Solomon’s kingdom was established, and God gave him the wisdom God promised. 1 Kings 4 contains a list of his key personnel – a very organized operation! (See 1 Kings 4.1 – 19) Also in chapter 4 is an indication of his wealth (1 Kings 4.20 – 28) and a summary of his wisdom and knowledge:

God gave Solomon wisdom—the deepest of understanding and the largest of hearts. There was nothing beyond him, nothing he couldn’t handle. Solomon’s wisdom outclassed the vaunted wisdom of wise men of the East, outshone the famous wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone… He became famous among all the surrounding nations. He created three thousand proverbs; his songs added up to 1,005. He knew all about plants, from the huge cedar that grows in Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows in the cracks of a wall. He understood everything about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Sent by kings from all over the earth who had heard of his reputation, people came from far and near to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. (1 Kings 4.29 – 34, MSG)

1 Kings 5 talks about Solomon’s preparation for building the Temple, including enlisting help from Hiram, King of Tyre, for cedar trees.

The construction of the Temple is described in 1 Kings 6 and 1 Kings 7.13 – 51, beginning with:

Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s rule over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, Solomon started building The Temple of GOD. The Temple that King Solomon built to GOD was ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high. (1 Kings 6.1, 2, MSG)

It was a 7-year project:

The foundation for GOD’s Temple was laid in the fourth year in the month of Ziv. It was completed in the eleventh year in the month of Bul (the eighth month) down to the last detail, just as planned. It took Solomon seven years to build it. (1 Kings 6.37, 38, MSG)

Seven years sounds like a long time to work on a building until you read how chapter 7 opens:

It took Solomon another thirteen years to finish building his own palace complex. (1 Kings 7.1, MSG)

Seven years for the Temple, 13 years for his own house!?

People always get excited about building projects, especially if it’s a new church building. There was a church in my home state of South Carolina that had four buildings lined up in a row, from the original that may have seated 100 people to the next one, then the next one, and finally one that seated thousands. I’m sure each building was built and dedicated with great fanfare, just as we’ll see for Solomon’s Temple.

People get excited; God, not so much. Here’s his perspective:

The word of GOD came to Solomon saying, “About this Temple you are building—what’s important is that you live the way I’ve set out for you and do what I tell you, following my instructions carefully and obediently. Then I’ll complete in you the promise I made to David your father. I’ll personally take up my residence among the Israelites —I won’t desert my people Israel.” (1 Kings 6.11 – 13, MSG, emphasis in the MSG)

“What’s important is that you live…” Building a building is easy. It took Solomon only seven years. Building an obedient people is a little tougher, and it’s an ongoing project! Today, for example, Europe is filled with massive cathedrals, originally built to the glory of God, and yet I just read on the Greater Europe Mission website:

Most European countries have a population where less than 3% claim a relationship with Jesus. Many Europeans can go their entire lives never interacting with a Believer of Jesus.

Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, before the fire. A magnificent Temple in a country where just over 1% of the population are Jesus followers according to Greater Europe Mission.

We will continue the story of Solomon’s Temple with the dedication from 1 Kings 8…

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2.19 – 22, ESV)

If you’re a regular reader of the Ewellogy, you know that I’ve decried the evils of gambling several times, bemoaning its seeming omnipresence and wondering why. Why is gambling on sports, for example, now considered normal? I might have just found the answer in a long article recommended by Seth Godin on May 8, 2024: “The State of the Culture,” by Ted Gioia, February 18, 2024.

I recommend Ted’s article in its entirety (it’s long but worth it). He argues that art is swallowed up by entertainment, which is swallowed up by a culture of distraction, which is rapidly moving toward a culture of addiction.

Source: Ted Gioia, www.honest-broker.com

Ted reviewed for us the “addiction cycle” which involves the chemical release of dopamine in the body:

What grabbed my attention and provided the answer for the sudden surge of gambling was Ted’s chart on how what he calls the Dopamine Culture works out in real life:

There it is, right on the first line: gambling is the search for the dopamine hit, called by some, “the buzz.” I’ve written before about a friend who came to faith in Christ, in his words, “After coming off of a three-day drunk having dropped $50,000 in the Super Bowl.” How did he get his start gambling? By getting the buzz while playing penny poker in the Marines.

As believers we need to be on our guard and live intentionally.

Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4.25 – 27, NIV)

There is nothing like the graduation ceremony at the US Air Force Academy, located just north of Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have lived in the area since 1984, minus five years away, 2001 – 2006, and now live about five miles north of the Academy, close enough to get an occasional glimpse of the famous Air Force Thunderbirds as they are putting on a demonstration after the ceremony.

But there’s nothing like being at Falcon Stadium in person. I’ll never forget our first one, 1989, when our first sponsored cadets, Pete McKenna and Mike Taylor, graduated. We’re still in touch with them.

The graduating cadets march on from the north end zone, approaching their chairs from the side in perfect formation, fanning out and marching straight into their rows:

That’s only the first display of precision. The most exciting occurs at the end of the ceremony. The cadets come to the stage one by one, where their name is announced, and they receive their diploma (note: their diploma, not a folder to be filled later). After the thousand or so cadets get their diplomas, they stand and take the oath of office as an officer in the US Air Force (and now, the US Space Force).

If you were there, here is what you would see: you’d be sitting in the west stands, facing east, with the mountains behind. The cadets, on the stadium field are also facing east. The Commandant of Cadets has administered the oath of office, and he yells, “Class dismissed!” The cadets joyfully throw their hats into the air and while the hats are in the air the Thunderbirds scream in from behind the mountain. I tear up every time I talk about it:

Air Force Academy graduates, class of 2024, newly minted second lieutenants, celebrate as the Thunderbirds fly over. The grad in the foreground is from Singapore.

How do they coordinate planes flying about 600 miles per hour, who will be over the field and gone in about two seconds, with hats that will be in the air maybe four seconds at most? Answer: the Thunderbirds are in a holding pattern behind the mountain and are in radio contact with someone standing on top of the press box. He might barely be visible in the picture just above the right leg of grad from Singapore. At the appropriate time, the planes turn toward the stadium, and when they pass a certain mark they tell the guy on the press box who waves a flag to signal the “Class Dismissed!” command. The result is what you see in the picture. They almost always get it right.

It makes one proud to be an Air Force officer and proud to be part of a country that can pull this off…and does…to the delight of the grads and their families. God bless America, and God bless these brave young people.

Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. (Psalm 144.1, ESV)

He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great. (Psalm 18.34, 35, NIV)

Solomon’s kingdom is secure, and we have his well-known request for wisdom:

The king went to Gibeon, the most prestigious of the local shrines, to worship. He sacrificed a thousand Whole-Burnt-Offerings on that altar. That night, there in Gibeon, GOD appeared to Solomon in a dream: God said, “What can I give you? Ask.” Solomon said, “You were extravagantly generous in love with David my father, and he lived faithfully in your presence, his relationships were just and his heart right. And you have persisted in this great and generous love by giving him—and this very day!—a son to sit on his throne. And now here I am: GOD, my God, you have made me, your servant, ruler of the kingdom in place of David my father. I’m too young for this, a mere child! I don’t know the ropes, hardly know the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of this job. And here I am, set down in the middle of the people you’ve chosen, a great people—far too many to ever count. Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?” God, the Master, was delighted with Solomon’s response. (1 Kings 3.4 – 10, MSG)

Observations:

• Solomon was in the place of sacrifice, and he had done so extravagantly.
• God says, “Ask.”
• Solomon recognizes…
  • That his position is a gift
  • That he is young and inexperienced
  • That the job is really big.
• Therefore, Solomon asked for a “God-listening heart” (ESV: “an understanding mind”) so he can lead well and discern the difference between good and evil.

Where are leaders who would recognize they need help and ask for wisdom to lead well? In a democracy where are the people who seek a leader with an understanding mind who will lead well and discern the difference between good and evil (and act appropriately!)?

Naturally, God is delighted with that response:

I’ll give you what you’ve asked for—I’m giving you a wise and mature heart. There’s never been one like you before; and there’ll be no one after. As a bonus, I’m giving you both the wealth and glory you didn’t ask for—there’s not a king anywhere who will come up to your mark. And if you stay on course, keeping your eye on the life-map and the God-signs as your father David did, I’ll also give you a long life. (1 Kings 3.12 – 14, MSG)

And we immediately have the story of the two prostitutes and the dead baby (see 1 Kings 3.16 – 22 for the setup).

