King Solomon's Downfall

Along The Way – King Solomon’s Downfall

1 Kings 11   (Written by Kevin A. Hall    06.21.17) 

King Solomon departed from God. He strayed from his relationship and his duty. In his later years, the impact of his small allowances and compromises weighed heavily upon his life. The glory of his kingdom faded away as “his many wives turned his heart away after other gods and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been” (11:4). 

He started humbly, but over time Solomon violated three stipulations for a king of Israel: He multiplied wives (700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines); He multiplied horses (1400 chariots, 12,000 cavalry troops and control of horse trading in the region); and He multiplied wealth (from taxes, tributes, revenues, gifts and the return from naval expeditions). Solomon had become proud and distant from God. His defection from faith was slow but sure.

The Christian needs to be sure that God is not mocked. What we sow we reap. If we sow to the flesh, we reap destruction (Galatians 6:7-8). Solomon was wise, but he “gave himself to his women”; he “clung to them in love” (11:2). When we give ourselves over to the dictates of our flesh, we too can experience a departure from God. God was gracious in providing periodic warnings, through visitations and prophetic encouragement. Solomon ignored the warnings in his unlawful pursuits, losing his kingdom, his wealth, his wives, his relationship with God. Christians have the Word and the voices of the elders. We risk present peace and eternal rest when we harden our heart to God and His Word. “Unbridled lust leads to endless wander” (Henry). Henry again makes a great point – “There was no king like Solomon who was beloved of his God, yet even him did outlandish women cause to sin”. Right about now I can hear a female reader say “Why do men always blame us…What about Solomon’s responsibility”?  I agree, no one forced him. This wise man, greatly blessed of God, made a choice. He chose to “depart from the ways of his God and his father”. We are given that same choice.
Every time I read this account my heart breaks to think of a missed opportunity for his family. The kingdom could have continued forever, not with the same splendor, but continued nevertheless. If it wasn’t for God’s faithfulness to David, he may have lost it all.
King Solomon Loses His Kingdom

"Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded.  So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant" (1 Kings 11: 9-11)

Consider this – What was God’s command to King Solomon? Considering this present age, is there a theological principle from the following command that applies to you and me (still)?
"As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’  “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.  And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the Lord has brought all this adversity on them”           (1 Kings 9:4-9)
King Solomon’s end could have had a different story. How about you? Walking right along The Way?

References:
Matthew Henry Commentary. Retrieved online: http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/1-kings/11.html

The Life Application Study Bible (NASB). The United States of America: Zondervan (2000)

Smith, J. The History of Israel. Joplin, MO: College Press (1995)

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