Amplified Bible (AMP)
1 But King Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women—the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites.
2 They were of the very nations of whom the Lord said to the Israelites, You shall not mingle with them, neither shall they mingle with you, for surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Yet Solomon clung to these in love.
3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart from God.
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect (complete and whole) with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
Solomon knew the command of the Lord. He was an intelligent man. He knew the Lord's admonition not to entangle himself with foreign women, because these women did not submit themselves to God. Instead they choose to worship false gods, and in the end, Solomon's heart was turned away from the One, True God to the many false and powerless facsimiles of Him.
"Yet Solomon clung to these in love."
Let me submit to you that Solomon did not love these women ("700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines") with the purest definition of love. He clung to them out of lust, not love! And he paid for his defiant love by losing the joy that was in his heart.
Having just read the book of Ecclesiastes, it is apparent that Solomon had traded his personal and eternal relationship with God for earthly pleasures with women. But in reading the end of Ecclesiastes, I have hope that Solomon realized his error and repented.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 & 14
Amplified Bible (AMP)
13 All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good or evil.
After Solomon's death, God ended up taking 10 tribes away from Solomon's son, Rehoboam, as a punishment. This caused hundreds of years of heartache for God's people.
The lesson we can learn from Solomon's error is that the love of anything placed before God's will is idolatry! God must be first in our life before anything or anyone else.
If that earthly thing causes you (or me) to turn away from what God has commanded then it must be given up or put into its proper perspective.
Holy Spirit, please open our eyes to anything or anyone which we may place before You. Give us Your wisdom to give it up or place it in perspective. All for the love and devotion we have for You. In the name of Jesus, AMEN!!!
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