The King: The Raise & Fall of Solomon: week 3

I’ve decided to change things up a bit and finish up this series this week. Originally, I planned on doing this series for 4 weeks, but as I began to look at weeks 3 and 4, I thought it might be a good idea and simply combine them. As a result, because we are finishing up Solomon this week, next week we are going to look at a story in scripture that has some similar themes…the Tower of Babel.

Today though, we are going to take a look at the downfall of Solomon and the consequences of that downfall…because they were, quite frankly, catastrophic…however, and despite Solomon’s disobedience, God does not turn His back on His people, as the ultimate plan of God will always go forward. Although we are covering 9-11, I will spend the lion’s share of time in ch. 11, as that is one of the most consequential chapters in the entire Old Testament.

PRAY

1 Kings 9:1–5

“Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. “As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’”

At this point in Solomon’s reign, he had completed “all that Solomon desired to do.” As we talked about the first couple of weeks, after God appeard to Solomon, in the very beginning of his reign, Solomon asked for wisdom, which the Lord graciously granted. Solomon surrounded himself with capable people and accomplished some amazing feats. The land of Israel was prospering and at peace. All good things, in and of themselves, right? Nothing wrong with any of that. However, during this entire time there were some problems under the hood. The car was running, God was blessing, things were going well, but no one was checking the oil, no one brought the car in for regular maintenance.

God appears to Solomon in a similar manner to the encounter we read about in the beginning of Solomon’s reign, in Ch. 3. This is why the author says that this is the second time the Lord appeared to Solomon. If you remember, last week, in Ch. 6, the author says:

1 Kings 6:11–13

“Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying, “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will carry out My word with you which I spoke to David your father. “I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.””

Perhaps in this instance the Lord spoke through a prophet, as it says “the word of the Lord came to Solomon” rather than “The Lord appeared to Solomon.” The author makes a clear distinction between these events by saying that the experience in ch. 9 is different than we see in Ch. 6, and as I said, more like the first time Solomon encountered the Lord in Ch. 3. Regardless, the Lord is obviously trying to get Solomon’s attention. The Lord reminds Solomon that obedience brings great blessings…but the Lord continues.

1 Kings 9:6–9

““But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. “And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ “And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the Lord has brought all this adversity on them.’ ””

This second visitation has a different tone to it. The first time the Lord appears to Solomon we see a back and forth between God and the young King. We do not see that type of interaction this time. Not only that, but God is pointing out the very thing that will be Solomon’s downfall…idolatry. God is warning the king to stay loyal to the covenant that was made with his father, David and with him. Most of us know the term infidelity. When we are unfaithful to our spouses, we commit infidelity. Well, the opposite of that is referred to as fidelity…that means remaining faithful. Here in this visitation to Solomon, God is reminding Solomon that the covenant he made with Israel requires fidelity…loyalty. We then see the flip side of that fidelity in verses 6-9…these passages are a picture of what covenant infidelity looks like and the consequences of that infidelity.

The rest of Chapter 9 talks about Solomon selling off Israeli land to King Hiram of Tyre and how he built a home for his wife, the Pharaoh's daughter, plus, it talks a little more about the forced labor that Solomon used in his building projects.

Chapter 10 is all about the massive the fortune that Solomon had acquired over the previous 20 or so years as king. Additionally, the wisdom of Solomon has spread far and wide by this time; so much so, that the The famous Queen of Sheba pays Solomon a visit.

1 Kings 10: 1-3

“Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her.”

So, the queen of Sheba was very impressed with Solomon, as a result, she gifted the king with a huge amount of spices and oil, which were high priced items in that day, as they could only be procured in certain areas of the world. On down a bit in Ch. 10, the author points out that Solomon returned the favor.

1 Kings 10: 13

“King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she requested, besides what he gave her according to his royal bounty. Then she turned and went to her own land together with her servants.”

So, who is this mysterious Queen, where did she come from and what exactly does “gave her every desire she requested mean?” Well, there is lots of conjecture over where this queen came from. The queen is referenced in historical records outside of the Bible. There are 2 main theories about where this queen came from, one is from Ethiopia and the other is from Yemen. At the end of the day it does not matter, but it does make for some interesting conversation…I guess. The same goes for what “everything her heart desires!” We do not know exactly what happened there, many things are rumored, but we do not know for sure.

