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Preparation for Advent Part 4
~20 years after the Temple Dedication
The Story Of The Kingdom
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.
The Voice of the God’s Truth
(A proverb written, ironically, by Solomon to his son)
And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”
With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.
Consider
“Astarte is one of a number of names associated with the chief goddess or female divinity of those peoples…Astarte was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war.” “Moloch is the biblical name of a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice.”
Today, in cultures of monogamy, Solomon is often referenced for his adultery more than his idolatry. But they are on in the same. This was not true of David his father. David had multiple wives and concubines but was called by God as a man who ‘wholly followed the Lord.” Solomon’s extreme number of wives describes his extreme idolatry. His extreme number of wives and his clinging to them in love is a description of the extreme diversity and depth of his idolatry. Solomon likely sacrificed infants to foreign gods.
This passage is perhaps the greatest crisis point in the Bible, second only perhaps to the story of Adam and Eve and their initial choice to sin. So much was at stake. So much was lost. And, ironically, the turning point then, and now, was an alluring temptation and the snare of immediate, self-gratification.
Like the garden, paradise in the Kingdom is lost. And, like the garden, the choice by one man will lead to more darkness and depravity than Solomon could ever dream.
Ask yourself
How could a man who wrote a proverb like the one above violate his own conscience? What distracts us from the undivided worship of God? Imagine the son of David sacrificing a child to a foreign, false god?!?