14 “For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor”.
This is a truth we must absolutely embellish... "For out of prison he cometh to reign..." This person goes straight from prison to the throne. Prisons do not prevent one from ruling and reigning; in fact, often times, just prior to a great promotion, is a horrible dark prison experience. Whilst in the prison one thinks they will never recover; Job for instance in the zenith of his trial, no doubt, thought he would never recover but not only did he recover but he had more than before his trial. Joseph too, before he was exalted to the throne, experienced a very long prison experience. It is an amazing truth that everything Joseph needed to know to be second in command in the kingdom of Egypt he learned while in prison. One may think that while they are in prison they are being held back and wasting away but in actuality God does a curious work much like a worm in a cocoon. Joseph went into captivity as a young man and stayed there until he was delivered and went straight to the throne.
“…whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor”. The Lord quickened this verse to me like this: Many come from prison to reign on the throne and yet those who are born in the kingdom, those who are born of “privilege” often times do not appreciate what they have and because of careless living lose every advantage they were born with. This was true of David and Solomon; David who paid a dear price for his relationship with Jehovah became rich whilst Solomon who was born into this kingdom and privilege became poor though untempered living. Those whose parents accepted Christ because they needed delivered from this world often do better than their children, this is sad but true. The parents are committed to Christ because He was their deliverer, however, the children who grew up with that covering at times do not have depth of commitment to him and they wander off and though they were born rich they become poor (towards God). We must seek the Lord for an experience that has depth and commitment.
15 “I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead”.
One translation puts it like this: "I once saw everyone in the world follow a young leader who came to power after the king was gone". Solomon is most likely talking about himself here; he is the second leader after the king (David) was gone and the whole world was following him. This verse bears witness to the position of Solomon in the world’s stage; he was a world leader, he was respected and had influence over worldwide decisions. All of the great leaders of the world came to Solomon’s door to behold his kingdom.
I am sure that David’s expectation was that his son Solomon would take the kingdom from where David left it forward; this is the desire of any godly father to give his children advantages that they never had in order to promote the children, that their experience should exceed their own. It is unfortunate that Solomon actually promoted the kingdom for a time and a season but then eventually he began to steer it back into idolatry, wickedness and oppression thus fulfilling the second portion of Songs 4:14. The take home message here is for those who were born into the kingdom; seek the Lord while you are young, deal with areas in your heart that incline to this world. God has given you an advantage that enables you to stand on the shoulders of your parents (provided they were godly) and to press into the kingdom and into a relationship with Christ that exceeds your elders.
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