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 a common thing for a 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.
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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