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Solomon: Wisdom Isn’t Enough · Wetumpka Church of Christ Online

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All right, guys, well, we'll keep going with our look at
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biblical kings in life lessons that we get from them.
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Now today we're going to be looking at Solomon.
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And so if you want to open up the first kings, we'll be, we'll
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be there a lot kind of skipping around through the 1st 11
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chapters or so. But we so we're going to be
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looking at this guy, lessons from his from his life.
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But while there are many things that we could learn that are
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good, we're going to use his life as a cautionary tale.
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So look at Solomon here and you know, we know the story about
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Solomon's wisdom and there's actually if you go back into the
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very end of second Samuel, David actually makes a reference to
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Solomon's wisdom even then. So he's so he's clearly a sharp
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guy and and then later on is asks for a special measure of
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wisdom because even though he's an adult and even though he's a
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wise person already, already a sharp guy, he wants more.
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And that's a very commendable thing.
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And wisdom, I think is if I don't know YouTube is any
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indicator wisdom is in very short supply today.
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So or just social media in general, right.
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I mean, you know, the book of Proverbs could go to town on
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comment sections on Facebook, you know, but but that's, but
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you know, that's, that's kind of that's kind of where we are.
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But in looking at Solomon, So we've got a guy who's extremely
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wise. The only problem is he he is
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someone whose faithfulness sort of falters at the end.
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And So what he's going to do is, is, is really sort of come up
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short at the end of his life. And what it tells us is you can
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be an incredibly intelligent person, you can be amazingly
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wise, but you actually have to use it.
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You have to put it into practice or else it doesn't do you any
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good. And and with Solomon, we're
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going to see some things that that are are concerning, but are
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things that any one of us can get can get kind of trapped in
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into right. So, so we'll look at this guy
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very quickly. And so we want to start out with
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Proverbs 910. And that is the fear of the Lord
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is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy one is
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insight. And we're going to use that as
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our kind of our theme for our class today.
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Now, when we look at first and Second Samuel and 1st Kings
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especially, we're going to see there's a lot of emphasis on
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people who are wise and people who are foolish, right?
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So one of the examples I used last week was Abigail.
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And she is one of the clearest examples of wisdom in action
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when you look at her stopping David from going on this rampage
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and just murdering hundreds of people because he was insulted.
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Now, I do want to say that insults in the ancient world
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were very, very serious things, maybe more than some of us
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would, you know, would, would, would be affected by.
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But still, this is an overreaction.
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And Abigail keeps David from from doing this.
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And, you know, she, she's humble, she's tactful, she's
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careful. She prevents David from, you
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know, making himself out to be a monster, right.
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David, in that story at least, is the example of foolishness.
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And Nabal, right, whose name means fool.
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And so he is so, so the two guys.
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And this is unusual. This is, again, I think it's
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kind of an unusual thing because the Bible really praises, we'll
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look at some other examples, praises the wisdom of women
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especially, and sometimes highlights the foolishness of
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men. I don't think you would go
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outside the Bible and find very much of that in the ancient
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world where stories were always about men story, you know, and,
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and, and sort of a misogynistic culture.
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And the Bible really sort of gives us the other side of that.
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The example of Jesus gives us the same thing, right?
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Because if you look at how Jesus interacts with men, he's often
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really tough on guys. And for women, he's often very
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cordial, very congenial, very tender with them.
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So you know, John 3 and John 4, you've got Nicodemus, and this
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is the guy that you would want to get in good with, right?
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This is the guy who is one of the religious elite.
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He's one of the leaders. You think Jesus would like, like
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want to kind of cozy up to him a little bit if he wanted to have
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more influence. He's hard on all Nicodemus,
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right? You're a teacher in Israel.
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You don't know these things, right?
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And the very next chapter you've got the Samaritan woman and she
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is a, a, a woman who seems by all indications to be someone
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who is not considered a moral example of excellence.
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And Jesus never comes out and just gives her both barrels,
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right? Never rebukes her, just kind of
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gently leads her into like, like this submission and then sends
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her out. And she almost like becomes the
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first missionary for Jesus in the Gospel of John.
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So, so you have the same thing with Jesus, right?
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And so similar things in the Old Testament with with wisdom,
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you've got second Samuel 14, a wise woman of Toccoa who helps
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to reconcile David and Absalom. And then you've got the wise
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woman of avail bait Makkah in second Samuel 20 say that three
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times fast and her wisdom helps to helps to preserve a city.
