Category: Solomon

What about this one? “Man has no advantage over the animal.” Anyone who knows their Bible knows they are both wrong. The destiny of those born-again, the sheep, is with the Lord; that of the goats—eternal destruction.

And unlike the animals, mankind is made in the image of God. So both statements are false. But both are in the Bible! (See Ecclesiastes 9:2 & 3:19.) Confused?

Ecclesiastes is full of such errors. Written by King Solomon before his death, it is also rich with wisdom. Some scholars believe it’s the outpouring of a confused mind—worldly thought on the one hand, and godly wisdom on the other.

Placed at the center of the Bible, I see it like the bullseye of a target, painted black to highlight the surrounding white. It reflects the contrasting mindsets we all wrestle with. But it’s more than this.

The antidote

It’s also a heads-up for careful Bible study. We dare not take every verse literally, but consider each in the light of all Scripture. Many passages seem to be inconsistent with God’s love, placed there for our reflection and encouragement to read the whole, not just the part.

There’s another danger. If King Solomon, the wisest king, could fall into such confusion, what a warning for us more humble mortals! The cause of his decline? Idolatry.

Solomon became distracted by political correctness, marrying hundreds of wives. To keep the peace, he allowed their idols and even bowed down to them himself.

Are we falling into the same trap? Compromise and political correctness are fear of man; faithfulness and trust are fear of God. Let us not become confused.

One thousand women has the flavor of fiction. Even Casanova is only credited with 120. Many believe the size of King Solomon’s harem is posthumous, political spin. But the Bible is true. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines . . . (1 Kings 11:3).

Solomon was rich with a well-equipped army, and the local kings needed alliances. The princesses were pawns of expedience, purchasers of peace.

They came with their fathers’ expectations. They would enter Solomon’s court. They would be clothed in fine raiment. They may worship their own gods. You can almost hear the negotiated terms.

Political correctness

Such a household is impossible to conceive. Solomon must have scattered them across Israel in minor palaces, but he did allow their idols. Political correctness is fear of man, and compromise began.

Then came the unexpected: Solomon fell in love! He held fast to them in love . . . and they led him astray (1 Kings 11:2-3). This didn’t happen overnight.  As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods (1 Kings 11:4).

Worse was to follow

Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:7-8). These were the nastiest of the neighboring deities, their worship involving prostitution and child sacrifice.

We must clip the wings of compromise before they grow primaries and fly.

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes this (completely dependent) little child [Greek, paidion] in my name welcomes me . . . For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest” (Luke 9:48).

Who today is completely dependent? Who is the least?

Slaughter of innocents

Manasseh, king of Israel, shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem (2 Kings 21:16). King Nebuchadnezzar carried Israel into exile because Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive (2 Kings 24:4).

Shedding innocent blood leads to exile. No one is more innocent than our unborn children.

According to the World Health Organisation, we abort 40 to 50 million babies each year—125,000 per day.

To put this in perspective, 85 million people died in World War II—39,170 per day. We are aborting babies three times as fast. 146,000 died of all causes in Hiroshima. We are killing as many every 28 hours.

Why do we kill them?

“We can’t afford it. We didn’t plan him. We don’t want her.” Selfish ambition—prosperity, control, or convenience.

The bottom line is we want the sex without the consequences; the pleasure without the purpose. When contraception is freely available, passion precedes caution. This is not a new problem.

A monstrous idol

The nastiest idol in Scripture was Molech, the fire god of the Ammonites. They believed sacrificing their children in his fire guaranteed prosperity.

God hates it. “Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death” (Leviticus 20:2).

He also holds us to account. “If the people of the community close their eyes . . . I will set my face against that man and his family” (Leviticus 20:4-5).

Where do aborted babies end up?

“John, that’s Old Testament!”

Here is Acts 7:43. You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.

The pro-life issue is far more serious than an ethical debate. God cannot restrain his hand any longer. We must repent of our tolerance of this deadly crime, or suffer the outcome.

There is no such thing as an unwanted child—God wants them.

Read Ryan Leasure’s excellent blog.

