Pt. 13, The Biblical Story – Solomon

 
Brilliant Wisdom, the Power of Influence, and Disastrous Outcomes Pt. 13, The Biblical Story – Solomon By Pastor Dan Kennedy © May 4, 2014 www.pastorkennedy.com What happens when a person who has a brilliant mind, a deep spiritual heritage, and a special walk with God chooses to marry someone of a considerably different faith…did they make the right decision? Could there be consequences for generations to come? Let’s look at the life of Solomon. God’s Revelation of Himself to Solomon God had Personally revealed Himself to Solomon twice, once after he became king, and once after the Temple was built (1 Kings 3 & 9). 1 Kings 3:3–14 3 Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. 4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. 7 “Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” No king or wise man was more wise and brilliant than King Solomon, David’s son. Solomon asked God for wisdom, and God gave wisdom to him in an exceptional way. 1 Kings 4:29–34 29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom. Solomon built God’s Temple, as provided for by his father, King David He spared no expense in building the impressive Temple of the Lord, called Solomon’s Temple, on the plot of ground that David, his father, had purchased from Araunah (Ornan) the Jebusite (2 Chron. 3:1-3), using the extensive plans and materials provided for the Temple from his father (1 Chron. 28:11-29:9). Solomon spent 20 years building God’s Temple and his palace, using 30,000 conscripted laborers in shifts of 10,000 a month. He also had 70,000 carriers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, supervised by 3,300 foremen (1 Kings 9:10; 5:13–18). God’s Promises to Solomon and Israel following the Construction of His Temple 2 Chronicles 7:12–15 12 the Lord appeared to him (Solomon) at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. Solomon’s Search for Meaning Solomon, even in his great wisdom, sought to find ultimate happiness…he sought it not as his father David sought it – through a spiritual relationship with God, but through worldly wisdom. In the end, he found it to be meaningless! What a difference! Ecclesiastes 2:3–11 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. 4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Solomon, as king, failed in heeding God’s Instructions through Moses to Future Kings of Israel… Deuteronomy 17:14–17 14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose…. 16 Only… • he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ • 17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, • nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. (See Addendum for the full passage.) Solomon’s Impressive Kingdom broke each of Moses’ Admonitions • Power: Solomon’s Unrestrained Display of Military Power 2 Chronicles 9:25–28 25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. 26 He ruled over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from all other countries. • Love of Money: Solomon’s Unrestricted Wealth with the pride and benefit it gave. Solomon’s Wealth During his reign, Solomon was the wealthiest king in all of the kingdoms of the world. His kingdom was so wealthy that only things made of gold were considered valuable – silver was considered without value, it was so plentiful. His people were happy and he reigned from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines to the border of Egypt (1 Kings 4:20-28). 2 Chronicles 9:20–22 20 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. 21 For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 22 Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. • Moral Compromise: Foreign Alliances through Inter-Marriage (“The Power of Influence”) Solomon made strong and purposeful alliances with the nations around him. Solomon was a brilliant strategist and peaceful negotiator. “Wisdom is mightier than the sword,” most certainly was Solomon’s motto! Solomon’s greatest negotiating tool of alliances was marriage with princesses of the surrounding countries. But in intermarriage with these heathen nations a terrible price was and would be paid in Israel – in departing from the worship of the Living God. 1 Kings 11:1–8 Solomon Heart Turns from the Lord 11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 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. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. Solomon heart was corrupted by these “wives” in the alliances that he so shrewdly negotiated in the political arena of his day. Solomon’s ungodly alliances with these “foreign wives” and the worship places that Solomon had built for them, affected countless lives in Judah and Israel for centuries! King Josiah finally tore the idolatrous temples down, sixteen kings and 309 years later, but the damage had been done (2 Kings 23:13). Adversaries of Solomon God raised up adversaries against Solomon because of his Sin – which eventually tore the Israelite kingdom in two, upon Solomon’s Death. This serious division lasted until the destruction of Solomon’s Temple in 586 B.C., 345 years after King Solomon’s death and throughout the following reconstruction until the destruction of Herod’s Temple in A.D. 70. Only now some 2,000 years later in 1948 in the reestablishing of the nation of Israel has the state become one instead of divided…all because of Solomon’s sin. • Hadad the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14-22), see Addendum • Rezon son of Eliada (1 Kings 11:23-25), see Addendum • Jeroboam son of Nebat (1 Kings 11:26-12:24) Jeroboam eventually became the King of Israel splitting the kingdom in two, after Solomon’s death and taking 10 of the tribes with him, allowing Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, only two tribes consolidated into the Tribe of Judah – all because of Solomon’s sin. Practical Observations about How our Heart may Affects