Now we come to the downfall of Solomon. Deuteronomy 17:17 clearly instructed that a king should not have many wives as this would result in him being led astray. Moreover, the Law stated that Israelites must not take wives from pagan nations. Now Solomon was probably led astray not just by lust, for many of these wives would be acquired for the purpose of cementing international relations (though they can't all have been for that surely?). Maybe he used this as an excuse to justify his excess to himself. We all need to be on our guard against lust and the self-deception of the heart. So Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. It really is hard to square this with him being a man of great wisdom. Perhaps it is just an example of how the sin that is deeply ingrained within us will always come to the fore and destroy us unless we repent and turn to Christ.
Sure enough, Solomon was led astray by his wives so that his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord. Note that David sinned as well, yet he managed to remain devoted to the Lord. What was the difference? David repented. Now this does not mean we can do what we like, repent, and then be forgiven. For every time we sin we risk our heart becoming hardened and finding there is no way back. Moreover, repentance involves a deep recognition that what we did was wrong, true sorrow over the matter and genuine will to change our ways. So Solomon ended up worshipping foreign gods. Worship of Molech included child sacrifice. Solomon set up high places for these various gods. So Israel became a sort of theme park for all the regional idols.
So Solomon comes under judgement. The kingdom will be taken away from his sons, and the split will come about.
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