1 Kings 14:25-31: a reflection

After Solomon's death, as the kingdom declined under Rehoboam, an invading king carried off the treasures of the temple and the palace, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. And Rehoboam, unable to replace the gold, made shields of bronze in their place, and had them carried ceremonially as before. It is a small but telling detail: where there had been gold, now there was only bronze, kept up with the same outward ceremony, but a lesser thing standing in for the glory that had been lost. The real glory, the gold, was gone, taken as a consequence of the kingdom's unfaithfulness; and in its place, bronze, kept up to maintain appearances. This is a picture of what happens when true glory is lost through unfaithfulness: we can be left keeping up appearances with something lesser, going through the same motions, but with the substance diminished. The gold replaced by bronze, the appearance kept up while the glory is gone, is a sad and telling substitution. Lost glory can be papered over with a lesser substitute. Bronze for gold: appearances kept, glory gone. When true glory is lost, we may keep up appearances with something lesser.

Notice the poignancy of the substitution: bronze shields kept up in place of gold. The gold shields, the glory of Solomon's reign, were carried off; and rather than being restored, they were replaced with bronze, carried with the same ceremony as before, so that the outward forms continued while the real glory was gone. This is a telling picture. When true glory, true substance, is lost through unfaithfulness or decline, we can be tempted to keep up appearances, to maintain the outward forms, to substitute something lesser and go through the same motions, while the real thing is gone. The bronze looked, at a distance, like the gold; the ceremony continued; but the glory had faded. This can happen in many ways: outward forms of faith or life kept up while the substance has diminished, appearances maintained while the reality is lost. It is a sad thing to keep up the appearance of a glory that is gone, to substitute bronze for gold. Better to recover the true glory than to paper over its loss with a lesser substitute. The keeping up of appearances cannot restore the glory that is lost. Bronze in place of gold is a diminished substance behind a maintained form. To maintain appearances is not to have the glory.

That is worth taking to heart, for when true glory or substance is lost, we may be tempted to keep up appearances with something lesser, and we do better to seek the real thing than to paper over its loss. We can lose true substance, in faith or life, through unfaithfulness or decline, and then keep up appearances, maintain the outward forms, substitute a lesser thing, as Rehoboam replaced gold shields with bronze; but keeping up appearances does not restore the glory that is gone. Better to recover the true thing than to paper over its loss. Do not settle for keeping up appearances with something lesser when true glory or substance has been lost; seek to recover the real thing, rather than substituting bronze for gold. Rather than keeping up appearances with something lesser when true glory or substance has been lost, seek to recover the real thing, as Rehoboam, unable to replace the gold shields taken from the temple, made bronze ones and kept up the same ceremony while the glory was gone; for when true substance is lost through unfaithfulness or decline, it is a sad thing to maintain the outward forms with a diminished reality, substituting bronze for gold and papering over the loss, since keeping up appearances cannot restore the glory that is gone, and we do better to seek the recovery of the true thing than to settle for a lesser substitute behind a maintained form.