After David died, his son Solomon became the king of Israel. Solomon started well. He became known for his wisdom, which God generously gave to him. Unfortunately, Solomon did not always lean into His wisdom. As he got older, he started to become influenced to worship other gods and was not as devoted to him as he had been.
We read about Solomon's downfall in 1 Kings 11. Although Solomon had practiced wisdom during his reign, he ultimately became influenced by false gods. You see, he married many foreign women who introduced him to false gods. These wives "turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been" (verse 6). Solomon even built pagan shrines for different false gods for his wives (verses 7-8). This greatly displeased God. "The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord" (verse 9). God had even warned Solomon twice not to worship false gods. God made it clear that Solomon would face the consequences of his behavior. He would lose most of his kingdom, but not in his lifetime, in his son's lifetime (verses 11-13). God had no tolerance for Solomon's behavior. He does not have tolerance when any person turns from Him.
Solomon, one of the wisest men on earth, still gave in to the temptation to turn away from God. If one of the wisest men still turned away from God even though he knew better, we are not immune, either. There are so many things that tempt us every day to turn away from God. We face temptations every day to give in to behavior that breaks God's heart. Like Solomon, we know better. We know what behavior pleases God and what behavior displeases Him. The question is, will we follow Solomon's example and give in to that behavior anyway, or will we learn from him and say "no" to anything that breaks God's heart? Let's lean into the wisdom God has given us and say "no" to anything that displeases our God and honor Him as our King.
During the weekend message, you were asked the following question: Are you involved in anything in your life that you know is breaking God's heart? Take a moment to answer this question for yourself. Is there something you are involved in that is breaking God's heart? Confess that to Him today. Commit to being fully devoted to Him and only Him.
11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.
4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done.
7 On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.
9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12 But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”
14 Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite, a member of Edom’s royal family, to be Solomon’s adversary. 15 Years before, David had defeated Edom. Joab, his army commander, had stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who had died in battle. While there, they killed every male in Edom. 16 Joab and the army of Israel had stayed there for six months, killing them.
17 But Hadad and a few of his father’s royal officials escaped and headed for Egypt. (Hadad was just a boy at the time.) 18 They set out from Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to Pharaoh, who gave them a home, food, and some land. 19 Pharaoh grew very fond of Hadad, and he gave him his wife’s sister in marriage—the sister of Queen Tahpenes. 20 She bore him a son named Genubath. Tahpenes raised him in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons.
21 When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David and his commander Joab were both dead, he said to Pharaoh, “Let me return to my own country.”
22 “Why?” Pharaoh asked him. “What do you lack here that makes you want to go home?”
“Nothing,” he replied. “But even so, please let me return home.”
23 God also raised up Rezon son of Eliada as Solomon’s adversary. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, 24 and had become the leader of a gang of rebels. After David conquered Hadadezer, Rezon and his men fled to Damascus, where he became king. 25 Rezon was Israel’s bitter adversary for the rest of Solomon’s reign, and he made trouble, just as Hadad did. Rezon hated Israel intensely and continued to reign in Aram.
