When the Mighty Fall

INTRODUCTION:

There is a part of our being, embedded deep within all of us, that cannot help but build platforms to place our heroes on. From the time all of us can remember, we choose people to look up to, to admire, to want to hear from and model ourselves after. Whether it’s the older kid across the street, who can play every sport flawlessly anddo tricks on his skateboard, or whether it’s your mom or dad, whether it’s your teacher, who seems to be able to walk on water, or whether it’s a professional athlete or powerful preacher .... we all have our heroes. We have that in common.

What we also have in common, is that our heroes, so often, end up letting us down. You realize that dad isn’t perfect; or you wake up one day to the news, trending on the internet, that there’s been a scandal uncovered - a scandal behind the scenes. And teh person you have held up on that carefully constructed pedestal … has come toppling down. And, like Humpty Dumpty - all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, cannot put the shattered pieces of your hero, back together again.

For some of us, this experience is fresh, as someone we have looked up to for years has recently been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

And we’re left asking: “How does this happen?” It’s one thing when the person you’re talking about it an obvious crackpot - a charlatain, with a goofy grin, who has made a fortune peddling heresy. But when it’s someone who has taught the truth and who spoke messages or wrote books that impacted your life … what do you do with that?

Oh friend, that’s where the gift of God’s word comes in. There is NO experience we face in the world today - that God’s Word does not prepare us for. Fallen heroes is no exception.

1 THE DOWNWARD SLIDE, vv. 1-8

This morning, we come to the end of the story of the life of Solomon, son of David, king of God’s people. And what a life it’s been. Solomon is one of the greatest men to ever live. Not only is he the son of mighty David, king of the nation God had chosen for Himself … he is also, literally ‘Golden’ in almost everything he ever did. He rose to power and the whole nation celebrated. He had a powerful army of horses and chariots that he never even needed to use in battle, because his kingdom was always at peace. It was during Solomon’s day that the borders of Israel were at the widest expanse in history.

King Solomon was the one who finally built the Temple to God in Jerusalem - and what a temple it was: stately in its majesty, seven years to build, no expense spared … literally tons of gold covering every inner surface and finest craftsmanship on display wherever you look in the entire complex.

Solomon was magnificently wealthy, because of the trade alliances he built and his fleet of ships bringing treasures from across the seas. Hundreds of golden shields on display throughout his palace … he has so much gold that silver is as valuable in Solomon’s kingdom as paper cups are in our day.

He’s famous, around the world, for his skills and abilities to govern - with royalty - Queens, coming on month’s long journeys across deserts, from thousands of kilometers away, to experience his wisdom for themselves.

And that’s the key to his success: Solomon was given a choice, at the beginning of his reign, to ask God for anything he wanted … anything at all. And Solomon chooses wisdom. He chooses well. And because his desire was to get wisdom from God, so that he could govern God’s people properly - God said, “I’ll give you that. I’ll give you more wisdom than anyone has ever had. AND … I’ll also give you riches and honor - so much that there will be no king as great as you for as long as you live.” Solomon has it all!

But Solomon’s success doesn’t start with his request for wisdom. His success starts BEFORE that. Look at 1 Kings 3:3, “Solomon LOVED the LORD ...”. That’s where the success begins - a deep love for the God who’s people he has the priviledge of leading. W He loves God. He’s passionate about building a temple for God and worshiping Him - and longs for all the nations of the world to see that there is ONE and only one God in the universe and this is where He’s known.

When you look at a life like this, surely you can say: “This life is a success”. And, if you look at snapshots along the way of Solomon’s life - all you see is success. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold.

But we saw last week that there are some warning signs popping up. If you are an Israelite, you remember Moses’ parting words to your ancestors, looking ahead to the day when they would have a king. In Deuteronomy 17, he gives his list of warnings to make sure the Israelites don’t put up with a king that’s just like all the other nations. They are not like the other nations - they’re the people of God. And their king needs to reflect that.

Deuteronomy 17:15 and following: “… you may indeed set a ing over you whome the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you hsall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.” Okay, so far so good - Solomon fulfills those requirements.

Verses 16, “Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again. (17) And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.”

So four restrictions here: 1)‘Don’t acquire many horses’ or, 2) get them from Egypt.’ 3) Don’t take many wives for himself and 4) Don’t acquire excessive silver and gold.”

