King Solomon,
however, loved many foreign women (1 Kings 11:1).
The smartest man in
the world lost his head over a pretty woman… actually it was a thousand pretty
women. It was not uncommon for one king to marry off his daughter to another
king or to another king’s son to solidify an alliance. That’s probably where a
lot of Solomon’s wives came from. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase wedding
present.
Solomon had
inherited a strong and stable kingdom. But even if his military was the
strongest in the entire world, Solomon the man still had chinks in his armor,
which left him vulnerable. His weakness? His foreign wives and their gods.
These dalliances
affected not only Solomon, but brought great hardship on the nation. Today’s
passage cites Solomon’s disobedience as the root cause of Israel’s dissolution
into two kingdoms – the northern of which would keep the name Israel, and the
southern to be called Judah – which would be realized during the reign of his
son Rehoboam.
Due to God’s favor
and David’s capable leadership, Israel was the premier military strength in the
region. It didn’t have to worry about being attacked by any foreign enemy.
Though the front door was locked up tight, what no one counted on was the new
king leaving the side door wide open to an even more formidable foe.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
In taking inventory of your
defenses, where are you most vulnerable? What are you going to do about that
this week?
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