
Beloved, a kor no more nor less to measure
To me and You the sharing of Our treasure.

12 And YHWH gave Solomon to be
Wise and He promised him in fee,
And there was peace twixt Hiram and
Solomon and they made pact stand.
13 And king Solomon raised levy
From all Israel in number’s fee
To thirty thousand men’s decree.
14 And he sent them to Lebanon,
Ten thousand a month by their turn,
A month they were in Lebanon,
Two months at home with what they earn,
And Adonirom ruled what’s done.
15 Solomon had seventy thousand
That carried loads, eighty thousand
Cutters in the mountain, 16 Beside
The chief of Solomon’s relied
On officers over the work,
Three thousand and three hundred lurk
Over the folk who did the work.

Administration’s not something a fool
Can do without, though wielding hand and tool.
Solomon set an army in that bid
To make up three thousand and three hundred.
So many deans and secretaries loiter
To make things run smoothly and some adroiter!
And yet the ratio of administration
To faculty and staff in God’s own nation
Is nearly one to fifty, so let’s fire
The drones that make academies desire
And companies at loss to produce what
The people need to fill the mind and gut.
Beloved, Your word is where to find solution
To every form of hubristic pollution.

17 And the king commanded to bring
Great stones, and costly stones in ring,
And carved stones to lay the foundation
Of the house of YHWH with elation.
18 And Solomon’s builders and those
Of Hiram hewed them and arose
The stonesquarers, and they prepared
Timber and stone to build the squared.

I could have given Solomon advice
Had I been there to tell him what thing nice
I saw just yesterday, a house built of
Blocks of blue spectrolite, a thing to love.
The man who owned the house owned also quarry,
So he could afford extravagance starry,
And build his cottage of a precious stone.
Too bad that Solomon did not know where
To quarry such a stone as that and rare.
It’s only to be found here under pine
And fir and birch in Finland’s crystalline.
Beloved, stop roaming and stop Your vain search:
Beauty lies under foot of Finnish birch.

1 KINGS 6

It happened in the fateful year
Four hundred and eighty by ear
Since Israel’s children had come out
Of land of Egypt and redoubt,
In the fourth year that graced the reign
Of Solomon to Israel’s gain
In month of Ziv which is second
Month, that he began from the fund
To build the house of YHWH that stunned.

The month of Ziv is mentioned only here.
I do not know what pagan source in gear
May have provided such a name as this.
The reader says it’s brightness of the bliss
Of flowers come up in the desert spring,
The month when nature chooses how to sing.
The burdens are all carried, placed in store,
The hammerless building of temple door
Begins as flower and beast meet with the bird
To twist a melody that’s only heard
Before the Pentecost, before the rate
Of summer come upon the generate.
Beloved, enter the temple when it’s done
To find a bit of shade from burning sun.

2 The house king Solomon built YHWH
Was sixty arm-lengths long and true
Twenty long and thirty high too.

The tiny temple Solomon was pleased
To build in Your honour was never eased
Between the sky scrapers that men need now
To prove themselves the masters of the how.
The tiny temple Solomon erected
In silence on the brow of hill elected
Would hardly make pavilion on the street
Beside a London park where new friends meet.
Beloved, the small dimensions of the house
Reflect in home of raccoon and of mouse,
In fisher hut and in the ardent school
Of birds that nest above the freshet’s pool,
In the dark chamber of my willing heart
Where You dwell in the Psalms come from my part.

3 The foyer before the sanctum
Of the house, twenty lengths in sum
As wide as was the house in all.
4 And he made for the house in stall
Windows for light wider withal
Inwardly than outwardly tall.
5 Against the house wall he built there
Chambers all around about fair
Against the walls of the house round
The temple and oracle sound,
He made chamber round on the ground.
6 The lower chamber arm-lengths five
And middle six arm-lengths to thrive,
And the third seven arm-lengths in all,
For on the outside of the wall
He made narrow rest round about
So the beams when they’re sticking out
Should not be stuck to the house wall.
7 While the house was under construction
Built of stone readied in production
Before it was brought to the spot,
So that there was no hammer got
Nor axe nor any iron tool
Heard in the house by sage or fool
While it was under works and wrought.

Throughout the world there are fond places yet
Where buildings have with love and grace been set
Without the sound of hammer and without
The iron tool or nail used for their clout.
The brazen cleat and wooden peg suffice
In those rare temples where divine advice
Found written in the human heart is true:
Some fail to take up arms and crushing shoe.
The use of iron is spoiled by its abuse
In warfare and in battle to reduce
The world to tyranny. Beloved, Your king
Was son of peace and so I did this thing.
I meet You, my Beloved, without the stroke
Of iron in blade or spear and set in oak.

8 The middle chamber door was set
In the right side of the house met,
And they went up with winding stairs
Into the middle, from which shares
They came into the third bewares.
9 He built the house and finished it,
And covered the house with beams fit
And boards of cedar where they sit.

Cover, Beloved, the stony chambers of
My heart with cedar boards carved out of love.
Make the cold darkness of my heart’s moonscape
A shining light reflected to escape
My narrow bounds in glory where You walk.
Finish my house in beams of cedar’s share
And let the scent forever fill the air
Above the cliffs of granite and of chalk
That teach my feet to slow their pacing there.
Beloved, seek out the middle chamber where
I hide my treasures from the winding stair
To keep an altar met with praise to You.
Beloved, seek out the morning and its dew
In forest, lake and island come to view.