The king said, “What are we to do? This woman says, ‘The living son is mine and the dead one is yours,’ and this woman says, ‘No, the dead one’s yours and the living one’s mine.’ ” After a moment the king said, “Bring me a sword.” They brought the sword to the king. Then he said, “Cut the living baby in two—give half to one and half to the other.” The real mother of the living baby was overcome with emotion for her son and said, “Oh no, master! Give her the whole baby alive; don’t kill him!” But the other one said, “If I can’t have him, you can’t have him—cut away!” The king gave his decision: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Nobody is going to kill this baby. She is the real mother.” (1 Kings 3.23 – 27, MSG)

Bingo. A brilliant decision process, of course. Today, we’d just do a DNA test! Or today, there wouldn’t be any babies – they both would have had an abortion. Pregnancies interfere with a prostitute’s livelihood.

An answer to Solomon’s prayer for wisdom. What are we asking for?

Do you ask The Lord of the Universe for peanuts, toys, and trinkets, or for NATIONS and continents? – Dawson Trotman

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Psalm 2.7, 8, ESV)

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10.2, ESV)

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1.5, ESV)

We come to 1 Kings 2, a chapter I never read without thinking of the scene near the end of the movie Godfather 1. June and I saw it when it came out in 1972. I think I read the book when I was on a remote tour in Turkey early in my Air Force career, September 1970 – September 1971. “The Baptism Scene” juxtaposes Michael, heir of the Corleone crime family, and his wife Kay in a huge cathedral at the baptism of their baby with Michael’s lieutenants taking out enemies of Michael and the family. The result of the carnage is that Michael is firmly in control. It’s a powerful scene, not for the faint of heart.

Even though Solomon is King of Israel, God’s chosen people, not the head of a crime family, securing power is no mean feat.

The chapter opens with David giving final instructions to Solomon, starting with a call for obedience:

When David’s time to die approached, he charged his son Solomon, saying, “I’m about to go the way of all the earth, but you—be strong; show what you’re made of! Do what GOD tells you. Walk in the paths he shows you: Follow the life-map absolutely, keep an eye out for the signposts, his course for life set out in the revelation to Moses; then you’ll get on well in whatever you do and wherever you go. Then GOD will confirm what he promised me when he said, ‘If your sons watch their step, staying true to me heart and soul, you’ll always have a successor on Israel’s throne.'” (1 Kings 2.1 – 4, MSG)

Then David gives explicit instruction (see 1 Kings 2.5 – 9):

• Take out Joab for the murders of two commanders of Israel’s army
• Show generosity to Barzillai in return for his hospitality
• Deal with Shimei who cursed David when he was fleeing Absalom

Then David dies, and before Solomon can tend to Joab and Shimei, Adonijah pops up, asking Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, if he can marry Abishag, David’s concubine. We know from our readings the significance of sleeping with the king’s concubines. Ish-bosheth loses the civil war to David over a flap with his general, Abner, over one of Saul’s concubines. Absalom demonstrates his contempt for his father, King David, by sleeping with David’s concubines. And now Adonijah is making a power play involving Abishag. He tells Bathsheba:

You know that I had the kingdom right in my hands and everyone expected me to be king, and then the whole thing backfired and the kingdom landed in my brother’s lap—GOD’s doing. (1 Kings 2.15, 16, MSG)

He then asks Bathsheba to ask Solomon for Abishag, which she does. Solomon sees through the ruse and tells his mother:

What kind of favor is this, asking that Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah? Why don’t you just ask me to hand over the whole kingdom to him on a platter since he is my older brother and has Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah on his side!…May God do his worst to me if Adonijah doesn’t pay for this with his life! As surely as GOD lives, the God who has set me firmly on the throne of my father David and has put me in charge of the kingdom just as he promised, Adonijah will die for this—today! (1 Kings 2.22 – 24, MSG)

And who does it? Benaiah – the lion in a pit on a snowy day guy!

King Solomon dispatched Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he struck Adonijah and he died. (1 Kings 2.25, MSG)

Then Benaiah takes out Joab per David’s instructions (see 1 Kings 2.26 – 35).

Solomon warns Shimei to stay in Jerusalem. But three years later he left to look for his escaped slaves. No more Shimei:

Solomon then called for Shimei and said, “Didn’t I make you promise me under GOD, and give you a good warning besides, that you would not leave this area? That if you left you would have decreed your own death sentence? And didn’t you say, ‘Oh, thank you—I’ll do exactly as you say’? So why didn’t you keep your sacred promise and do what I ordered?” Then the king told Shimei, “Deep in your heart you know all the evil that you did to my father David; GOD will now avenge that evil on you. But King Solomon will be blessed and the rule of David will be a sure thing under GOD forever.” The king then gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he went out and struck Shimei dead. (1 Kings 2.42 – 46, MSG)

And the chapter ends with:

The kingdom was now securely in Solomon’s grasp. (last part of verse 46)

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3.8, ESV)

But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (1 Corinthians 15.23 – 25, ESV)

We continue the story of Israel’s kings as we move from 2 Samuel into 1 Kings. God promised David a permanent dynasty, but not all the sons got the word on who the next king would be.