By the end of chapter 10 - Solomon has acquired 1400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. I think that counts as ‘acquiring many horses.’ Where did he get them from? Egypt. And year after year, the ships sail into port and the the cargo is carried up to Jerusalem with tons upon tons of gold. In other words, he has broken every one of these warnings - every one, except one: “… don’t acquire many wives.”

Look at how chapter 11 begins: “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations cencerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neigher shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’ ...” Now to be fair - Moses says, ‘Don’t acquire MANY wives ...’. He doesn’t specify how many is too many. And in the Old Testament, polygamy is never explicitly commanded against. Without fail, when it happens, it never ends well. It is not a good idea … ever. But there’s some ambiguity here: How many wives are too many ?

Verse 3, “He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines.” Ummm, do you think ONE THOUSAND would qualify as a tad excessive? Now, some commentators point out that in the Ancient near east - it wasnt’ uncommon for powerful kings to marry women from other nations as a political tool to increase their strength. They say, “Well, maybe this was just politics in action.” But the Bible doesn’t give us that option. Notice how verse 1 begins, “Solomon LOVED many foreign women.” Remember back in chapter 3:3, “Solomon LOVED the LORD”. That when he first stepped up to his throne. Now, as we get to the end of his life .... “Solomon LOVED many foreign women”. The narrator is saying, “Look! see how the king’s affections have changed.”

And notice the end of verse 2, “… Solomon CLUNG to these in love.” That’s not the language of political alliances - that’s the language of husband and wife in the garden of Eden: “The man will leave his father and mother and CLEAVE to his wife.” It’s the language of Deuteronomy 30:20, “… loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and HOLDING FAST (CLEAVING) to Him.” It’s unswerving loyalty to God. “Love the LORD your God with all of you heart, mind and strength.”

And Solomon gets to a point in his life where he says to himself, “I know better than God. I can love Him AND the foreign women, too.” Now just to be blear - the command against marrying foreigners has nothing to do with racism … God created every race of humanity - ‘Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight. Jesus Loves the little children of the world.” This has nothing to do with racism - it has everything to do with true religion.

See the procession, week after week, royal processionals of women being led to the palace to walk the aisle and say their vows to the king of Israel. I like a wedding as much as the next guy, but can you imagine - 700 of these weddings - all to the same groom? Do you think, at some point, the thrill may wear off?

Solomon thinks he can love the foreign wives and love God at the same time .... But he can’t. Look at v. 4, “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.”

Isn’t Solomon so much like us: We read God’s word and read His clear commands and think, “Okay … BUT, He just doesn’t understand my situation here ...”. “I know God says, ‘don’t be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever”, BUT … “He doesn’t understand my needs. It’s okay - I’ll keep my love for God in this compartment and my other choices in that compartment.”

Do you understand Solomon’s mindset? Of course you do - just like I do. If you’re a Christian, you’ve most likely been there - “

You can’t do it. The Bible says Solomon couldn’t do it - and neither can you: Verse 3, “And his wives turned away his heart. (4) 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.”

Notice again, at the end of verse 4, just like last week, David is the example given of what it means to follow the LORD whole-heartedly. And you think, “Pardon me? With all the skeletons in his closet, how can he be anything but a warning of what NOT to do?” This is God’s Word - and David lived large, he loved large - and he sinned LARGE .... but when cconfronted by his sin … David owned it - he didn’t try to shift the blame .... and he repented large. Then he got out of the mud he had rolled in - and got back on the pathway of discipleship.

Solomon’s heart was TURNED AWAY. It’s bad enough that he turns away from obedience in his love life and marries all of these foreign women - but he also turns his heart to their gods.

1 Kings 11:5-8 READ

Some people read about God’s anger over having to share Solomon’s heart with other gods. I mean, “Why does He have to be jealous and demand exclusive worship?” In our day of judging religions by ‘whatever works for you’ that’s a common question. But it’s not a new question. The other nations in Solomon’s world would be asking the same question. They don’t have a problem with the buffet approach to worship. I mean, of course they want their god to get top billing, but if you want to throw in a dash of Molech with Dagon and add a side of Yahweh - that’s okay with them. Maybe if you understand the character of the other gods, you’ll get an idea of why the true God would be so unwilling to share His glory.

