Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to the daughter of Pharaoh of Egypt. Why? Could he not learn from his father’s sins? Why did he marry the daughter of Pharaoh? Later in the chapter we read of an enemy that God raised up from Edom. When David was still alive this Edomite had fled to Egypt to escape Joab. The Edomite received the sister-in-law of Pharaoh as a wife. That is a powerful alliance. Could it be that Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter as a counter alliance? Is that why she seems to have received better treatment as Solomon built a palace just for her? Hmmm…. It seemed to work so well, perhaps he added marriage alliances to Sidon, Amon and Moab as further precautionary alliances to keep from having to go to war. It would seem that most of his marriages were political alliances to secure his kingdom without going to war. Interesting tradeoff.
Yet what happened was exactly what the LORD said would happen. His wives turned his heart away from the LORD. People in lust (I won’t say love) never recognize that. Here the wisest man to have ever lived succumbs to one of the oldest temptations. So, what were these gods like? Here is a short list:
Ashtoreth—Sidonian goddess of fertility, consort of Baal, worshipped with immoral rites and sometimes temple prostitution.
Milcom—Amonite god who demanded the best of his worshippers. Hence child sacrifice was often practiced. The image of Milcom (Molech) was a large metal man with the head of a bull. It was hollow beneath and below where a fire could be placed. His arms were outstretched to receive the sacrifice. The arms were tilted up so that the sacrifice would roll down the arms into a hole in the body where the sacrifice would fall into the fiery pit below. Flutes were played to drown out the screams of the sacrifice.
Chemosh—Moabite god who was very similar to Milcom. With the finding of the Moabite stone we read descriptions of Chemosh that are very similar to the Scripture’s description of Yahweh. There was one exception. Chemosh often demanded the sacrifice of children. Yahweh forbids the sacrifice of Children—Leviticus 18:21 & Deuteronomy 18:10.
How could the world’s wisest man fall for this? Sin is rarely a problem with the intellect. It is usually a problem with the will and emotions. I just don’t want to obey. And so Solomon thinks with his loins rather than with his logic. He now has his own private brothel with religious institutions to sanctify it, and he has secure borders because of his marriage alliances. But at what cost? It cost him the glory of God. Where is the glory? It is obscure; isn’t it? But it is there. Yahweh tears the kingdom away, but he leaves one tribe, Judah, for the sake of His promise to David. There is the glory. When we are unfaithful like Solomon, He remains faithful. Why? Because He never is unfaithful to Himself. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
August of 2012. This is a lookout point to view entrance ways for ancient tombs of Israel. The village on the other side of the Kidron is called Silwan. The Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Biblical Archeological Review locates a sight of a tomb which for centuries has been known as the ‘tomb of Pharaoh’s daughter.’ Its location is just around the bend in the cliff. It is one of the oldest structures in Jerusalem, and is carved out of solid rock. The hill in the upper left background is probably the hill where Solomon built a high place to Chemosh the abomination of Moab.
Psalm 99
My dogs just came in from being outside for a while. As normal, they were excited to be back in our presence. They run & jump & are simply quivering with delight. They tremble in our presence. Tell me; is there a larger qualitative difference between me and my dogs, or between me and God? Well, if we are speaking intelligence and power and moral purity, then the answer is a no-brainer. Since God is an infinite being, the divide between God and me is infinitely greater than the divide between my dog and me. In another sense, I have something my dogs cannot have. I am created in His image. My dog can never share that. In that sense the divide between my dog and me is infinitely greater than the divide between God and me. Let me ask you this, since the qualitative intellectual, power and moral divide is infinitely greater between God and me than it is between my dog and me, and since my dog trembles and is a quiver of delight in my presence, should I not be all-the-more a quiver of delight and tremble in the presence of the infinite Almighty?
