Wise Men Say

One Year Bible (June 13)

I Kings 11:1-12:19

“Wise Men Say”

“Wise men say, Only fools rush in. But I can’t help falling in love with you. Shall I stay? Would it be a sin, If I can’t help falling in love with you?” (The King of Rock N’ Roll, Elvis Presley)

Yes, and Yes, to the questions posed in this song!

“The Lord had clearly instructed his people not to intermarry with those nations because the women they married would lead them to worship their gods. Yet, Solomon insisted on LOVING them anyway.” ( I Kings 11:2)

What is the problem when “fools rush in”?

“They led his heart away from the Lord and turned his heart to worship THEIR gods.” (11:3-4)

I Kings 6-7 tells us that it took SEVEN YEARS to finish the temple in Jerusalem, and Solomon spent 20 years total building the Temple and the Palace. This means he spent thirteen years building his palace, which means he spent twice as long building his own house as he did the holy sanctuary of the Lord.

Let’s take a closer look at this little math problem. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Hmmmmm, I wonder how many rooms were needed in this palace for 1000 women? Does this make "THE REAL PROBLEM" a little more evident?

(Hmmmmm, I am thinking it is a good thing he didn’t have to pay for their Health Care Coverage back then…Can you imagine how expensive it would be for the Blue Shield "Priority Palace Plan"?

Secondly, there is a passage of scripture that perhaps you may have raised an eyebrow at earlier in this book. Here is what it said, “Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.” (I Kings 3:3) "EXCEPT".... hmmm.

The “high places”... This sounds so spiritual and uplifting, doesn’t it? But, notice the word, “EXCEPT” because it is like a “cliffhanger”. This was the beginning of Solomon’s compromise.

I Kings 12:30, 31 makes reference to worship being conducted in the “HIGH PLACES”. This was the area where the people worshiped Baal and other gods. Israel was forbidden to allow such practices. They were to “drive out all inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their “HIGH PLACES”. (Numbers 33: 52)

Why did it take Solomon so long to build? Well, he didn’t stop after the Temple or the Palace. He also built temples to Idols for his many foreign wives! He built shrines and worshipped with his wives the gods of Ashtoreth and Molech to name a couple. The passage here in I Kings 11: 4-8 tells the sad details of Solomon’s moral decay in “his old age”.

Do you know that part of the practice at these idols’ altars was to sacrifice babies? How could the man of wisdom who saved the life of the baby by giving him to his rightful mom choose this detestable act before the Lord?

Let’s take a deeper look at Solomon’s Idolatry. It is significant as the location is mentioned to us, “On The Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem, he even built a shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech.” (11:7)

Once again the message is so powerful when we follow the clues. The Mount of Olives where the disciples sang hymns and Jesus came to pray and sacrifice himself for our sins was the exact location where Solomon had betrayed his God.

It was “The Mount of Olives” where Jesus once again stood to reveal himself to his disciples before he was taken up into heaven (the vicinity of Bethany). (Luke 24: 50-51, Acts 1:12)

Then two angels told the disciples on the Mount of Olives, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you, into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

Listen to the words of Zechariah relating to the end times, “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.” (Zechariah 14:4)

The very location where David wept, Solomon committed idolatry, and where Jesus was betrayed will be the place where Jesus will triumph over all HIS enemies.

“Wise Men Say, Only Fools Rush In”…

“Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” --King Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12:13)"