I will establish his kingdom forever if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as is done now.'I'm going to slip into geek parlance here: I'm always fascinated by "do-if" statements like this. Here God says that if Solomon followed Him faithfully, He would make His kingdom forever. So, first question: did Solomon fulfill this enough for God to follow through? Was the forever referring to physical or eternal? Is Christ the fulfillment of this promise? Or did Solomon mess up, and therefore God didn't give his earthly kingdom lasting rule?
If Solomon messed up, what would things have been like if he hadn't? Would Israel and Judah have split? Would the Babylonians and Assyrians not have conquered the kingdom? Would Israel have remained an independent nation even with the rise of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans? Would there have been a 2-millenia break in Israel's rule? Would Christ have come yet, or would the apostles' tasks have been different? So much may have changed because of this promise.
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