Category: 1 Kings

Don’t covet.  Don’t murder.  Don’t steal.

Often times when we think of Israelite kings that broke those commandments, we think of David in his sin with Bathsheba.  Coveting his neighbor’s wife, murdering the husband, and then taking the woman for himself.

But Ahab did the same kind of things.  He coveted his neighbor’s field, murdered him when he refused to sell, and then took possession of the field.

In verse 25, it says,

There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. (1 Kings 21:25)

Selling yourself to do evil.  What does that mean?  It very much sounds like prostitution: selling our body to do what is evil in God’s sight.

In this case, it was spiritual prostitution in more than one way. 

Ahaz prostituted himself for the love of things (Naboth’s field) instead of love for God. 

He prostituted himself in his worship of idols instead of the worship of God. 

He prostituted himself in placing his wife over God.

How about us?  God has said that he is a jealous God.  He will not put up with our unfaithfulness forever.  And if we continue to prostitute ourselves to evil, he will bring judgment in our lives.

But God is merciful.  He was to Ahab when he showed humility following God’s pronouncement of judgment. 

But the sad thing is that Ahab’s humility didn’t last.  And he continued to live the rest of his life prostituting himself to evil.

Let us not be like Ahab.  Rather, let us be like David, who although he did fall at times, sought to be faithful to his God.

And let us truly learn to be people after God’s own heart.

King Ahab had a habit of making bad decisions, and it shows here in his dealings with Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram.

Ben-Hadad, came out to Samaria and besieged it. 

First, he demanded Ahab’s gold and silver and the best of Ahab’s wives and children. 

After Ahab acquiesced, Ben-Hadad demanded more, asking for access to the entire palace and all the houses in order  to loot whatever they wanted. 

At this, Ahab balked, leading to threats by Ben-Hadad saying he would wipe out all of Samaria. 

This led to one of my all-time favorite paraphrases. According to the Living Bible, Ahab replied, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”  (1 Kings 20:11).

Anyway, to make a long story short, God, in order to show Ahab that he was the only true God, promised through a prophet to deliver Samaria. And for once, Ahab actually followed God’s directions and won two victories over Ben-Hadad. 

After the second battle, he had Ben-Hadad cornered, and so Ben-Hadad offered a treaty in return for sparing his life.  Ahab agreed.

The problem was that God had determined that Ben-Hadad would die. 

Why?  Because he knew what Ben-Hadad would do if allowed to live:  cause more trouble for the Israelites. 

But Ahab unwisely let him live.  When he did so, God sent a prophet saying,

This is what the Lord says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die.  Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’  (1 Kings 20:42)

And that’s what happened. 

Because he spared Ben-Hadad, Ahab eventually died to the armies led by Ben-Hadad. (1 Kings 22)

After that, Ben-Hadad besieged Samaria again, leading to even more Israelite deaths.  (2 Kings 6)

What can we learn from this? 

I think we learn a lot about sin from this passage. 

Like Ben-Hadad, sin seeks to destroy us.  And it will not stop at just hurting us.  It will completely destroy us if we allow it to. 

So what should we do?  We need to root it out completely from our lives.  There can be no compromise with sin.  There can be no treaty with sin.

Sin is like a cancer.  And like a cancer, it will spread and destroy us unless we can completely root it out. 

We may seem to have it in remission, but we need to completely stomp it out so that it never comes back.

How about you?  Do you make compromises with sin? 

“Oh, I know I shouldn’t probably watch this movie.  I heard there are some illicit scenes in there, but I’m an adult.  I can handle it.” 

Or “I know I shouldn’t be so selfish.  But I need to look out for myself too.”

The problem with sin is that it won’t stop with having part of you.  It wants all of you, and it will consume you if you let it. 

So let’s make no treaties or compromises with sin. 

Rather let us root it out so that we may be a people that are holy and blameless in God’s sight.

It’s amazing how after a great victory, one can get so depressed. 

It happens to us, and it definitely happened to Elijah.

Right after his great victory over the prophets of Baal, Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, threatened Elijah’s life.

Filled with fear, Elijah ran.  Exhausted, he finally collapsed under a tree and said to God, “I want to die.”

How is it possible to suffer such great defeat after such a great victory? 

It happens when we lose perspective. 