1 Kings 1 starts with his unusual story:

King David grew old. The years had caught up with him. Even though they piled blankets on him, he couldn’t keep warm. So his servants said to him, “We’re going to get a young virgin for our master the king to be at his side and look after him; she’ll get in bed with you and arouse our master the king.” So they searched the country of Israel for the most ravishing girl they could find; they found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king. The girl was stunningly beautiful; she stayed at his side and looked after the king, but the king did not have sex with her. (1 Kings 1.1 – 4, MSG)

Remember Abishag, David’s last concubine.

For now, the scene shifts to Absalom’s brother Adonijah who wants to be king:

At this time Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, puffed himself up saying, “I’m the next king!” He made quite a splash, with chariots and riders and fifty men to run ahead of him. His father had spoiled him rotten as a child, never once reprimanding him. Besides that, he was very good-looking and the next in line after Absalom. (1 Kings 1.5, 6, MSG)

“Puffed himself up.” Another consequence of poor fathering by David. Adonijah, supported by David’s general Joab and Abiathar the priest, throws himself a coronation party. (See 1 Kings 1.5 – 10) But Nathan, the prophet who confronted David after the Bathsheba affair goes into action:

Nathan went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Did you know that Adonijah, Haggith’s son, has taken over as king, and our master David doesn’t know a thing about it? Quickly now, let me tell you how you can save both your own life and Solomon’s. Go immediately to King David. Speak up: ‘Didn’t you, my master the king, promise me, “Your son Solomon will be king after me and sit on my throne”? So why is Adonijah now king?’ While you’re there talking with the king, I’ll come in and corroborate your story.” (1 Kings 1.11 – 14, MSG)

They do, and David is decisive:

As GOD lives, the God who delivered me from every kind of trouble, I’ll do exactly what I promised in GOD’s name, the God of Israel: Your son Solomon will be king after me and take my place on the throne. And I’ll make sure it happens this very day….Gather my servants, then mount my son Solomon on my royal mule and lead him in procession down to Gihon. When you get there, Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet will anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the ram’s horn trumpet and shout, “Long live King Solomon!”  You will then accompany him as he enters and takes his place on my throne, succeeding me as king. I have named him ruler over Israel and Judah.” (1 Kings 1.29 – 30, 33 – 35, MSG)

We don’t have a record of this conversation with Bathsheba, but it’s clear that Solomon was to be the next king. Here it is in 1 Chronicles:

And then from all my sons—and GOD gave me many!—he chose my son Solomon to sit on the throne of GOD’s rule over Israel. (1 Chronicles 28.5, MSG)

Now Adonijah’s guests find themselves at the wrong coronation party!

Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest, showed up. Adonijah said, “Welcome! A brave and good man like you must have good news.” But Jonathan answered, “Hardly! Our master King David has just made Solomon king! And the king has surrounded him with Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada…and they’ve mounted Solomon on the royal mule. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon and the parade is headed up this way singing—a great fanfare! The city is rocking! That’s what you’re hearing. Here’s the crowning touch—Solomon is seated on the throne of the kingdom! … Panicked, Adonijah’s guests got out of there, scattering every which way. (1 Kings 1.42 – 49, MSG)

The chapter ends with King Solomon sparing his brother:

Solomon then said, “If he proves to be a man of honor, not a hair of his head will be hurt; but if there is evil in him, he’ll die.” Solomon summoned him and they brought him from the Altar. Adonijah came and bowed down, honoring the king. Solomon dismissed him, “Go home.” (1 Kings 1.52, 53, MSG)

Adonijah’s reprieve doesn’t last long. Stay tuned.

