Week 20 1 Chronicles 28
The book ends with a big public event where David commissioned Solomon to a) be the next king and b) build the temple.
At that extravaganza David publicly told Solomon:
Get to know the God of your ancestors
Worship and serve him with your whole heart
Serve him with a willing mind
If you seek him, you will find him
If you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
It doesn’t necessarily sound like an easy checklist. But it does sound reasonably straightforward and uncomplicated.
I flip over to the end of Solomon’s story in 1 Kings to see what he did with his dad’s advice:
He quit trusting the Lord
He started worshipping idols
He practiced evil things
He refused to follow the Lord
He built shrines for his wives
He turned away from the Lord
He didn’t listen to the Lord’s advice.
Seven steps on Solomon’s Down Stairway. I don’t know if the writer was thinking of the steps as a linked-series (for instance Solomon took Negative Step #1. Then proceeded to Negative Step #2. Then on to #3 and like that).
Maybe the steps were regressively sequential. But maybe there was quite a bit of randomness involved. Personal arbitrariness. A hit-and-miss scatter of stupid life-decisions. It’s hard to say.
But one step down that seems pretty concerning to me is that Solomon turned away from the Lord. Turning away sounds like a decisive starting point.
Note: quote from 1 Chronicles 28:9 (NLT). And see Solomon’s actions in 1 Kings 11:4-10.