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 2 Chronicles 8:11,
"My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy."
Solomon's wife here was Pharaoh's daughter. Solomon moved her (one of his hundreds of wives) out from Jerusalem in deference to the sanctity of places the Lord had manifested his presence via the ark of the covenant. In 1 Kings 3:1 we read, "Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem." When the king's palace and the temple were completed, he moved her out of the city of David.
Here is an interesting contradiction in my mind: why would Solomon take a wife (even if to strike an important alliance with Egypt) that, to him, was unacceptable in the locale of the Lord's presence? Solomon clearly had a zeal for building the temple and dedicating it to the Lord's presence on the one hand, and yet on the other, engaging himself with that which, in his own mind, was unacceptable to the very presence of the Lord.
This contradiction in Solomon's life was not without consequence. In 1 Kings 11:1-6 we read, "King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, 'You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.' Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 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. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done."
It wasn't just Pharaoh's daughter, but many women became the catalyst for Solomon's shortcomings before the Lord.
Some day I hope to meet the man in the resurrection, and far be it from me to cast stones! How about the inconsistencies in my own life? Solomon's life manifests something found in my own. Where Solomon had a very significant place in history and incredible resources to make his accounts all the more spectacular, I have to admit to my own inconsistencies.
Here is where the grace of God, his mercy, his love, his forgiveness is so important to me! Unlike the caricature held up in front of us by the do-gooders in our midst (and, you know who you are) as what "perfect Christians" should look like, I don't occupy that ideal. I do reach for it, I aspire to it, I yearn for it, but the truth is I fail at times with those contradictions so evident in my life.
I will say, it keeps me humble and causes me to continue to throw myself at the feet of the Lord's mercy. How wonderful the mercy of God and the payment Jesus Christ made for all my sins!
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.
"My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy."
Solomon's wife here was Pharaoh's daughter. Solomon moved her (one of his hundreds of wives) out from Jerusalem in deference to the sanctity of places the Lord had manifested his presence via the ark of the covenant. In 1 Kings 3:1 we read, "Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem." When the king's palace and the temple were completed, he moved her out of the city of David.
Here is an interesting contradiction in my mind: why would Solomon take a wife (even if to strike an important alliance with Egypt) that, to him, was unacceptable in the locale of the Lord's presence? Solomon clearly had a zeal for building the temple and dedicating it to the Lord's presence on the one hand, and yet on the other, engaging himself with that which, in his own mind, was unacceptable to the very presence of the Lord.
This contradiction in Solomon's life was not without consequence. In 1 Kings 11:1-6 we read, "King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, 'You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.' Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 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. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done."
It wasn't just Pharaoh's daughter, but many women became the catalyst for Solomon's shortcomings before the Lord.
Some day I hope to meet the man in the resurrection, and far be it from me to cast stones! How about the inconsistencies in my own life? Solomon's life manifests something found in my own. Where Solomon had a very significant place in history and incredible resources to make his accounts all the more spectacular, I have to admit to my own inconsistencies.
Here is where the grace of God, his mercy, his love, his forgiveness is so important to me! Unlike the caricature held up in front of us by the do-gooders in our midst (and, you know who you are) as what "perfect Christians" should look like, I don't occupy that ideal. I do reach for it, I aspire to it, I yearn for it, but the truth is I fail at times with those contradictions so evident in my life.
I will say, it keeps me humble and causes me to continue to throw myself at the feet of the Lord's mercy. How wonderful the mercy of God and the payment Jesus Christ made for all my sins!
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.
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