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January 14 - 1 Kings 11 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, It's Sean. Here it is Tuesday.
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  It's the 14th of January and it's great to have your company.
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  Hope you're going well. I hope that this early time of
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  the year is still full of freshness and opportunity and
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  optimism as the year starts to unfold itself ahead of you.
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  And today we have this continuing story unfolding
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  itself ahead of us in First Kings.
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  Ah, yesterday's reading was a glorious 1.
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  So wonderful was that Kingdom. And of course nothing like that
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  lasts. Because this book is not about
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  the splendour of the kings. This book is about the failure
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  of the kings. And so we've had this incredible
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  beginning where Solomon has done such great work, and now,
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  unfortunately, it all comes crashing down as Solomon gets
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  trapped and goes the wrong way, turns his back on the God who
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  has blessed him beyond belief. Ah, dear.
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  And so thus begins the downfall of the kings of Israel.
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  That sounds very Tolkienesque, doesn't it?
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  And this is going to be a theme that will continue for the rest
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  of the Book of Kings as we hear about just how much these kings
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  try and fail to live up to the kingship that God had intended
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  for his people. And in fact, the kingship that
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  God still offers us today. Not just our Saviour, not just
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  our friend, not just our God, but he is our King as well.
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  So let us continue with this story to hear the juxtaposition
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  between the way God would rule and the way people rule as we
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  continue reading the story in First Kings Chapter 11.
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  Now King Solomon loved many foreign women.
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  Besides Pharaoh's daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon,
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  Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites.
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  The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel You must
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  not marry them because they will turn your heart to their gods.
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  Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway.
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  He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines, and in fact,
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  they did turn his heart away from the Lord.
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  In Solomon's old age, they turned his heart to worship
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  other gods. Instead of being completely
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  faithful to the Lord his God, as his father David had been,
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  Solomon worshipped Ashtereth, the goddess of the Sedonians,
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  and Molech, the detestable God of the Ammonites.
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  In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord's sight.
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  He refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father David
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  had done on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem.
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  He even built a Pagan shrine for Kimosh, the detestable God of
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  Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable God of the
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  Ammonites. Solomon built such shrines for
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  all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing
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  to their gods. The Lord was very angry with
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  Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the
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  God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
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  He had warned Solomon specifically about worshipping
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  other gods. But Solomon did not listen to
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  the Lord's command. So now the Lord said to him,
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  Since you have not kept my command and have disobeyed my
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  decrees, I will surely tear the Kingdom away from you and give
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  it to one of your servants. But for the sake of your father
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  David, I will not do this while you are still alive.
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  I will take the Kingdom away from your son, and Even so, I
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  will not take away the entire Kingdom.
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  I will let him be king of one tribe for the sake of my servant
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  David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.
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  Then the Lord raised up Hedad the Edomite, a member of Edom's
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  royal family, to be Solomon's adversary.
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  Years before David had defeated Edom, Joab, his army commander,
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  had stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who had died
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  in battle. While there they killed every
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  male in Edom Joab and the army of Israel had stayed there for
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  six months, killing them. But Hedad and a few of his
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  father's royal officials escaped and headed for Egypt.
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  Hedad was just a boy at the time.
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  They set out for Midian and went to Prahran, where others joined
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  them. Then they travelled to Egypt and
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  went to Pharaoh, who gave them home, food and some land.
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  Pharaoh grew very fond of Hedad, and he gave him his wife's
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  sister in marriage, the sister of Queen Tapanese.
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  She bore him a son named Genobath.
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  Tapanese raised him in Pharaoh's palace among Pharaoh's own sons.
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  When the news reached Haddad in Egypt that David and his
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  commander Joab were both dead, he said to Pharaoh, Let me
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  return to my own country. Why?
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  Pharaoh asked him. What do you lack here that makes
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  you want to go home? Nothing, he replied.
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  But Even so, please let me return home.
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  God also raised up Rizon, son of Eliada, as Solomon's adversary.
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  Rizon had fled from his master, King Hadadisa of Joba, and had
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  become the leader of a gang of rebels.
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  After David conquered Hadadisa, Rizon and his Med fled to
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  Damascus, where he became king. Rezon was Israel's bitter
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  adversary for the rest of Solomon's reign, and he made
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  trouble just as Hedad did. Rezon hated Israel intensely and
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  continued to reign in Iran. Another rebel leader was
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  Jeroboam, son of Nebat, one of Solomon's own officials.
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  He came from the town of Zeradah in Ephraim, and his mother was
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  Zerua, a widow. This is the story behind his
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  rebellion. Solomon was rebuilding the
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  supporting terraces and repairing the walls of the city
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  of his father David. Jeroboam was a very capable
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  young man, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put
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  him in charge of the labour force from the tribes of Ephraim
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  and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph.
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  One day, as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah
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  from Shiloh met him along the way.
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  Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a
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  field, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and
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  tore it into 12 pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, take
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  ten of these pieces, for this is what the Lord the God of Israel
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  says. I am about to tear the Kingdom
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  from the hand of Solomon, and I will give 10 of the tribes to
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  you. But I will leave him one tribe,
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  for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of
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  Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.
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  For Solomon has abandoned me and worshipped Ashtereth the goddess
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  of the Sedonians, Kermosch the God of Moab, and Morlech, the
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  God of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and
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  done what is pleasing in my sight.
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  He has not obeyed my decrees and regulations as David his father
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  did. But I will not take the entire
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  Kingdom from Solomon at this time, for the sake of my servant
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  David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and
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  decrees. I will keep Solomon as leader
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  for the rest of his life. But I will take the Kingdom away
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  from his son and give 10 of the tribes to you.
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  His son will have one tribe, so that the descendants of David,
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  my servant, will continue to reign, shining like a lamp in
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  Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my
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  name. And I will place you on the
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  throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart
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  desires. If you listen to what I tell you
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  and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right,
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  and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David
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  did, then I will always be with you.
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  I will establish an enduring dynasty for you, as I did for
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  David, and I will give Israel to you.
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  Because of Solomon's sin, I will punish the descendants of David,
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  though not forever. Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam,
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  but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until
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  Solomon died. The rest of the events of
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  Solomon's reign, including all his deeds and his wisdom, are
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  recorded in the Book of the Acts of Solomon.
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  Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years.
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  When he died, he was buried in the city of David, named for his
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  father. Then his son Rehoboam became the
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  next king, our Lord. We hear in this chapter just how
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  much you desire our worship of you and you alone, our Lord,
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  Whatever it is that would steal our hearts from you.
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  Whatever it is that would draw our attention and our worship
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  away from you, Lord, humble those things.
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  Take away their plinth, take away their footholds so that
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  only you remain in our hearts as Lord of all.
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  Lord, whatever those things seem that tantalise us, that make us
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  chase them instead of You, Lord, we put them down and pray that
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  You alone be Lord of our hearts. We are stubborn people Lord, and
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  other things rise up again and again and seems so important to
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  our human minds and hearts. But we pray that you alone would
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  be Lord of our hearts and Lord of our lives.
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  So we recommit ourselves to you today and we place your
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  priorities above all else. Ah, because we love you, and we
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  worship you because you are the King of all and the Lord of us.
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  Ah, we lift you up, and we praise you, and we pray all of
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  these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.