Just to give you a further glimpse of the type of wealth that we are talking about here,

1 Kings 10: 21

“All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.”

You know what this reminds me of, if you’ve ever seen pictures of places like Dubai, over in the Middle East

SHOW PICTURES

1 Kings 10: 23-24

“So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.”

I don’t believe that even the excess of a place like Dubai can even come close to matching that of King Solomon, but it at least gives us a window into what it would have been like. I think we could safely say that God delivered on his promise to Solomon…He provided Solomon with all of the wisdom and resources needed.

Before we move on to chapter 11, let’s talk for a second about the 2 ways that we can look at the reign of Solomon up until this point. One way to read the story of Solomon up to this point is to see a man who was mightily blessed of God, a man who accomplished some great things and is someone to be admired. None of the patriarchs of the faith were perfect, that’s for sure, they all made their mistakes, we could view Solomon as no different than that. Up until chapter 11, I think that would be a fair reading of the these passages.

The other way to read these passages is to see a young king who starts off with a willingness to follow the covenant that God started with David, but even from the beginning, Solomon continues to make huge errors in judgment. First, marrying a pagan wife, second, making alliances with pagan nations, using forced labor (which the Bible goes out of its way to point out) and last, perhaps going overboard with excess and allowing his fame and money to got to his head.

I would submit to you that both readings are correct, two things can be true at the same time, and the life of Solomon is a perfect example. I often compare the life of Solomon and Sampson. Both accomplished great things for the Lord, one was a great warrior and the other a wise diplomat. There is one major distinction between them though. According to scripture, at the end of the day, the Bible records that Sampson recognised the error of his ways.

Let’s go ahead and move on to Ch. 11

Chapter 11 can be broken up into 3 main sections:

Solomon’s Indictment (11:1–13)

Solomon’s Adversaries (11:14–40)

Solomon’s Death (11:41–43)

That is how we will cover chapter 11. Then we will tie everything together when we are complete and apply the principles to our lives.

1 Kings 11:1–8

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 sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

In the NASB, chapter 11 has a heading that reads: Solomon turns away from God. The passage points out that when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away…but, Solomon was being unfaithful to the covenant, almost from day 1. In the very beginning of ch. 11 the author lists all of the women that Solomon was with, then says “from the nations concerning which the Lord had said...”you shall not associate with them…because they will turn your heart toward their gods. it says that “Solomon held fast to these in love.” The author lists some of the different pagan gods that Solomon followed after, including Ashtoreth.

Ashtoreth was a particularly vile pagan God, who was worshiped under different names all over the region. She was knows as the goddess of sex, fertility and love in the region of Israel. According to the historian Herodotus, the rituals included wrote that women were forced to sacrifice their virginity in the rituals. Ashtoreth was the female counterpart to Baal.

The bible refers to Ashtoreth in the book of Jeremiah and Judges. Not only that, but in Acts 19, Paul actually faced down the worshipers of Ashtoreth, as the city of Ephesians was one of the centers of worship for this pagan goddess. All of that to say, Solomon has really turned away, and was going full force towards these pagan gods and goddesses.

The second god that the author mentions is Milcom, another name for Molech. This god is refereed to as well other places in scripture, where the sacrificing rituals were described.

Deuteronomy 12:31

You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

Anyone catch what the worshipers of Molech do to appease their god? They sacrifice their children. We also see Molech mentioned in the N.T. in Acts 7.

Both Molech and Ashtoreth were particularly nasty pagan deities, I think this is why the author lists them specifically. So, the text says that “Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done. It’s clear that Solomon was also worshiping many other pagan gods, in addition to the two listed.

It is not a coincidence that the author mentions Solomon building “high places,” if you remember, the author pointed out, in the very beginning, before God even appears to Solomon, saying that Solomon would make sacrifices on the “high places.” So, even before Solomon was blessed with wisdom, wealth, and honor, he was already making sacrifices at pagan sites of worship. Obviously, Solomon returned to that practice later in his life.

1 Kings 11: 9-13

“Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was 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 observe what the Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but 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.””

Solomon’s heart was turned away from the Lord, despite the Lord appearing to him or speaking to him at least 2 times. God tried to warn Solomon, but Solomon did not heed the warning. In fact, Solomon only got worse the older he got. Nowhere in scripture do we see Solomon repenting of his sin, like we did his father. While a large part of Solomon’s problem was unbridled lust, that may have led him to where he was, but God’s incitement against him was spiritual in nature. Solomon practiced Idolatry, thus he practiced, like I said before, covenant infidelity. I use that word because that is exactly how God views it when we put things above Him. The consequences went far beyond what Solomon could have probably imagined. The consequences were far reaching.

