A while back, Gary Hamrick, in his series on the book of Kings, was discussing Solomon. And while we all know what his main sin was- drifting away from God- I began to see just how many ways he broke God's laws, and I was astounded. How was it that the wisest man who EVER walked the earth, could fail SO badly? I felt drawn to look into it, and I found the key-
-but to tell you now would be to tell the story backwards. First, we need to be clear on just what rules he broke, and to do that we are going to 2 sources. One is the rules for kings laid out by Moses in Deuteronomy 17:
Deu 17:14 'When thou comest in unto the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, and hast possessed it, and dwelt in it, and thou hast said, Let me set over me a king like all the nations which are round about me, —
Deu 17:15 thou dost certainly set over thee a king on whom Jehovah doth fix; from the midst of thy brethren thou dost set over thee a king; thou art not able to set over thee a stranger, who is not thy brother.
Deu 17:16 'Only, he doth not multiply to himself horses, nor cause the people to turn back to Egypt, so as to multiply horses, seeing Jehovah hath said to you, Ye do not add to turn back in this way any more.
Deu 17:17 And he doth not multiply to himself wives, and his heart doth not turn aside, and silver and gold he doth not multiply to himself—exceedingly.
Deu 17:18 'And it hath been, when he sitteth on the throne of his kingdom, that he hath written for himself the copy of this law, on a book, from that before the priests the Levites,
Deu 17:19 and it hath been with him, and he hath read in it all days of his life, so that he doth learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law, and these statutes, to do them;
Deu 17:20 so that his heart is not high above his brethren, and so as not to turn aside from the command, right or left, so that he prolongeth days over his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.
And the other is the Ten Commandments. So let's look down the list:
1 and 2: He was definitely selected by God, as we see...
1Ch 28:5 And of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
But this is where Solomon's end of things comes into play, and right off the bat...
1Ki 10:28 And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; and the king's merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price.
Oh, c'mon Chris, surely a few horses and chariots...
1Ki 10:26 And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.
Which means he gave Egypt (by one estimate) around 66 TONS of silver for all that. But luckily for Solomon...
1Ki 10:21 And 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: none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
Okay, let's stop and catch our breath. What did Solomon do wrong here? You could say, "Nothing; after all, it was all part of God's promise to Solomon..."
1Ki 3:11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this instead of requesting long life or wealth for yourself or death for your enemies—but you have asked for discernment to administer justice—
1Ki 3:12 behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has never been nor will ever be another like you.
1Ki 3:13 Moreover, I will give you what you did not request—both riches and honor—so that during all your days no man in any kingdom will be your equal.
1Ki 3:14 So if you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments, just as your father David did, I will prolong your days.”
Yes, but what did Solomon DO with it? He went to Egypt for horses- which was expressly forbidden by Moses. Why? God had told them time and again not to go back to Egypt. Abraham found out; the people of the Exodus did as well, and so would the remnant after the Fall of Jerusalem 430 years later. Going back to Egypt was symbolic of turning back to sin-
2Pe 2:21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.
2Pe 2:22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
In addition, why did Solomon- a man whose name means, "peace", who was granted by God peace on every side- need such an army? because he had to do it HIS way- and that, as we shall see, is the crack in his armor. And also, it meant striking up an alliance with Egypt- Pharaoh wasn't stupid enough to sell an army to an enemy- and being an ally in those days meant, you married a royal daughter:
1Ki 3:1 Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the LORD, as well as the wall around Jerusalem.
And this was a mistake on his part, as the Bible says, time goes on and his MANY foreign wives led him astray. The daughter of Pharaoh wasn't even the first- Solomon was king 40 years when he died, and Rehoboam was 41 when he ascended the throne. Which means he was born before the marriage to Pharaoh's daughter ( which came after the Temple was started, 4 years into his reign), and Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite. So what, the casual reader says; Moses said they couldn't marry from the peoples of Canaan, and that didn't include Ammon. HOWever, Moses also said:
Deu 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
So we know from his choice of brides, Solomon wasn't fulfilling rule #7- writing himself a copy of the Book of the Law. In fact, he blew this one with a vengeance:
1Ki 11:3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
Not quite Wilt Chamberlain material here, but you do realize that in 40 years of kingship, at one per night every night, he wouldn't have spent more than 2 weeks with any one of them! Of course, it might not have quite been like that. I found in Song of Solomon...
Son 6:8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.
...which seemingly narrows it to 140 active wives, and 860 that got the title without the intimacy. Now, when you read the rest of Song, it is a beautiful love poem to one wife (as well as an allegory about God's love for Israel). But as for the rest of those women, you can find in Ecclesiastes...
Ecc 2:8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.
They were "delights"- not really even people to him.
This brings me to the precipice of what I truly learned from Solomon. Next time, I will try to start on that- but Solomon isn't done sinning yet...
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