“What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” “Who is my neighbor?” At first these questions seem contradictory. Some even accuse the questioners of attempting to entrap Yeshua. However, honest seekers of truth regularly challenged rabbis with tough questions, as did Abraham, Moses and others.
We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That love is to be an agape, selfless love, not a selfish “feeling” kind of love.
Those who “follow their hearts” against God’s Torah are running headlong into stubbornness and rebellion and will reap a curse.
At the end of 1st Kings 1, David ensured Solomon’s succession to the throne and strictly speaking, David is no longer the king because there can only be one king on the throne at a time. Here, David charges Solomon with several pieces of advice to try to ensure Solomon’s success and long reign.
Remember that the number three is a Messianic reference. This third-year tithe is a reference to the Messiah: His sacrifice, God’s acceptance of the Messiah’s sacrifice and, from that point, God will make those who accept the Messiah’s sacrifice into His people.
The Feast of Weeks, called Shavu’ot in Hebrew and Pentecost in Greek, commemorates the harvest of the second crop of the year, wheat. It’s connected to the Firstfruits of the harvest at Passover time. Yeshua is called the firstfruit of the resurrection of the dead.
God loves the world but He shows His love in a different way than we might think. We must not hoard the mysteries of the kingdom of God all to ourselves.
Solomon’s assent to kingship mimics the triumphant entry of Yeshua haMashiakh (Jesus the Christ) into Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).
These two chapters are very heavy and they record far more curses than blessings. The previous chapters we covered tell us how God expects to treat one another and today’s chapters show us how God will either reward or punish the people depending on how well they put His words into practice.