“Do not put your trust in princes”, says the Bible. Or Presidents, Prime Ministers, Archbishops and bishops one might add! Whoever they may be, whatever talents and attractive attributes they may have, every human leader will disappoint us in some respects. Not that any of us would do any better in their shoes, of course! As finite, fallible, fallen creatures, we human beings are prone to fail – we all too often succumb to sin – we all too readily lapse morally in one way or another.
Sadly, King Solomon was no exception. Even this great, wise king we’ve been learning about this month made grave mistakes in his life. Even this King who constructed God’s Temple in Jerusalem, let down the Lord in the end. Today’s Old Testament reading recounts Solomon’s spectacular ‘fall from grace’ and provides a solemn warning to us all. But it also reminds us of God’s goodness, mercy and justice. And above all, today’s passage makes us long for a perfect King, for a monarch we can totally rely upon. A King of kings, a perfect prince, a righteous ruler – our Lord Jesus Christ.
Solomon’s sins
The opening verses of our reading describe Solomon’s first major moral lapse. Rather than remaining faithful to one wife, he “loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.” All in all, we are told that he had no less that 700 wives and a further 300 concubines!
No doubt many of these marriages were designed to secure alliances with other nations, but such political expediency was totally contrary to God’s moral law. As far back as Genesis chapter 2, God had made clear that he designed marriage for one man and one woman, for life. Adultery and polygamy had no place in his divine plan.
And in Exodus and Deuteronomy, God had made equally clear to the Israelites that they must not marry foreign wives, “because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Even to this day, it is extremely unwise for any Christian to marry an unbelieving spouse. Spiritually they will find themselves torn in two directions, there will be a huge tension between their love for their spouse and their love for the Lord. “Do not be yoked together with an unbeliever”, warns the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians. Sure enough, Solomon’s multiple wives led him astray. As we read in verse 4: ‘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.’
‘As Solomon grew old’. Those are salutary words, aren’t they? Those four words remind us that people can succumb to serious sin even in their latter years. They are words which warn us that we can slowly slip into sinful behaviours with the passage of time. As the saying goes ‘Drop a frog into boiling water and it will jump straight out. Put a frog in some cool water and slowly raise the temperature and it will boil alive!’ We need to be vigilant about the company we keep, the media we fil our minds with, the bad habits we may be forming. Otherwise we may slowly and imperceptibly slip into ungodly belief and behaviour.
Solomon’s own sin is truly shocking. This once wise King, this formerly devoted disciple of the Lord, fell into awful idolatry. As we read in verses 5 to 8, Solomon “followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites… 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.’
In short, Solomon engaged in the worship of idols. He supported the worship of foreign deities – some of whom even expected child sacrifice. No wonder Solomon’s behaviour displeased the Lord, no wonder the author of our passage clearly calls his apostasy ‘evil’.
In our day we may not be tempted to worship idols of gold, silver, stone, but there are a whole host of things that could challenge our loyalty to the Lord – a wide range of things that can compete for our love. Its so easy for us to put the pursuit of pleasure, popularity or possessions ahead of obedience to God. It can be so tempting to give the lion’s share of our time and money to our own priorities, rather than to the Lord’s work.
So examine your diary, look closely at your bank statements and watch the company you keep. In other words, prayerfully review your priorities in life. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s help to flee from twenty-first century forms of idolatry. Ask for his help to be more wholehearted in our obedience to the Lord.
God’s judgement – and mercy
Returning to our passage, the scale of Solomon’s sin provoked a response from the Lord. A response which was one of anger and judgement, but tempered with mercy and grace. As we read in verse 11, God 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.”
In other words, Solomon’s united kingdom would soon be disunited. Never again in the Old Testament would all the twelve tribes of Israel be united under a single king. Schism and civil war would follow Solomon’s rule. Solomon’s sin would have negative consequences for all his subjects. The people of Israel who had previously benefited from Solomon’s wise rule, would now suffer as a result of his folly. Then – as now – leaders’ decisions can have enormous implications for those they lead. This is why Christians are commanded in Scripture to pray for our government and all those in authority over us, so that we might enjoy freedom, peace and prosperity under their rule.
God’s judgement on Solomon was seasoned with grace, however. In verse 12 to 13, God explains to Solomon that his Kingdom will not collapse during his own lifetime, instead he will “tear it out of the hand” of his son. What’s more, God says he will “not tear the whole kingdom” from Solomon’s son, but “will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
All in all, God’s judgement on Solomon was restrained, measured and merciful. Solomon was not struck down on the spot, nor was his kingdom going to be completely destroyed.
And sure enough, things turned out as God had said they would. If we had time to read on in 1 kings we would see that Solomon’s son Rehoboam faced a rebellion led by a man called Jeroboam. The ten northern tribes of Israel rallied behind Jeroboam and broke away. Only the southern kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital, stayed loyal to Solomon’s son Rehoboam – just as the Lord had ordained. All in all, the Lord’s judgement on Solomon was sobering and sad. But it was justified and proportionate, and it was retrained and contained. We an be thankful that our God is not irrational or impetuous, nor wild and vindictive. His wrath is always just, his condemnation is always contained, and his anger is always accompanied by mercy.
As Christians our minds should be drawn to the cross – where in his righteousness God condemned sin, but in his mercy the place where our salvation was also secured.
Conclusion: Christ – our perfect King
As I finish, its tempting to say that our look at Solomon’s life ends at a low ebb. A man who achieved great things let down his God and his people at the end. But this story serves positive purposes too:
• For a start, it serves as a welcome antidote to pride, a welcome reminder that we are all fallible and must remain prayerful and vigilant to avoid falling into sin.
• It also reminds us that we need to show grace and forgiveness when our own human leaders fail us – because they are indeed human after all.
But most importantly, Solomon’s imperfections point us to Christ. Because Solomon was never meant to be God’s full and final king. Solomon was never intended to be the perfect ruler for the people of God. That place was reserved for God’s own Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is our spotless Savour, the Lord who never lapsed, the Messiah who never wavered in his obedience to his Heavenly Father.
And unlike Solomon, Jesus has just one Bride – his Church, you and I – whom he laid down his life to save. So do not put your trust in princes – put your trust in Jesus Christ.