1 Kings

1 Kings 11:1-8

God had give clear direction on taking wives; and more importantly where not to take wives.  Disobedience to this direction would bring apostasy.  We can only imagine that Solomon thought he was the exception; he could handle all these foreign wives.  Even the wisest man in the world must heed God's direction and needs to be obedient.   Instead he held to them for love.

Solomon became poisoned by the world of politics and power.  In an attempt to make everyone happy and appease all the lands, he ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines.  (I wonder if all the wives knew about the others.)  He spent most of his life as a newlywed.  And at any given time there were a whole lot of wives unhappy with him. What a bizarre situation.   

The wives led him away and he ended going after Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh and Molech.  Ashtoreth was the Pheonician goddess of love. Milcom was the chief god of the Ammonites.  He may have been the same as Molek to whom children were sacrificed.  Solomon ended up building a shrine for Chemosh, who was the god of the Moabites.  He also built a shrine to Molek.  The justification for the apostasy seems to be that he built these to keep his wives happy since they wanted to worship to their gods.  It's as if Solomon were prooving that what God said was absolutely correct.

1 Kings 11:9-13

The Lord was angry. Particularly of note was that God appeared to Solomon twice and specifically tolk him not to turn away.  As a result of this anger, God speaks to Solomon once more.  We don't know in what manner, presumably through a priest or prophet.  God told him he would tear the kingdom away from him.  The kingdom would be split and one tribe would stay with David (Judah).  Yet, this would happen later because God honors his word to David. 

1 Kings 11:14-25

God raised up adversaries to Solomon in Hadad and Rezon.  Hadad had escaped David & Joab when Edom was conquered.  Hadad went to Egypt and found asylum there.  Now that David and Joab was gone, Hadad was ready to return.  Hadad is a followed the God's of Edom and probably Egypt, but the Jehovah God was calling the shots and his life was set apart for God's purpose. 

Rezon was likewise and adversary raised up by God for His purpose.  Rezin thought he reigned Syria by his power and caused Solomon problems at his direction, but he was being used by God. 

1 Kings 11:26-43

God sent Ahijah to act out this prophecy to Jeroboham.  This was a man who would have otherswise seemed to be loyal and remain so.  But he was told that the would reign over these ten nations of Israel.  God protected Jerusalem and the temple and would not abandon them in His anger.  And while the kingdom would be moved from the line of David because of Solomon, it would not remain that way because Christ would be born as a descendant of David.   

It is fascinating that Solomon thought he could kill Jeroboam and thwart the discipline of God.  It's just another situation where we see Solomon didn't get wiser as he got older. 

Solomon died after reigning forty years.  It is thought that Solomon was twenty when he began his reign, so he didn't life a long life.

Rehoboam, Solomon's son, became king.

©2016 Doug Ford