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So you've got these three examples in the books of Samuel
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of very wise women who, you know, help to spare a group of
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people who help to kind of put the Kingdom back together for a
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little bit for a short time and who help preserve a city, right?
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So great examples of wisdom. Then you've got the examples of
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foolishness and Saul repeatedly, right?
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That's that's almost like doesn't need to be explained.
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Nabal, obviously we've talked about David sometimes, Bathsheba
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one example. Nabal and his guys is the other
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example. Amnon, Amnon, David's son, who
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listens to bad advice and then has his way with Tamar in Second
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Samuel 13, which is incredibly dumb and leads to violence in
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the family. Absalom you've got pride,
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ambition, right? And that is one of the other key
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examples because of that in that, in that story, you've got
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you've got Ahithophel, who is best Shiva's grandfather.
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OK. If you if you go through there's
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there's a few verses you have to kind of put a piece together.
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It's her grandfather, all right. And you've got he decides to
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side with Absalom. He's the wisest counselor.
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They you know, it's it's reputed that when you hear him speak,
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it's like hearing the oracles of God.
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This is a guy who's so wise. I mean, I mean, if you don't
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have the Lord, it's like this is like like neck and neck like
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photo finish second best place. And he sides with Absalom and
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you and of course, people always well, why is that?
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Maybe they have some kind of grudge against He had a grudge
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against David. He had a grudge against David
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because of his granddaughter, right?
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And so so he sides with David. David put the plants a guy, his
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his friendly guy who shy there and when ABS someone's like, OK,
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so I just ran dad out of town. What am I going to do now?
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As the Phil says, you let me go take care of this, which is why
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he says let me go take care of it, right.
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He's got a grudge match that he wants to settle against David
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and he's going to go take a a contingent of troops.
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He's going to go run David down. He's going to he's going to take
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care of business because David humiliated his family.
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Right now you have now that the text doesn't explicitly say that
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you have to kind of read that in, but that's that's probably
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the explanation why, right? And then Hoshi comes along.
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He says, hey, you know, NFL's advice.
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Usually it is awesome, except in this time.
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This time you just do this Absalom, He says you go get your
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troops. You overwhelm him, overwhelm him
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like you know, the, the, the sea and you're going to come back.
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And he, he, he almost like he paints this picture for Absalom
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where Absalom is. He's in his chariot, right?
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He's, he's got his guys running in front of him like usual.
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He's got all his army behind him.
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Got his dad in tow as a prisoner of war.
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Got his hair blowing in the wind, right?
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Pantene commercial moment and right.
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And and so you get he, he gets absent to think about what it's
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going to look like when I'm victorious.
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And you got him right? He made him do the foolish thing
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by playing on his pride. And that's exactly how, how
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that, that that and that's the end, right?
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And if you remember the story, Hethefeld goes and puts his
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house in order and hangs himself.
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That is a guy who is sure of his opinion.
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He knows what's going to happen, right?
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So which is interesting because that his track record is is is
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perfect in that moment because he knows Dave is going to win,
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right? All right, So you got these
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guys. And then Rhea Boehm we'll talk
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about next week. But but also pride, right?
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Pride there as well. So you've got these you've got
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these examples of of wisdom and foolishness and wisdom.
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It's it's great, right? It leads to good things.
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Foolishness obviously leads to catastrophe and ruin.
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Now what we're going to see is with is with Solomon is he's
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going to go and ask for more wisdom.
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And so you know, David in in first kings two final
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instructions to to Solomon before he dies.
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And then in chapter 3, you've got this prayer for wisdom.
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All right. And so it says chapter 3, verse
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3. Solomon loved the Lord walking
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in the statutes of David, his father.
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Except and here's the you know, here's the here's the big but
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right, but he only only he sacrificed the made offerings at
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the high places. King went to Gibeon to sacrifice
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there for that was the great high place.
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OK, so high place is not good in biblical biblical stories.
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This is you know, where where, you know, Pagan stuff takes
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place and we get some things right out of the gate that are
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worrying to us. OK, so first, so I I skipped
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over the first couple of verses here, but says Solomon made a
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marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
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He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of
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David until he had finished building his own house and the
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House of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.
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People were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no
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house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
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OK, so this is a cause for concern for us because one of
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the things Egypt is not supposed to do is go back to Egypt, OK,
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Physically, literally, like don't, don't go back and travel
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back there and live there, right?
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But for some reason, Solomon's very friendly with Egypt.
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And this is going to be something that that that I'm
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going to kind of, you know, talk about and, and, and pull
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together at the ends of our class.
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But he's very friendly with Egypt.
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So he's got a marriage alliance. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, took
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Pharaoh's daughter, brought her into the city of David.
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OK, so she is his first. If I'm not mistaken, the first
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wife that's mentioned is an Egyptian Princess.
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She's also mentioned more often than any other wife that Solomon
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has, of whom there are hundreds, right?
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And so right out of the gate, we've got some got some issues,
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but there's also some other things we're going to see with
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Solomon's life that he does that are going to be be issues.
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OK, Now before I get there though, we'll mention in in in
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first Kings three, we've got the prayer for wisdom.
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And so he goes and kind of waits for this, this vision or this
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dream. So he goes to Gibeon.
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Verse 5 Second Kings 3 The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream
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by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give you.
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Solomon says, You have shown great and steadfast love to your
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servant David, my father, because he walked before you in
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faithfulness, in righteousness, and an uprightness of heart
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toward you. You've kept for him this great
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and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on this
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throne this day. Now, Oh Lord my God, you have
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made your servant king and place of my father, Although I'm but a
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little child, He's a grown man at this point.
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This is just a way of saying this.
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This is what some people. So so Jeremiah does this other
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people do this where they say, you know, I'm, I'm just, I'm
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just like, you know, just a youngster.
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I don't know anything. I, I can't do anything.
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And, and, and that, and that would be a way that that they
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would sort of say, you know, please help you help me.
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So it says I'm just a little child that don't know how to go
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out or come in. I mean, he's I mean, he's a
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king. Of course he knows how to do
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this stuff right now. But this is him just saying I
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want more help. I want more wisdom to be able to
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govern this people appropriately.
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OK. And then he says, your servant
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is in the midst of your people, whom you've chosen a great
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people, too many to be a numbered or counted for
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multitude. Give your servant therefore an
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understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern
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between good and evil. For who is this?
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For who is able to govern this? Your great people?
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And then the author says it please the Lord that Solomon had
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asked this. OK, so Solomon gets a measure of
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wisdom. He also gets some other things
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here that are, that are divinely appointed.
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And then right out of the gate, there's a test.
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There's a test of Solomon's wisdom.
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OK first Kings 316 to 28. And here what we have is the
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story of the two women who have children, right?
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And you and you guys know the story.
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One of them, unfortunately, the child dies in the night.
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She swaps out her baby with the other one and, and they take the
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case to Solomon to to rule on this, on this issue right now,
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we're used to being in a, you know, police procedural CSI kind
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of culture where we're used to evidence and all that kind of
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thing, fingerprints, DNA, you know, all kinds of analysis to
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figure out who did a crime. But go back to, you know, 1000
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BC and who's going to figure this out, right?
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All you've got are the word is the word of this one woman that
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says she took my baby, right? And and you know, the baby, I
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don't know, I don't know if it looked enough like her to to be
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able to say it's hers, you know, or what.
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But this, this is a mystery, right?
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Who in the world is going to be able to figure this out?
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And so Solomon comes along and he says he he uses the
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character, use the character of the woman to determine who the
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real mother is, right. And so he says, let's see, bring
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me a sword. So a sword is brought.
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King says, divide the living child in two and give half to
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the one and half to the other. OK, So you guys know what's
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going to happen, right? The the mother who has already
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lost her child. Oh, this one doesn't matter to
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her. She doesn't care.
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OK. The other one though, man, you
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know, she she would rather see another woman raise her child
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than see her child killed, Right.
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And so by looking at this one thing, Solomon says this is the
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mother. I have found this out, right?
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Sherlock Holmes moment. And everyone marvels, oh, how
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did Solomon do this? This is so brilliant, so, so, so
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genius, right? And yeah, it was no evidence, no
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eyewitnesses, nothing, nothing to be able to go except the
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response of the two women who to this, to this trial.
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Yeah, this is brilliant. This is genius, right?
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And so his wisdom is tested almost immediately.
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And I think this story gives us one thing that shows us that
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Solomon is even wiser than his father.
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OK. So if you remember, when David
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is king, he sends out a message to say, are there any relatives
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of Jonathan left that I can that, that, that, that basically
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I can fulfill my terms of my covenant with Jonathan and be
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good to, to his descendants because of the covenant we made
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with each other. And so they find the guy
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Mephibosheth, right? So Mephibosheth.
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And if you remember, he was lame in his feet and he comes forward
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to David. He's he's all kind of unkempt
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and unwashed and old Mephibosheth probably thought
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this was the end of the road for him because in the ancient
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world, you would kill the all your competitors, right?
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Even families. Look at Gideon's son, ABI Melek.
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What does he do? He murders all except for like I
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think one that escapes, he murders all of his brothers.
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When you see that Absalom, David's son Absalom murders
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Amnon, the the first report is he killed all David's sons, he
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killed everybody. And then they find out no, no,
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no, no, it was just, it was just Amnon, right?
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But that's that's that wouldn't be out of out of the ordinary.
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I mean, you would kill off the the rival family to somebody who
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had a legitimate claim on the throne that you wanted, right?
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And so and so the idea that David would pull this guy in and
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say Mephibosheth, you know? Bad news, It's it's the end of
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the line for you. Good news, you can go get to
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make meet your maker, right? And so he's like, you know, what
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are you going to do with such a dead dog as I?
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And David says, no, no, you're, you're going to eat at my table
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for the rest of your life. And it's shocking, shock,
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stunning that David would do this, right?
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Well, a little bit later, Mephibosheth's servant, Zeba,
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comes along and says that Mephibosheth has betrayed David.
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You know, when Absalom kind of creates the civil war, says
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Absalom, he's gone with Absalom and he kind of sells him out.
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And so David takes all of Mephibosheth's stuff, his family
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stuff, and gives it all to Zeba the the servant.
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And then finally it comes out that Mephibosheth really didn't
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do this. He was framed.
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He was, he was unjustly accused. And then David halves it all and
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gives half of it to Zeba. So he didn't.
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So he got half the stuff still and Zeba got half his stuff
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taken away from him, right. So you, so you've got, you've
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got all the stuff that belonged to Saul's family and Jonathan's
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family and it's split and Mephibosheth only gets half and
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Zeba gets half. It's kind of like the two ladies
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with the with the children, right?
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You've got these two ladies. Hey, I, I got this child.
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I say it's mine. She says it's hers.
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You figure it out. And Solomon actually figures out
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who the real owner, who the real parent is.
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And so in that sense, he actually proves himself more
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wiser than David because David had a similar situation and just
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said, you know, we, I can't really tell.
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I don't really know who's telling the truth.
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I'll just split it. And each one of you take half,
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right? Solomon doesn't do that.
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He finds out who the real parent is, who the real owner is.
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And so Solomon, incredibly wise, right?
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Brilliant guy. No, no doubt about that.
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The only problem is what we've got with Solomon is right at the
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very beginning, we've got some some stuff that makes us sound,
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makes it sound like he's maybe not as faithful as David was.
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I mean, remember David, David was the guy who had Saul in hand
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in a cave and could have killed him and refused to do it.
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This is, this is God's anointed, right?
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This is, this is God's man. I can't do anything about that.
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Even. Even even though his guys are
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like, oh, man, yeah, God, God did this.
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They even try to pray. Give him a religious
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justification for doing this. Oh, God brought him in here.
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Yeah. This is the will of the Lord,
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man. He's in here by himself.
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We're all here. You're here.
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All his guards are outside. You can take him out.
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And David still refuses. Even these people, even though
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you've got people trying to justify what David considers to
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be a sinful response, right? So David, David's faithful,
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Solomon, not as much, right? Solomon, not as much.
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So when we look at him, we've got several things where you've
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got God's commands. And this is this is going back
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into the book of Deuteronomy, but you've got God's commands.
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And then what Solomon has and one is do not multiply horses.
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That just means don't build up your military.
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Horses were an important part made-up your chariot corps,
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right. So basically don't increase your
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military is is a way of is a way of putting that not just you
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know, hey, we got something against horses like we don't
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like them. No, that no for military use,
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right. And so Solomon builds a large
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military and ports again, goes back to Egypt.
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What is this thing with Egypt, right?
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People aren't supposed to go back to Egypt.
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Egypt was the land of bondage, the land of slavery.
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This was where God's people were oppressed.
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And Solomon is going back there all the time, right?
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So that that worries us when we read this story.
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Don't return to Egypt. He makes a marriage alliance
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with them. Don't multiply wives.
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He's got boatloads of women. Don't multiply golden wealth.
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Solomon has enormous riches. Now, God does give him some of
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this, right? There's no doubt but the, the
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luxury of Solomon's empire, little mini empire, right?
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It, it, it is, it is a cause for concern.
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We'll talk about that actually next week when we talk about
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when we talk about Rehoboam, because there's actually
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evidence of Solomon's wealth in the archaeological record.
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So we'll, it's, it's kind of it's kind of a fun little side
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thing that I'll, I'll mention next week, but it's but it's
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there. All right.
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Now, one of the things we're going to see that is it again,
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something that kind of worries. Now, Solomon, his wisdom is, is
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beyond compare, right? No parallel.
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He is peerless when it comes to his brilliance, his wisdom man,
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but you got to use it. You have to use it right.
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And so one of the things that he does that again, another another
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thing that concerns us is how long he takes to build the
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temple and how long he takes to build the palace.
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OK, so first king six in the fourth year, the foundation of
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the House of the Lord was laid. And the 11th year the house was
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finished throughout all its parts.
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He was seven years in building it.
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OK, Seven years is pretty good amount of time.
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I mean, they were really moving it if that was the case.
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First King 7 though, Solomon was building his own house 13 years
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and he finished his entire house.
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So if you look at Solomon's house, it's probably pretty
26:14
close to where the temple was in the 1st century.
26:18
Like in Jesus time, Solomon's house is probably a little bit
26:21
farther South of there seems to be really, really close to where
26:25
the temple was. But Solomon has like this hall
26:28
of cedar. It's just like this gigantic
26:32
hall filled with with cedar trees or, or, or pillars made
26:35
out of cedar trees. It is just extravagant.
26:40
And so again, we have a a real question here.
26:45
He takes, it seems almost twice as long to put all the finishing
26:49
touches on his palace then he does to put on the House of God.
26:55
OK. So again, you know, not not
26:58
trying to not trying to, you know, really give, you know,
27:01
trying to, you know, give Solomon both barrels here.
27:03
But but there are because he did do some good things, but there
27:07
are things that worry us because he's not seen.
27:09
He doesn't seem to be using his wisdom to its full extent.
27:12
All right. Now, there are a couple of other
27:17
things that we want to mention. And this is on the this is on
27:20
the part of the biblical writer. OK, So it talks about him loving
27:26
his wives uses the same word. Ahaab is just the Hebrew word
27:29
for love. He loves his wives the same way
27:34
he loves the Lord. Other relationships seem to be
27:39
competing with God for first place in Solomon's heart.
27:45
OK, and, and relationships can be an idol, right?
27:50
They, they, they, they can be a source of spiritual distraction
27:56
for us. He clings to his wives and verse
28:02
Chapter 11, verse 2 in the same manner that the believer is
28:06
supposed to cling to God according to the book of
28:09
Deuteronomy. So his heart is divided again,
28:14
human relation. It's not just the wealth that's
28:17
that's kind of kind of gotten a hold of him.
28:20
It's also human relationships. He's he's elevating those to a
28:24
place of of of priority in his life.
28:30
All right, now not only that, but we have a couple of things
28:34
here that are going to where where you see Solomon really,
28:40
really start going downhill is toward the end where in verse
28:46
Chapter 11 it talks about him going after false gods.
28:51
So it says Solomon went after the Ashtereth went after
28:55
Ashtereth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milkham,
28:58
the abomination of the Ammonites.
29:01
And Solomon built a high place for Kimosh, the abomination of
29:04
Moab. That's the that was the main
29:06
chief God of the country of Moab.
29:09
And for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, that seems to
29:13
be the chief God of the Ammonites.
29:15
OK, so the Moabites and Ammonites, they didn't worship
29:20
only one God, but they worship one God primarily.
29:22
And Solomon is goes after those the, the, the, the, the, the big
29:26
boys of, of Moabite and Ammonite religion.
29:30
It says the Lord is angry with Solomon because it's hard.
29:34
It turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel.
29:36
All right, so I'll show you a picture of these two guys.
29:39
This is ash this well, this is Ashura and Melek or Molek.
29:46
So that's what they that's what they look like.
29:48
There's a couple of statues, but I want to I want to do something
29:53
else and kind of show you something that is the biblical
29:59
writers viewpoint. OK, so, so I'm going to go back
30:04
and look at Ashtaroth and Molech.
30:08
OK, those, those two names, those were not their names.
30:12
OK, Those are the names the biblical writer gives them.
30:15
Those were not their actual names.
30:18
Now the reason why they look this way is because the biblical
30:24
writers is, is giving us a judgment on these gods.
30:27
OK, So what their real names were were Astarte or Ashtart and
30:35
either Melek or Milkham. OK, so in the original Hebrew
30:42
there are no vowels. No vowels in Hebrew.
30:45
OK, it's only the consonants, which does get a little
30:49
confusing, but a lot of languages were like that in the
30:52
ancient world. What's really funny about the
30:54
Hebrew scribes is when they came along and put in vowels into the
31:01
text so that people wouldn't lose the, the proper
31:04
pronunciation of things. Because things do do change over
31:08
time, right? You look at British English and
31:09
American English and how we, we pronounce some things very
31:13
differently, right? And say here we say
31:15
advertisement there we say advertisement, right?
31:19
Or, you know, you know little, you know, little things like
31:21
that where you spell, you know, British words, they spell OU
31:24
like color with an OU or honor or something like that.
31:27
We don't do that. And so, you know, those, those
31:30
little changes do take place over time.
31:33
And the Hebrew scribes, this is after the time of Jesus.
31:37
They, they didn't want that to happen.
31:39
And so they wanted to preserve the real, the authentic, the,
31:43
the, the traditional pronunciations of things.
31:47
But they did play some games. OK, so one of the things that
31:53
they did was they took the names of these gods.
31:58
And this is very funny. This would not work in English.
32:01
This doesn't work in English. It only works in Hebrew.
32:05
And that is, they would take the words from the the vows from
32:09
another word and put them into the word that was in the text.
32:15
All right. And by doing that, they were
32:17
usually saying something about it.
32:20
So the word bosheth in Hebrew means shame.
32:24
It means shame. So what they did was they took
32:26
the consonants for the word Astarte, and they put the vowels
32:32
for the word bosheth or shame in it.
32:35
And that's where you get Asteroth, all right.
32:40
And for Melech or Milkham, they took the, they took the
32:44
consonants and it took the valves from bolshit, they put it
32:47
into that. And that's where you get Molech.
32:50
All right, So what? So, and, and this is, this is
32:54
very peculiar because it really, it really only works in a
32:58
culture that is mostly audible, right?
33:01
So, so, so if you were, so if we were priests, Hebrew priests in
33:05
the ancient world, we would already know the stories, right?
33:08
You already know the consonants. And so you already know that,
33:12
you already know what it says, Hey, you already know the text.
33:16
But these little vowels that they put in tell you something
33:18
different. It's a, it's a judgement or it's
33:20
a, we would say maybe like a footnote or something like that.
33:25
And So what they're saying is these are gods of shame.
33:28
OK, so Ashtaroth and Molech instead of Ashtarah and Melech
33:34
or Milkham. And so there was something very
33:38
similar that was done, that totally different motivation,
33:41
but something very similar done for the Word Jehovah.
33:44
So Yahweh has the vowels for Adonai, and that's where you get
33:48
Jehovah, OK? Jehovah is actually not a
33:51
biblical name for God. That was something that was
33:53
created by English translators. But it's the same process as
33:57
this, OK? So you take the consonants and
33:59
you put the vowels for something else in there to indicate what
34:03
you say when you're reading it. This is a God of shame, OK?
34:06
These are shameful things that Solomon is doing and following
34:11
after. OK, Now, in looking at Solomon
34:19
here, there's one last parallel I want to make, and that is how
34:25
much he looks like Saul. All right.
34:31
Yes, ma'am. So ordinary people understood
34:46
what was going on. Yeah.
34:47
Oh, yeah. They they understood that these
34:49
that these were things that were abominations.
34:52
Yeah. It is it it.
35:00
Yeah. You have to do a deep dive into
35:02
some of this. But what it's saying is these
35:07
these gods that people just took for granted.
35:13
There's a lot more underneath the surface there.
35:16
And I think for, for just the like the average person, there's
35:20
a lot of things that our culture that they don't seem that bad,
35:24
they don't seem overly evil or really spiritually dangerous.
35:32
You don't know, it depends on where that thing goes, man.
35:36
So, you know, idols, idols never start out as something
35:40
dangerous. They usually start out as
35:43
something good and they usually start out as something that you
35:45
want, but it's going to take you somewhere you don't want to go,
35:50
right? And so I think that for a lot of
35:51
these things, people would have just said, Oh yeah, you, you got
35:53
Yahweh and you got, you got Asheron, you got Milcom, you got
35:58
all this stuff, right? Just like the, the sailors on
36:00
Jonah's ship, right? They're like, hey, we got this
36:02
guy, we'll sacrifice to him to see if the storm stops and
36:05
we'll, we'll do this thing and this other thing.
36:08
Well, none of that's going to work, right?
36:09
And so for the average person, they would have said, well, you
36:13
know, it's not so bad to try this one or that one or the
36:15
other thing because that sometimes happens in cultures
36:17
where Christianity goes and doesn't really take root all the
36:22
way. So, you know, you could go to,
36:26
to some cultures where maybe this, it's a very primitive
36:30
tribal religions. They have like beliefs and
36:32
spirits and you know, or some kind of magic and that kind of
36:35
thing. And you go and you evangelize.
36:37
You say, no, no, no, this stuff doesn't work.
36:39
There's no such thing as magic. There's no such thing as these
36:41
spirits. This is not a, this is not real.
36:47
And you can say, no, the real thing is Jesus, right?
36:50
The real, the Bible's telling us the story, their true story of,
36:52
of reality. And what happens when a couple
36:57
has trouble conceiving? And they say, well, you know,
37:00
we're praying to this God that you say that we're supposed to
37:02
be praying to the the one God who's supposed to be in control
37:05
of everything. And we keep praying to this God.
37:07
We don't get an answer. Well, is it so bad?
37:11
Maybe if we go back to the voodoo shaman over here and get
37:14
some him to do some kind of magical fertility ritual for us.
37:17
Is it really that bad? Yes, it is.
37:20
It is. It really is.
37:22
And so and so for people who might have been tempted to say,
37:27
hey, are are these things really all that bad?
37:30
Yeah, they are. Yeah.
37:32
The Hebrew writers are really trying to tell us that these
37:33
things are awful. They're shameful.
37:35
Everybody has their own. Yeah, I mean and, and there and
37:50
there is today you got, you have the idea of opinion has become
37:54
truth, right. So my opinion is this, but I'm
37:56
going to call it truth because it's really my preference.
38:00
It's really what I want. Well, we're very self-centered
38:04
and my opinion becoming my truth is kind of a predictable thing,
38:10
right? Because you have to really look
38:11
outside yourself and be willing to be wrong about something to
38:15
say, you know, this is the truth and it's the truth whether or
38:18
not it agrees with me. If it if it doesn't agree with
38:20
me, then I'm wrong, right? And so, I mean, correct.
38:24
So, but, but yeah, but that, that's a predictable thing.
38:29
So. OK, one, one more thing, one
38:34
more thing that I'll mention here and then and then we'll get
38:37
to some, hopefully some, some good application points for us.
38:41
Solomon and Saul, all right, so both violate God's commands.
38:49
OK, Saul literally disobeying the word of God.
38:53
Solomon actually going and not only worshipping other gods, but
38:57
creating shrines and and holy place religious places for his
39:03
wives to do it and then him joining in with them to do that.
39:07
Both of them employ someone who's going to replace them
39:11
later. In Saul's case, it's David.
39:14
In Solomon's case it's Jeroboam. Both attempt to murder their
39:19
future successors. Solomon does makes a concerted
39:23
effort to try to. Jeroboam's on the Israel's most
39:26
wanted list for a while before he goes down to Egypt.
39:28
After Solomon dies, he comes back and then he takes over the
39:31
northern Kingdom. Obviously Saul tries to murder
39:35
David repeatedly, and then finally both have the Kingdom
39:38
torn away from them and it's symbolized by torn garments.
39:42
So if you go back to first Samuel 15, you know when Saul,
39:49
when Samuel goes and rebukes Saul, the Hebrew text is not
39:54
clear. It just all it says is he turned
39:57
and he grabbed the corner of his robe and it tore.
39:59
OK, who grabbed what, who was wearing the robe and who grabbed
40:01
it? You know, there's there's four
40:03
different options that you've got to try to figure that out.
40:06
The most logical 1 is Samuel turns to go, Saul grabs his
40:11
robe, it tears and Saul and Samuel says the Lord has torn
40:14
the Kingdom out of your hand. All right.
40:16
And then when you get to Jeroboam, he meets a prophet who
40:20
takes a garment and tears it into 12 pieces.
40:23
And gives him ten of the pieces. And so he's going to get the 10
40:25
northern tribes, right. So got some If you if you really
40:31
dig in and you really work to get those, those, those fine
40:35
details. It really does look like Solomon
40:40
is being compared to Saul pretty pretty closely.
40:44
And that's, and that's obviously a disappointment for us because,
40:48
you know, you know, we like, we like David.
40:52
David is, you know, call him the man after God's own heart.
40:55
He was very faithful, had catastrophic mistakes, right?
41:00
But I mean, we all make mistakes.
41:04
We, we empathize with David. It would be natural for us to
41:08
want to root for, for Solomon as well.
41:13
But Solomon does give us a story about making sure if you're
41:17
wise, use your wisdom, use your discernment.
41:21
He says, I want to be able to tell between good and evil.
41:24
And then he goes and he doesn't do that.
41:26
Right? Because Solomon knows the law.
41:28
I mean, he knows the law. He's got to know something about
41:31
what the Mosaic Law says and that what he's doing is not
41:34
permitted by that. OK, now, so, so wisdom, knowing
41:40
what to do isn't enough. You actually have to do it.
41:45
So wisdom is not enough. Obedience is extremely
41:49
important. Another thing, we tend to drift
41:55
toward what we love the most. Whatever it is, it captures our
41:57
hearts. That's what we're going to
42:00
serve. That's what we're going to do.
42:02
And so Solomon was really enamored, it seems, with his
42:07
wives. And slowly over time, or maybe
42:11
not so slowly, he begins adopting their gods and putting
42:15
their religion into practice, not only letting them do it, but
42:19
he's doing it right. So, so whatever we love, it will
42:24
shape us. It will condition us to do
42:27
things right. You are.
42:31
You often have, I'll give you an example some, some moments where
42:35
maybe you've got someone who, who says you know, this, this
42:40
thing is, is wrong, this thing is, is evil and their child
42:43
comes out and does it and does that thing.
42:46
And now all of a sudden, well, OK, so it's OK.
42:49
So it's still wrong, but right. Or maybe maybe I thought about
42:53
this and I've changed my mind and it's not really so wrong
42:55
after all. Once you have personal
42:57
experience with something, sometimes it shapes how we
43:00
approach an issue, right? And a moral issue.
43:06
Small compromises become big failures at the end, at the very
43:11
beginning, you know, Second Kings three, it talks about how
43:17
Solomon loved the Lord walking in the statutes of David's
43:21
David, his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at
43:26
the high places. OK, so at first he loves God.
43:30
He walks in God's statutes. He seems to be mostly faithful
43:35
only with these one exception, and that one exception grows
43:38
over time until it becomes something that really sort of
43:41
defines who he is religiously and spiritually.
43:46
And then one last thing I'm going to ask you guys is a
43:49
question I'll leave with you this week.
43:52
What is your Egypt and what is your Egypt?
43:57
Solomon keeps going back to Egypt, gets horses, gets a wife,
44:01
gets a marriage alliance. You know, he he diplomatic
44:04
relationships, probably trade agreements, right?
44:06
There's all kinds of things. He keeps going back and back and
44:08
back to places where he shouldn't go.
44:11
And it's sort of like an an idol in a way.
44:17
It's a little bit different, I think just slightly because it's
44:21
something that gives you comfort, right?
44:23
It's something specifically that gives you comfort.
44:25
What, what is it that we keep going back to that maybe is not
44:29
what God wants us to do that somehow is a little bit
44:34
satisfying, right? Or comfortable?
44:37
And so, so this week, in light of our look at Solomon, I'd like
44:45
to ask you guys to think about the question, do you have an
44:49
Egypt? And if So, what is it?
44:54
So any questions? Any questions?
44:56
I don't know. We've got like a minute.
45:01
No, we don't. All right.
45:03
Thank you guys.