When I consider the vast justice and holiness of God, it should bring a trembling to my soul. Why? His justice and holiness is perfect; my justice and holiness is not perfect. I need only to look at the Ten Commandments to view how far short I fall from the demands of His perfect justice and holiness. When I consider perfect justice, I realize that I am deserving of death many times over (the soul that sins shall die). It causes me to tremble. If this was all I knew about God, I would never come to God for I know that coming to Him would condemn me to death. But praise be to God, He is also a God who forgives (v.8)! That is what excites me most about His glory. Jesus, the perfectly holy and just God, knew that He must condemn my sin in death, but He also wanted me to live. So He became my sin on my behalf so that He could carry away my sin, punish it and forgive me. Mercy triumphs over judgment! That should make me want to worship at His holy hill! His justice makes me tremble. His forgiveness makes me become a quiver of delight. My dogs delight in my renewed presence. They dance at that renewal. How much more should I tremble and dance in delight in the renewed presence of our holy-forgiving God! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
Hosea 8
Some time ago at a District Conference, my District Superintendent preached a sermon on "I will follow/I will know/I will show." When speaking on the second point, Dr. Searing, an MK who considers Spanish to be his first language, pointed out that in Spanish there are two words for 'know.' One is used of knowing things, non-human. The other is used of knowing humans, particularly those with whom you have a relationship. He really challenged us that there is a vast difference between the two. We can spend a life-time knowing God and not ever know Him. In other words, we can learn all the knowledge of the Bible, but not ever have a relationship with Him. We can know all about Him, but not know Him.
"My God, we know You!" The words will burst out of the mouths of those who know Him, but do not know Him, when He comes in judgment. One could inflect those words in many ways. Each way would change the meaning of the words. Contextually they can only be taken as exclamation of dismay. They thought they knew God relationally, but when He shows up, to their dismay, He is not what they thought He was! How could they ever have missed the truth? How could they ever have missed the relationship? They had spent their lives building temples, setting-up leaders whom, they thought, would lead them in righteousness. They had spent a lifetime crafting idols which they felt would accurately portray what they thought their God would look like. They invested their lives in building altars upon which they would sacrifice offerings to this God whom they thought they knew, but because they did not know Him, they actually intensified their sin. God has only one solution for such nonsense, burn it.
Why was it nonsense? How did they find themselves in this position? They did not come to His word with the one goal in mind, to know God and obey what He says. How else could they have ended up building other temples, other altars, crafting beautiful idols? There is only one solution for such creations, burn them (verse 14).
This is what the crucified life is all about. It is recognizing that I have nothing of value to worship the Eternal, Almighty King. All my knowledge about Him is only worth burning. Only one thing is of value to Him, that I come into relationship with Him and obey what He says. If it be any other way, it would sully His glory. That is what is so key about being still before Him on a daily basis in His word to hear His voice. Anything less leads to idolatry because we run the danger of building what we think we know about Him. That will never do. His glory is too much greater! Lord, I consider myself crucified with Jesus. Help me see Your Glory, hear Your voice and do what You say! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Philippians 4
How can one be content in all things? I mean really, suppose your two best friends in the church are having a strong disagreement. It is tearing you up to see them fight. The Lord says to rejoice in Him always. The Lord says to let your gentleness be known to all men. Or suppose you were one of the refugees from hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. You’ve lost everything, home, job. Who knows how you will access your bank account. The Lord says to be anxious for nothing. How can one be content in all things?
It seems to me the answer is clear in verses 8&9. Whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, or praise worthy, we are to think about them. I have some friends who named their sons Justice and Noble. I suppose they are always thinking on what is noble and just. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist a bad pun.) But there is one Son who is all of the things mentioned above. The Lord Jesus Christ is all of the things mentioned above. When we focus on His glory, we are focusing on His truth, His nobility, His justice, His purity, His loveliness, His virtue, His Praise. When we focus on those things, we come to realize that our sovereign King will bring to right what we think is wrong. He will deliver us through the situations. And in the end, His glory will be increased. We begin to have problems with attitudes when we focus on the temporal. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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