You’ve heard of the names of some of these gods before, but maybe not all of them: “Ashtoreth” is the sex goddess of the Canaanites. You go to her to get help in reproduction - whether you’re looking for fruitful fields of food or fruitfulness in your family … she’s the one whose help you enlist and you can imagine what worship in her religion looks like. And the countless children trafficked and groomed to surrender their bodies to the depravity of her worshipers could sure tell you the cost in human lives that her worship exacted.

Milcom

Not only does Solomon dabble in the worship of these gods, but he draws up the architectural plans, calls in his engineers and sends teams of builders, just outside the city gates of Jerusalem, to the mountain - hill, just to the east of town, sends them up that hill and there has them construct high places - worship centres , verse 7 tells us, “for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites .... (v. 8) and so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.”

Solomon has become a worship facilitator for a multiplicity of pagan gods. Do you see how ridiculous this is?!

This is the man who spent 7 years building a temple for the the worship of the God of Israel. He spared no expense, sacrificed so many animals in worship that they couldn’t be counted.

This is the same one who begged the LORD to take up residence in the house he had built for Him. He longed for all the nations to know that He alone is God!

… now, in his own capital city - just across the valley from Jerusalem - this very Solomon has built worship centers to rival, foreign, powerless and destructive gods.

It’s not only foolish … it’s tragic.

But before we pass on in scorn over the King who had so much and threw it away .... let’s pause and reflect

One more thing: Verse 4, “When Solomon was old ....”.

As Alexander Maclaren put it, Solomon’s ship went down when the voyage was nearly over. Was this the truth John Bunyan had in mind in his allegory when Pilgrim saw a door opening down to hell close by the very gates to the Celestial City itself? He was implying that this side of heaven we never outlive the dangerous undertow of temptation.

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2 THE LORD’S JUDGMENT, vv. 9-13

In verse 9 we get God’s response to Solomon’s ‘progressive religious’ journey: “And the LORD was angry with Solomon ...” (Well, I guess so!). The text goes on to explain why: “ … because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him TWICE (10) and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.”

“The LORD, the God of Israel” - when you see those names of God - they are flashing lights to get your attention. “LORD” - that’s God’s covenant name, “Yahweh” - “I AM … I am with you.” And “God of Israel” - that brings back memories of the rescue from slavery in Egypt centuries before. This is the God, who saw this people under cruel oppression, crying out in pain for rescue - The God who rolled up His sleeves, bared His arm and brought mighty Pharaoh to his knees. Pharaoh - who worshiped a pantheon of his own gods. In plague after plague - each of them taking on one of Egypt’s deities - God shows them to be powerless. Do the Egyptians worship the sun god? Well the God of Israel will plunge the land into darkness (except for the part where Israel lives). Do the Egyptians worship the mighty Nile river? Well, God will turn it into a sea of blood. One by one, every Egyptian god is taken down in humiliating defeat … until God ultimately singles out Israel as His people in the plague on the firstborn. The firstborn of every horse in the barn, every cow in the field, every human in every home … one by one, every firstborn creature is killed, as the angel of death passes over the land of Egypt. Every home EXCEPT the homes which have listened to this God, obeyed Him, sacrificed the passover lamb, eaten the meal and smeared its blood over the doorpost of the house.

The God of Israel has the power of life and death over every nation on earth - that’s the idea there. And THAT God has stepped into a relationship with this people. He carries them out of Egypt, through a hostile wilderness for 40 years and into the land He promised them, even though it was already inhabited by nations bigger and stronger than Israel. This God did all of that - and Solomon knows it. That’s why he wanted so badly to build the temple in Jerusalem - to honour this God. In the very heart of the temple … in the most holy place, there under the golden wings of the cherubim, there under the mercy seat, kept alone in the Ark of the Covenant carried with the people through the wilderness and the battles in taking this land - there in the ark - are the tablets of stone, with the 10 commandments on them - engraved by the very finger of God.

The very FIRST commandment: “Have no other gods before me (not only ahead of me - but ‘before me’ - ‘in my presence’). And the SECOND commandment: “Make noidols - don’t worship them, don’t bow down to them.”

WHY? Because this God has given victory over EVERY OTHER god of EVERY OTHER nation … and now Solomon’s heart is turned TO those fakes.

Even in his day it is a stunning choice that Solomon makes .... In the ancient world, if you were going to worship multiple gods - you would naturally worship the gods of that had conquered your armies … or at least the gods of countries that were bigger and stronger than your own. But Solomon, you’ve chosen to worship the gods of people you have conquered and already have power and control over? What could you ever hope to gain from that? This sure is a foolish investment for the wisest man in the world to make!