10 And built chambers by all the house
Five arm-lengths high to keep out mouse,
And they lay on the house wall till
Beams of cedar were there to fill.
11 There came a thing of YHWH to him,
To Solomon to tell him trim.
12 “As for this house that you build here,
If you will walk and walk in fear
Of My statutes and execute
My ordinances and to boot
Keep all My commandments to walk
According to them, not just talk,
Then I’ll establish with you what
I told David your dad clear-cut.
13 “And I will dwell among the folk
Of Israel, and not give stroke
To forsake my folk Israel.”

A man would build with pin and groove in stone
And make for You such glories for a throne
Set up in polished wood and crystal ware.
But You, Beloved, do not ring in them there.
A man would cut the rock and in his sweat
Make it a shining thing of love, and yet
The work of hand and heart can never fill
The place for You to stand on Zion’s hill.
Only obedience to You can make
The house a temple fitted for Your sake.
Only obedience, Beloved, is fit
To bring the human heart to where You sit.
Only the will subjected to Your own
Makes beauty in the path where weeds have grown.

14 So Solomon built the house well
And finished it after a spell.
15 He covered the walls inside it
With cedar planks sanded and fit,
From the floor to the ceiling ties
All the surface with wood likewise,
And covered the floor of the place
With planks of fir or cypress’ grace.

Today we use panels in plywood set
Instead of solid planks Solomon let
Appear from floor to ceiling in the house,
The underside of wealth nibbled by mouse.
The solid virtues of our yesteryears
Have given place to hiding notes and fears.
The solid oak and cedar from which then
Grandfather made his furnishings again
Are now cut to a thin veneer or worse
In vinyl photograph replace with curse
The stolid form that once stayed on the shelf.
Though I may live in plastic, let myself
Be still set in the virtues that You gave
On Sinai to rebel and escaped slave.

16 He built twenty arm-lengths upon
The sides of the house, and both on
The floor and the walls cedar board,
Building for himself where it shone
A most holy place to the Lord.
17 And the house, holy place before
It was forty arm-lengths in score.
18 The cedar of the house inside
Was caved with knops and open wide
Blossoms, all cedar, there was seen
No stone at all to intervene.

No stone at all was seen in edifice
That Solomon built up in artifice
Of carvings fruitful of the land of bliss.
No hard heart showed in Solomon to hurt
The feeble plant of Israel’s poorest skirt.
The gravings of wood gaily adorned all
With hope the sun and rain would find the call
Of sparrow still ready to joy and thrall.
Forty arm-lengths about the shining door
Sufficed to greet the world with faith and more.
Beloved, I smell the scented wood’s perfume
As I enter into the sacred room
Of my own heart and temple to find there
Your memory and presence still are fair.

19 And the most holy place he made
In the house where the ark arrayed
Of covenant was set before
YHWH the only One to adore.

There is no place most holy but the one
Where Your commandments are hidden from sun
Who would arise in human mind and heart
To usurp Your divinity with art.
There is no place most holy but where ark
Abides within its bosom close and stark
The tables of the law in blue engraved
That once coming from Egypt people saved.
Beloved, the most holy place that I seek
Is in the heart of self where You will speak
From day to day and night to night Your law
To keep me ever always in Your awe.
Beloved, the most holy place that I find
I filled with glory from You and Your mind.

20 Before it was most holy place,
Twenty arm-lengths in length to face,
And twenty arm-lengths it was wide,
And twenty arm-lengths high in stride,
And that he overlaid with gold
In purity, with gold he rolled
The altar made of cedar mould.

The smallest place in all the house of prayer
Is the most holy because You are there
In the words that You spoke on Mount Sinai,
And in the holy name that You go by.
The smallest room in all the temple court
Could not contain fraction of a cohort,
But it contains the treasures that abound
In all the universe displayed around.
Beloved, I find the smallest seat and place
Away from the vast halls of pomp and grace,
And in that priory where wings encase
The tables of Your law, I find reprieve
From contemplation of competing sleeve
And every sorrow at which I would grieve.

21 So Solomon encased the whole
House inside with pure gold inscroll,
And made a partition by chains
Of gold before most holy place,
And overlaid with gold the face.

The most holy place had its walls all set
In gold before the cherubim had met
Above the signal of Your presence there.
The inside of the place was the most fair.
The bodies that are temples built today
Are clothed on the outside with all the pay
Of gem and gold set off with fabrics taught
To reveal the surface of skinly plot.
Beloved, cover the inside of my heart
With gold of the obedience and art
Of love to You alone, and I shall be
A glory for Your sight alone to see
While what is outside seen of men remains
Without attraction, without human gains.

22 And the whole house as it contains
He overlaid with gold until
He finished the whole house and still
The whole altar beside the place
Most holy he made gold in trace.
23 Inside the most holy place he
Made two cherubs of olive tree,
Each one was ten arm-lengths in height,
And so he did the temple right.

The cherubim, Beloved, are taller than
I would have thought could fit so small a span.
They fill the room and leave hardly the space
To contain You if You appear in grace.
I speak with folly, forgive my poor jokes.
I know no space can contain divine yokes.
But here I learn, Beloved, that humble lace
Is enough for You and for sacred place.
Beloved, inside the most holy I see
The face of cherub made of olive tree,
And all around the glory rises up
To fill the soul with praise as with a cup.
The temple spires are Psalms that gather round
And sanctify Your footprints on the ground.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

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