The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Kings 11:6,
"So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done."
Solomon's father, David, had given him this counsel, "'I am about to go the way of all the earth,' he said. 'So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: "If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel."'" 1 Kings 2:2-4.
Solomon's start as king over God's covenant people was remarkable. We read in 1 Kings 3:3, "Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except..." It is within those exceptions where the trouble resides!
We see that the Lord blessed Solomon, "God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else..." 1 Kings 4:29-31. We also read in 1 Kings 10:23-24, "King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart."
However, the Lord warned Solomon, "As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel." 1 Kings 6:12-13. Also, "As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel. But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble." 1 Kings 9:4-8.
In spite of the Lord's warning to Solomon, we read in 1 Kings 11:6, "Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done." The evil Solomon pursued was represented in the hundreds of women Solomon had taken for himself. "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites." Verses 4-5.
Such is the depravity of the human heart. With the very best of the Lord's blessings, wisdom beyond any other, riches and fame beyond any other, there was no blessing the Lord could provide King Solomon to keep his heart where it needed to be - on him. As we read in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Perhaps this is one of the best examples of why we see the Lord inaugurate a "new" covenant. Where the first covenant with the people of Israel was to show to them how sinful they were (thus needing a savior with God's judgment looming), by providing commandments that no one kept, ("no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin" Romans 3:20), the new covenant brings an inner change to those who embrace the Lord in faith.
This new covenant provides something unseen before, "'This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,' declares the Lord. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.'" Jeremiah 31:33.
The way the Lord writes his laws in our minds and on our hearts today is through the Holy Spirit that comes and takes up residence in our lives when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith. This is seen in passages such as 1 John 3:9, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God."
The new birth brings about the Holy Spirit indwelling our lives such that where God's greatest blessings (even as great as the blessings given Solomon) are unable to bring about a lasting inner change - the Holy Spirit does.
The accounts provided us in Israel's history helps us understand the Lord's workings in our lives today!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done."
Solomon's father, David, had given him this counsel, "'I am about to go the way of all the earth,' he said. 'So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: "If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel."'" 1 Kings 2:2-4.
Solomon's start as king over God's covenant people was remarkable. We read in 1 Kings 3:3, "Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except..." It is within those exceptions where the trouble resides!
We see that the Lord blessed Solomon, "God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else..." 1 Kings 4:29-31. We also read in 1 Kings 10:23-24, "King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart."
However, the Lord warned Solomon, "As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel." 1 Kings 6:12-13. Also, "As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel. But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble." 1 Kings 9:4-8.
In spite of the Lord's warning to Solomon, we read in 1 Kings 11:6, "Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done." The evil Solomon pursued was represented in the hundreds of women Solomon had taken for himself. "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites." Verses 4-5.
Such is the depravity of the human heart. With the very best of the Lord's blessings, wisdom beyond any other, riches and fame beyond any other, there was no blessing the Lord could provide King Solomon to keep his heart where it needed to be - on him. As we read in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Perhaps this is one of the best examples of why we see the Lord inaugurate a "new" covenant. Where the first covenant with the people of Israel was to show to them how sinful they were (thus needing a savior with God's judgment looming), by providing commandments that no one kept, ("no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin" Romans 3:20), the new covenant brings an inner change to those who embrace the Lord in faith.
This new covenant provides something unseen before, "'This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,' declares the Lord. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.'" Jeremiah 31:33.
The way the Lord writes his laws in our minds and on our hearts today is through the Holy Spirit that comes and takes up residence in our lives when we embrace Jesus Christ in faith. This is seen in passages such as 1 John 3:9, "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God."
The new birth brings about the Holy Spirit indwelling our lives such that where God's greatest blessings (even as great as the blessings given Solomon) are unable to bring about a lasting inner change - the Holy Spirit does.
The accounts provided us in Israel's history helps us understand the Lord's workings in our lives today!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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