And what a slap in the face to the God Who has taken up residence in your temple.

There are consequences. There have to be consequences, or God wouldn’t really be a person in relationship - He would just be a force, or He wouldn’t be holy.

Verses 11-13, God tells Solomon what’s going to happen now: “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. (12) Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. (13) However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, ,for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.’”

The immediate consequence is a raising up of enemies. Verses 14 and following tell about them. We don’t have time to get into the details right now, but just remember - Solomon’s entire reign up until now has been in peace. He has been a diplomatic genius and his people have celebrated his throne because they’ve benefited. But not any more.

The divided heart of Israel’s king leads to a divided kingdom. Just the same as in the life of every Christian who tries to keep the separate compartments of life in their own boxes: “My Christian, church life - goes in this box. I’ll bring it out on Sunday for worship and when I bump into other Christians.” “MY Monday to Saturday life goes in this box … to enjoy the rest of my week - when I’m at work with the guys and the off-colour jokes are flying … when I’m deciding what to do with my income … how to invest my time - what I will treasure. That box is over here”

You can get away with it for a time. You can fool everyone - even yourself for a time … but you can’t keep the parts of your life in separate oxes forever. In the end you will dis-integrate:

Psalm 86:11, the psalmist prays: “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; (NIV) give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

That’s the key right there: What you need is to be ‘integrated’ - in other words, you need an undivided heart - that is consumed with treasuring God.

When Solomon dis-integrates - when he falls apart spiritually, his whole nation falls apart. And we find ourselves at the end of this story - feeling like we’ve just seen a bomb drop: “That’s Solomon - the wisest man to ever live - a man who started out so, so well. If he can fall apart like that … what hope is there for me?”!

And that’s the point friend: If a man like Solomon can’t keep his divided life together, how in the world can you?

CONCLUSION

Well, is there any GOOD news in this story? Well friend, if you’ve been with us for any length of time, I hope you recognize that, no matter where we find ourselves in the Bible, no matter how dark the night … there is good news on every page of Scripture. Every chapter, every page points to Jesus Christ. And 1 Kings 11 is no exception.

Take a look back at v. 7, “Solomon built a high place for …(the various abominable deities).” Notcie where he built those high places … end of the verse: “on the mountain east of Jerusalem.”

Come with me for a moment and let’s go there - through the city gates and out of teh city of Jerusalem, down the steps into the valley, across the Kidron book, and up the side of the hill just to the east. As you climb the pathway, through the olive grove, you arrive at the ‘high place’ worship center that Solomon built, to the depraved, froeign, false gods of his many wives - where all sorts of demeaning and dehumanizing practices take place in the name of religion, under the sponsorship of the king himself. Turn to face the city to the west, and you can see the royal palace, you can see the temple, gleaming in the sunlight. And right here - so much evil?!

Does that feel like your heart friend? On the one hand, you have known what it is to be close to God. You know the experience of tasting His goodness and the overflowing, abundant joy of walking hand in hand with Jesus Christ. But now - you look at your life - and you’re feeling so far away. You can see where you were … from a distance - but that was so long ago. Your life has been consumed by the chase after empty idols that have not only NOT satisfied … they’ve left you feeling broken.

“Am I going to end up like Solomon … cut off and doomed to an unhappy ending?!” Look at v. 13 again: “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, that I HAVE CHOSEN.” Don’t miss that! God HAS CHOSEN His people - and He does not give up on what He has chosen. Not now; not ever. And a failed Solomon, a fallen hero … a foolish you - cannot get in the way of God’s plan.

This very mountain, we are standing on - 900 years from now, it will be known as the Mount of Olives - and it is from this very place, that Jesus willdescend and ride into Jerusalem, along a pathway strewn with palm branches and coats - as the TRUE King. The eternal King will walk through this desecrated territory, not with the trappings of gold or political alliances … but humbly, on a donkey. And Jesus doesn’t come only as a king, to judge. He comes as the Saviour who will give up His own life - to purchase your freedom and joy by setting you free from the effects of all the foolish, damaging decisions you have made.

When the mighty fall - when YOU fall - know this friend: that the King of Kings has come to bring salvation to EVERYONE who believes. And so we say, because we can’t help but cry out with wonder, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.”