1 Kings 11:1-13
HOW many times had God appeared to Solomon? Twice.
The first time God promised to make Solomon wise; and the next time God promised to bless him, if he served Him.
But did Solomon serve God? I must now tell you of the wicked things that he did, when he was old.
He married a great many wives. This was wrong. People might then have two wives, or a few wives; but God liked best that they should only have one. You remember that Jacob had two wives, named Rachel and Leah. If a man now was to have two wives, he would be punished; then he might have two wives: but not so many as Solomon had.
Solomon had seven hundred wives. Why did he have so many? I think that Solomon had grown proud, and that he wished to be a very grand king, and it was thought very grand for a king to have many wives.
These wives were wicked: they worshipped idols. Solomon ought not to have married heathen women. At last these wives persuaded Solomon to like their idols: and to build altars for the idols on the high places round Jerusalem. Solomon did even worse than this; he worshipped some of the idols himself. You did not think that he could have been so wicked. Was he not very foolish to worship idols, which are only made of wood or stone? Solomon knew what was right, but he did not do it.
How sad it must have been to see these women offering sacrifices, and burning incense to their idols, and Solomon bowing down to them! God was very angry with Solomon; and God said to him, 'Because you have done this, one of your servants shall make himself king; he shall take away a great deal of the land of Canaan from your son, as soon as you are dead.'
I think Solomon was sorry for his wickedness before he died; but I am not quite sure that he was. It must have made him very sorry to have known that God would punish him! I hope he was sorry for having displeased God, Who had been so very kind to him.
Do you know it is the rule, that when a king dies the king's son is king instead of his father? So when Solomon died, his son was king instead of him; but very soon one of Solomon's servants tried to make himself king. The servant's name was Jer-o-be-am. This servant made himself the king over a great part of the land of Canaan; but Solomon's son was still king over the rest of the land.
What God had said came true; for God makes all He says come true. God had told Solomon that his son should only have part of the land. This was the punishment that God gave Solomon. God will punish people who are disobedient.
I hope, my dear child, that you will not be like king Solomon, and love God only when you are young; but I hope that you will love God all your life, from the time you are a little creature, until your hair is gray, and your back is bent with age, should you live to be old.
O who is this with kingly crown
Before an idol bowing down?
Can it be he whose early days
Were spent in wisdom's pleasant ways
Who built to God a temple fair,
And lifted up his voice in prayer?
Alas! 'tis he; that beauteous train
Of heathen women, bold and vain,
Have stolen his heart from God away;
And now that he is old and gray,
To please the wives he fondly loves,
He worships idols in the groves.
Child
From Solomon I'd warning take,
And may I never friendship make
With those who love ungodly mirth,
And only care for things of earth;
Lest they should make my heart to rove
From Him, Who won my early love.
Questions on Lesson 22
Why did Solomon worship idols in his old age?
What punishment did God give to Solomon?
Was Solomon's son king over part of the land of Canaan?
Who made himself king over the other part of Canaan?