A Sad Ending !

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is a famous saying that proves to be true in the life of Solomon. God had said not to inter marry with women of other countries. However Solomon wanted to have more wives than anyone. In those days it was seen as a sign of wealth and power. The more wives you had the more power and wealth you had. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines ! The reason God had given for not marrying foreigners was that the women would lead him to worship other gods. This proved to be true as Solomon built temples on hills to several different gods. One was Ashtoreth  who was the goddess of love and fertility. Another was the Ammonite god called Milcom. The way to worship this god was the sacrifice of children on the fire. Another was Chemosh who was the god of the Moabites. The sacrifice of children in the fire was also customary.

It was in the middle of all of the disobedience by Solomon that the prophet came to Solomon's servant Jeroboam and said that God was going to take 10 tribes of Israel away from Solomon's son and give them to him. He also made Jeroboam the same promise He had made to David. If he walked in His ways and kept His commandments, as his servant David had, He would make his kingdom last a long time ... but not forever. This tells us that even though Solomon had done evil in the eyes of God, He was still going to reunite all of Israel at some time and keep His promise to David.

This was a really sad chapter to read. Solomon had everything a man could ever want and at the end of his life he was far away from God and had lost all that God gave. This is truly a lesson for all of us to learn ! No matter what you have, you have because of the grace of God and He can take at any time .... including your life !