JESUS A LEGAL HEIR OF SOLOMON

Matthew traces the descendants of Solomon down to Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, thus demonstrating that Jesus had the legal right to the throne of David through the kingly line. (Matt. 1:7, 16) Luke traces Jesus’ lineage to Heli (apparently the father of Mary) through Nathan, another son of David and Bath-sheba, and therefore Solomon’s full brother. (Luke 3:23, 31) Both lines of descent merge in Zerubbabel and Shealtiel and again branch out into two lines of descent. (Matt. 1:13; Luke 3:27) Mary the mother of Jesus was a descendant through Nathan, and Joseph his foster father descended through Solomon, so that Jesus was both the natural and legal descendant of David, with full right to the throne.—See GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST (Comparison of Genealogies by Matthew and Luke).

NEED TO GUARD THE HEART

As long as Solomon maintained an “obedient heart,” with which he was concerned at the beginning, he had Jehovah’s favor and prospered. But his bad outcome demonstrates that knowledge, great ability, or power, riches and fame are not the most important things, and that turning away from Jehovah is to forsake wisdom. Solomon’s own counsel proved true: “More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.” (Prov. 4:23) His case illustrates the treacherousness and desperateness of the heart of sinful man, but more, it shows that the best of hearts can be enticed if constant vigilance is not kept. Loving what Jehovah loves and hating what he hates, constantly seeking his guidance and the doing of what pleases him, are a sure protection.—Jer. 17:9; Prov. 8:13; Heb. 1:9; John 8:29.

SOLOMON’S RULE A BASIS FOR MESSIANIC PROPHECIES

There are many similarities in the reign of Solomon with that of the great King Jesus Christ, as prophesied in the Scriptures. In many respects Solomon’s rule, as long as he was obedient to Jehovah, is a small-scale pattern of the administration of the Messianic Kingdom. Jesus Christ, “something more than Solomon,” came as a man of peace, and he builds up the congregation, the temple of God, by peaceful methods. (Matt. 12:42; 2 Cor. 6:16; John 14:27; 16:33; Rom. 14:17; Jas. 3:18) Solomon was of the line of David, as was Jesus. The meaning of Solomon’s name (“peaceable”) fits the glorified Jesus Christ as the “Prince of Peace.” His name Jedidiah (“beloved of Jah [Jehovah]”) harmonizes with God’s own statement about his Son at the time of Jesus’ baptism: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.”—Matt. 3:17.

Psalm 72 is a prayerful expression in behalf of the rule of Solomon: “Let the mountains carry peace to the people, . . . In his days the righteous one will sprout, and the abundance of peace until the moon is no more. And he will have subjects from sea to sea [apparently the Mediterranean and the Red Sea (Ex. 23:31)] and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.”—Ps. 72:3-8.

F. C. Cook in his Commentary (Vol. IV, p. 332), says, on verse 7 (“until the moon is no more”): “This passage is important as shewing that the idea of a King whose reign should last to the end of time was distinctly present to the Psalmist’s mind. It determines the Messianic character of the whole composition.” And on verse 8, he remarks: “The kingdom was to be universal, extending to the ends of the earth. The extension of the Israelitish realm under David and Solomon was sufficient to suggest the hope, and might be regarded by the Psalmist as a pledge of its realization, but taken in connection with the preceding verses this declaration is strictly Messianic.”

The prophet Micah, in a prophecy almost universally accepted as Messianic, drew on the circumstance described in Solomon’s reign, that “Judah and Israel continued to dwell in security, everyone under his own vine and under his own fig tree, . . . . all the days of Solomon.” (1 Ki. 4:25; Mic. 4:4) Zechariah’s prophecy (at chapter 9, verses 9, 10) quotes Psalm 72:8, and Matthew applies Zechariah’s prophecy to Jesus Christ.—Matt. 21:4, 5.

SON

In ancient times married couples strongly desired a male offspring. (Gen. 4:1, 25; 29:32-35) As the psalmist expressed it: “Sons are an inheritance from Jehovah; . . . Happy is the able-bodied man that has filled his quiver with them.” (Ps. 127:3-5) With sons the line of descent was made certain, the name of the forefathers was preserved among posterity, and the hereditary possession of land remained in the family. (Num. 27:8) Israelite women desired to have sons, perhaps entertaining hope that one of their sons might prove to be the “seed” through whom blessings from God would come to mankind, as promised to Abraham. (Gen. 22:18; 1 Sam. 1:5-11) In due time the angel Gabriel announced to Mary, a virgin girl of the tribe of Judah, that she was a “highly favored one,” adding: “You will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus. This one will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father.”—Luke 1:28, 31, 32.

The Law prescribed that a son was to be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. (Lev. 12:3; Luke 1:59; 2:21) After giving birth to a son the mother remained “unclean” for seven days and, additionally, “for thirty-three days more she will stay in the blood of purification.” This meant that she could not come into the holy place nor touch anything holy during this forty-day period. The period was twice as long in the case of the birth of a daughter. (Lev. 12:2-8; Luke 2:22-24) A firstborn son belonged to Jehovah and had to be redeemed with a redemption price.—Num. 18:15, 16.

PARENTAL AUTHORITY

The training and teaching of sons was primarily the responsibility of fathers, though the mother shared in this, particularly when the children were quite young. (Gen. 18:19; Deut. 6:6-8; 1 Sam. 1:23; Prov. 1:8; Eph. 6:4) As long as a son was in his father’s house, he was subject to the father. Under the Law, sons who grew up to be drunkards and gluttons and who were stubborn and rebellious toward their parents were to be turned over to the judges to be put to death. (Deut. 21:18-21) The parents often arranged for their sons’ marriage. (Gen. 24:2-4; 28:1, 2; Judg. 14:2) On the death of the father the family property was inherited by the sons, the firstborn receiving a double share and assuming headship of the household.—Deut. 21:17; See CHILD, CHILDREN; EDUCATION; INHERITANCE.

BROAD USE OF WORD

The Hebrew word ben and the Greek word hui·osʹ, both meaning “son,” are often used in a sense broader than merely to designate one’s immediate male offspring. “Son” may mean adopted son or son of a foster father (Ex. 2:10; John 1:45), a descendant (grandson, great-grandson, and so forth) (Ex. 1:7; 2 Chron. 35:14; Jer. 35:16; Matt. 12:23), son-in-law.—Compare 1 Chronicles 3:17 and Luke 3:27 (Shealtiel was evidently the son of Jeconiah and the son-in-law of Neri); Luke 3:23, “Joseph, the son of Heli,” evidently, the son-in-law (in this phrase hui·osʹ, “son”, does not appear in the Greek text, but is understood).

USE IN IDENTIFYING

Men were often identified or distinguished by their father’s name or that of a more distant forefather, as, (David) “the son of Jesse.” (1 Sam. 22:7, 9) The Hebrew and Aramaic words ben and bar, “son,”