“Nah, nah, blame China. It’s just flu. We’ll beat it with lock-downs. We’ll beat it with vaccines. We’ll throw money at it, and it’ll go away. What’s immorality got to do with it?”

Immorality, idolatry, and plague

A story in the Bible links these three. Despite Balaam’s sorcery, the Moabites failed to curse Israel. Instead, their women seduced them, inviting them to sex and sacrifice to the Baal of Peor. In his anger, God allowed a plague that killed 24,000.

The priest, Phineas, intervened, and the plague stopped.

“John, that was Old Testament. We live under grace, not law.”

Here is Ephesians 5:5-6. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.

God hasn’t stopped being God. What parent doesn’t burn when their teenager sleeps around and gets pregnant? Or takes to the needle and gets AIDS? No parent plans that for their child.

Actions have consequences. We live in a fallen world, yes. But we were given the keys, and gave them away.

Immorality is idolatry

Immorality rejects God’s word, seeking pleasure elsewhere. Pleasure is placed above the God and becomes idolatry. Idolatry is spiritual adultery.

 We cannot buy our way out of the crisis. God’s solution is repentance—returning to his Way.

It begins with the church. God says, “If my people will humble themselves . . .” According to conquersseries.com, 68% of church-going men and over 50% of pastors view porn on a regular basis. In UK, 70% of couples cohabit before marriage.

It’s not sexy to speak of God’s wrath. But love cannot abide idolatry.

My father’s best man divorced his wife. Shocked to the core, my parents whispered the news so we children wouldn’t hear. Divorce was a dirty word.

So was “illegitimate”—a child born out of wedlock in the fifties carried the stigma for life.

A decade later we—I identified but wasn’t brave enough to join— embraced the hippie movement: long hair, pop concerts, drugs, and sex. We called it freedom, but those who are truly free rarely need to speak of it.

In our parents’ day, men’s mags changed hands under grubby counters. Today, 98% of young men in one survey had watched porn in the last six months. 35% of all internet downloads are porn-related.

We have legitimized gay marriage, legalized prostitution, and promoted abortion. Few marry. Separation and blended families are normal.

I read recently that societies who reject God’s pattern for the family collapse within three generations. Counting from my parents’ day, we have little time left.

Idolatry causes division. King Solomon of Israel succumbed. Within weeks of his death, Israel divided. America, Europe and the Middle East are more divided now than since the two world wars.

Four years after Solomon died, Egypt invaded, stripping her wealth. Today invasion wears a different face—refugees swarm the Mexican border, swamp Italian camps, even head for Australian shores.

The Good News

Peering down the tunnel of Israel’s history, we see that under godly leadership, the Lord restored the nation. They removed the high places, burned the Asherah poles, and smashed their idols.

Godly leadership can do the same again. Our parents emerged from the grace of a culture that embraced Biblical values. Is it too late?

Let us pray for leaders with a divine mandate to restore godly values before we fall. There isn’t much time.

Is the BMW in the driveway? The house larger than your neighbors’?

Is it finally achieving your fitness goal—losing that weight, running that marathon, climbing that mountain, being selected for that team?

Prosperity?

Or is it, as King Solomon of Israel believed, that the Lord has prospered the nation? The message of the book of Judges in the Bible is clear. When the leaders followed the Lord, the nation enjoyed peace and prosperity. Everyone content under their vine or fig tree—the Mediterranean lifestyle we still aspire to.

When Israel’s leaders fell into idolatry, the Lord allowed their enemies to defeat them, tax them, or enslave them. Obvious conclusion: if they prospered, the Lord must be happy with them.

It’s a subtle and popular deception. For the Lord “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).

Miracles?

After our teams return from a mission trip to Nepal, I am often asked, “Was it successful?” Did we achieve our goals? How many were saved? How many delivered? How many healed? Did we see any miracles?

These are valid questions. After all, doesn’t the Lord want everyone saved, healed and set free? (But for the one man saved, his life has been rescued. For the woman set free, she’ll never be the same.)

When we stand before the Lord, I don’t believe he’ll ask such questions. Rather, he will simply ask, “Did you do what I asked? Did you use the talents I gave you?”

The Lord’s measure of success is not prosperity or fitness or even miracles. It’s obedience.