November 8
A Proverb Or a Byword?
As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father … But if you or your descendants turn away from me … then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. –-1 Kings 9:4-8
An alternate title for today’s reading might be: “Don’t be a cautionary tale.” The scripture passage is God addressing Solomon as he ascends the throne of Israel. Solomon became the richest man in the Bible, and one of the wisest. He united the 12 tribes and enjoyed decades of prosperity and peace as Israel thrived as a kingdom. Of course, we also know that Solomon drifted away from God in his later years, marrying pagan wives and worshiping foreign gods.
What does it mean to be a byword? The Encyclopedia of the Bible says the Hebrew usage “almost always involves a negative context. It is a context of God’s anger focused against a wayward nation of Israel.”
Want to be called a success story rather than a byword (or cautionary tale)? For Solomon, the downward slide came through the ways of the world. When God says marriage is to be between one man and one woman, He’s not going to continue to bless a guy who marries 300 wives, and has scores of concubines. Nor is He going to be just fine about building altars on high places to false gods.
You may look back on your life and think, “Most of my life has been a byword—a cautionary tale for others to observe and say, ‘I don’t want my life to turn out that way!’” Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t define you as a child of God—saved by grace and in the mercy of Christ.
As a redeemed son of God, you don’t need to define your story by your previous chapters. God is writing new ones in your life, and all you have is today. We don’t need to flip back and re-read past chapters, nor do we want to skip ahead. If we do, we will lose the plot. Start today. Right now. Decide that your present and your future will be a positive parable, rather than a sad byword.
Thank You, Father, that because of Jesus, my present isn’t defined by my past. Help write a positive story through my life, starting today.
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https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Byword