2 Chronicles 8-11 Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. He said, “My wife must not live in King David’s palace, for the Ark of the Lord has been there, and it is holy ground.”
It struck me that Solomon knew that his wife was 'wrong'. If she had been 'of his people' and 'of his God' I don't think he would have been so concerned with her being in King David's palace.
And then in I Kings, this book goes into much more detail about Solomon's wives:
1 Kings 11:1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.
4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been.
Verse 2 is very telling - "The Lord had clearly instructed...". There was no ambiguity. God was clear in His direction. "Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway." Solomon disobeyed. And it seems as if he 'got away with it' for a while. But "in his old age" they turned his heart away from the Lord.
The message is, you 'play with sin', you get burned. It may not happen right away, but God's word is true and there will be consequences. Here was his punishment:
9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.
So someone, to whom God had appeared to twice, chose sin over his God. Very sad- the wisest man in all the earth allowed his sexual appetite to destroy his life.
Why did his heart turn. First it may have been politeness towards his wives, but it soon turned into a habit. Habits become character, and character becomes destiny. ( this is a paraphrase of a quote by someone-or-other) One act of harmless 'let's go to Baal's temple while I pray, Solomon dearest" became Solomon himself going to pray, and destroying himself and his kingdom.
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