Answers Bible Curriculum Year 2 Quarter 2 Lesson 9
In this lesson, David Capoccia discusses the compromises of King Solomon and the consequences for the nation of Israel. David Capoccia examines how Solomon compromised, how God reacted, and how Israel was affected. Solomon’s life is a great cautionary tale of how someone wise, even a great teacher of wisdom and of fearing God, could nonetheless hurt himself and others with great sinful compromise.
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last week we sampled the wisdom of God that appears in the book of Proverbs what are some of the concepts we want to remember when studying and interpreting proverbs what’s one of them well it is God’s wisdom for sure this is superior to the what is called the wisdom of man or what is offered as the wisdom of man what else Roy right that’s extremely important to remember with proverbs men of proverbs are not written as absolute they are general principles of life they allow for exceptions we also saw that proverbs is written in Hebrew poetry with parallel ism so there’s the juxtaposition the purposeful connection between different lines and also remember that not all of the verses give direct applications they tell you how life is but they don’t necessarily tell you how to react to life that takes meditation it takes comparison with the rest of Scripture who wrote the Proverbs Solomon mostly mostly Solomon to whom did he write basically everybody he identifies the naive that is the simple and those who don’t know the young those who haven’t learned yet and the wise so basically everybody everybody can benefit from the book of Proverbs and why did he write the book of proverbs he tells us his purpose in the first chapter it is to do what to make people wise to impart wisdom to give instruction now what’s a Solomon’s show in the book of Proverbs are the even the first few chapters what are the two most basic ideas for wisdom fear the Lord that’s basic the fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom and what’s the other basic idea how should you treat with them yeah is the treasure to be diligently even painfully sought it’s that important and that we have to proverb 2 verses in proverbs let’s say at the beginning of the Lord or the fear of the Lord is beginning of with them but also there’s another proverb that says that the beginning of wisdom is seek wisdom so those are those two basic principles are two basic concepts for wisdom which areas of life does the book of Proverbs address basically all of them it touches on many if not all of them and we sample that ourselves now proverbs is the very wisdom of God and it’s truly valuable we ought to seek it arduously like a person digging for treasure that he knows is in a certain spot but there are hindrances to accessing God’s wisdom we will stop short of obtaining God’s wisdom if we settle for the wisdom of man if we’re distracted by the cares and comforts of life so by faith we need to persevere against the flesh in order to obtain the Blessed wisdom of God questions about what we looked at last week okay so now we come to the latter part of Solomon’s reign and his pursuit of folly we’ve been foreshadowing this for a number of lessons now but now we actually take a look at it here’s our outline for today’s class we’re going to first look at how Solomon goes astray we’ll look at how God reacts and the prophecy he gives regarding the future of Solomon’s kingdom and then we’ll finish by looking at how God’s prophecy comes to pass that’s right father I pray that you would open your word to us give us your instruction by your spirit and Lord let it powerfully work in us so that we can throw off sin so that we can become mature so we can act wise or wisely and we could obtain the benefit give me the ability to explain now father I pray in Jesus name Amen alright we look first and how Solomon turns away from the Lord we’re going to be looking most get a couple chapters of first king is but before we do that let’s remind ourselves of some of the things that were written in the Pentateuch regarding Kings look at Deuteronomy 17 open your Bibles please and turn to Deuteronomy 17 and look at verses 14 to 17 and your pupils this is page 203 there are a couple things written in this passage and we’ve actually looked at it before regarding how Kings ought to behave whenever Israel gets a king but we’re specifically looking at the things that we’re told the king is not to do look at verse 14 in chapter 17 when you went to the land which the Lord your God gives you and you possess it and live in it and you say I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me it shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses one from among your countrymen you shall set his king over yourselves you may not put a foreigner over yourself who is not your countrymen moreover he shall not multiply horses for himself nor shall he caused the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses since the Lord has said to you you shall never again return that way it shall not multiply wives for himself or else his heart will turn away nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself I will just stop right there according to this passage for actions are forbidden to issue as kings what are the four give me one they must not multiply wives they were even given the reason because his heart will turn away if he does that what else not multiply horses very good what else not to multiply gold and silver for himself or greatly increase not the greatly increased silver and gold for himself and then the last one kind of little corollary to the one about horses they are not to go to Egypt to get horses and again we’re given a reason because God has said you shall not return that way now let’s think about these a little bit what does God have against horses can’t the King have a lot of horses there’s nothing wrong with horses but why does god come in not to multiply horses yeah yeah I think that’s certainly part of it it’s a sign of wealth and prestige there’s another aspect of horses that’s that we can see sometimes by how horses are talked about in the Old Testament they are important for or right they are an important strategic resource particularly because they can be used for chariots and perhaps even four