Scripture
Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.
~I Kings 14:21, NET
Quote
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
~William Ross Wallace
I love history and especially biblical history. No one seems to know Solomon’s age when he became king. the Bible tells us that he reigned for 40 years. According to the biblical record: he had 700 wives, 300 concubines, and three children: two girls and one boy. His two daughters were Taphath {Ornament} and Basemath {Spice}. Both girls married Solomon’s cabinet members. Having 700 wives, you think there would be a record number of children. Gideon had 70 sons and David had well over 20 that we know of but possibly a lot more. Seems ironic that Solomon had only three, or at least three that we know about. Solomon died in his middle 50’s. The Jewish encyclopedia says he was 53. We know he was very young at marriage. King David had him marry Naamah, the Amonite princess when he was 12 years old and he became king shortly after. The Jewish Encyclopedia says Solomon died at age 53 but my guess is 54-55. If he was 55, he fathered Rehoboam at age 14. Solomon’s death at 53 makes him a father at age 12.
Naamah is the only wife of Solomon mentioned in scripture. She was an ammonite and a worshipper of Milcom the fire god. Milcom and Molech the Moabite god were very similar: both involved prostitution and child sacrifice. No doubt she was one of the wives who turned Solomon’s heart: he even built a temple for Milcom right beside Jerusalem. Rehoboam was a pitiful king. He was the Jimmy Carter of the Jews. He is not remembered for anything good or of significance. When Shishak invaded Jerusalem and took all the articles of gold from the temple and the gold shields that Solomon had made: Rehoboam replaced them with bronze and they continued to use them in their pomp and ceremony just as if they were the real thing. It was a form of playing church: pretending you have the real thing when you don’t. This pretense was also a denial of reality which seems to be the trend of the day. Debts have to be paid and we must work for a living. It is not practical that we can all stay home and draw a check or get paid for protesting and burning down cities. Some one has to work because sooner or later, debts have to be paid.
I haven’t had much office time this week and the blog above is a bit weak but it was all I had. I’ll try to do better today. It’s been a little cool but the sunshine has really helped. I cut my ditches with the big mower yesterday PTL. I hate weed eating. I hope you have a great weekend. My good friend Larry Slatter goes back to B’town today for a cat scan. He has had a rough week. Pray for Larry and Rhonda. You need to pray for the country daily: the dems are leading us down a path of destruction.