Kindle Notes & Highlights
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August 10 - August 24, 2024
Solomon wed many of these women to establish political alliances that would ensure Israel’s peace with neighboring nations.
these wives captured his heart. Solomon loved them more than he loved God and allowed the high places to continue.
The Lord had forbidden His people to intermarry with the world around them, because He knew these mixed marriages would lead Israel into idolatry.
The kingdom of Israel is now at the height of its power and influence in the region, and Solomon reaps the benefits of being in that position.
These gifts led Solomon to multiply horses for himself, as well as silver and gold, which God had warned kings not to do
Solomon became ensnared by the blessings of his own wisdom and disobeyed God’s commands.
King Solomon marries a thousand wives and concubines, many of whom are from foreign nations.
This is in violation of the Lord’s commands.
taking many wives
and marrying foreign women
not to marry Canaanites because such unions would lead them into paganism, which was w...
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This same principle applies to Christians today: we are warned in Scripture not to marry non-believers, because the nonbeliever will lead the
believer away from God
This was because of the fact that David had repented of his sins, turned his life back to the Lord, and had not allowed sin to continue as a pattern in his life.
Solomon’s many wives lead him away from the Lord’s prescribed worship, and he begins to add in elements of pagan religions.
The Lord calls His people to complete obedience.
He does not give us leeway to pick and choose what parts of His Word we will follow.
Solomon had now become an open idolater, worshiping images of wood and stone in sight of the temple that he had previously built to honor God.
The Lord will not permit the shepherd of His people to adulterate His Word with pagan practices. He becomes angry with Solomon and rejects him as king.
the Lord’s great generosity made Solomon more accountable to God’s commands.
The Lord does not pick favorites; all men are called to obey His Word, from the king to the poorest peasant.
Obedience to that covenant was necessary for receiving the blessings of the Davidic covenant.
The Lord had chosen Jerusalem as the place where His name would dwell forever; therefore, Jerusalem and the temple would remain so that the divine promise might stand.
God’s verdict against Solomon begins to come to fulfillment as two adversaries rise up to challenge Israel’s authority in the land.
renounced his position and possessions in Egypt to return to Edom so as to regain his throne.
His activities gave great trouble to Israel.
Solomon soon not only has to deal with external threats to his kingdom but also internal threats when Jeroboam, a trusted servant, rebels against him.
God raised up Jeroboam from a town in Ephraim as an internal adversary.
He was a young man of talent and energy who, having been appointed by Solomon as leader over the building works around Jerusalem, rose to public notice.
A lighted lamp represented the life of an individual
God gave the same promise to Jeroboam that He had given to David—he would have an enduring royal dynasty over Israel, the ten northern tribes, if he obeyed God’s Law. The Lord also imposed the same conditions on Jeroboam for his kingship that He had imposed on David.
God had rejected both kings, and when the Lord selected the man who would be the next king, Saul and Solomon both responded by trying to murder that chosen one.
The fact that Solomon would try to kill the Lord’s anointed successor demonstrated just how far his heart had strayed from God.
primary reason for these injunctions was that such marriages would cause God’s people to drift away from obedience and into idolatry.
the unbeliever will lead the believer away from God.
except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places”
Solomon had laid a trap for himself early in his life, and now we see the terrible fruit of the decision.
Solomon did not follow that principle and continued to offer sacrifices at sites that had been used to worship pagan gods.
Walking with the Lord requires obedience on our part, and we are not given freedom to handpick which areas of His Word we will obey and which we will ignore.
It is all for our good.
act of combining elements of diverse religious philosophies into a new form of worship.
The modern church has frequently fallen into syncretism as well, incorporating worldly principles and ideas into the Word of God. This can be seen in the addition of New Age ideas, evolutionary thinking, self-help approaches to sinful behaviors, or pandering to cultural trends.
the world offers a form of wisdom that can appear sound at first glance, but its source is not from God. This “wisdom” is from below, not from above.
People from all across the land traveled great distances to learn from him and give him gifts to try to secure his wisdom.
A proverb is a short, pithy saying that expresses a general principle of life and often gives advice on how to live wisely.
Note that these were not necessarily intended as prophecies or promises, but general principles by which people should live.
Solomon began the book, however, with insights into the value of wisdom itself.
the rewards to be gained were more precious than gold.
Solomon opens the book of Proverbs with an overview of what the reader is to take away from the wisdom contained in this writing.
Proverbs contain insights both in poetry and prose, yet at the same time they can be commands to be obeyed.
