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Three Charismatic Leaders Part Three: Solomon

The crisis of leadership In my previous articles (Transformation, Vol. 19:3) I have shown how the first two kings of Israel came to power in crises when Israel was threatened by foreign nations. With no-one competent to face the threat, both Saul and David emerged by the bestowal of Yahweh’s Spirit and with recourse to the appropriate means to resolve the crisis. It is clear that this time the socio-political situation is very different to when Saul or David made their debuts. At Solomon’s emergence there is no national emergency; if there is a crisis it is one in the royal court. King David is too old to control everything in his realm but not too senile not to play a decisive role in matters such as succession. The old monarch cannot properly run the kingdom and the stability of the monarchy is threatened by warring parties, because no successor has yet been appointed. In fact there is no-one really in charge of the monarchy – this is a crisis of leadership too, albeit very different from the previous ones. Now I shall study the first two chapters of 1 Kings in order to see how Solomon, his emergence, the transition in leadership and the consolidation of his rule are depicted.