How does that happen, though?

First, we forget we’re in a spiritual war. 

Whenever we do something for God’s kingdom, the enemy will take notice.  Satan will not just leave us alone to do damage to his own kingdom.  He will attack. 

It may be through people; it may be through circumstances. 

We cannot just expect that things will go smoothly for the rest of our lives just because we won a victory.  On the contrary, many times it becomes much harder. 

That’s why Paul wrote,

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  (Ephesians 6:11-13)

Second, we can lose perspective when we are physically and mentally tired. 

As exhilarating as the experience on Mount Carmel was, it had to be draining for Elijah.  And then to hear that there was a price on his head put fear in his heart, causing him to run and making him even more tired. 

I believe that’s why God sent the angel with food and allowed Elijah to rest before confronting him.  It would have been impossible to get through to and encourage Elijah had he remained weakened physically and mentally.

Third, we lose perspective when we are focused on ourselves. 

Elijah was basically throwing a pity party that day. 

“I’m all alone.  I’m the only prophet of God left.  I’m no better than any of my forefathers.  Nothing I did accomplished anything.”  “I, I, I, I, I.” 

Everything was focused on himself.  And when we do that, we lose perspective.

How can we regain perspective? 

Practically speaking, make sure you’re mentally and physically rested.  That alone can do wonders. 

But beyond that, put your eyes on God.  Seek his face and stop throwing pity parties. 

Rather, as Paul said, put on the full armor of God, and start doing his will again. 

One preacher I heard noted that there is no armor for the back, only the front.  We need to be moving forward, doing what God has asked. 

If we’re retreating and wallowing in our own little pity parties, we’re simply asking for spiritual arrows in our derriere.

How about you?  Have you lost perspective? 

As the old song goes:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.

I kind of think that Ahab just brushed off Elijah as some kind of kook after Elijah prophesied that there would be no rain in the land for three years.  Otherwise, Ahab probably would’ve tossed him in jail.

But it didn’t take long for him to realize that Elijah’s words were true.  When realized this, however, Ahab didn’t blame himself for the drought and the famine that ensued.  He blamed Elijah. 

And so he went throughout all of Israel, and from kingdom to kingdom searching for Elijah.  And when those rulers said he wasn’t there, he made them swear it.

When Elijah finally came to confront Ahab, you can see the bitterness just dripping off of Ahab’s lips.

Is that you, you troubler of Israel? (1 Kings 18:17)

But Elijah, straightforward as always, replied,

I have not made trouble for Israel.  But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. (1 Kings 18:18)

So often, when we face trouble in our lives, we are quick to blame others or to blame God when really, we should be looking at our own selves. 

But very few people like to do that.  It’s so much easier to blame others for our troubles. 

As long as  we do so, however, not only will we never solve our problems, but we’ll find ourselves clothed in bitterness as well.  At life.  At others.  And at God.

How about you?  Are you blaming others or God for the problems that you yourself caused by your own decisions or actions?

Don’t be like Ahab and deflect the blame off of yourself.  Rather repent, and admit your wrong.  Only then can the healing of your situation begin.

Obadiah, (not to be confused with the prophet Obadiah), was in a tough place.

He was in charge of King Ahab’s palace, and obviously well-trusted by Ahab himself. 

But Ahab was an ungodly man who had led the entire nation into idol worship. 

Obadiah, meanwhile, loved the Lord with all his heart.  And yet, unlike many that feared the Lord, he stayed in Israel, rather than going to Judah.

Why?  I don’t know, really. 

But one thing you cannot do is malign his character. 

At a time when Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, was killing off the prophet’s of the Lord, Obadiah risked his own life to hide 100 prophets and to provide them food and water.

Sometimes, we find ourselves in situations that are less than ideal. 

Perhaps we’re surrounded by people who are unbelievers. 

Maybe you became a Christian and your parents, or husband, or wife are not.  Maybe you’re in a workplace surrounded by unbelievers.

And it’s easy to think, “I’d rather get out of this situation.  I want to surround myself with more Christians.  This is too hard.”

To be sure, Christian fellowship is vital, especially when you’re surrounded by unbelievers most of the week. 

But don’t be so quick to run from your situation.  As God used Obadiah to do his will, God can use you to make a difference.