The Kingdom would be split into 2 nations, with 10 tribes being ruled by the family line of one of Solomon’s servants and only 2 tribes will remain faithful to the line of David.

God, in His infinite mercy decided to not do this immediately, but only after Solomon has died and his son has taken over. The author gives 2 reasons for both, not taking everything away from the line of David and for allowing Solomon to serve out the rest of his reign before it happens.

The faithfulness of David

For the sake of Jerusalem. (or a larger, divine purpose)

Starting in verse 14 we see God begins to rise up adversaries against Solomon, in fact, the majority of chapter 11 deals with God setting up the dominos, so when Solomon’s dies, and his Son takes over, the nation will split.

1 Kings 11:14

“Then the Lord raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal line in Edom.”

In total, between verses 14 and verses 41, God raised up 3 men to oppose Solomon. This is where we get into some of the interesting, long term consequences of war and killing. I won’t spead a lot of time on this, but I do want to highlight some of the details. The first two men were Hadad and Rezon.

Both were political foes who actively worked throughout Solomon’s reign to undermine the Israelite's. Also, both of them had become enemies as a result of the actions of King David. For example, Hadad, who was of the “royal house of Edom,” fled to Egypt when David’s commander, Joab established a military presence in the nation of Edom. Hadad, with others, found refuge in Egypt, even finding “great favor” in Pharaoh’s eyes, as well as marrying into the family. This signified a diplomatic relationship between Egypt and Edom. If you remember, Solomon’s first wife was from the Royal line in Egypt. As a result, it’s possible that Pharoah held Hadad at by, not allowing him to return to Israle, as he might cause problems.

Hadad had much distain for Israel, and wanted to disrupt their plans, in verse 21 once Hadad learned that David was dead, he asked Pharoah to go back to Israel, but it seems that Pharoah held onto him for a while.

The second man,Rezon, an outcast, leading a large group of men that would cause trouble for Solomon from time to time. According to verse 24, and similar to Hadad, Rezon’s became an enemy of Israel as a result of David’s “killing.”

1 Kings 11:24

“He gathered men to himself and became leader of a marauding band, after David slew them of Zobah; and they went to Damascus and stayed there, and reigned in Damascus.”

The third guy that the Lord chose to cause problems was a guy named Jeroboam.

1 Kings 11:26

“Then Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.”

Jeroboam also had his reasons, but we do not have time to cover that today. So, according to the author, while out walking one day, a prophet spoke to Jeroboam and told him that God was choosing him to establish a second kingly line and that he and his family line would rule over 10 of the tribes. However, God made it clear to Jeroboam that this was not a “forever” deal.

1 Kings 11:37–40

“‘I will take you, and you shall reign over whatever you desire, and you shall be king over Israel. ‘Then it will be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ‘Thus I will afflict the descendants of David for this, but not always.’ ” Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death; but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt to Shishak king of Egypt, and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.”

So, what is interesting to me when I read this is that it appeard as though this meeting between Jeraboam and the prophet was done in secret, yet Solomon found out about it. Perhpas this same prophet has told Solomon who God had chosen, or, perhaps Jeroboam was dumb enough to go announcing that He was going to be a King. Either way, when Solomon heard that the Kingdom was going to be split, he didn’t repent and fall on his face before the Lord; he was so immersed in his idolatry, he tried to have Jeroboam killed.

Let’s finish up chapter 11, then we will finish up and tie everything together.

The third section of 1 Kings 11 is about the death of Solomon.

1 Kings 11:41–43

“Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and whatever he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? Thus the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David, and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.”

According to the author, Solomon was king for 40 years, quite a long time, about the same amount of time as his father, David. When we look at the life and story of Solomon there are so many lessons for us.

Just as Solomon was responsible for the blessings, he was also responsible for leading the nation of Israel away from Covenant fidelity.

It was the king that set the standards. We see all throughout the O.T. that when a godly king took the throne, the people followed; but the opposite was also true, when the king was ungodly, the people likewise followed. Nowhere do we see…the king did evil in the sight of the Lord, but the people remained faithful, that’s not the way that culture worked back then. The king sets the standard. This is why it was so important for the king to be surrounded by godly people. Solomon surrounded himself with hundreds of women, all of them pagan worshipers.

