The King With Too Many Wives

03/25/2019 The King With Too Many Wives

Series: The Story Of The Bible 

https://vimeo.com/322170217

What Does The Bible Say?

1 Kings 11

King David was now very old, and no matter how many blankets covered him, he could not keep warm… (1 Kings 1:1 NLT) 

17 She replied, “My lord, you made a vow before the Lord your God when you said to me, ‘Your son Solomon will surely be the next king and will sit on my throne.’ 18 But instead, Adonijah has made himself king, and my lord the king does not even know about it. (1 Kings 1:17–18 NLT)

28 King David responded, “Call Bathsheba!” So she came back in and stood before the king. 29 And the king repeated his vow: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has rescued me from every danger, 30 your son Solomon will be the next king and will sit on my throne this very day, just as I vowed to you before the Lord, the God of Israel.” 31 Then Bathsheba bowed down with her face to the ground before the king and exclaimed, “May my lord King David live forever!” (1 Kings 1:28–31 NLT)

As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: 2 “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. descendants live as they should and follow me faithfully with all their heart and soul, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ 3 Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all his ways.

Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. 4 If you do this, then the Lord will keep the promise he made to me. He told me, ‘If your descendants live as they should and follow me faithfully with all their heart and soul, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ (1 Kings 2:1–4 NLT)

Pass the baton of faith to others.

19 A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don’t hang around with chatterers. (Proverbs 20:19 NLT)

5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. (James 1:5 NLT)

We gain wisdom from reading the Bible.

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. 4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done. (1 Kings 11:1–6 NLT)

Protect your environment; your relationship with God depends on it.

13 That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 NLT)

It is never too late to come back to God.

How Can You Obey:

Protect your environment to finish strong.

Question 1 of 5

God allowed Solomon to ask Him for anything (1 Kings 3:5-14). Solomon asked for wisdom; what would you ask God to give you?

Question 2 of 5

Pretend that you are giving advice to a young person; what advice would you give them so they did not make poor choices?

Question 3 of 5

The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel not to marry foreign women so they would not turn their hearts away from God. Why is it important for Christians to marry other Christians?

Question 4 of 5

At the end of Solomon’s life, God was very angry with him for worshiping false gods. However, God held back some of the discipline for Solomon because of His love for David (1 Kings 11:9-13). How do we live as parents where God’s love for us may protect our children in the same way as God did here for Solomon? 

Question 5 of 5 

Solomon was very wise and wrote so many wise sayings, such as Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon (1 Kings 4:32). How could someone so smart make so many bad decisions as he got older?.