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"The
Final Straw" • 2.5.17 • Calvary Christian
Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- We have noted in the preceding chapters, that
God has been presenting evidence in the case of King Solomon. God began with
general laws that would have applied to every Israeli.
- As a society, they were to conduct business
honestly out of love for their neighbors and were to also commit certain
nations to destruction, neither of which Solomon honored.
- We discovered last week that there were specific
laws that governed the actions of the King found in Deuteronomy 17. The King was not to multiply gold, silver, horses
or chariots to himself.
- Chapter 10
offers a revealing look into exactly how far Solomon went into such
enterprises, disobeying God's law, almost to the letter! From general to
specific, Solomon had failed.
- Today, God lays out His final case, having
moved from specific to egregious. We have followed Solomon from his ascension
to his apostasy! Verse 1.
Text
•
I Kings 11:1,2 : "But King Solomon loved many foreign
women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites,
Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of
Israel, 'You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they
will turn away your hearts after their gods.' Solomon clung to these in love." : King Solomon loved many foreign or as the KJV says,
"strange," women.
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Among the numerous transgressions to discuss, the first is against the intention
of God in creating marriage.
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God created marriage to be a life long, heterosexual, monogamous relationship
shared between two people. But Solomon loved many foreign women!
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It's true that many of his wives were attached to treaties with other
countries, most notably, the daughter of Pharaoh, whose Father had provided a
dowry for her by clearing the city of Gezer.
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In addition to the daughter of Pharoah, Solomon took wives from all of the
surrounding regions. Moab, Ammon and Edom were at least related to Israel,
though they were their enemies.
-
The Sidonians and the Hittities however, were completely foreign and the
Hittites, were a people under the ban!
-
After specifically commanding Israel to destroy the Hittites, God then
specifies in Deuteronomy 7:3,4 that
they were to make no marriages with any of them.
-
Presumably, this would refer to the widows from these countries. They were not
to become wives to the people of Israel. God knew that they carried within them
a deadly spiritual virus.
-
He knew that their ways particularly would pollute His people. Their idolatry
would cause Israel's collective heart to turn away from God and unto their
gods. Notice the word "surely."
-
This isn't a possibility. This is a certainty! Israel, let there be no mistake:
They WILL turn away your hearts after their gods! Can't you hear the objection?
"But I could influence them for good!"
-
This is our romantic and perhaps even noble notion, but God knows that this
will not be the case. If it does happen, please understand that this is a rare
exception to the rule.
-
Generally speaking, God's people run into a trap of their own making whenever
they put themselves in a binding relationship with someone who is an
unbeliever, in this case, an idolator!
-
As New Testament believers, God has specifically spoken this through the
Apostle Paul to us in II Corinthians 6:14-18:
"Do not be unequally yoked with
unbelievers!"
-
In spite of knowing this truth, Solomon still made the choice to cling to these
women in love. He attached, glued himself to them and the language indicates
that he kept doing this.
-
The NLT translates verse 2, "Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway."
The NET says that "Solomon was
irresistibly attracted to them." He kept pursuing them!
-
What could have intriqued Solomon to love these women with such a drive that
caused him to completely disregard the Word of God? Why would anyone do such a
thing today?
-
Who would be willing to trade the goodness and favor of God for a dead end trip
to misery? - For whatever reason, and
there are some that I will suggest, Solomon wanted these women and he followed
his desire to the uttmost! Verse 3.
•
I Kings 11:3,4 : "And he had seven hundred wives,
princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was
old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not
loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his
father David." : 700 wives who had been
princesses and 300 hundred concubines! I'm no mathmetician, but that's a 1,000!
-
As noted previously, marriages helped to seal pacts of non-aggression. Concubines
were female slaves who would often accompany wives.
-
As we have seen in the case of Hagar, Zilpah and Bilhah, if a wife was barren,
the concubine could step in and bear children on behalf of her mistress.
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A concubine would not yield much, if any influence. The wives however, held a
profound position of influence. Their collective influence turned Solomon's heart
from the Lord.
-
The language speaks of bending or stretching something in a certain direction,
the tense of the verb indicating repeated activity.
