Solomon as a man

1 Kings 2:1-4 (NLT)
1 As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: 2 “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. 3 Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. 4 If you do this, then the Lord will keep the promise he made to me. He told me, ‘If your descendants live as they should and follow me faithfully with all their heart and soul, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’”

As David was near death he gave charge to his son, Solomon, the following: Be a man, observe the requirements of the Lord, and follow in the ways of the Lord. He also wanted to let Solomon know of God’s promise that one of David’s descendants would always sit on the throne of Israel as long as the leaders observed God’s decrees, commands, regulations and laws.

Interestingly David’s first charge to Solomon was to be a man. The Hebrew word means a male. So Solomon was to show what David considered to be the attributes of a man. We know David relied upon himself most of his life without a good role model and now David is trying to insure Solomon will seek out how a man should act. Unfortunately Solomon carried forward some of David’s behaviors, such as having many wives. Even though Solomon was granted wisdom beyond anyone else he did not see how the impressions upon his life had caused him to fall away from God’s decrees. Solomon tried to be a man like David while keeping God’s laws. Yet Solomon should just have been a man following God and not following in past footsteps of his father.