1 Kings 11:1-43

Solomon had been given tremendous blessings by God in the form of wisdom, wealth and a lack of war during his reign.  Solomon used these blessings to build the temple and his own palace, but he did not remain faithful to the Lord.  His heart did not remain true to the Lord and he ended up being an idolatrous king who committee abominations before the Lord.  Solomon fell into the category of kings who started well but finished poorly.  Unfortunately, this is a pattern that is all too common with many kings in Israel but also with many men today.  We have good intentions at the beginning of our marriages and ministries and may even experience a good level of success, but too often there is moral failure or some other sin that disqualifies or distracts us from all that God wants us to be.  We must learn to persevere in the Spirit day after day and not depend on the power of the flesh to do the work of the ministry.

SOLOMON ADORED GODLESS WOMEN: It is hard to imagine how one may could possible bring himself to marry 700 women and then still find need of or use for 300 concubines.  He simply became a slave of his own passions and must have used marriage simply as a means of gaining political alliances and used his concubines to fulfill his lusts.  He did not fear God or seek God in the choice of these women and simply married to increase his own power and influence without concerning himself with the command of God.  His extravagance in wealth carried over into his relationship with these women and it ended up tearing his heart away from the Lord.  Solomon should have trusted God to protect him from the nations around him instead of marrying all these foreign women in an attempt to preserve peace.  When we abandon the principles of God’s Word, we end up forfeiting the protection and provision of God in our lives.

SOLOMON ABANDONED GOD’S WORD: Many if not all of these women were from foreign countries and worshiped foreign gods.  Solomon ended up building places of worship for these women to be able to worship their gods and then Solomon joined them in their idolatrous worship.  At the very least we would expect for Solomon to influence his wives to worship the God that had blessed him so richly but that is not how these things work.  Sin infects all of those who are around it and will easily pull the children of God into disobedience if they are tolerant of sin around them.  I am sure that it was a process that Solomon methodically followed down the path that led to his destruction.  What an incredible waste Solomon ended up being because of this lust in his life; he had so many gifts and so much potential yet he threw it all away.  We must be careful to follow the word of God and not become tolerant of the sin that is around us.

SOLOMON WAS ATTACKED BY WAR: Sin always looks so attractive but it always has consequences that we did not intend or expect.  Solomon thought that by forging all of these alliances through marriage he would be able to protect himself from war.  The truth was that just the opposite happened.  When he abandoned God and the principles of God’s Word; he abandoned the place of protection in which God had placed him.  Solomon left himself open to the attacks of the world by abandoning the instruction of the Word.  God raised up enemies from outside of Israel to attack Israel and then He decided to take ten of the tribes of Israel and give them to one of Solomon’s key leaders.  The division did not occur until after Solomon’s death but God let everyone know what would happen.  Jeroboam had been one of Solomon’s leaders but now he was anointed as a future king and became one of Solomon’s enemies.  Instead of Solomon recognizing what was happening and repenting of his sin he tried to kill Jeroboam.  Sin has a hardening effect on our lives and we can easily be overcome by its effects.