Meditate

11. Solomon's Wives, Adversaries and Death

Solomon’s Errors

11

King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,²from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the Israelites, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you; for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods”; Solomon clung to these in love.³Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.⁴For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.⁵For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.⁶So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not completely follow the Lord, as his father David had done.⁷Then 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.⁸He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.

⁹ Then the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,¹⁰and had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord commanded.¹¹Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.¹²Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.¹³I will not, however, tear away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

Adversaries of Solomon

¹⁴ Then the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the royal house in Edom.¹⁵For when David was in Edom, and Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the dead, he killed every male in Edom¹⁶(for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had eliminated every male in Edom);¹⁷but Hadad fled to Egypt with some Edomites who were servants of his father. He was a young boy at that time.¹⁸They set out from Midian and came to Paran; they took people with them from Paran and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, assigned him an allowance of food, and gave him land.¹⁹Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him his sister-in-law for a wife, the sister of Queen Tahpenes.²⁰The sister of Tahpenes gave birth by him to his son Genubath, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house; Genubath was in Pharaoh’s house among the children of Pharaoh.²¹When Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his ancestors and that Joab the commander of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me depart, that I may go to my own country.”²²But Pharaoh said to him, “What do you lack with me that you now seek to go to your own country?” And he said, “No, do let me go.”

²³ God raised up another adversary against Solomon, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah.²⁴He gathered followers around him and became leader of a marauding band, after the slaughter by David; they went to Damascus, settled there, and made him king in Damascus.²⁵He was an adversary of Israel all the days of Solomon, making trouble as Hadad did; he despised Israel and reigned over Aram.

Jeroboam’s Rebellion

²⁶ Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, rebelled against the king.²⁷The following was the reason he rebelled against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the gap in the wall of the city of his father David.²⁸The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.²⁹About that time, when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Ahijah had clothed himself with a new garment. The two of them were alone in the open country³⁰when Ahijah laid hold of the new garment he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.³¹He then said to Jeroboam: Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “See, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes.³²One tribe will remain his, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.³³This is because he has forsaken me, worshiped Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and has not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, as his father David did.³⁴Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom away from him but will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of my servant David whom I chose and who did keep my commandments and my statutes;³⁵but I will take the kingdom away from his son and give it to you—that is, the ten tribes.³⁶Yet to his son I will give one tribe, so that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.³⁷I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires; you shall be king over Israel.³⁸If you will listen to all that I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you, and will build you an enduring house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.³⁹For this reason I will punish the descendants of David, but not forever.”⁴⁰Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam promptly fled to Egypt, to King Shishak of Egypt, and remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

Death of Solomon

⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did as well as his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?⁴²The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.⁴³Solomon slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam succeeded him.

1. Thanksgiving for Faith

Salutation

 1

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example

² We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly³remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.⁴For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you,⁵because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake.⁶And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit,

116. Psalm 116

Psalm 116

Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness

1

I love the Lord, because he has heard

my voice and my supplications.

2

Because he inclined his ear to me,

therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

3

The snares of death encompassed me;

the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;

I suffered distress and anguish.

4

Then I called on the name of the Lord:

“O Lord, I pray, save my life!”

5

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

our God is merciful.

6

The Lord protects the simple;

when I was brought low, he saved me.

7

Return, O my soul, to your rest,

for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

8

For you have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling.

9

I walk before the Lord

in the land of the living.

10

I kept my faith, even when I said,

“I am greatly afflicted”;

11

I said in my consternation,

“Everyone is a liar.”

12

What shall I return to the Lord

for all his bounty to me?

13

I will lift up the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the Lord,

14

I will pay my vows to the Lord

in the presence of all his people.

15

Precious in the sight of the Lord

is the death of his faithful ones.

16

O Lord, I am your servant;

I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.

You have loosed my bonds.

17

I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice

and call on the name of the Lord.

18

I will pay my vows to the Lord

in the presence of all his people,

19

in the courts of the house of the Lord,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!