1 Kings 11:4-8 - His wives turned his heart after other gods

11:4

“As Solomon grew old ...” God had warned that marrying foreign women would lead to one being led astray to worship other gods. As Solomon grew old , this happened. Solomon’s heart went after other gods, and he was no longer “fully devoted to the Lord”. David also sinned in the sexual area, (though not to the same extent as Solomon), but he never went in for idol worship.

11:5-8

Some of the false gods that Solomon went after are named. Molech was associated with child sacrifice. “So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord”. The phrase “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” is one that will appear many times in 1 and 2 Kings. Solomon built high places for these “detestable” idols. He seems to have made offerings and sacrifices to the gods of all his wives. The text makes clear that these gods were “detestable”.  Solomon was active in worshipping idols, building high places for the false gods.

Mark 13:20-22 - Do not believe it

13:20

The Lord cut short the number of days of the siege. The siege lasted “only” five months. This was quite long enough, but sieges could go on for a lot longer than that. If it had gone on much longer then no one would have survived. Why did God cut the days short? “For the sake of the elect”. Note that in all this while men are taking actions, ultimately it is the Lord who is in control. This should induce both fear and hope. Fear because God is a God of judgement, and judgement comes. Hope, because God is also a God of mercy. If we focus on only one of these aspects we will not have a complete or accurate picture.

13:21,22

When there are times of great crisis people are desperate for an answer, so are particularly prone to believe “answers” proffered by all sorts of people. Jesus warns the disciples that “at that time” false messiahs will appear. Schnabel reports a number of false messiahs and false prophets who appeared in the time leading up to AD70. People will also be looking for a messiah. Jesus also says that the false messiahs and prophets will “appear and perform signs and wonders”, with the intention of deceiving the elect. Now these people claimed various things were signs, but were not great at doing wonders! These words also apply to the very end, for Revelation also speaks of the beat out of the sea performing signs and wonders (Rev 13:12-14).

1 Kings 11:1-3 - Solomon loved many foreign women

11:1,2

We now come to the absolute downfall of Solomon. He had sinned earlier by marrying Pharaoh's daughter, and we have seen his excesses with regard to wealth and horses and chariots. We now see that Pharaoh’s daughter was only the start. Solomon “loved many foreign women”. These included women of Israel’s enemies, and the Lord had warned the Israelites not to intermarry with.  The Lord had also given them the reason for this warning, for “they will surely turn your hearts after their gods” (Deut 7:3,4). “Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love”.  The words here imply that these were not mere political marriages, but that there was a much deeper connection.

11:3

The numbers are simply staggering! 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon was a deeply disordered man. I find it amazing that a man who on the one hand was so wise, was, at the same time, an utter fool. He did everything to excess. I think it is also worth noting that the scale of his sacrifices were also excessive. He did everything to excess. 

Mark 13:17-19 - How dreadful it will be

13:17,18

Jesus remarks on how dreadful it would be for “pregnant women and nursing mothers”, and presumably for the old and infirm. Remember that Jesus is talking, in immediate terms, about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, things that the people held dear. “Pray that this will not take place in winter”. Things would be bad enough for the weaker people, but would be even worse if they occurred in winter. So Jesus urges them to pray that these events would not happen in winter. This actually implies that while these events would certainly occur, the prayers of the people could have some influence on what God did.

13:19

“Days of distress unequaled from the beginning ... until now”. It is always difficult to compare terrible events, but the days of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple were certainly terrible. At one point the Romans were crucifying up to five hundred people a day in front of the city walls in an attempt to persuade the people to surrender. Josephus claimed that over a million people died, now these may be exaggerated figures but still indicate the size of the suffering. “Never to be equalled again” is a hyperbolic statement (Schnabel) pointing to the continuation of history.

1 Kings 10:23-29 - King Solomon was greater inriches and wisdom

10:23-25

Solomon became the richest person on earth, though that actually means the region they lived in, rather than physically the whole world, for the writer did not know about the whole world. However, it is possible he was actually wealthier than anyone else on earth. The people of other nations did know that Solomon’s wealth had something to do with the God of Israel. People brought more gifts to Solomon.

10:26-29

Solomon also accumulated chariots and horses. All of this was in direct contravention of Deut 17:16,17 where the Law says:

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

As we see, Solomon broke everyone of these prohibitions. We haven’t had much mention of the wives yet, but we will soon see that he broke that one in a big way. At the beginning I wondered why God gave Solomon wealth. Perhaps the case was that God gave him wealth, but then Solomon just wanted more and more and went to all sorts of lengths to get it.

Mark 13:14-16 - The abomination that causes desolation

13:14

Now we come to the interesting bit! Of course, all this chapter is interesting, but this part causes all sorts of debate and problems, “the abomination that causes desolation”. Let’s start on solid ground, there are three references in Daniel that this is referring to: Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11. The term “abomination that causes desolation” is a translation of a Hebrew term that means “detestable thing”, and standing where it does not belong means standing in the temple. 1 Maccabees 1:54 refers to Antiochus Epiphanes IV erecting a desolating sacrifice  on the altar of burnt offering in 167 BC. Josephesus tells us that pigs were sacrificed. The immediate fulfilment may have been in August of AD 70 when Roman troops made sacrifices in the temple court. However, this is contested. Other possibilities can be seen in Schnabel. This does not mean that related events would not happen later.

13:15.16

The “let the reader understand” in the previous verse shows that the people of the time would, or at least could, understand the meaning.The warning in v14 was not an esoteric comment on the book of Daniel, but a very practical warning, and in these two verses they are warned that when these things happen there is no time to lose. They will need to flee, and it will not be an orderly departure. There will be no time to gather up one’s possessions.

1 Kings 10:14-22 - The weight of gold

10:14-17

Gold features prominently in this section. The amounts of gold seem enormous, but are comparable with figures found in  other records of the region and time. 666 is of course the number of the beast in Revelation, but that is probably coincidental. The gold came from far and wide. Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold. One might comment that he had nothing better to do with the gold, and is just accumulating wealth for its open sake.

10:18-22

Solomon also made “a great throne”. We get more details of the things he did with the gold. We are also told about the size of his merchant navy, and the journeys they went on. On these journeys they brought back gold, silver and ivory, along with apes and baboons. Again I note that none of this is actually achieving much good.

Mark 13:11-13 - Brother will betray brother

13:11

The prospect of being hauled before councils and others is not in itself a very enticing one. But there are two things they needed to bear in mind, as do we if we ever find ourselves in a similar position. One is the purpose, and it is God’s purpose. It is not us doing something and hoping God shows up. Rather it is God involving us in what He is doing. The second is that the Holy Spirit will help us. On our own merits and abilities we are not up to the task, but it is not about us doing things in our own strength. And note that God involves men and women in all that He does.

13:12,13

However, Jesus makes no attempt to sugar-coat the issue. Jesus is utterly realistic, both about the cost, and about the purpose. We need to have both in view, to focus on just one or the other is a half-truth. So Jesus warns that “brother will betray brother to death”. Schnabel says that there was limited evidence of “brother betraying brother” before AD 70, but so what? There certainly was persecution, for we read about it in Acts, and trying to see things purely in terms of events leading up to AD 70 is, in my view, a mistake. There was partial fulfilment in the events leading up to AD 70, and to ignore that is foolishness, but so is trying to see it all as pertaining to AD 70. Children would rebel against their parents and have them put to death. “Everyone will hate you”, this is hyperbolic, though it may seem as if everyone was against them. And there are many Christians today who encounter such things.

1 Kings 10:6-13 - I did not believe these things

10:6-9

The queen had heard the great reports, but did not believe that they could be true, until she came and saw for herself. What she saw was even greater than the reports she had heard. She believed that the people and officials must be very happy.She accredited the well being and wealth of Solomon to the Lord. She was also impressed with Solomon’s ability to “maintain justice and righteousness”. All peoples desire “justice and righteousness”, though many individuals and groups will be less keen on this if they gain power.

10:10-13

The queen gave Solomon 120 talents of gold. Reports from the time indicate that these vast amounts were not that unusual. There were also large quantities of spices and precious stones.Hiram’s ships brought more gold, and also almug wood. This wood was used for the supports for the temple, and for the royal palace. Solomon also gave many gifts to the queen, and she eventually returned to her own country.

Mark 13:9,10 - You must be on your guard

13:9

The things mentioned in 13:6-8 were general, affecting everyone. Jesus now turns to things which are more personal, and affect us because we are Christians, “on account of me”. They would be “handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues”, and we read of these things happening in Acts. Today Christians in many places face persecution. If they were not Christians they would not be persecuted, but there is a purpose in the persecutions. They would “stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them”. In the trials of Jesus it was ostensibly Jesus who was on trial, but in reality it was the Jewish religious leaders, the Roman authorities and, indeed, all of us, who were on trial.

13:10

The purpose went much further than the immediacy of Judea, but “the gospel must first be preached to all nations”. This matches up with the Great Commission in Matt 28:18-20. The first disciples undoubtedly did not appreciate the full extent of the world, and therefore of the meaning of “all nations”, but God certainly did! God’s purposes are greater than ours, or as it says in Is 55:5,8.

1 Kings 10:1-5 - The queen of Sheba

10:1

We are now gently on the downhill slope for Solomon. At this stage it is probably safe to say that it is the deceptiveness of wealth that is the snare for Solomon. Now remember that Solomon did not ask God for wealth, but for wisdom. This does raise the question, to which I don’t know the answer, as to why God gave him so much wealth, knowing it would be a snare for him. Perhaps it is a demonstration that we all need to be born again, otherwise we cannot handle God’s blessings. Whatever the case, the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame, “and his relationship to the Lord”. So the world sees a man of God, and the blessings of God, yet the man is actually heading for a fall. We do not know for sure where “Sheba” was, possibly near modern day Yemen. The queen may have been the ruling queen, or the king’s partner. Again, we do not know.

10:2-5

The queen went to Jerusalem to see if all the talk of Solomon was true. She went there with a great caravan and many precious items. She had come to test Solomon with questions, and he answered them all. The queen was mightily impressed with Solomon’s wisdom and his wealth, and also the burnt offerings he made at the temple.

Mark 13:7,8 - Wars, and rumours of wars

13:7

The AD 30-70 period was a time of relative peace, but even so there were a number of conflicts in that period. Every period in history has “wars” and “rumours of wars”, and our age is no different. Jesus tells us that these things must happen, but the end is still to come. There can be a natural tendency to view our own times as the most dangerous times there have ever been. This is natural because they are the risks that we face, and so are the most real to us. But Jesus tells us “do not be alarmed”. This does not mean that these things do not matter, but does affect how we are to react. We do not “head for the hill” in panic, but react calmly, seeking to help where we can.

13:8

“Nation will rise against nation”. This clearly goes beyond the immediate situation that the disciples would face. The world is unstable, for it is a world that has abandoned God,a world run on human lines, not godly lines. Today we see kingdom rising against kingdom. We see America, China and Russia rising against each other. We see Iran and Israel rising against each other. We see kingdoms like “wokism” seeking to exert its power, and we see counter kingdoms rising against “wokism”. We may rejoice when we see “wokism” being exposed for the nonsense that it is, but we should also be careful about what might be seeking to replace it. There are also natural disasters like famines and earthquakes. We must not be alarmed.

1 Kings 9:20-28 - Three times a year

9:20-23

The land had not been completely cleared of non- Israelites. Various groups of people are mentioned, though there is no mention of the Girgashites or Canaanites. These people were conscripted into slave labour. The text does note that “the Israelites could not exterminate” these people, though it does not say why they were unable to do so. It notes that no Israelites were enslaved, though they were appointed to other duties.

9:24-28

Pharaoh’s daughter came to the palace that Solomon had built for her, and he then constructed the terraces. We are then told that three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offering and fellowship offerings at the temple. So we see Solomon observing the form of religion, though his heart is drifting away. Solomon also established a navy, and it seems that the rift between Hiram and Solomon had been healed.

Mark 13:5,6 - Watch that no one deceives you

13:5

Jesus, as was often the case, took a slightly different tack. They needed to beware of being deceived. Throughout history there have been false predictions of the return of Christ, none of them proving to be accurate! We sometimes ask the wrong questions, or are concerned about the wrong things. Now look at the disciples' question. It was natural for them to want to know when these things would happen, even sensible for them to want to know. But in fact, that was not the most important thing, they had work to do in the meantime. We too can be concerned about the wrong things, when God has something different He wants us to be concerned about.

13:6

Jesus then goes on to warn them about the sorts of things that might seek to deceive them. It is worth noting that the things mentioned here did have a relevance to the immediate future, but also a much wider relevance. There were a number of false messiahs in the pre AD 70 times, Josephus mentions a few of them. And there have, of course, been many false prophets throughout the ages, and even today. We need to be careful who we listen to.