April 28, 2013
I Kings 10: 17-23
Pine Valley Christian Church
Rev. David Hansen
Ivory, Apes and Peacocks
We have all heard about the wisdom of Solomon. At the beginning of his reign God appeared to Solomon in a dream and God said, “Ask what I shall give you?” (I Kings 3:5). It was an open invitation. And Solomon asked for “a heart with listening ears” and an “understanding mind” (3:9). He wanted empathy and compassion. What wonderful gifts to ask for.
One of Solomon’s first acts was to build a temple for the Lord—a house for God. It was a statement of his values and commitments. Being a king, a leader of the people, was a sacred trust. He was responsible to God for the rule of his people and the welfare of his land and country.
As time passed, Solomon looked around and saw how good things were and how his reputation was growing and his fame spreading and he decided that he needed a new home—a palace. Our reading in the 10th chapter of I Kings picks up the story from there.
The Queen of Sheba heard about his fame and his relationship with the Lord and she came to see for herself. The text says that she came with “hard questions.” She arrived at Jerusalem with a great caravan of camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold and precious stones. She and Solomon talked about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all of her questions. Nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants and their robes, his cupboards, and the burnt offerings in the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed (I Kings 10:1-5).
Solomon was living large. He was receiving 25 tons of gold annually, not including the revenue from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land. The king made 200 large shields of hammered gold and 300 small shield of hammered gold. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. The throne had six steps and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. There were twelve lions on the six stairs, one on either end of each stair. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. All of the king’s goblets were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver because silver was considered of little value in the days of Solomon. The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, apes and peacocks (I Kings 10:14-24).
An anthropologist named Mary Douglas says that we should not call such items as gold goblets and ivory, apes and peacocks “luxury goods,” but rather we should call them “information goods.” She says that the battle lines of culture are drawn around the ownership and use of these information goods. People will fight to get them, keep them and defend their right to use them. Solomon was carving out his place in the world and leaving his mark.
Solomon could not have known as he sat on this throne, surrounded by his servants and lions and ivory, apes and peacocks that the “good life” he was living, would soon end. His kingdom was on the endangered species list. In a few short years his reign would come to an end. Solomon the opulent was not living beyond his means— he did not have a debt problem—he had a value problem. He was guided by the wrong moral compass. Empathy had been replaced by apathy. Ivory, apes and peacocks were status symbols, not a sacred trust or source of wonder.
On this Earth Day Sunday, Earth scientists like James Hansen, who used to work with NASA and is now teaching at Columbia University, and James Lovelock, who discovered the Gaia Theory are warning us that we may be following the way of Solomon. They warn that we have a value problem. As Solomon put his kingdom at risk, we are putting ourselves and our future at risk. They cite the XL pipeline as a prime example of our problem. Endangering the Ogallala Aquifer, that great underground basin that supplies water for much of this part of the country, will not only put us at risk but future generations as well. Ocean levels are rising. Storms are brewing. Snow is falling. The stones are crying out.
The good news is that there are economists, environmentalist, spiritual leaders and teachers and many others who are telling us that there is another way. One of these people is David Korten. He is an author and public speaker. I want to read from his book The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers and Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, Inc. 2006). I want to suggest that this is a book we may want use for a study in the future.
Korten writes, “The science of the past hundred years has made a seminal contribution to our knowledge of the sequence of events that marked the creative unfolding of the universe and all its wonders. The patterns of that unfolding suggest that the cosmos, and all within it, are the manifestation of a great unifying spiritual intelligence engaged in an epic quest to know itself through the discovery and actualization of its unrealized possibilities. If this is so, then all being exists both as a product of this quest and as a co-creator in the continued unfolding. As it is for all being, so it is for all of life, including humans” (269).
Later in this book Korten talks about a strategy for change with four essential imperatives. Let me just list them for you. The first is to accelerate the awakening of cultural and spiritual consciousness. We can facilitate this awaking through engagement and dialogue with others, creating cross-cultural experiences, encouraging deeper reflection on meaning and values, exposing the contradictions of Empire, spreading awareness of unrealized human possibilities by changing the prevailing stories. The second is to resist the empire’s assault on children, families, community and nature. Korten says this means “demanding the repeal of unjust and undemocratic rules and abolishing programs that are detrimental to children, families and communities. His third strategy calls for forming communities of congruence. This means helping each other develop relationships, institutions and cultures that create and support space for diversity and learning. Fourth, he calls for building a majoritarian political base through formal and informal communication channels (316-318).
Korten says that metaphorically we have to “walk away from the king” (318). It means walking away from a way of life that values ivory, apes and peacocks as information goods, and begin to value them as sources of wonder and awe. This is our Maker’s world. We hear God pass in the rustling grace and in the music of t