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In Christ, Mark
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King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter — Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods."
Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although He had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord's command. So the Lord said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept My covenant and My decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.
Nevertheless, for the sake of David, your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him but will give him one tribe for the sake of David, my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
1 Kings 11:1-13
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In chapter 10 of 1st Kings, one thing was very clear.
Solomon had it made with everything going his way as he fully experienced the fulfillment of God’s promise to him…the promise to give him wisdom, honor, and riches greater than any other king.
Indeed, life was as good as it could get for Solomon and in order to maintain it, all he needed to do was remain faithful to God…carrying out His will, doing what He commanded, and following His laws and decrees. Surely, this wouldn’t have been hard for a man of great wisdom like Solomon who you think would have been sensible enough to not ruin such a good thing. And yet, he did, despite all of his wealth, power, and esteem because as we see, there was a character trait that became a problem for Israel’s king, just as it had been for his father, the renowned King David.
You see…King Solomon was a sinner like anyone else, not immune from failing and falling like anyone else if he chose to turn away from God in his life. This is why we found the Lord issuing such a harsh warning about the consequences that would come if Solomon or any of his successors decided to enter a life of disobedience. Unfortunately, as we see in the opening verses of chapter 11, we see where Solomon allowed his sexual desires to lead him down the road of immorality.
The scriptures tell us that he (Solomon) gave his love to “many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter”. These women included Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites...all of which were from “nations about which the Lord had” had issued this command:
“You must not intermarry with them because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods”.
Surely Solomon, possessing the gift of wisdom from God Himself, was well aware of this demand but willingly decided to do what he wanted to do instead. Perhaps he allowed his power and fame to get to his head, feeling like he had the latitude to do whatever he desired, even if the Lord had forbidden it. No matter why he did it, he did and in doing so, failed to heed the Lord’s decree.
We read where he “held fast” to loving the prohibited women, choosing to marry seven hundred of them while also keeping “three hundred concubines”. These foreign wives then did what God said they would do…they led Solomon astray so that he “turned his heart after other gods” as he got older. This resulted in the quick downfall of the man who was once so highly esteemed by the Lord and others. The scriptures affirm this testifying that Solomon’s heart was “not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been”.
The proof of this soon became very evident as Solomon decided to follow “Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites”…actions that were “evil in the eyes of the Lord”. Through his sinful worshipping of false gods, Solomon had failed to “follow the Lord completely”. And as if this wasn’t enough, we read where not only gave his devotion to these false gods but also “built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab…for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites”…and for “all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods”.
Well, obviously God was not going to put up with this and as this passage closes we see Him enter into the scene, “angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away” from his God “who had appeared to him twice”. Here’s what the Lord said to Israel’s sinful king:
"Since this is your attitude and you have not kept My covenant and My decrees which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
Yes…Solomon everything he could ever dream for but allowed sin and temptation to do him in. In the end translation, he had to not only live with the fact that his behavior would lead to his son losing the kingdom but also that he (Solomon) had let the Lord down, failing to remain faithful and obedient to his God.
My friends, the same thing can happen to us if we’re not careful. We need to learn from the mistakes of Solomon or run the risk if repeating them ourselves. The Lord’s lesson for us is four fold.
First, we need to be careful about who we associate with. Being reckless in who he loved was the first misstep taken by Solomon. We saw in the scriptures how he associated himself with foreign wives who introduced their sinful ways into his life and, in seeking to please them, he exchanged God for their false ones, despite God commanding him not to do so.
And this leads to the second lesson for association can result in assimilation.
After entering into marriage with his foreign wives, Solomon began to adopt their worship practices, even going as far as building high places to honor the foreign gods. This clearly showed how Israel’s king allowed himself to be adversely influenced by his foreign wives as they assimilated him into their sinful behavior which Solomon allowed to override his obedience to the Lord.
This leads us to lesson number three for assimilation can lead to transformation.
In Solomon’s case, the associated with the foreign wives followed by the assimilation into their wicked worship practices led him to change His alliance as he became more loyal to false gods than the one and only true God…the God who had given him so much in the way of fame, prestige, and riches.
This led to the fourth and final lesson for us…transformation can lead to damnation.
We saw where Solomon’s sinful decision to abandon God led to His rebuking and judgment. The anger of the Lord was further amplified by the fact that he had told Solomon about the consequences of disobedience well in advance.
And so Israel’s king was fully aware of what would happen if he decided to turn away from God and yet, he did it anyways, allowing himself fall prey to sin…and in doing so, throw away everything he had accomplished in life.
Can we hear the Lord speaking loudly to us through this message today?
For He is asking us to check who we’re associating with, assessing whether or not those associations might be assimilating us into sinful practices…practices that run counter to God’s Word and will. There’s urgency to identify this early on because we see where assimilation into sin results in sinful transformation and God’s damnation will not be far behind if we allow that transformation to take place.
Given this, where are you at in this process?
The best answer would be that you’re not in it at all…that you have been careful about the relationships you’ve entered into, placing a premium on only tethering yourself to people who are God-focused and committed to righteous and holy living.
However, if you have made the mistake of connecting yourself to ungodly people who have led you away from the way of the Lord, there is still hope and good news for you. For right now…in this very moment of time…you can choose to repent, turning away from sinfulness and back to the Lord. Know and trust that your re-association with Him will lead to a blessed re-assimilation which in turn will lead to a renewed spiritual transformation…a transformation that will move you from damnation to restoration and back into a right standing with the Lord.
So which will it be for you if you have strayed off the narrow path God wants for you to travel? Will it be restoration or damnation?
I don’t know about you…but if it’s me, I’m choosing restoration every single time.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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