-
This was neither quick or sudden, but a gradual, slow change accepted over
years of time.
-
Solomon would bend a little here and give a little there. Like a stalk of
grain, the first bend wouldn't last long and would snap right back into
position.
-
Every subsequent bend would wear away at the fiber and the stalk would not
longer resume it's former stance. Soon, you would see a noticeable inclination.
-
It took years and Solomon was old when his wives work was complete. He finally
and fully turned his heart after other gods. There was no recovery.
-
If a heart can turn from the Lord, please note that it will not happen
overnight, but it will happen. Soon, you'll find yourself doing something that
would have shocked a younger you!
-
Interestingly, this happens in his old age, dispelling a few myths about
humanity and sin.
-
We are inclined to believe that age itself is a deterrent to sinful activity.
We believe that with years of training and self-deprivation, that we will
simply not be affected by temptation.
-
Solomon stands as a witness out of time that this is not the case! Don't be
fooled! An aging saint is just as much a target as a baby Christian! Old
saints, beware!
-
Along with that illusion, Solomon was known as a man of great wisdom. Where was
his wisdom in his old age?
-
We foolishly believe that wisdom automatically accompanies and increases with
age. Apparently, that is not true! Years of comfortable living have passed for
Solomon.
-
As with all of us, the energy that it takes to remain vigilant and informed,
wanes with the passing of time.
-
How many have found their faith dull, the edge having worn off for lack of
discipline? How many have a fervent Christian past, but a stale Christian
present! I fear for such a Christian's future!
-
A final point that I'd share is that wisdom wasn't enough to dissuade the King
from his actions. If you had asked him what the right answer was to the
question of idolatry, he'd be correct.
-
But when your heart wants something, your mind will gladly step aside! Solomon,
for all of his pedigree and personal riches, was susceptible because his heart
had never been fully God's!
-
His heart was not loyal, perfect or complete to the Lord his God! "Don't
judge me bro!" Can't you hear that objection?
-
Sadly, you cannot look at Solomon's life and be trult convinced that he was
ever completely the Lord's! Yes,
he was gifted with wisdom. He dutifully finished his Father's Temple.
-
He was religious enough to offer more sacrifices than any King before him. But
in all that time, whatever he was externally, the Bible says, he was not so
internally!
-
Is you heart completely God's or is there room for double occupancy? If God
will be the Lord of your life at the end of your life, there can be no division
found in your life now!
-
Solomon's heart was unlike that of his Father David's. What does the author mean?
Verse 5.
• I Kings
11:5,6 : "For Solomon went after
Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the
Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord,
and did not fully follow the Lord,
as did his father David. :
David was
a sinner, who crossed the line in terrible ways. He sinned before the Lord and
then repented before the Lord. He never turned to an idol like Solomon did!
Instead of walking in the way of his Father
David and after the ways of the Lord, you'd find Solomon continually walking
instead after Ashtoreth.
- Ashtoreth was an import from Babylon,
formerly known as Ishtar. She is the moon god. Her statue is quite simply that
of a fully, frontally nude woman.
- The Sidonians worshipped her and their presence
in the land brought the Israelites knowledge of how she was to be "adored."
The author doesn't provide many details.
- Exodus
23:13 and Joshua 23:7 forbid the
people to even mention these gods!
- It follows then that the scripture would be
muted about the worship of these false deities. Believe me, the people of
Israel required no description. They knew what this entailed.
- Given Ashtoreth's blatantly sexual
presentation, you will rightly assume that her "worship" practices
invited the worshipper into a pornographic world and Solomon reveled in it.
- We posed the question earlier regarding
Solomon's desire for these foreign women. Could it be based upon what these
women were accustomed to doing for the sake of their god?
- Could Solomon's fleshly cravings have sent
him into a tailspin of disobedience that his mind would have never allowed? He
wouldn't be the first and he won't be the last!
- Solomon didn't stop at Ashtoreth. He also
went after Milcom or Molech as well. Most believe these names to be synonymous,
as they are both associated with the people of Ammon.
- Both times, the worship of the god of Ammon
is called an "abomination." The word refers to that which is
detestable, filthy or disgusting.
