Scripture Menu—
1 Kings 11:1-6 — A King Like All the Nations
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So, Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David, his father had done.
Matthew 22:36-38 — A Love Above All Loves
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Cogitations—
In the beginning… King Solomon looked to be the promising Son of David he was supposed to be. Or was he, really? In his inaugural prayer offered at the dedication of the Jerusalem Temple in the fourth year of his reign, he pontificated thusly: (8:57-61) May “the LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments…” And then this, the icing on the proverbial cake— “Let your heart [Israel] therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”
Be that as it may, four years prior to this prayer, the Story of Solomon began with these two oxymoronic words: (3:1) “Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt…” And then, just two verses following, this non-sequitur — (3:3) “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father.” The opening of the final two chapters of King Solomon in 1 Kings 11-12, reveals the NorthStar of his heart has set its sight a little lower from where it appeared to be at the start (11:1), “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women…” “Many” seems an understatement: 700 wives and 300 concubines! They turned his heart away from the Lord. Nevertheless (11:2), “Solomon clung to these in love.” Perhaps as a form of holy mitigation, the narrator says, “when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father” (11:4), as if to suggest the infirmity of old age precipitated his apparent apostasy.
In hindsight, it seems surreal in a twisted way that the wise, promising king who built the majestic Temple atop Mount Moriah, at the same time uncritically built altars to the gods of his foreign wives on the southern end of the Mount of Olives, all within clear view of the holy esplanade across the Kidron Valley. Not coincidentally, this area of Olives became known as “the mount of corruption.” (See 2 Kings 23:13)
Downstream from this kingly-dropped-ball, the consequences float to the surface: (11:9-11) “The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the 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 commanded. Therefore, the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.”
That “servant” would be the Ephraimite, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. The ten northern tribes of Israel will “tear away” from Solomon’s kingdom, never again to be reunited. (Actually, the kingdom will be reunited in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we shall come to this later in our study ;-)
There are many avenues of teaching that could sprout from this fertile soil of unfaithfulness, but for our purposes here, I merely point out that the disaster that rained on Solomon’s parade— was borne from the beginning of his reign. I find it intriguing that the presentation of Solomon appears to be intentionally murky. There are the glories of his wisdom. There is his opulent building prowess. The wealth, the power, and the keen and relentless administrative grip over his united kingdom. Twelve disparate tribes of Israel, finally under one, big tent. The undiscerning eye is over-awed by the glitter. But, to the well-read disciple, there are hints of “not all is right” scattered all through the narrative, as revealed not in the least, in the debut of his story: He loved God— but he loved Pharaoh’s daughter, too.
From this time forth, God will no longer speak directly to the kings of Judah (south) and Israel (north). Prophets will be raised up to speak for God— To exhort, cajole and warn successive kings, who like Solomon, have lost their way. It seems incredible that the office of prophet would be necessary given the strength of Solomon’s inaugural call to faithfulness: “Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments[!]” Solomon did not embody that exhortation. Another Son of David will. The Son of David, in another similar foundational call, said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” This Son of David didn’t just say “Do as I say.” He said, “Do as I do.” And he did.
Reading through the Old Testament, there are highs and lows, but mostly lows. As a Christian, I read these Scripures with Jesus lens. The Story isn’t complete until the Son of David comes and says that now, the Kingdom has come! Indeed, it has, and it is growing, and will never again be torn asunder. Think of the words describing this kingdom in the book of Daniel (7:14). “To him [the Lord Jesus] was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Dan. 7:14) We can only say, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Pictured: Solomon in Old Age (1866). Engraving by Gustave Doré (1832 - 1883)