Us We have looked at how King Solomon followed worldly wisdom instead of Godly wisdom, especially when it came to ungodly alliances. Most of us will never be considered royalty, so let’s observe personal characteristics that might apply to folks today living in our world. Let’s determine what may be an outcome if one sustains a godless heart, or if one seeks God with their whole heart. How much does it matter if we seek wisdom, have a good work ethic, or regularly go to church and call ourselves a “Christian”, etc., if, we in fact, do not seek God in our daily living? We may build ourselves a good place in life, or even a great kingdom, as Solomon did...but in the end, do we consider what we have done as being “meaningless”, as did Solomon? What was different in David’s life that gave him the meaning Solomon ended up missing? Wisdom Based Truth: “Discerner” Time: Organizes best use of time Discipline: Observant w/ discipline Work: Dedicated to work wisely Path: Determines a wise path Answers: Determined to wisely choose Morals: Will weigh decision Repent from sin?: Can repent Life Outcome? Heart for God? Eternal Outcome? Work Ethic Based Truth: “Achiever” Time: Good use of time for work Discipline: Disciplined to achieve goals Work: Works hard w/ long hours Path: Determined to succeed Answers: Will choose what works for success Morals: Relative to his or her desire Repent from sin?: Will repent if beneficial Life Outcome? Heart for God? Eternal Outcome? Scientifically Based Truth: “Intellectual” Time: Looses track of time with focus on work Discipline: Committed to explore Work: Demanding work routine Path: Determined to excel in expertise Answers: Follows scientific lead Morals: Morals are relative Repent from sin?: Not needed most times Life Outcome? Heart for God? Eternal Outcome? Church Based Truth: “Christian” Time: Attends services Discipline: Follows Church expectations Work: Works hard, is faithful Path: Pursues Church path Answers: Reads Bible and prays (on occasion) Morals: Not perfect, fails at times Repent from sin?: Should repent Life Outcome? Heart for God? Eternal Outcome? Self-centered Lifestyle Based Truth: “Pleasure Seeker” Time: Few rules, no qualms Discipline: Does only what is required Work: Works for recreation money Path: Follows pleasure’s path Answers: Whatever feels right Morals: Whatever feels good Repent from sin?: Not necessary Life Outcome? Heart for God? Eternal Outcome? How greatly is a heart for God affected by deliberate sin? How greatly are generations to come affected by a heart not right with God? Solomon’s conclusion, at the end of Ecclesiastes – a conclusion that he, himself failed to comprehend: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 Addendum God’s Unique Covenant with Israel – Don’t make alliances with the Godless around you, which would cause worship of their gods and intermarriage with their sons and daughters, causing you to prostitute yourselves with their gods. Exodus 34:10–16 10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. Laws Concerning Israel’s Kings Deuteronomy 17:14–20 14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. 18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. Solomon’s Foreign Wives 1 Kings 11:1–26 11 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. 9 The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.” Solomon’s Adversaries 14 Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. 15 Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom. 16 Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. 17 But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. 18 They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking men from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food. 19 Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh’s own children. 21 While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, that I may return to my own country.” 22 “What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?” Pharaoh asked. “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but do let me go!” 23 And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 He gathered men around him and became the leader of a band of rebels when David destroyed the forces of Zobah; the rebels went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. 25 Rezon was Israel’s adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel. Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon 26 Also, Jeroboam son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah. (Jeroboam eventually became the King of Israel splitting the kingdom in two, after Solomon’s death and taking 10 of the tribes with him, allowing Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, only two tribes, consolidated under the Tribe of Judah – because of Solomon’s sin. [1 Kings 11:31-37; 1 Kings 11:26-12:24] Israel became a divided nation because of the consequences of Solomon’s sin at the beginning of Rehoboam’s reign in 931 B.C. The Nation of Israel was not united again until 1948... 2,879 years later.) Josiah’s Godly Reforms Sixteen kings and 309 years following Solomon’s death, King Josiah finally tore down the idolatrous temples that Solomon had built, but the damage had already been done. 2 Kings 23:1–14 23 Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 2 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. 3 And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant. 4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. 6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 7 And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the gate of the city. 9 However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech. 11 And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 13 And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14 And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men. http://www.pastorkennedy.comshapeimage_1_link_0