- Since it is mentioned as
"abominable" twice, you might rightly wonder why? It won't take long
to explain. Molech's image was that of a sitting bull cast from bronze or iron.
- It's altar was erected in such a way that the
worshipper would have to ascend into what looked like a waiting embrace from
the deity.
- On either side of the statue, fire was
burning and actually causing the bronze altar to become increasingly hot. The
worshipper would ascend the stairs and place their offering upon the lap.
- What was their offering? Their own infant
children! Those that worshipped Molech practiced human sacrifice!
- To drown out the screams of the child, the
musicians would simply play something more cheery and entice the crowd into
some kind of fanfare.
- Does this mean that Solomon actually offered
up one of his own children? It's not likely.
- Rather, he allowed for it's presence in
Israel and participated in it's worship to some degree. He may not have
sacrificed a child, but he stood by and approved while others did!
- What makes matters worse is that the children
of Israel eventually were guilty of offering their own children on the altar of
Molech!
- Ahaz, a few Kings removed from Solomon's
time, will practice this (II Kings 16:3)
and the people soon followed his example! (II
Kings 17:17)
- At the end of the Kingdom of Judah, Jeremiah would
quote the indictment of God that this sacrifice was commonplace among the
people of the nation! (Jeremiah 32:35)
- What could have possessed these people, the
nation of Israel, to leave behind their faithful God for the adoption of idol
worship?
- Whatever they thought they would gain came at
the cost of their own children! What a staggering thought and the essence of
religion!
- Religion says "Do this to please
God." Christianity says, "Christ has done this to please His Father
once and for all!" And yet, people still seek to give their own children
when God has given His!
- It was by these acts of worship that Solomon
did evil in God's sight and did not complete his life as a follower of the Lord
as David had. Things would go from bad to worse. Verse 7.
• I Kings
11:7-10 : "Then Solomon built a high
place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of
Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And
he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to
their gods. So
the Lord became angry with Solomon, because
his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning
this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what
the Lord had commanded." : Solomon apparently believed in equal opportunity for all
idolatry!
- Having worshipped the abomination of the
Ammonites, it's only fitting that he serve the abomination of the Moabites as
well! Chemosh means "Destroyer" or "subduer."
- Most seem to believe that Chemosh and Molech
were the same gods, though Chemosh is represented by a fish. In any event, he
built a place of worship on the same hill for both.
- Where was this hill that is east of
Jerusalem? It is the mount of Olives!
- In Solomon's time, these high places would
have been within eyesight of the Temple that he spent seven years building for
the Name of God!
- Interestingly, it is where Jesus will pray with
his disciples on the night before His crucifixion and the very place where He
will set His feet when He returns! I'll let you ponder that.
- But understand this: The person that was
capable of wonderful service for God was just as capable of incredible
blasphemy against Him!
- Would you be foolish enough to say, "I
would never do something like Solomon?" Beware! - The religion of Chemosh also required human sacrifice, but had an
element of sexual perversion involved in their worship as well. Can't you see
how these idolatries succeeded?
- They promise a reward for their followers,
while also allowing the participant to enjoy every single one of his own vices!
You can have it all!
- Could you imagine how popular Christianity
would be if you said, "Feel free to believe anything you'd like and if you
would like to commit any gross sin, don't let us bother you!"
- On the other hand, don't you pity those who
have fallen under the sway of man made religious philosophies? They give
everything for something that doesn't exist and get nothing for it!
- Solomon made all the room in the world for
Chemosh, Molech, Ashtoreth and every other god that his foreign wives
subscribed themselves to!
- He burned his incense and sacrificed to their
gods. He supported their enterprise. He gave what should have been given to the
true God to a false god!
- How many others are guilty of the same thing?
How often have I spent my time, treasure or talent in the service of that which
was false, when it truly belonged to the Lord?
- God was angry with Solomon! The record of
God's response is puzzling, in that it should be incredibly obvious. The word
reflects the face of one whose nostrils are recurrently flared!
- Here, we are confronted with the reality that
all Bible believers need to understand. God is not dispassionate about His
people's sin.