horsemen and so if you have horses if you have a lot of horses then you might feel strong militarily and just as there would be a temptation to solace in one’s wealth and the horses also in one’s military power I don’t need to trust God because look at all the horses I have I can handle any sort of military invasion or military issue he’d be tempted the King would be tempted to trust in the horses instead of God so God says don’t even have a lot of horses now what does God have against Egypt God doesn’t even want is people to go back to Egypt to get horses why not Egypt yeah Roy hmm yeah you mentioned two ideas there we’re not told specifically but we can think about it a little bit come up with some possible reasons why God commands not to go back to Egypt or not to go to Egypt for horses certainly the way of life in Egypt it was a temptation to the Israelites when here in the wilderness they’re like let’s go back to Egypt it says I don’t want you to be tempted to go back to that way of life what you did there your life there so I don’t want you to go there even for economic reasons and gone really because he even quotes are yeah it quotes the words the Lord by saying you shall not return that way God wanted to make it clear to the Israelites there is a once and for all break with Egypt maybe you’re allowed to do things or the other nations but Egypt Egypt is different because each of represents something to you I don’t want you to even think about going back to what you were I removed you from that place totally once and for all stay away from Egypt don’t go to Egypt for horses don’t even allow yourself to be tempted by going back there now the third prohibition about wives why would having many wives turn the King’s heart away from God now we’re going to see this later on but even before we see what happens in Solomon’s life why this prohibition against multiplying wives yeah Danny okay explain the connection you said it would lead to idolatry to other gods how so that’s right so the implication here is not is not merely marrying Israelite women but he’s marrying foreign women and that’s particularly going to turn his heart away even if it just want marries Israelite women multiplies Israelite wives that itself could be a temptation because one becomes more and more earth minded wanting to please and be pleased by the many wives and not looking to God but this probably is in reference to multiplying wives via political alliances and that means marrying idolatrous wives this would lead to a temptation towards idolatry in the King’s Own life it could lead to idolatry and Israel at large God warned Israel not to intermarry with the nation’s and if the King is doing that he’s going to be invulnerable just as the people would be vulnerable you cannot marry pagan wives and he’s not to trust in political alliances so for many reasons got to stay away from multiple wives the king is not to have multiplied wives where you’re going to save really yeah exactly yes thanks for mentioning that Roy we have these other reasons about not marrying foreign wives and not multiplying wives so that one is distracted but the original blueprint in Genesis was one man and one woman and to become one flesh one once you start going outside that blueprint you’re going to have all sorts of problems not just for a king but for any person where we gonna say David right right right we’ll talk about Solomon specifically a little bit later but certainly this command in Deuteronomy was in contrast to the nation’s just as you were saying David it was very common for the kings of that area in the Middle Eastern and elsewhere to have many many wives and that was a sign of their prestige like having horses or like having other things but it also was part of their political arrangements and part of just them pleasing themselves and got to stay away from that don’t go near that and then finally this prohibition about greatly multiplying silver and gold why is why that prohibition is it wrong to have silver and gold yeah again the emphasis on the word greatly is showing us that there’s there’s a there’s a level that one can take with wealth or that a king could take with wealth that would be bad it would actually lead him away from God in the same way that wives and horses and other things would it would be a temptation towards greed it’d be a temptation to seek security and his wealth and the temptation to be satisfied in his wealth rather than by God wealth is necessary for kings they need money to rule to pay their servants to arrange things for the kingdom but greatly multiplying gold and silver for himself is not necessary for God’s King it is more necessary that he protect himself from the dangers of wealth by not taking what is more than her by not taking more than what is necessary from his people and by using whatever extra he has or God glorifying ends now this is actually many the same principles that we exercise ourselves so that we ought to exercise ourselves when it comes to money how much is necessary for a king to spend on himself well that line is not clear but certainly no king ought to oppresses people merely to enrich himself now so for many of these things all except polygamy it’s not that the Act is wrong in itself having money is not wrong having gold or silver is not wrong having horses by itself is not wrong but by multiplying these things there’s a great danger and God commands his righteous Kings to not even go near that danger don’t multiply horses don’t go down to Egypt don’t have many wives don’t multiply silver and gold for yourself now how does Solomon’s behavior compared with what is prescribed on this list well let’s find out turn over now to first Kings chapter 10 first Kings chapter 10 verses starting in verse 14 I’m going to look at a couple different sections here so this is after a number of chapters describing the greatness of Solomon’s rule the splendor of his wisdom and of his palace in his kingdom and now verse 14 this is page 362 in your few bottles we’re going to be down to verse 22 now the weight of gold which came into Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold besides that from the traders and the where’s the merchant and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold using six hundred shekels of gold on each large shield he made 300 shields of beaten gold using three minas of gold on each shield and the King put them in the house of the forests of Lebanon moreover the King made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold there were six steps to the throne and around top to the throne and its rear and arms on each side of the seat and two lions standing beside the arms 12 Lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other nothing like it was made for any other Kingdom all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold and all the vessels of the house of the force of Lebanon or of pure gold none was of silver it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon but the King had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver ivory and apes and peacocks stop there for a moment we’re not going to take time to observe all the details here but what is Solomon gathering a lot of each year gold gold silver and other valuable items and on whom is he spending it or using it himself notice the items all mention here they go in the king’s palace that it says the house of the force of lebanon that’s Solomon’s palace the golden shields are going there the golden drinking vessels are going there the throne the ivory and gold throne is going there these things are not for the people and not for God and we’ll even here a little bit later on about how Solomon’s rule at least the latter part it was considered oppressive to the people so he’s gathering a lot of gold and I’m going to hear later on that the people were suffering because of it so we see a problem with Solomon’s following of the Deuteronomy commands but now let’s look at verses 26 and 29 just giving two verses there now Solomon now Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen and he had 1,400 chariots and twelve thousand horsemen any station them in the chariot cities with the king in Jerusalem the King made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and he made Cedars as plentiful sycamore trees that are in the lowland also Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and QA and the King’s merch is procured them from QA floor price a chariot was imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for 150 and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the Kings the arameans what else does salman multiplying for himself horses and chariots chariots and horses he’s also exporting them to other nations but from where to Solomon get these chariots and horses Egypt and this other place cuit which probably is meaning cilicia southern Asia Minor but he’s going down to Egypt to get horses not looking good Solomon you’re a great king and all but aren’t these exactly what God said not to do but there’s more and this is the really big one 1st Kings 11 12 8 just right done out of the back to the next verse now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh Moabite M&I adonian and Hittite women from the nation’s concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel you shall not associate with them nor shall they associate with you for they will surely turn your heart away after other gods or after their gods Solomon held fast to these in love he had 700 wives princesses and 300 concubines and his wives turned his heart away for when Solomon was old his wives turned his heart away after other gods and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of David his father had been for Solomon went after ashteroth the goddess of the Sidonians and after milk come the detestable idol of the ammonites Solomon did what was evil and the side of the Lord and did not follow the Lord fully as David his father had done then Solomon built a high place for Chi maj the detestable Idol of Moab on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem and for Molech the detestable Idol of the sons of Ammon thus also he did for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods so this is serious compromise not always the King multiplying wives but what kind of wives are they they’re foreign women they are idolatrous pagan women Solomon had a total of 1,000 why 700 royal wives and 300 concubines as David mentioned earlier he’s becoming like the kings of the neighboring kingdoms though he’s out doing his neighbor’s actually in the extent of his harem many of these wives were probably taken as political alliances but others especially the concubines were simply taken for the Kings own pleasure notice the phrase in verse 2 said that Solomon held fast to these and love it’s pretty intense Salman clung to them there’s an intense need to Solomon seeking out pleasing and being pleased by these wives who was Solomon’s first wife it mentions here the beginning of the passage you got all these other women besides the daughter of Pharaoh and mentioned earlier in the historical account in Kings that was his first wife or that appears to be his first wife so much for not going back to Egypt he marries the daughter of Pharaoh and what was the result of these multiply this multiplication of wives first two quotes Deuteronomy 7 and verse 3 quotes the passage we read earlier his wives turned his heart away and his old age hoping to please his various wives Solomon build shrines for every kind abominable God and Goddess many of these deities we know accepting human sacrifice not only does Solomon build the worship sites but it says that Solomon himself went after these gods Solomon’s heart was not fully devoted to the Lord like the heart of his father David Solomon became idolatrous and though it’s not mentioned specifically here he leads Israel into idolatry as well because they see the King doing it they see the Kings wives doing it then surely Israel can do it too so let’s interpret a little bit now of the four prohibitions given to the Kings in Deuteronomy 17 which the Solomon violate all of them all of them maybe not at the beginning probably not at the beginning but certainly by the end of his reign he is flagrantly violating all of them and as bad as these individual acts are however the result is far worse the King becomes an ID auditor and idolatry and intermarriage become normalized and Israelite society once again lead from the top now remember who’s doing this this is solomon this is the same solomon who was said to be beloved by God since birth who was given a special name from God to emphasize God’s love relationship to Solomon he was blessed with wisdom riches and honor he was given rest by God from all enemies this is the Solomon who built God’s temple who saw God’s glory inhabit the temple this is the wisest of all men on earth how could he do such a thing well this is the big question right how can such a wise man act so stupidly but we asked a similar question not too long ago about David right how could a man said to be after God’s own heart sin in such horrible ways well it comes down to and we’ll explore different parts of this answer but it does come down to the horrible murderous deceitfulness of sin sin is utterly sinful it so wicked and monstrous and through the flesh through the world system through the evil one it can cause even the wisest or most righteous of men to stumble and in big ways no one is invulnerable to sin or temptation now concerning Solomon’s wisdom how could a wise man do such a thing we could get into the question of what was the real nature of Solomon’s wisdom was it a general ability to understand the world its life its people or did it also include theological understanding certainly the examples the applications of wisdom we see in the first 10 chapters of Kings they have a lot to do with this world he’s making legal decisions he’s giving discourses on trees and animals answering various questions from visitors but certainly whatever the nature of Solomon’s understanding was he did know what and where true wisdom was found or he did know what true wisdom was and where it was found we know he knew he knew this because he wrote it right we just read in Proverbs last week the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom whether that nugget of wisdom was given to him by God or if he just acquired that as part of also his general understanding he knew that the wisest thing is the most basic part of wisdom mr. fear the Lord but he didn’t listen to his own words why Solomon why didn’t you listen to your own teaching because its flesh told him something different and it felt good to listen to the flesh rather than leave God and wait for the delayed reward of God certainly Solomon was uniquely tempted if we say oh I would never do what Solomon did we’re not in the situation of Solomon he was blessed with so much understanding and so much wealth he’s been giving accolades from every side gifts from all sorts of people he would have been uniquely tempted to cling to and trust those things his wealth his wisdom his power I like the proud apostles you may remember pastor talk not too long ago and his sermons on mark they’re proud apostles you’re casting out demons they stopped praying right and then they can’t cast out the demons anymore they can’t figure out why in a similar way Solomon because of the greatness of the gifts he’s received each trusted in his own wisdom rather than gods and he acted contrary to God’s Word cleese Yossi’s tells us that Solomon at least for part of his life purposefully pursued falling on purpose he acted stupidly just to investigate it I want to see if there’s any value to this a good deal of Solomon’s wicked behavior was simply experiment so he could gain more knowledge act more wisely and teach others but was it wise to conduct such experiments no why not oh that’s a good point yeah even if you say I’m just going to see I’m just going to experiment you don’t know how far it may actually take you yeah there’s a he didn’t not considering the danger of actually once you’re inside folly why else was it wrong say that again yeah that’s another thing you can’t just simply say oh I’m going to find out you’re finding out is going to have consequences for you for your family and for the nation you can’t just say oh that’s just an academic thing oh it affects real life what are you going to say George exactly and there’s probably the biggest reason is that there’s no need it goes against God’s Word do you think that God is lying do you think that God has forgotten something that you need to find out yourself so not only did he fail to consider the danger of pursuing folly that it will be more difficult to actually remove himself from it he did not consider the consequences of experimenting in this way he did himself in the nation injury but God already told him the answer God already showed him the answer to his questions in God’s Word there was no need to pursue folly to find out whether there was something to it or not to pursue sin to pursue self-indulgence but we can do the same thing can’t we we and say to ourselves I just want to find out what this is like I want to find out more about this sin or this activity so that I can better stand against it I want to see what the people in the world are doing or watching so I can get a better idea of how to reach them this is nonsense God already tells us what we need to know about those things we’re not missing out on some value or some information and like Solomon we do ourselves and we do others injury when we insist on trusting and our own understanding finding out for ourselves and because Solomon did this we have even more reason not to do it ourselves because the end of a Salman basically confirmed everything that God said in the first place Solomon then represents a cautionary tale to us don’t do what I did because when I pursued my own understanding when I tried to find out for myself I found out that God was right all along so there’s no need for us to say I just got to find out for myself I need to find it can’t just simply trust God’s Word I need to see if there’s something I’m missing out on I need to find out more about this way of life part of the explanation too and I think rich was alluding to this for why the wisest man could fall into such folly is the gradual pneus of compromise I’m sure when Solomon married his first foreign wife he did not think that he would be building pagan shrines the next day or even multiplying his wives but over time Solomon’s resistance was worn down so many wives so many in treaties such great desire to please them you really did love them or at least in a way the text says he held fast to them and love and so Solomon ended up doing at the end of his life what he never dreamed he would have done in the beginning again perhaps due to the pride of trusting in his own mind it did not appreciate the danger the great insistence of God’s warnings he decided that he was strong enough smart enough righteous enough or whatever enough to withstand temptation even though he was already violating God’s Word in willfully exposing himself the temptation he knew there was great temptation everybody said I’ll be fine and we can do the same make no mistake the sign of Christian maturity is not choosing to expose yourself to sin and remaining unaffected it is choosing not to expose yourself to sit in the first place and fleeing once you encounter temptation I’ll just say I’m strong enough I’ve grown enough I understand enough in the word you say if I understand enough then I know I don’t even want to go near that the Proverbs again expressed this principle also Solomon you knew this Solomon why didn’t you follow your own advice why don’t you follow God’s Word it felt good to the flesh Solomon chose to set it aside set aside wisdom for an enjoyable compromise and a compromise that led some more compromises so we need to appreciate again this morning the seriousness of sin God’s Way is blessed the book the purity principle speaking specifically about sexual morality it says immorality is always stupid but purity is always smart that’s true in sin in general any kind of sinful behavior any kind of worldly behavior is always stupid and we can know that because God tells us but righteousness is always smart it’s always wise questions or comments so far yeah bill you’re talking about in Deuteronomy mmhmm yeah yeah that’s a good point yeah hmm yeah let me repeat your comment bill and the passenger Deuteronomy that we read earlier just a few verses down and talks about what the king is supposed to do and that is to make a copy of the law and to steady a day and night so that he won’t depart from God’s Word and so that he won’t exalt himself above his brother we’ll come back to that concept a little bit later on but he said remember what your role is it is to serve the people is to be good to the people it is not to use the people to enrich yourself and to indulge yourself but when Solomon was as you were saying bill pursuing all these projects and wealth and trade and wives he doesn’t have time to study the word much less so Bay it are you going to say boy hmm a good question speaking about Ecclesiastes what’s it written when was it written in Solomon’s reign and if it were written early how could it be talking about those pursuits in the past tense my understanding is that it was probably written late in his reign I know that Ecclesiastes is a difficult book to interpret but I think you’re right Roy to point out that he talks about the things that he pursued in the past and how they’re all vain that would seem strange for Solomon’s say at the beginning of his reign when he was following the Lord and then the later part of his reign to actually turn away from the Lord so this sounds like the words of Solomon after he’s pursued this fought this foolish course looking back at at all and saying it was a waste it was vain and really the only wise thing to do is to enjoy what God gives you and to fear Him so I would say probably please yes was written late Solomon’s reign other questions or comments that’s a good question where does proverbs fall proverbs at least from what what I’ve read how people interpret it is being towards the beginning part of his reign so you can hear a lot of the wise counsel that he knew and he was teaching others but later on he himself sets aside that counsel now I suppose one could argue that he wrote it later because he’s looking back and now he can he can make all these determinations but I think he even before he pursued the course of folly he knew he already knew what the Lord’s word was and he was teaching people that and he just ignored his own advice and this is something we can do right we can become great teachers of God’s wisdom and yet not believe it ourselves not follow it ourselves I think that’s what we see with Solomon he could write the Proverbs and then act contrary to the Proverbs and part of it is I think as you were saying David he didn’t intend to do that but he made these small compromises and later on he’s making big compromises he didn’t appreciate the danger he was putting himself in or he ignored it rather say something che hmm Wow yeah let me do her yeah Ecclesiastes 413 you were saying I’ll just repeat it for the recording but even Ecclesiastes says it’s better to be a poor and wise youth in a old king who can no longer take warning an old and foolish king let’s move on the rest of what we’re going to talk about today we’ll go through a little bit more quickly but we see how Solomon turns away from God it’s a cautionary tale here’s a wise man he knew God’s wisdom but he did not believe it and he suffered the consequences and we can do the same so we need to beware of Solomon’s example but let’s see how God responds let’s see how it actually plays out look now at verse 9 and 1st Kings 11 I’ll read the verse 13 verse 9 now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord the God of Israel who had appeared him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing that he should not go after other gods but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded so the Lord said to Solomon because you have done this and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded you i will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant nonetheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David but I will tear it out of the hand of your son however I will not tear away all the kingdom but 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 observe God’s anger what Solomon did was wicked and God was righteously mad about it this is the way God treats sin this is the way God treats Arsene what judgment does God promised Solomon I will take the kingdom from you and this is the same as what other tragic King Saul the exact same words God said to Saul because you’ve refused to obey me I’m going to take away the kingdom from you and give it to someone better I’ll give it to your servant and he meant David but there’s a difference here God qualifies the judgment against Solomon he says two things will nevertheless not happen what two things I won’t tear away the entire kingdom I’ll leave one king or one tribe of the kingdom one part of it and what else I won’t do it during your lifetime it’ll happen in the lifetime of your son now these are gracious limits on God’s judgment why God actually says why he’s putting these limits there for the sake of David and for Jerusalem with the sake of David that covenant he established with David resets you have followed after me you obey me I’m going to establish your throne I’m going to establish your seat on the throne and they shall continue to rule they will have an eternal throne and then for Jerusalem that’s the place where God’s temple is the place of God’s name he says I’m going to honor my name and my temple by being gracious to the city and being gracious to the ruler of the city so we see again that though God must judge sin his covenant love precipitates his kindness the Davidic covenant is an impetus for God to act kindly to Solomon there Solomon does not deserve it this is similar to how God act with Abrahamic covenant based on the Abrahamic covenant to Israel because of God’s desire to be kind Israel through David because of God’s desire to reward David’s righteousness because of God’s desire to send a redeemer an ultimate King one day through the seed of David God was going to be kind of Solomon and to Israel and it would not be a complete judgment God’s sovereignty once once again Evan here he established his kingdoms you can take away kingdoms Solomon as I said did not deserve God’s kindness but for his own glory God was compassionate to Solomon to Israel and to us today who benefit and indirectly the kingly line of David would remain despite Solomon’s flagrant disobedience in accordance with god’s words to David God was going to chase and David seed but he would not totally remove the kingdom now it’s interesting notwithstanding the book of Ecclesiastes like I said probably written late in Solomon’s reign by Solomon we don’t see any sign of repentance from Solomon in the historical books we hear about the judgment we don’t hear about Solomon’s repentance in fact the end of Solomon’s reign looks pretty sad it won’t take time to read it but the rest of chapter 11 outlines various men who rise up against Solomon there’s hey Dad edomite resin of Damascus and jeroboam the son of me bat now Jeroboam you probably heard of he’s the one who’s going to lead the northern tribes he didn’t so much rise against Solomon as Solomon drove him away Jeroboam was an industrious man of Ephraim whom Solomon noticed and put over the forced labor he was a servant of Solomon the Prophet hi Jeff found Jeroboam took a cloak you can see it depicted here and he towards his cloak into 12 pieces and he gave 10 of the pieces to Jeroboam as a sign of God’s impending judgment on Solomon’s kingdom God is going to give 10 tribes to Jeroboam to rule and he promised Jeroboam that if Jeroboam would obey the Lord God would establish his throne and his family and his seed god also reiterates that God will leave one tribe to Solomon and to David’s line because of the covenant with David and because of Jerusalem where the temple of God is may notice there’s a little bit of an oddity with the numbers ten tribes to Jeroboam one tribe to David where’s the 12th tribe does anybody know if Benjamin Benjamin ends up being actually being split between the northern and southern kingdoms that’s why sometimes confusing will be here Benjamin being with Judah and sometimes it it talks about only one tribe being with the David’s line but Benjamin appears to have been split partly with Judah partly with the rest of the tribes of Israel so Jeroboam receives this prophecy by way of an object lesson but apparently this ceremony didn’t stay private because Solomon reacts to Jeroboam looked down her 1st Kings 11 verse 40 it says right after with this whole prophecy Solomon sought therefore to put Jeroboam to death but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt to shoe shack king of Egypt and he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon Solomon tried to kill him no sign that he actually rebelled but Solomon heard about this prophecy and Solomon tried to kill him I man is acting like whom again so exacting just like Saul so not a very positive end to Solomon’s great rain we see God’s prophecy of judgment though mitigated by God’s kindness on the house of David but let’s see now how the judgment comes to pass this is the last part of our lesson today look at first Kings chapter 12 when we’ll look at verses 1 to 20 mostly just reading this will make some observations at this point Solomon is dead he’s rain for 40 years same amount of time is David a long reign a blessed rain his son Rehoboam is now king now let’s hear about what happens next verse 1 chapter 12 then Rehoboam went to Shechem for all Israel had come to check him to make him King now when jeroboam the son and even heard of it he was living in Egypt where he was yet in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon then they sent and called him and Jeroboam and all the assembly vigil came and spoke to Rehoboam saying your father made our yoke hard now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and it’s heavy yoke which he put on us we will serve you and he said to them depart from me for three days and return to me to the people to party kingway bum consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was still alive saying how do you counsel me to answer this people and they spoke to him saying if you will be a servant to this people today and will serve them and grant them their petition and speak good words to them they will be your servants forever but he forsook the Council of the elders which they had given him and consulted with the young man who grew up with him and served him so he said to them what counsel do you give that we answer this people who have spoken me saying lighten the yoke which your father put on us the young man who grew up with him spoke time saying thus how you shall say to this people who spoke to you saying your father made our yoke heavy now you make it lighter for us but you shall speak to them my little finger is thicker than my father’s loins whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke I will add to your yoke my father disciplined you with the whips but I will discipline you with scorpions then Jeroboam and all the people came to ray bomb on the third day zynga directed saying returning me on the third day the King answered the people harshly for he forsook the advice the elders which they had given him and he spooked them according to the advice the young men saying my father made your yoke heavy but i will add to your yoke my father disciplined you with whips but I will discipline you with scorpions so the king did not listen to the people for it was a turn of events from the Lord that he might establish his word which the Lord spoke through a hide to the shona night to jeroboam the son Danny bad when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them the people answered the King saying what portion do we have in David we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse to your tent so Israel now look after your own house David so as you’ll departed to their tents but as for the sons of visual who lived in the cities of judah raya boehm reigned over them then King ray bomb sent a Durham who was over the forced labour and all israel stone him to death in King Rehoboam made haste amount of chariot to flee to Jerusalem so Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day it came about when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned that they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel none but the tribe of Judah followed the house of David some quick observations here who’s present at this coordination of Ray bone yeah all Israel it says and they’re being represented by whom you’re speaking on their behalf Jeroboam they’ve called back Jeroboam or he’s come back and he they respect him they like him they want him to speak to Solomon on their behalf now what requests are they making the new king lighten the burden lighten our burden sulman made our yolks difficult to bear he made our lives hard Salman really you did that he was again oppressing the people to enrich himself and they asked for this oppression to cease make things easier for us rebel I’m asked for time to consider the request and he seeks counsel wise move you can souls for the older men who served and probably learned wisdom from Solomon and what do they say to answer grant their request and speak kindly to them no sirve here they’ll be grateful and this would only be right considering what song is it was wrong so a king ought to say my father he oppressed you I’m gonna end that oppression but Ray Boehm didn’t like their advice and he asked his young friends how to answer and they give the opposite they say reject the request and speak to them harshly in other words show yourself tough make them fear you don’t posture yourself like some kind of servants make them tremble but God shows that the best kind of King is a shepherd it is one who gently leads one of the reasons that Deuteronomy 17 says a king should read out the law all the time as we mentioned some moments ago is that Deuteronomy 17 20 his that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen king of Israel is God’s anointed but he’s a shepherd and a steward not a god the people are not really there to serve him the king is a servant to the people to answer harshly and to continue oppression or even to make a depression worth worse is both wicked that’s not what God designed his Kings to do and it’s foolish since it will dishearten once followers and make them more prone to abandon your kingdom but that’s the foolish answer that Ray bomb chose but the text tells us why why according to the text it was a turn of events from the Lord it was to fulfill what God prophesied through a hijack God caused this to happen so at the harsh answer ten and a half tribes to seed the king sends a magistrate in charge of the forced labor to the disgruntled Israelites and they promptly stone him to death a curious move from a bomb I guess he really didn’t believe that Israel meant what they said it says in verse 19 at Israel the northern tribes remained in rebellion against Judah going forward indeed for the rest of the Old Testament history books the kingdom’s are split and often at war with each other her a poem actually begins this war or sought to begin this war he rallies an army it’s not mentioned here but right afterwards he rallies an army to force the northern tribes back into the kingdom but God disperses the armies he says this is from me do not fight against your brethren so God’s Word of judgment against Solomon’s sin but also the merciful corollary they come to pass just as God said before we consider application just one interpreter question that bring up here who’s responsible for Rayo booms foolish answer to Israel is a god or is it ray bomb responsibility remains with Raya boom even though we’re told this turn of events was from the Lord as we’ve said many times God is in complete control but man bears complete responsibility for his actions Raya bones answer was wicked and it was what he wanted and therefore Raya bomb deserves the blame and punishment but Rahab oh man was also determined by God nothing happens unless God ordains it God is not the author of sin nor sea tempter yet God directed for this to happen any time a government makes a foolish or wicked decision even our own government the people in government Baird the responsibilities of their choice God will judge them for it yet God determines things to happen exactly as they do so that we can take comfort that God’s purposes are being worked out no matter the foolishness or wickedness of our governments so ray bone was responsible even though God was in complete control this is where our narrative ends today we’ve actually hit an important milestone in our course with the divided Kingdom which would be happening around 975 bc according to Answers in Genesis or 9 31 BC according to MacArthur we passed the halfway point of the Earth’s life span more than 3,000 years have gone by since creation we’re now moving into the second half of Earth’s life I’ve also I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we’re quickly moving through the Old Testament will already add the divided Kingdom don’t look now but we only have two quarters left a little bit more than two quarters and then it’s the New Testament so we’re moving right along coming up will be tracing the dejected of the divided Kingdom the Northern Kingdom the ten and a half tribes in the north and the southern kingdom will be looking at various kings prophets how God brings armies against these nations ultimately bring them into captivity and then returns them from captivity and allows many to come back to the land but that’s all ahead well let’s finish our time today by looking at some application questions first how did the actions of Solomon and Ray Obama expose their sin of unbelief yeah they they just don’t obey God’s Word therefore they don’t believe God they don’t believe his promises Solomon violates the prohibitions against kingly action Raya bomb seeks to impress the people instead of do good to the people as God’s King is designed and in all these situations they refuse God’s counsel and they trust in man’s Council either their own were counselors that they like yeah yeah here by Shea I mean just briefly trying to capsulate some of what you were saying it wasn’t that horses or wealth or gold and silver were evil in themselves is that God was I’d be good to them trying to protect them from folly trying to protect them from their own their own weakness but they decided I think God’s holding me back from something good the same same as Adam Eve right they questioned whether God was actually being good to them whether he was holding out on them something good and they acted foolishly and then went they went right along with their fleshly impulses a set of by a bang by faith along the same lines let’s explore a little bit of how this plays out for us Solomon was warned that having wise from other nations would be a snare and lead him to worship false gods that is idols what are some of the things in our society that we can find ourselves toying with and unbelief thinking that it will bring us something good pleasure rather than destruction what’s one thing politics okay can you explain a little bit hmm yeah putting too much faith in politics either entering it or following it it can be really distracting there as many of you know there’s a there has been a movement among Christians to be really involved in politics as if if we could just change the government then that we can do good for God’s kingdom and where we have small ability to influence the government through voting that that’s fine but so quickly when we start getting involved in politics it consumes us and we’re not able to proclaim the gospel we end up compromising just as you said rich because if you’re going to succeed in politics well you need to do these certain things but a Christian can’t do those things so yeah getting involved in politics is over the involved in politics is a way to toy with what is unprofitable and sinful yeah yeah the materialism taking on a number of things gaining a lot of wealth gathering up a lot of treasures for yourself you are prone I am prone to the same temptation of Solomon you say oh I don’t feel like this is going to draw me away but as one writer said well there’s a gravity to wealth the more you accumulate the more it kind of pulls you and you start thinking about it you start being concerned about it you want to keep it you want to acquire more of it that’s why it’s good for us as Christians to make sure that we’re freely divesting our wealth for God’s kingdom God does give wealth but not so we can hoard it or so we can indulge ourselves it’s so that we can use it as good stewards so yeah materialism is another one we’re running short on time so I’ll just mention a few others this is good for us to keep thinking about though objectionable content movies especially sexuality and nudity say oh that’s not going to affect me it’s like what a god say don’t even expose yourself to it certain jobs that it’s long line of politics certain jobs where we’re going to be tempted in particular to dishonor God or to lie dating relationships with unbelievers oh you know I just want to be a witness to this person but you end up getting more and more entangled and then you say well maybe it is okay if I get married to that person same thing with ungodly company saying oh these hang out with these friends who who don’t don’t love the Lord that’s not really going to affect me objects or activities that we know will consume us if we start to get involved with them and more things and we’ve got some more application questions we don’t have time to really go through them there there’s a good parallel between the consequences of rainbooms actions for all of Israel for the centuries later and the consequences we experience from Adam you’re saying that’s not fair he did something and I suffer the consequences of it that’s just life it’s not about fairness or unfairness just about what is we benefit from some things that people who came before us and we also suffer for some of the things that people came before us that’s just the way it is but in Christ we can have a great great benefit there’s a there’s a point here to be made about not trusting in governments we always look to a new leader oh he’s gonna fix things so he’s gonna fix things he’s going to make everything better no every leader fails the Old Testament just a series of failures by nations by leaders even good leaders they they never come through all the way but Jesus will and we can look forward to his kingdom and his vindication because he will come through all the way for his people I gave her the questions or comments see me afterwards next week we’re talking about Jonah yep it’s already that time that’s right father this is a sobering word god it’s so difficult we know father because things in the world can be so pleasant and yet you warn us you say if you get involved with that it will be a snare to you God your way is better we know that your word is true you don’t lie about anything so whatever it takes god whatever snares that need to be removed whatever practices whatever ideas need to be given up so we can keep ourselves away from sin what we will do it help us to do it by ear forgive us for our sins for where we have flirted with so many unprofitable sinful and foolish things let us take to heart Solomon’s cautionary tale a man who could speak wisdom and yet not even follow with himself what I pray that you bless the rest of the service today in Jesus name Amen you