LET US LEARN FROM SOLOMON
My readers know I love and honour King David, and love to write about him and his life and writings. But what of his son Solomon? We read in 1 Kings 3:9 NKJV Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” He became known as “The wisest man in all the world” and yet his life was a conundrum as he made so many unwise decisions in his life.
There are special commands God made for Kings, and we read this in Deut. 17: 14-17 NKJV He shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
God gave 3 negative commands anD 2 positive commands.
1.He shall not multiply horses. in other words:
Don’t build your own power
Don’t depend on your military strength
Don’t look to Egypt for your protection.
We read in 1 Kings 4:26 NKJV Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
2.He shall not multiply wives to himself. He had 700 Wives and 300 concubines
We read in Kings 11:1-8 KJV But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
3. He shall not multiply silver and gold.
W read in 1 Kings 10: 14 & 27 NKJV The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, besides that from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country. v.27 he king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.
These three temptations are often described as:
- Power (Glitter)
- Women (Gals)
- Wealth (Gold.
THEN ONE POSITIVE COMMAND
- He shall WRITE, READ AND OBSERVE THE LAW
Deut. 17:18-20 NKJV Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
LET US BE MEN AND WOMEN OF WHO LOVE AND OBEY THE WORD OF GOD.
THE SAD CONSEQUENCES
1 Kings 11:9-13 NKJV So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
Every believer and every Leader can be tempted to disobey these commands, that is why Jesus said WATCH AND PRAY THAT YOU ENTER NOT INTO TEMPTATION.
DON’T EVER SAY “THIS COULODN’T HAPPEN TO ME”.
listen to Paul’s warning in 1 Cor. 10:12 NKJV Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall
Alexander Whyte wrote ” The shipwreck of Solomon is surely the most terrible tragedy in all the world. For if ever there was a shining type of Christ the O.T. it was Solomon, but every day sensuality made him in the end a castaway.
Let us never forget WITHOUT HIM WE CAN DO NOTHING, but let us do as James admonishes us in James 1: 5 NKJV If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Let us learn from Solomon’s life, and determine with the Lord’s help, we will fulfil the purposes of God in our generation amen.
There are some awesome gems of truth in Solomon’s writings, and my next blog will highlight that,
