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1 Kings 11 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him to follow other gods. He was not completely devoted to Yahweh his God, as his father David had been.
1 Kings 11:4 HCSB
How many times was Solomon warned? His father, David, had warned him. God had warned him multiple times. Solomon had built his own kingdom in the physical realm and the consequences of those choices bled into his spiritual life. He replaced God with his own world of women and wealth.
There were several problems at hand. Solomon compromised because he, like many of, fall into the temptation of thinking, “What’s the worst that could happen?” To us, many of our daily choices seem to have neutral consequences. At worst, we believe we are only hurting ourselves. Solomon was in a position of leadership over an entire nation. His choices not only affected the immediate citizens of Israel, but they would also echo into future generations.
God had given Solomon a standard, and Solomon compromised. Even though he was equipped with unheard-of wisdom, he didn’t completely trust God.
Trusting God can be a strange thing. Often, we don’t really trust God until we need to. As long as our needs are being met by the world, what use do we have for God? This is not always the case. David was a great example of a prosperous man who placed God above all else. However, David learned to trust God through the storms that came early in his life. On the run from King Saul, he had no choice but to trust in God. Solomon never really experienced a fiery furnace moment in his life.
Solomon’s story is a sobering warning for us as to how quickly we can be swept away by our own desires. It is a narrative that should drive us to pause and consider how our compromises are affecting others, even in future generations.