Scripture
The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded.
~1 Kings 11:9-10 (CSB)
Quote
Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
~Samuel
I don’t know why it is but during my early days, everything I heard about Solomon in Sunday School was positive. Most of the SS lessons on Solomon were about his wisdom and the splendor that surrounded his kingdom rule. Don’t get me wrong, Solomon was a very educated person and he did know a lot. In many ways, Israel did reach a zenith while he was king but there is much more to the story. My question is: why were we not taught the truth? I discovered the truth by preaching through the bible. Then when the modern translations came out, they really highlighted Solomon’s folly. As I was reading I Kings this week, I noticed something that I hadn’t picked upon before: Solomon had a spirit of disobedience. I think that he thought he was above the law and he basically did what he pleased. Moses knew that Israel would one day demand a king so he laid down some guidelines for the future king and they are found in Deuteronomy 17:
- He must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses.
- He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray.
- He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself.
- He is to have a written copy of these laws when seated on his throne accompanied by a Levitical priest. It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction.
Moses went on to say, if he does not go by these instructions, he will eventually exalt himself above his countrymen. Moses also said that his reign will be successful only if he and his sons obey the commands that God has laid down. If they turn aside from these instructions, they will surely fail. — Deuteronomy 17:16-20 (CSB)
Obviously, you can look at Moses instructions and know without running references that Solomon violated every single precept that Moses laid down. But this is the tip of the iceberg. Solomon did horrible and abhorrent things such as: building temples in or near Jerusalem for Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom god of the Ammonites. He even build a high place [altar] for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, on the hill across from Jerusalem. He basically did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods. — 1 Kings 11:5-8 (CSB) Both the worship of Chemosh and Milcom involved child sacrifice where they burned infants in the sacrificial fires. There are more details that I could give but they are gross. All of these Canaanites deities were fertility cults which involves sex in any variety imaginable. What they called worship, we would call an orgy. In other words, it was religions that legitimized sodomy, adultery, fornication and any other form of sexual deviancy you can think of and some you have not yet imagined. The truth is: Solomon was a horrible king and he is not a role model for children. The idolatry he introduced to Jerusalem was never completely eradicated until Josiah and by then it was too late. For the kingdom of Israel, Solomon was the beginning of the end. It is similar to Lincoln and Roosevelt here in the USA. We have all these folks who worship them but eventually history will show that they were the beginning of the end, especially Roosevelt and the New Deal. It will be a raw deal for my grand kids. The New Deal has produced a welfare state that is a massive burden to the ever shrinking working class. Eventually, entitlements will break our back.
- Well so much for the pretty weather but it could certainly be worse.
- We have five GK’s playing basketball this year and all five had games yesterday. We only made four out of the five. No more games this week PTL.
- LORD willing, I will been smoking turkey’s today and hopefully get to the Nursing homes and the hospital.
- COLS for Jean Windsor is Friday at 1:00 at Pecks. Visitation is from 11:30-1:00. Burial at Antioch Methodist Church. This is our Praise and Worship leader’s mother.
- Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING.