Solomon, the wisest man in the world. Made supernaturally wise by the gift of God and yet in all his wisdom and all his wealth he could not withstand the temptation of the world. God's promise to Israel before they crossed the Jordan to possess this land of Milk and Honey can be found in Deuteronomy 28: "If you obey my edicts, observe my commandments, walk in my way; the Lord will bless you and set you high above the nations of the earth. All the people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord and they will fear you." That is exactly where Israel and Solomon are. Enormous wealth, enormous power and the wisdom of the ages. Great kings and queens like Sheba come to learn from Solomon and to honor them with the wealth of their lands. In gold alone, Solomon receives the equivalent of mare than $250,000,000 per year. Silver is so plentiful that is as common as stones. There has never been a nation like this before or a King that is so respected and revered.
We look at wealth as a blessing from God, but too much money can cause you to think that you can ignore God and that is what Solomon did. 700 wives and 300 concubines. Israel was commanded not to marry foreign women. You know the reason by now! God knew that those foreign women would bring their foreign gods with them and Israel would be converted to Idolatry and here it is again. The wises king in the world introduces the worship of Molech and Chemosh and the return of the Astoreths to Israel. Altars are raised on the high places and God condemns the great sin of Solomon and determines that Israel will be taken from his hands following his death. Jeoboam, one of his building foremen will be the instrument of the nations division. God has looked into the heart of Solomon and determined that he is no longer as his father, David, was....a man after God's on heart.....Israel has fallen from grace.
Rehoboam, son of Solomon, quickly proves that he is not as wise as his father was as he threatens the people with harsh taxes and forced labor. 10 of the 12 tribes rebel against Rehoboam and under the leadership of Jeroboam split from Judah and form their own nation. The10 tribes are known as Israel and the 2 that remain loyal to Rehoboam are called Judah.
Jeroboam proves to be an ungodly man by instituting a new religion that includes worshipping at a new temple built at Shechem. the worship includes two images of golden calves......just like the ones that Aaron made while Moses was on mount Sinai......must we continue to make the mistakes of our fathers? Will we ever learn that God means what he says and does what he says? There sin is so great that God promises that Israel will be no more. It took awhile but 300 years later, Israel is carried off into exile and is never and independent state again until more than 2500 years later when the United Nations create the independent nation of Israel in 1948.
Judah does not fare much better under the leadership of Rehoboam. He allows temple prostitutes and foreign gods as well. Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. that statement will become a mantra among future kings who seem unwilling or unable to honor God and keep his commandments. Egypt defeats Judah and carries off all of the great treasures of the temple that David and Solomon had acquired. In such a short time the wealth and prestige of Israel is no more.
For much of the rest of our Old Testament reading we will be learning of the downward spiral of what God had hoped would be a light to the world. It is a sad story of lost opportunity and blessing. Let us pray that we can learn the lessons that the Old Testament would teach us and that we would be wiser in how we lead our lives and honor God.
Hope you had a blessed Sabbath and that the week ahead will be one of blessing and opportunity.
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