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Sep 15, 2024

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 11:1-13

In our modern vernacular, we would say that Solomon 'had it all.'  He had money.  He had fame.  He had power … and honor … and position.  He had the best food … the best clothes … women at his beck and call … a luxurious house … 4,000 horses … 12,000 horsemen … and a kingdom of peace.

In Ecclesiastes 2:9,10, Solomon said, "I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem.  Also, my wisdom remained with me.  And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.  I kept my heart from no pleasure."

Having asked for wisdom, Solomon had also been granted unsurpassed wisdom from God.  "I now do according to your word.  Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you" (1 Kgs 3:12).

Solomon's long prayer at the dedication of the temple he had built for God is contrite and God-exalting (cf. 1 Kgs 8:22-53).  God appeared to Solomon on two occasions in a dream (cf. 1 Kgs 3:5; 9:1).

The tragedy of Solomon's life is recorded in 1 Kings 11:4 … "When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father."

The warning of the life of Solomon is that, in spite of spiritual graces, the heart's neglect of eternal realities will lead to the withdrawal of divine blessing, at the least, and eternal ruin, at the worst.