Remember that when God says to separate ourselves from the world, he  doesn’t mean to disassociate ourselves from those who are unbelievers. 

Rather, we are to separate ourselves from their way of thinking, and to conform ourselves to God’s way of thinking.  And in so doing, we are to touch others’ lives and make a difference.

Remember the prayer Jesus prayed for his disciples.  He prays the same for us today.

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.  (John 17:14-19)

I love Calvin and Hobbes. It’s one of my favorite comic strips. 

In one particular strip, Calvin left Hobbes lying around somewhere but Calvin couldn’t remember where.  And after moping on his bed for a while, he cried out to God, “Whatever it was, I’m sorry already!”

In this passage in 1 Kings, a woman cries out something similar. 

This widow who had helped Elijah in his time of need, who had already lost her husband, now lost her son as well.  He got sick, and despite all she could do, he died. 

In those days, that put her in desperate straits because she was probably depending on her son to support her in her old age. 

And so she cried out to Elijah,

What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?  (1 Kings 17:18)

How often do we say the same thing?  Something bad happens to us, and we automatically think God must be punishing us for something?

But God wasn’t punishing her for anything she did.  Rather, her son died because we all live in a broken world. 

The direct result of Adam’s sin in the garden was that death came to this world.  Sickness came.  Brokenness came.

But just as God breathed life into her son through Elijah, God can breathe life into the most hopeless of our circumstances. 

I’m not saying that he will take away your problem as he did with the widow’s son, although he may do just that. 

But even if he doesn’t, he will never abandon you, and he will see you through.

Is God punishing you?  No, but it is possible he’s disciplining you as any loving Father would. (Hebrews 12:5-11) 

Search your heart and ask God if there is any sin there that you need to repent of.  If there is any, God will reveal it to you. And if you repent, he will forgive and restore.

But know that just because things are going badly in your life, it doesn’t necessarily mean that God is punishing you. 

And if you can’t see any reason for what’s going on in your life, then don’t punish yourself by thinking you’ve committed some unknown sin. 

Don’t think God is out there with a big bolt of lightning just ready to zap you anytime you make a mistake.

He loves you.  He’s there for you.  And he will see you through. 

So through all that you go through, place yourself in God’s hand.

And you will see healing in your life from all the hurts you suffer from in this broken world.

Tax day.  My “favorite” time of year. 

Yesterday I got my tax bill, and I got a very unpleasant shock.  My tax bill more than doubled last year.  I’ll tell you this much:  my income didn’t double last year.

It’s times like this that I sometimes wonder, “If only I didn’t tithe.  How much money did  I give in tithes and offerings last year?”

But maybe that’s why God timed these two stories just for this day. 

First, God sent Elijah to King Ahab to tell him of God’s judgment on the land for Israel’s idolatry, which Ahab and his wife led the Israelites into.

Then Elijah went into hiding, and God gave him some queer instructions.  He said,

Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 

You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there. (1 Kings 17:3-4)

“Drink from a brook. Check.  Ravens will feed me.  Che… Um God, did I hear right?  Ravens will feed me?  You mean I’ll be eating ravens?”

“Nope, ravens will bring you food.”

“Uh huh.”

But Elijah trusted God enough to go, and sure enough, ravens brought him bread and meat every day.

Then when the brook ran dry, God sent Elijah to a poor widow in Zarephath.  When Elijah asked her for a drink, she gladly obliged, but when he asked for food, she said,

As surely as the Lord your God lives, I don’t have any bread–only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. 

I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it–and die. (12)

But Elijah replied,

Don’t be afraid.  Go home and do as you have said.

But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 

For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land.’ (13-14)

Now it was the woman’s turn to do a double take.  And to ask herself a question. 

“How far am I willing to go to trust this man…and God?” 

But she decided to trust. 

The result?  God was faithful to his word and provided for them all during a time of severe famine.

Which brings me to my situation.  This tax thing is really painful.  It’s going to hurt financially because I never saw this coming. 

But the question I need to ask is, “How far am I willing to trust?  Will I trust enough to keep giving even when it seems painful?”

I choose to say yes.  I choose to trust that the God who has provided for us this far will continue to do so.  How about you?

These passages kind of remind me of the Japanese political situation. 

