June 21: 1 Kings 10-11, 2 Chronicles 9

June 21, 1 Kings 10-11, 2 Chronicles 9
Happy Fathers Day!

1 Kings 10 We have another semi-famous story of the Old Testament, that of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Queen had heard of the famous Solomon, concerning the name of the Lord, and she came to test him with hard questions. She entered Jerusalem with pomp and incredible gifts. She told Solomon all of her tough questions and all that was on her mind, and God revealed to Solomon all of the answers. Needless to say, after seeing his wisdom and wealth, she was breathless. Her being breathless is saying something, as she was pretty important in her own world. She gave him her gifts, including giving him 157 million dollars worth of gold, which was not even really noticeable in his treasury. Each year, Solomon brought in more than 875 million dollars worth of gold, which he made shields out of and thrones and the like. Solomon had more money than he knew what to do with. “And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.” 

In addition, “Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.” Solomon was truly given all this by God for God’s glory, but the tides are about to change in a the story and we see what the author has been hinting at for the last 10 chapters…

1 Kings 11 God had warned Solomon to not stray or disobey, but Solomon was very disobedient: “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women…” Why did God warn the Israelites not to marry foreign women? Because “for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods”. It gets worse, “Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 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.” Unlike his father, Solomon did not keep God as his number 1. He had a problem with women, in the sense that he had everything man could ask for and had 1000 plus women at his disposal. With the women, came their foreign gods and disobedience, which is what Solomon went after. Solomon even built high places for the foreign gods and made offerings and sacrifices to them. An abomination.

God was angry with Solomon because he had turned away from God and disobeyed Him. But, for the sake of David and Israel, God chose to not destroy Solomon or Israel. However, God will rip the throne away from Solomon’s son. Meanwhile, God was raising up an adversary (or two) against Israel. The first adversary was Hadad, an Edomite. He was young when Israel took over Edom and killed most. Another adversary was Rezon, who was an adversary of Israel - he hated Israel.

Then we learn about Jeroboam, who was a servant of Solomon - but had lifted his hand against the King. Meanwhile, Ahijah was a prophet. Ahijah put on a new garment and when he met Jeroboam on the road, he took the garment and ripped it into ten pieces and said, “thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes (but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), because they have forsaken me and worshiped…” God was working behind the scenes, as always. 

Then Solomon died, and he had reigned for forty years…

2 Chronicles 9 Is not much different than 1 Kings. However, not much detail is given to the downfall of Solomon, as that was fairly common knowledge to the hearers

To sum it all up:

• Even the wisest man is sometimes foolish and can’t see the things that lead up to our own downfalls sometimes. 
• This is another reminder to guard our hearts and to pursue what God wants - not what we want 
• God is Sovereign and was planning all of this behind the scenes, including the adversaries, the women, and Jeroboam. 
• Don’t be too quick to throw Solomon out with the bathwater, sort of speak. God gives us some very incredible insights as to what happens when you pursue self and not Him - it is a destructive path. Some go as far as saying that He was not a Christian - but God promised to never leave him, so we can leave it at that.