- He has shown His great love for Solomon and
Israel. He has shown His great love for all of humanity in the person of Jesus
Christ. Believers today receive and are grateful for that love.
- But we would be fools not to consider the
fact that those who spurn God's love and favor do so to their own detriment and
will soon fall into the arms of a Just Judge and an Angry God!
- God is capable of being angry and some day,
there will be those who by their spiritual negligence will experience the full
vent of it! May God grant them mercy to come to Him before then!
- No, the truly surprising thing here is not
that God was angry, but that it took so long to get there! It took repeated
provocation to get there. God does not have a hare pin trigger!
- Biblically, it takes a long time to get Him
to this place and when He does, His Word proclaims that His anger is for a
moment!
- For all that Solomon has been given, for all
that he knows, to turn his back upon the faithful God that has loved him, is
the highest form of treason upon the earth, indeed in the Universe!
- God was angry because Solomon had turned his
heart away. This time, the word for "turned" reflects a final
turning, at least from Solomon's perspective.
- Yes, his wives began him on the journey and
encouraged him along the way, but the grievous sin is that eventually, it was
Solomon's decision alone to pursue these deities!
- It had begun with his wives begging him to go
to their "church." Then, for several years, it was a joint effort.
Now that Solomon is old and grey, he's the one waiting in the car for them!
- He had turned away defininitively from the
God who had personally appeared to him twice and had warned him of the very
thing that he eventually went into!
- Here lies yet another truth concerning
humanity and sin: Religious experience is no safeguard! Who can duplicate
Solomon's experience? God literally appeared to Him!
- Don't be fooled, either in seeking an experience
or by resting in one. Neither replaces a fervent, obedient heart for God that
beats today! God had warned him twice.
- How many times has God had to warn you of
something? Hear His voice again today and choose to obey! Verse 11.
• I Kings
11:11-13 : "Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, 'Because you have done this, and have not kept
My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the
kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in
your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of
your son. However I
will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the
sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.'" : Solomon has made the choice to live as an idolator. By doing
so, he has forced God to take covenantal action against him.
- This is what Israel agreed to by entering
into covenant with God in the first place!
- Solomon removed himself from the hand of God's
favor and now God would tear the Kingdom like a garment out of his hands and
deliver it into the hands of his servant!
- This will be fulfilled in the person of
Jeroboam, who we will meet next week, who will rise from the ranks of the labor
unions. The larger portion of the Kingdom would fall to his hands.
- But this won't happen in Solomon's days,
meaning that Solomon would not live to see this.
- It would happen however, in the days of his
son Rehoboam. What a sad reality of sin!
- You and I go through life thinking that we
are the only ones that are affected by our actions.
- You may not feel the effects of your sin
personally, but your children will!
- Rehoboam should have lived a life of blessing.
Instead, he will see the Kingdom that had been one of the richest in history
dwindle to a two tribe monarchy!
- How sad and yet, how gracious of God! As much
as He knows Solomon's sin, He chooses to act based upon His own faithfulness
and love fo David and Israel.
- Some may wonder: "If God is so offended
by my sin, why doesn't He simply begin to punish me now?" Beside His
desire for your repentance, might you consider this verse.
- Perhaps He will not do it now because of His
love for those around you! Destroying you now might destroy them! No, God would
forebear with his King because of His love for his subjects!
Conclusion
- Age will not
protect you. Wisdom and knowledge will fail you. Experience cannot be relied
upon. Our hearts must lovingly cling to the God of our redemption!
- His love for
us must be our most satisfying claim and our responsive love for Him must be
fueled by our obedience to Him, otherwise, we will be another Solomon!
- I asked you
to ponder the fact that Solomon built the high places for these false gods on
the Mount of Olives. This is where Jesus Christ made a different choice.
- He chose to
obey His Father over His feelings, and submitted to the Cross on that very
hill. The next day, He absorbed all of the anger, wrath and punishment that our
sins deserved.
- And one day,
what He did spiritually, will be completed physically when He returns to that
very hill, crushing any remnant of idolatry under His feet.
- May we reject
Solomon's example and follow our King's lead!
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