I came to Japan in 1995, roughly 17 years ago, and in that time, we’ve gone through 11 prime ministers. 

Needless to say, we don’t exactly have strong leadership here in Japan.

Well, it wasn’t quite as bad in Israel, but it was close. 

In a period in which one king, Asa, ruled in Judah, you had 7 kings coming and going in Israel.

Until Ahab, only one of them, Baasha, managed to last as king 20 years. Most of the others lasted much less than that. 

One managed to hold the throne only 7 days. 

During that time, there were 2 assassinations and one suicide. 

But whatever differences these kings had, there was one thing they had in common: they all walked in the ways of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel after the split of the nation.

The result? 

One bad king after another, with Ahab being the worst of them all. 

Judah was only slightly better.  Asa served God for the first half of his life, and his son Jehoshaphat did so all his life, although he would make his share of mistakes. 

After that it was spotty with some good kings and some bad.

The question we need to ask is whose lead will we follow? 

The Israelite kings followed the lead of Jeroboam.  As a result, Israel went into a downward spiral that eventually led to their exile. 

Offhand, I can’t think of one Israelite king that could be considered good.

On the other hand, the kings of Judah would at times follow the sins of Rehoboam, but at other times would break themselves completely from them.  When they did, God would bless them.

The point is, we have a choice.  We don’t have to follow the lead of ungodly people. 

Sometimes, people grow up in broken families. 

We’re starting to see more and more of this in Japan, although it is by no means as bad as it is in the United States. 

And we see fathers (mothers too, but especially fathers) who leave terrible examples for their children. These children then often end up, most times unconsciously, following in their father’s footsteps. 

This is true in unfaithfulness to their marriage partner, as well as abuse and other domestic problems.

But just as some of the kings of Judah broke off from the sins of their fathers, so can we. 

We can’t do it on our own strength.  But if we turn to Jesus and let him transform us, he can take the broken parts of our lives and make us whole.

Whose lead will you follow?

Jeroboam is an interesting character in that although the actual recounting of his life is very short, nevertheless his legacy lasted well beyond his death. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t a good one. 

Time and again, throughout the books of the Kings, you see the words, “He walked in the way of Jeroboam,” or “he clung to the sins of Jeroboam,” or “he followed the sins of Jeroboam.”

But anyway, in this passage, Jeroboam’s son gets sick, and so Jeroboam sought the words of the Lord from Ahijah.

Ahijah was he prophet who had originally told him that he would become king. 

How often do we do the same?  We ignore the words of God until trouble comes.  Only when we’re in dire circumstances, do we seek to find out what he is trying to say to us.

Perhaps because he knew he was wrong for turning Israel to idol worship and was not faithful to God as Ahijah had charged him to be, he asked his wife to go instead. 

He also advised his wife to disguise herself, although by this point, Ahijah was blind. 

But although Ahijah was physically blind, he could see much better on a spiritual level than Jeroboam could.

And by the warning God gave him, he quickly “saw through” the deception, and told Jeroboam’s wife of the coming judgment of God.

What can we learn from this?  God cannot be mocked.  We cannot deceive him.  Not by disguises.  Not by false piety in our times of trouble. 

If we “thrust God behind our back,” as Jeroboam did, we will pay the consequences for our sin.

I saw the following words on Facebook today: You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choice.

Jeroboam had a choice:  to trust God and follow him, or not. 

God gave him the freedom to choose what he would do.  But when he chose not to trust God, he had to pay the consequences. 

And so do we.

Sometimes Christians say, “Well, I’ll just sin, and then ask God to forgive me, and it’ll be okay.” 

God will indeed forgive if you are truly repentant, and you won’t have to pay for the eternal consequences of your sin. 

But that doesn’t mean that you’ll escape the consequences of your sin here on earth. 

If, for example, you commit adultery, it could cost you your marriage, your reputation, and your health.  And it doesn’t matter how much you weep or mourn over your sin.

So let us always remember the words of Paul,

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  (Galatians 6:7)

This is another one of those strange stories we find in the Bible that leaves us with as many questions as it gives answers.

It starts with a prophet from Judah that goes up to Israel and confronts King Jeroboam with his sin. 

As he prophesies against Jeroboam, Jeroboam tries to arrest him, only to find his hand withering even as he tries to point at the prophet. 

