Seeds of Ruin

Once Solomon secured the throne from internal threats, he turned his attention to the nations surrounding Israel, and he made a political alliance with the pharaoh by marrying his daughter. “The marriage was in direct violation of the command of God. Though Pharaoh’s daughter forsook the religion of her native Egypt and threw in her lot with the Hebrews, among whom she had come to live . . . , this salutary result did not justify the foreign marriage.” Solomon “reasoned that political and commercial alliances with the surrounding nations would bring these nations to a knowledge of the true God; and he entered into unholy alliance with nation after nation. Often these alliances were sealed by marriages with heathen princesses.

The commands of Jehovah were set aside for the customs of surrounding peoples. “Solomon flattered himself that his wisdom and the power of his example would lead his wives from idolatry to the worship of the true God, and also that the alliances thus formed would draw the nations round about into close touch with Israel. Vain hope! Solomon’s mistake in regarding himself as strong enough to resist the influence of heathen associates was fatal. And fatal, too, the deception that led him to hope that notwithstanding a disregard of God’s law on his part, others might be led to revere and obey its sacred precepts.” Solomon eventually had “seven hundred wives . . . and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart” (1 Kings 11:3). By following the customs of the nations surrounding Israel, Solomon forgot Israel was not like those nations and needed to honor the true source of their wealth and power.

It was by small steps and seemingly innocent trespasses that Solomon gradually came to believe he alone was the source of Israel’s power and position.

“More and more the king came to regard luxury, self-indulgence, and the favor of the world as indications of greatness.” What started out as a time of plenty would end in sorrow and disaster. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23).