1 Kings 11
WE may have noticed, as we have read thus far of the history of Solomon, that little is said of any heart-exercises such as David knew. David had once sinned most sadly, yet he was, viewing his life throughout in general, a truly godly man; as the books of Samuel and the Psalms show plainly.
Solomon’s blessings indeed came from God. Besides wisdom, which he asked of God in order to govern His people, God gave him riches, magnificence and glory, but he forsook the law of God, and did not walk according to His Word. He was raised up to be the world’s greatest monarch, but he used his power to please himself, and his heart was turned away from God. He loved many foreign women, besides the daughter of the king of Egypt, —women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, Hittites, —the nations of which God had spoken to the children of Israel that they should be entirely separate from them. His seven hundred wives turned away his heart, and when he was old he became an idol worshiper, going after the goddess of the Zidonians, and the god of the Ammonites, and building high places for them, and for the god of the Moabites. These things lasted until the reign of Josiah (2 Kings 23:1313And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. (2 Kings 23:13)).
At last God told Solomon that because of his turning to the false gods of his foreign wives, about which he had been warned, the kingdom was to be taken away from him, and given to his servant (verse 11). On account of David, this should not take place until Solomon’s son should reign.
Is it not something for sober reflection. that even the richest, and the wisest, the most powerful monarch, born of a godly father, and at least a godly great-great-grandfather and grandmother (Boaz and Ruth), with so much blessing from God; should turn out so badly? The believer, it is our firm conviction, thrives best in affliction. It was so with David, and doubtless with countless others of the flock of God.
Solomon, we learn, had several adversaries. There was Hadad the Edomite (verses 14-22), and Rezon the son of Eliadah, king of Syria (verses 23-25), and lastly there was Jeroboam the son of Nebat; all of them were stirred up against Solomon by God, and on account of Solomon’s giving his heart to the foreign women and to idols.
Jeroboam was the “servant” of verse 11, to whom the kingdom was to be given, because of Solomon’s unfaithfulness. He was brave, and a good worker, and Solomon gave him a responsible position (verse 28), but after the prophet Ahijah, the Shilonite, gave him a message from God that he was to have the kingdom, because of Solomon’s allowing idolatry and joining in it himself, Solomon, learning of it, sought to kill Jeroboam who thereupon fled to Egypt.
And now Solomon’s death closed the story of this remarkable man. Israel had now had three kings, each reigning forty years; Saul, David, and Solomon. But only one of them could say,
“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in Him will I trust; He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Saviour” 2 Samuel 22:2, 32And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; 3The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. (2 Samuel 22:2‑3).
Reader, what of yourself? Can you echo David’s words from your own heart?
ML 06/26/1927