King Solomon met his downfall when he disobeyed God by marrying 700 wives who were princesses and 300+ concubines. He took to idolatry and for that, israel was condemned to be separated into 2, with 10 tribes going to one of his men and the last 2 to his son after Solomon dies.
What King Solomon had asked from God
From 1 Kings 3, we learnt that King Solomon had asked only for wisdom as below:
1 Kings 3:8
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
from God and God delighted in his wish for Solomon did not wish for longevity, wealth nor destruction of his enemies. With that, God promised that there will be no one wiser than him in the past nor the future and that He will bless him even with the things that Solomon did not ask for on one condition :
1 Kings 3:14
And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
King Solomon left God
It began in
1 Kings 3:1
And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
This illustrates that Solomon acquired his first non-hebrew for political purposes, contrary to God's command. This is the first wife of Solomon mentioned in the Bible, although her name is not recorded.
In 1 Kings 11:1, we observe that King Solomon had chosen to marry and take concubines and many of them in fact! This runs contrary to the mosaic laws in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 17:17
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
Why did King Solomon left God despite his wisdom?
Deuteronomy 17:18-20
18And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
19And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
20That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
The above tells us that the King would have to not only write out the laws for Kings and but also read, learn and keep in mind the laws so that he will not be proud and leave God.Alas, he left. A possible reason could be this :
He married a non-hebrew wife from egypt and nothing 'bad' happened. He could have assumed that taking MORE wives and concubines for political reasons and favours might not yield any 'bad' results as well. However, this is of course, a man's logical thinking, not a wise choice in the eyes of God as seen from the mosiac laws. So what went wrong? Solomon was *supposed* to know the laws, suppose to be *wise* enough to know that his choices were not right.
One big hole in the bucket
Many pastors like to use the example of our spiritual life similar to a bucket with holes at the bottom. Whenever we read God's Word and learn from it through books, sermons, CDs and sharings, clean water is poured into the dirty bucket which represents our dirty life but the water will leak out. The more water we pour in the cleaner it gets, if it stops, it remains and becomes dirtier. For Solomon, his daily reading of the laws in deuteronomy 17:19 should sustain him and let his wisdom be based upon God's Words. However, we are human and for Solomon, what may have happened is that he might have gotten complacent and think that after years of reading it, he knows it all, he didn't have to mediate upon it anymore. Yes, he still reads it but he might not be absorbing it all in. In other words, he widens the holes at the bottom of the bucket, all he learnt leaked out without staying. With that, he chose to marry many wives and concubines for multitudes of reasons that were logically sound and humanly wise but spiritually unwise from the eyes of God. He continues to break more laws and eventually the first of the ten commandments and israel was condemned to separation. The below verse sums up what Solomon should have done and what we as Christians in our daily devotion should always keep in mind:
Psalms 1:2
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Memorising the law and mediating about it is not helpful in the action itself but rather, when the time comes to make a choice, the verses or laws will come to mind and help to make the right and wise choice.
Materials that helped : The Bible, adaptation of Bthel Bible-Presbyterian Church Bible Study and cell leader for reminder of Psalms 1:2 verse =)
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