No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves. It is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another. (Psalm 75.6, 7, NIV)

As we continue the 1 and 2 Samuel narrative into 1 and 2 Kings, we need to remind ourselves of something from Eugene Peterson’s introduction as it appears in The Message. He’s talking about the sovereignty of God, which is sometimes hard to see in what quickly devolves into a messy narrative of multiple kings ruling over two different kingdoms. Here’s a quick overview:

Human beings, no matter how well-intentioned or gifted, don’t seem to be able to represent God’s rule anywhere close to satisfactorily. The books of Kings, in that light, are a relentless exposition of failure—a centuries-long documentation proving that the Hebrew demand of God to give them a king was about the worst thing they could have asked for…[But] God continues to work his purposes and uses them in the work. They are part of his sovereign rule, whether they want to be or not, whether they know it or not… – From Introduction to 1 and 2 Kings, The Message

And that’s not a bad word for us in the midst of the chaos of an election year: God continues to work his purposes and our leaders are part of his sovereign rule, whether they want to be or not, whether they know it or not.

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. (Proverbs 21.1, NKJV)

Before we dive into 1 Kings, I need to pass on a story too good not to share. It supports one of our themes: Holy Moments. Sahil Bloom shared this story by a woman named Pam Kearney on his Wednesday newsletter, May 22, 2022.

I visited Matthew, the owner of Lucy’s Flour Shop a little while back. As I nibbled on an enormous chocolate chip cookie I began to tell him a story.

​A few years back on a bitterly cold December evening, there was a visitation at the funeral home across the street from his bakery. The people, bundled up in coats, scarves, and blankets were lined up around the building waiting to hug the family of the deceased.

​Seemingly out of nowhere, a man showed up and began giving away hot coffee to the people outside. People who entered the funeral home with coffee in their hands whispered of a mysterious man handing out free coffee, and how much they appreciated it.

​I looked at Matthew and said, “I have a suspicion that you were that man. Is that right?”

​Matthew very humbly replied, “Yes, I felt so bad for them and wanted to do something, but all I could do was make coffee, so I made coffee.”

​I responded that he blessed so many people that night by helping them warm up and by showing there’s good in the world. He added a positive note to a devastating situation. I paused, then added, “That visitation was for my sixteen-year-old son. Thank you for being so kind.”

​Sahil muses on Pam’s story:​

“All I could do was make coffee, so I made coffee.”

Matthew was faced with a situation where he felt helpless—even paralyzed—but instead of giving in to the weight of the moment, he took action. All he could do was make coffee, so he made coffee.

Sahil then quoted Teddy Roosevelt:

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Teddy Roosevelt is encouraging us to do Holy Moments. Or has Sahil Bloom says, “Just make the coffee.”

Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. (Titus 3.14, NASB)

It’s Memorial Day, and I can’t do better than what my friend and former pastor John Ed Mathison wrote in his blog a couple of years ago:

We can casually sit back and enjoy backyard barbecues, boat rides, and beach bashes, but the meaning of Memorial Day is that almost 1.5 million men and women have died so that you and I might enjoy our freedoms. We look to Thanksgiving as a day when we pause to give thanks for the things that we have. Memorial Day is a day when we pause to give thanks to the people who fought and died for the things we have. – Dr. John Ed Mathison, May 25, 2022

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15.13, ESV)

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.6 – 8, ESV)

PS Peggy Noonan wrote a really nice piece, Teach Your Children to Love America, published March 25 in the Wall Street Journal. I recommend the article in its entirety. Here’s a brief snippet:

You have to start kids out with love. Irony and detachment will come soon enough, but start with love, if only to give them a memory of how that felt.

I’ve spent the past few days reading an old book, one that couldn’t possibly be published today because it’s so full of respect for America. “Manual of Patriotism: For Use in the Public Schools of the State of New York,” runs 461 pages of text and was published in 1900. The flag that illustrates this column is from its frontispiece.

The manual was written after the Legislature passed an 1898 law requiring public schools to display the American flag and “encourage patriotic exercises.” Organized veterans of the Civil War and of the Women’s Relief Corps, who were nurses on the battlefield, pushed for it to “awaken in the minds and hearts of the young” an “appreciation” for “the great deeds” of their nation.

Memorial Day meant a lot to those old veterans, but more was needed. Their generation was passing; they’d given everything to hold the nation together; they wanted the young to understand why.

Unsaid but between the lines: America at the turn of the 20th century was being engulfed by waves of immigrants; they too needed to understand what America is and means to be, so they would love it too.

