ALL THE KING’S MEN

Solomon’s Fall

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!

         Once upon a time there was a great king. This king followed God with all his heart. God blessed him with great wisdom and many riches. He sat himself upon a high throne in his great throne room called The Hall of Justice. His huge throne was decorated with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. Picture it—a huge, pure white chair, glimmering with gold’ so high there were six steps up to the base. The throne had a tall rounded back and large arm rests. A stone lion stood on each side of the throne and there were two lions on each end of the 6 steps. Can you imagine?

On the throne sits a tall regal man with a golden crown on his head. He wears purple robes of the finest silk and cloth. There are jewels, red, green, purple and gold, sparkling on his fingers, around his neck and studded on his sandals.

Besides the Temple of God, he built a great palace called the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon which had cedar pillars and cedar beams and 45 side rooms arranged in three floors of fifteen each. Wow! I would love to see that building! He also built the Hall of Pillars, living quarters for himself and living quarters for his wives. The construction of the temple and other buildings took 20 years.

All the utensils and drinking cups in the palace were made from solid gold. There was so much silver in the land that it was considered worthless at this time. King Solomon built a fleet of trading ships that sailed away only to come back every three years loaded with gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks. Why apes? Of all things!

Solomon had 12,000 imported horses, 1400 chariots, 200 large shields made of hammered gold weighing 1500 pounds each, 300 small shields also made of hammered gold which weighed 400 pounds each and many wives. Ah yes, his wives. We will get to that later.

This king was known to be richer and wiser than all the kings in the world. You would see in a given day, nobles from all around the world, wise men coming to the foot of his throne to listen to his words and gain knowledge. Of course all those who visited brought many gifts, maybe each trying to out do the other.

Even the great Queen of Sheba heard of his fame so she traveled to Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions. She arrived with many gifts of gold, spices and precious jewels and she spent much time talking to Solomon about everything she had on her mind. Solomon had answers for all her many questions and the regal queen was overwhelmed at his knowledge and great achievements. And so his fame spread to all the world.

This mighty king sat himself high on a huge throne, but he soon started to slide down the slippery slope of selfishness, pride and conceit. At first, the slide is slow, we can see his shift from doing it for God to doing things for Solomon. God gave him all these resources, but did He mean for Solomon to use them in such extravagance? To seat himself on a throne high above any other in the world? To drink from cups of gold? To live in huge mansions? To import apes for no reason? To make shields of gold that were useless?

Were there other ways Solomon could have used his God-given blessing of wisdom and riches? Maybe to help people, perhaps provide for the poor or support the widows and orphans. It says later that Solomon taxed his people heavily and was a hard master extracting harsh labor demands on his people. (1Kings 12:4 NLT)

Why would a man who desired nothing but the ability to rule God’s people with wisdom and compassion fall to such levels of cruelty? Why would a man who loved God with all his heart and desired nothing but to follow in His ways, do evil in the sight of the Lord his God? What would cause a man who received amazing blessings, to slide so fast and fall so far down the slippery slope of sin?

After all Solomon had been warned twice, once by his father David, and once by God Himself, to always follow God and obey His commands and decrees or dire consequences to the nation of Israel would follow. So why would a king who had everything he could want and desire turn his back on the God who had promised to always be with him?

I’ll tell you why! Disobedience to God’s word. He did something God had clearly told the people of Israel NOT to do. He loved something God warned him to stay away from. And he refused to give it up.

God said “You must not marry foreign women for they will turn your heart to their gods. Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway.” (1Kings 11:2 NLT)

It started with just one. Just one woman, the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh. The people who had held his ancestors in captivity for 400 years! He must have thought, “Just one won’t hurt. After all, I do everything else God’s way.”

Or maybe he didn’t think at all.

It didn’t stop at one, however, soon he had wives who had royal blood, princesses, from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and the Hittites. Sound familiar? All Israel’s old enemies. The enemies Joshua conquered and chased out of the land. Enemies that David fought hard to trample and vanquish from the country. Maybe Solomon thought he was being diplomatic in foreign affairs. Maybe like a politician he was trying to keep peace with the world. I think he just loved women, lots of them, exotic women, different women, beautiful women. And he decided he would do it his way. Not God’s way.

He had 700 wives from royalty and 300 concubines! One thousand women! Wow! No wonder he fell. He didn’t just slip a little on that slippery slope, he shushed all the way to the bottom!

These women did indeed turn Solomon’s heart away from the Lord God almighty.  “In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father David had been.”(1Kings11:4 NLT)

He worshiped many false gods and even erected shrines to these detestable gods on the Mount of Olives in the city of David for all his wives, and using burnt incense, he sacrificed to and worshiped these gods.

“The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command.”

So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed My decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.” (I Kings 11:9-11 NLT)

And this is exactly what God did, eventually. But He also raised up three adversaries to trouble Solomon. No more peace for this peaceful king. No more easy street for this wealthy man. All of a sudden, there was rebellion in the land. Trouble and turmoil came against Solomon until he died.

God set it up so Solomon’s servant, no less, would become King of the Northern kingdom of Israel, but the descendants of David continued to reign for a time in Jerusalem in the Southern kingdom of Judah. The nation God had built for His own people, who were as numerous as the sands on the sea shore, would soon be torn in two, never to be so great on this earth again.

It says many times that “David followed God completely.” Now we know that David sinned, but he always repented and turned back to God. David was a man after God’s own heart.

Do I worship God exclusively? Or Do I let things, people or money turn my heart away from my God?

Have I put myself on a high throne? Or is God ruler of my life?

Am I following God’s ways completely? Or am I doing what is pleasing in my own eyes?

One toe dip into the world, just one act of disobedience, starts the slide. One unconfessed sin is grease to the slippery slope. More sin added to the scale will unbalance even a king. Disobedience to God will topple the greatest king. How about you?

In the end it didn’t matter how many great buildings Solomon built or how many riches he had, what really mattered was how much he loved his God.

God doesn’t really desire grand buildings or gold or even great service, what He wants most is our devotion and our obedience. What God really desires is our hearts.

All the king’s men and all the king’s horses couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

“Come My children, and listen to Me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord.

Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous?

Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!

Turn away from evil and do good.

Search for peace and work to maintain it.

The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, His ears are open to their cries for help.

But the Lord turns His face against those who do evil, He will erase their memory from the earth.

The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help.

He rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the broken hearted.

He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.

For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous, not one of them is broken!

Calamity will surely overtake the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished.

But the Lord will redeem those who serve Him.

No one who takes refuge in Him will be condemned.” Psalm 34:11-22 NLT