Read 149.) I Kings 10:14-11:40 and II Chronicles 9:13-28. Before you even read the references above, you must re-read reading number 137 and I Kings 10:1-13 and II Chronicles 9:1-12. This was the very pinnacle of Solomon's and of Israel's glory! Solomon and Israel were to have been so blessed of God that Gentile peoples the world over were to come to find the One True and Living God in Jerusalem. It was just beginning to happen now when we turn a corner right at I Kings 10:14 and II Chronicles 9:13. What happened?!?!?

Solomon forgot everything. He forgot the Lord. He forgot his own humility. He suddenly began to think… It was all about HIM!!! Do you see that? We must be reminded of what the Lord told Moses 450 years before in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Did this apply to Solomon? It sure did! Do you think he knew of these things? He certainly must have! Did he ever write out his own copy of the Law to read every day? Sadly, we have no reason to think so. What had his father David told him? Go back to I Kings 2:1-7 and especially I Chronicles 22:17-19 and 28:4-10. Recall God's coming to Solomon three times with I Kings 3:4-15, 6:11-14 and especially with 9:1-10. We find these again in II Chron.1:7-13 and 7:11-8:1. In all of this, and for at least the first 20 years of his reign, Solomon remained a good and a faithful king over Israel before the Lord! Then he turned away…

With this reading we will learn just how far Solomon would fall. We will learn what it will cost him and Israel. And, most sadly, we will read that Solomon was unphased by the Lord's pronouncement of judgment upon him. Why didn't Solomon break and deeply humble himself in dust and ashes before the Lord, and cast off all that he was not to have or to have done??? He who had been made the wisest man to have ever lived became a complete and utter fool! He broke it all! He accumulated vast quantities of silver and gold. He went back to Egypt for chariots and for horses, and even for a wife! But I Kings 11 spells out all it would cost Solomon and Israel. He'd accumulated some 1,000 foreign women! The Lord pronounced His judgment upon Solomon, and we read not a word of it having any effect whatsoever upon him, other than that he tried to kill those enemies that the Lord had raised up against him! Few ever seem to mention the heights from which Solomon had fallen, and how far he fell. This was still the 5th time period of the 12, the time of Israel's unfaithfulness. It had started with Judges 2:10. It had existed for at least 410 years now, and through all the time of The Judges and The United Kingdom time periods. We are just now about to enter a third time period of Israel's unfaithfulness, the period of The Divided Kingdom. It's still all about bringing Messiah into the world to save. It's what the Book is all about!

ForeverKingdom,

Harold F Crowell

 This free site is ad-supported. Learn more
​