…

The manual includes a lot of opinions on historical events. One I liked was the assertion that the Civil War ended the day Ulysses S. Grant was buried in 1885. Why? Because America saw who his pallbearers were: “Johnston and Buckner on one side of his bier, and Sherman and Sheridan upon the other.” The first two were generals of the Confederate army, the last two of the Union Army. Henry Ward Beecher wrote that their marching Grant to his tomb was “a silent symbol that liberty had conquered slavery, and peace war.”

You come away from that vignette thinking not only “what men,” but “what a country” that could tear itself in two, murder itself, forgive itself, go on.

Parents, help your children love this country. It will be good for them, and more to the point this country deserves it.

Also when you don’t love something you lose it. We don’t want that to happen. – Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2024

One week ago today, Sunday, May 19, 2024, Ed Dwight of Denver, Colorado, went to the edge of space, powered by Blue Origin’s New Shephard rocket booster. Ed is 90 years old, and, by my calculations, 40 days older than William Shatner of Star Trek fame was when he took the same flight in 2021.

But it’s the back story that’s interesting. Captain Ed Dwight was selected as the first black astronaut candidate by President Kennedy in 1961.

Ed was not selected as an astronaut, most likely because he was black, even though he did complete test pilot school and astronaut training. This snippet from the Denver Post summarizes that period in Ed’s life:

Dwight was among the 26 potential astronauts recommended to NASA by the Air Force. But in 1963, he wasn’t among the 14 selected. Dwight’s astronaut future took a more drastic turn when Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.

Kennedy was killed on a Friday. By Monday, Dwight says, he had papers in his mailbox shipping him out to Germany. He quickly met with Bobby Kennedy in Washington, who had the Pentagon cancel those orders.

Ultimately, Dwight was stationed at Wright-Patterson in Ohio in January of 1964. He graduated the program and totaled some 9,000 hours of air time, but never became an astronaut. He left the Air Force in 1966.

Asked if he was bitter about his experience, Dwight exclaims, “God no!”

“Here you get a little 5-foot-four guy who flies airplanes and the next thing you know this guy is in the White House meeting all these senators and congressmen, standing in front of all these captains of industry and have them pat me on the back and shake my hand,” Dwight says. “Are you kidding me? What would I be bitter about? That opened the world to me.”

Ed moved to Denver, ran a successful construction business for 10 years, and then became an artist – a sculptor specializing in Black history. His work includes memorials and monuments across the country. Several of his sculptures have flown into space.

In another article, originally by the NY Times but published by the Denver Post, Ed was asked how he felt about going into space. He responded:

It’s a culmination of a long life of events. I’ve thought this would be a nice end of a fascinating story about all I’ve gone through and my reaction to adverse conditions.

Everything I’ve done has been an uphill battle: getting into the military and being an Air Force pilot, getting chosen by the president of the United States to be the first Black astronaut, and facing all kinds of obstacles in the years that I was in that program. But I was performing well, and that’s why they would say, ‘Oh my God, this guy’s getting things done,’ and my Blackness and my shortness didn’t mean a damn thing.

Then, after I left the Air Force, I came to Colorado and became a big-time businessman — and then started an art career at the age of 45.

Before the flight, he was asked if he was angry at how things turned out:

I’m not angry and I’m not lucky; neither of those things is in my mind. When you get angry, your brain stops working. I couldn’t even think about getting angry or disappointed about anything…

After the flight, the NY Times reported his reaction:

After landing, at the end of a flight that lasted 9 minutes and 53 seconds, Mr. Dwight stood on the steps outside the door of the crew capsule, raised his arms in the air and said, “Long time coming.”

Minutes later, standing outside the capsule, he said that the flight had been “life-changing.” He admitted that he had been saying, earlier in the day, that he didn’t need the flight in his life. “But I lied,” he said.

He feels that…

…finally making it to space was not justice, but something that should have happened at some point. “My whole life has been about getting things done,” Mr. Dwight said. “This is the culmination.”

Well done and well deserved, Captain Dwight!

A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul… (Proverbs 13.19, ESV)

PS You can watch a 2-hour presentation of the entire mission at the Blue Origin website. They talk about Ed Dwight from just before 1:15 to just before 1:18, including a tour of his art studio. The flight starts just after 1:20 and lasts about 10 minutes. You can see the ascent through MECO (main engine cutoff). You can also see the soft landing of the rocket booster two miles from where it was launched and then the capsule’s landing. They spend a lot of time with Ed (90 years old, remember) and his wife after. Worth some of your time! Here’s a picture I made from the computer: Ed and his wife after the flight: