1 Kings chapter 11 reminds me of how often people live their
lives as if there is no God, and then they blame God when their life
becomes a mess. God gave us free will to choose to honor Him, but
that does not mean the laws of the universe no longer apply to us.
Deuteronomy 17 provided God’s commandments for the future King of
Israel: “But
he shall not multiply horses for himself… Neither shall he multiply
wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly
multiply silver and gold for himself… he shall write for himself a
copy of this law in a book… And it shall be with him, and he shall
read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord
his God“.
Why did Solomon choose to ignore this? Like most of us, he mistook
God’s patience for acceptance. Like any loving father, God desires
for us to avoid the pitfalls of life, but he will not force us to
honor Him.
The
chapter begins, “King
Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s
daughter… They were from nations about which the Lord had told the
Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will
surely turn your hearts after their gods’.”
In fact we read, “He
had seven hundred wives… and three hundred concubines, and his
wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his
heart after other gods… So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the
Lord”. Solomon
even built
temples for each of the false gods.
“The
Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from
the Lord, the God of Israel“.
And God kept His promise, “I
will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one
of your subordinates“.
Even
in this God is merciful, He promised to allow Solomon’s son to keep
control of one of the twelve tribes
“for
the sake of David my servant“.
Don’t miss that point. God extended mercy to David’s heirs
because of David’s submission. And we are given forgiveness
because of the submission of Christ.
The
chapter ends with the explanation of the split kingdom. “Then
the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary… Jeroboam was a man
of standing… in charge of the whole labor force of the house of
Joseph“.
Like Rocky Balboa, Jeroboam was plucked from obscurity and given a
shot at the title. God promised him through the prophet, “I
will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires;
you will be king over Israel“.
God even gave him the same promise He gave to Solomon, “If
you do whatever I command you and walk in My ways and do what is
right in My eyes by keeping My statutes and commands, as David My
servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as
enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you“.
The prophecy ends with a promise of hope for all of mankind, “I
will humble David’s descendants because of this, but not forever“.
The Messiah would come through the line of David. Are you reaping
the consequences of ignoring God’s Word? Galatians 3:13 says,
“Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for
us“.
My friend, our God is a God of second chances; it is never too late
to fully receive God’s promise. “He
who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ“.
(Philippians 1:6).