To finish up, let’s talk about something that I think we all can learn from the life of Solomon:

God’s grace and God’s Judgment are not mutually exclusive!

What do I mean by God’s grace and God’s judgement are not mutually exclusive? It means that both,

God’s grace and judgement, are always working in our lives, at the same time.

It means that when he acts, he’s not vindictive, but he’s also not a pushover. It means that while he will not mete out eternal judgment to his people for their failings, there will be consequences. Even when forgiveness is sought and given, it will take work to repair relationships. A repentant felon will still have to pay court costs, live under the terms of probation, and live with the consequences of a criminal record. God’s grace does not eliminate any and all penalties of past infractions.

But on the flip God’s grace isn’t nullified by our sins either, in other words, God’s grace extends to all of our sin. I won’t go into the deeper argument here of whether or not a person can turn their back on God. Whenever I’m asked that question I always tell the person to not worry about some hypothetical situation where we don’t know all of the details, nor do we have the mind of God. So, instead of worrying about if there is some line in the sand, concern yourself with the condition of your heart and leave the important stuff up to the Lord. I’m here to tell you today that a truly repentant person will never be rejected. God’s grace and God’s judgment are always at work in our lives. Solomon is judged by God for his evil ways, yet he is spared from living through the full extent of the consequences.

With this principle in mind, let me give you 2 quick things to consider.

1. God’s grace doesn’t shield us from God’s judgement

In other words, failing to be faithful leads to serious consequences

This is the covenant infidelity I was speaking about earlier, that we see so clearly in the life of Solomon. Thankfully, the consequences of our sin, our spiritual infidelity will not be as drastic, it can still have long lasting affects in our lives and in the lives of others. Here is the good news though, it is through the consequences of our mistakes that we learn the most. It is often through God’s discipline that we grow.

Hebrews 12: 7-11

“It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

So, God’s grace doesn’t shield us from the consequences of our sin. However, at the same time.

2. God’s judgment won’t exclude us from God’s grace

Despite our failures and inadequacies, the blood of Christ is more powerful. Because of this, God blesses us in two ways:

◦ We don’t always get what we truly deserve

◦ We sometimes get what we don’t deserve

What do we mean by that? Well in Romans ch. 3, Paul is quoting from the book of Psalms, he says:

Romans 3: 10-12

“as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.””

This was true in that day and it’s still true today. We deserve God’s eternal judgment (as harsh as that may sound to those who aren’t believers). Yet, when we put our faith in Christ, we do not get what we truly deserve; and in turn, we obtain something that we don’t deserve, which is the Righteousness of Christ.

Aside from our salvation, we live out this principle all of the time. We will mess us and live in the flesh, yet, as scripture says:

Romans 8: 1-2

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

We deserve condemnation, yet Christ has set us free from that bondage…we don’t get what we deserve.

On the other hand, we walk around with the favor of God on our lives and have the ability to share like with other believers, be encouraged and spurred on in our walk with Christ, we don’t deserve that, yet, we get what we don’t deserve.

God’s grace and judgment are always in balance, even when we may not understand. God grace does not exempt us from the disciple or judgment of God; yet, God’s judgment does not exclude us from the Amazing grace of our Lord. Guys like Solomon are a very extreme version of both. None of us will be visited by foreign leaders because of our wisdom, but at the same time, God will not cause America to split into two nations as a result of our spiritual infidelity. However, how many families have been split? How many churches have been split? How many blessings have we shut out of our lives as a result of disobedience?

What I haven’t talked about much that was very prevalent in Solomon’s life is idolatry, but that is also a major lesson for today’s church.

My challenge for you this week centers around the small cracks that we observed in Solomon’s life, that led to his downfall. The small decisions, that ultimately led to him turning away from God, according to Scripture. If you are a believer, you have the benefit and undeserved Grace of God in your life…now is the time to find those things that can lead to terrible consequences. What are those things? Anger, lust and pornography, which stats tell us is no longer just a problem among men, the love of money, because that can be a very subtle form of idolatry. Pride is a big one, we become our own idol, like money, that is very subtle? Whatever it is, now’s the time. God desires that you lay that down at His feet and walk away.

Let’s Pray.