Week 14 1 Kings
Early in the Solomon story there’s a niggling little comment that the writer makes: Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
Four other bible versions use that same word – except. Solomon followed the Lord…except for one almost irrelevant departure.
It’s a small thing and easy to miss. The author skips over it quickly and so I do. But it’s not as easy to skip what happens in chapter eleven: King Solomon…loved many foreign women…And his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God. The author doesn’t just slide over this one.
I looked back at the promise the Lord gave Solomon: if you walk before me in integrity of heart…I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever…But if you or your sons turn away from me…and go off to serve other gods and worship them…then I will cut off Israel from the land…and will reject this temple. The Lord gave Solomon a pretty rock-solid guarantee. But it came with the condition of devotion.
And unfortunately by the end of his life Solomon’s almost whole-hearted devotion to the Lord had eroded into half-hearted and then into no-hearted non-devotion.
Note: quotes from 1 Kings 3:3, 11:1 & 4, 9:4-7 (NIV)