June 12, 2014 - Thursday

Start Time: 5:52 A.M.

End Time: 6:40 A.M.

Title: Solomon’s Wives

Scripture: 1 Kings 11:1 – 43

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→ King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.  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. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.  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.  He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.  On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.  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. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.  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. 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.  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.”

NOTES:

Ø When God speaks it so it will become!  The decision is still ours in the end but God did not fall short into telling us our destiny when we do what is right and what is wrong before Him!  God already warned Solomon and appeared to him twice to instruct him of what he must and must not do.  Solomon obeyed it until he decided to break one simple rule that God said – Not to intermarry with the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.  Solomon was a wise man and I believe he knew this law but still decided to disobey it.  He has wide knowledge and wisdom, which were gifts from God, so there is no way that he was unaware of this law.  Solomon was a classic example of a man “willfully” sinning before the Lord.  He knew that it was wrong, yet he did it anyway.  He married foreign women specifically to the nations that God forbid so Solomon grew old and his wives turned his heart after other gods.  So he created his own doomed when he decided to marry those foreign women.  Many times, we already know it is wrong, still we do it – this happens when we allow ourselves to break simple rules such as marrying foreigners, being involved with people with bad characters that can corrupt ours…in short, we place ourselves in a situation where we will be defeated even if God has warned us countless times not to be in that situation.  We are the hard headed and stubborn, we want to do want we want even if we are wrong.  So Solomon became old and influenced by the wives he hold onto.

Ø God’s grace and favor continues to be upon us because of the faithful walk of our ancestors!  Solomon was doomed for destruction because of what he did but for David’s sake, he was spared and his reign was untouched.  His kingdom was torn in between because of him but it was torn during the reign of his son and not in his reign, all because of God’s love for David.  This we see that God’s love for us is still greater than his desire to bring justice to what we did.  God’s word is true and cannot be bend, so when he says sin is punishable by death, anyone who sins deserves death…yet because of his great love for us, he withheld this punishment and gives us lighter load with 2^nd chances.  Hallelujah!  Praise Jesus for His wonderful love!

→ Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. 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. Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom.  But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father.They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking people 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.  Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. 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.  While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his ancestors 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.”  “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!”  And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. When David destroyed Zobah’s army, Rezon gathered a band of men around him and became their leader; they went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. 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.

NOTES:

Ø God will raise adversaries against us to remind us that peace is attained in His presence alone!  God will allow our enemies to rise up against us because of our disobedient to help us remember that when we live and walk with Him, everything is in order and our enemies cannot even stand before us because that chance was taken away from them but without the L0rd, our enemies will one by one stand and fight against us.  Just like in a story, they will become the underdogs that rose up and fight and win in the end because we allowed it to happen when we disobey the Lord.  We become the villains in the story when God is not with us.  So never let go of God, always choose Him so we become the main character of our story – in our point of view and even the perspective of our enemies or the rest of the people.

→ 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.  Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the terraces^[a]and had filled in the gap in the wall of the city of David his father. Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph.  About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. I will do this because they have^[b]forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did.  “‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes.  I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name.  However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel.  If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.  I will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’”  Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak the king, and stayed there until Solomon’s death.

NOTES:

Ø When we continue to disobey God, God will give what is ours to the trusted person who we appointed as leaders or the person we trust, just like a betrayal for in the same way, we betrayed God in our own disobedience to Him.  God is a God of order and He has plans to be fulfilled, if we no longer support the same plan or will, He will remove us and give it to someone else whom He finds trustworthy and responsible, the same way that we see that person, which is why, God will most likely give what is ours to the person we trust the most because we trust that person for a reason and God knows that.  When we continually betray God by disobeying Him, we will soon feel the betrayal we put Him into.  Jeroboam was just a servant and skilled at his job yet he was promoted to become king of 10 tribes because of the disobedience of Solomon.  Jeroboam was a descendant of Joseph from the tribe of Ephraim and he was given a prophecy to rule 10 tribes and he took it by heart and started to plot plans against Solomon.

Ø When God speaks let us listen and not go ahead of ourselves.  Jeroboam heard Ahijah, the prophet, said about him becoming king of the ten tribes but after that his ears become deaf.  God told him that 1 tribe will remain in David’s line and God specifically said to him that God will take the kingdom not from Solomon but from his son’s hands and give him ten tribes, yet Jeroboam did not hear this, all he was thinking that he will be ruler of 10 tribes.  So he started plotting against Solomon.  And God did not allow this to succeed because again, God already have a plan on how to write the story of His people, and here comes, Jeroboam whom he has given a chance to rule his people, decided to get a pen and write his own story on how to get those 10 tribes.  Sometimes, we are like Jeroboam, we are too overwhelmed of what we heard (the good news) that we no longer pay attention to the whole instructions.  Let our ears hear clearly and not skip any of God’s words.

→ As for the other events of Solomon’s reign—all he did and the wisdom he displayed—are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon?  Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.

NOTES:

Ø All happens as God said it so!  So in the life of Solomon, no one was successful in overthrowing him out of power, but when he died, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king and Israel was then torn into pieces and all God said, came to pass.  Jeroboam got 10 tribes, while 1 tribe remained under David’s line, the tribe of Judah.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, gracious and merciful God.  Thank You for a great and inspiring words today.  Thank You for showing me the life of Solomon, who already has the greatest wisdom in the world yet was still foolish for neglecting Your simple rule.  Lord I know that many times, I am like Solomon, who knew what is right and what is wrong but chose the wrong decisions still.  Lord help me to realize that value of my decisions and how it will affect my future and my descendants’ future.  Lord, help me to see that my obedience, complete obedience, draw me closers to You and keeps Your awesome presence in my life.  Help me to realize that when I disobey, it will drive You away.  Show me Lord every time I make the wrong choices that my actions have consequences.  But thank You Jesus because Your love and grace is greater than my sins and Your desire to bring justice to me.  Lord, show me beforehand the consequences of my actions before I make them so I may stop myself from pursuing the wrong choices or decisions in my life.  Lord, help me to listen carefully and not have selective hearing.  Let me understand and hear every instruction that I may follow it to heart.  Help me Lord not to betray You because You are my God and so in the end, I, too will not be betrayed.  And remind me always Lord that everything happens as You said it so, so there’s no point of not listening.  Open my ears Lord to hear Your words and obey.  Let Your love and grace continually flow upon me Jesus.  In Your Precious Name, Jesus, Amen!