He then begs the prophet to pray for him, and when the prophet does, Jeroboam’s hand is restored. 

Then, typical of many evil people, he tries to bribe the prophet, but the prophet replies,

Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. 

For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’  (1 Kings 13:8-9)

And so the prophet starts back to Judah by another path. 

In the meantime, another prophet heard from his sons what had happened. 

Who was this prophet?  We don’t know.  Was he a true prophet?  At a guess, he probably had been at one time. 

What happened to him?  We don’t know. 

Perhaps he, like the rest of Israel, followed King Jeroboam’s example into apostasy and started worshiping “Yahweh” by using the idols that Jeroboam had set up. 

At any rate, when he heard about what the younger prophet had said, he chased after him, and invited him over for a meal. 

But when the younger prophet refused, the older prophet lied to him saying, “God sent an angel to tell me to invite you over for a meal.”

The younger prophet then accepted. 

But after the meal, the older prophet prophesied for the first time in perhaps years and told the younger prophet that God was going to judge him for breaking his command. 

The younger prophet then left, was attacked by a lion, and died. 

When the older prophet heard about it, he mourned for him and buried him, sounding very pious all the while.

Why did this older prophet chase after the younger and tempt him into disobedience? 

Why did God use the older prophet to foretell the younger prophet’s doom? 

Why did the older prophet then mourn for the younger prophet? 

I don’t know.

But what I do know is this:  the younger prophet died because he did not test what he heard. 

When he heard the older prophet’s story, he should’ve asked himself, “This guy sounds legitimate, but is he telling the truth?” 

And by testing the prophet’s words with the word God had already given him, he should’ve rejected what the older prophet said. 

But he didn’t, and as a result, he disobeyed God, costing him his life.

There are many people that claim to be speaking for God.

Many actually do, giving messages on Sunday, or writing books that influence millions. 

But as Christians, we have a responsibility to test what we read and what we hear.  It doesn’t matter how famous or well-respected the person is. 

If they preach God’s word faithfully, then we should accept it and obey.  But if they don’t, then we need to reject what they say.

When we don’t test what people say by God’s word, that’s when we get into trouble. 

But too many people don’t. 

God never changes.  And neither does his word.  So let us test all things by what he has already said.

As the apostle Paul wrote,

Test everything.  Hold on to the good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

In Japan, one really needs to be careful to define what we mean when say the word sin when preaching the gospel. 

The Japanese generally associate sin with “crime.” 

So things like murder or robbery or rape would be “sin” in their minds.

But sin, of course, has a much broader meaning than just “crime.”  And it has a broader meaning than simply “doing bad things.”

Sin at its root is a lack of faith in God.  It’s failing to trust him. 

It’s saying to God, “I don’t believe you.  I don’t believe your way is best.  I don’t believe you want the best for me.” 

And because of that attitude, it leads to all manner of other actions we call sin.

That was Jeroboam’s problem. 

God had told him through the prophet Ahijah,

I will take the kingdom from [Solomon’s] son’s hands and give you ten tribes….

However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 

If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you.

I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. (1 Kings 11:35, 37-38)

Jeroboam believed enough to stage a rebellion against Rehoboam. 

But after the kingdom was his, he started to worry.  “Will God really keep his promise to me?”

The thing he was really worried about was that the temple was in Jerusalem where Rehoboam reigned. 

God had told the people that they were not to just worship anywhere, but only in Jerusalem. 

Jeroboam feared, though, that if the people in his country continued to go to Jerusalem to worship God, they would eventually turn back to Rehoboam as king and kill Jeroboam.

Jeroboam had a choice at this point.  To believe God’s promise that he would continue to be king regardless of where the people worshiped.  Or to not believe. 

And he chose not to trust God. 

The result? 

He installed idol worship in Israel. 

I believe he was essentially doing the same thing that Aaron had done.  He set up idols and said, “This is Yahweh.  Worship him.” 

He also set up his own places of worship and his own priests to officiate that worship. 

On top of that, he instituted his own religious feast days to substitute for the ones that God had commanded Moses to keep.

And because of this, instead of building a lasting dynasty, it all died with Jeroboam’s son.

In Hebrews 11:6, it says,

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

The question we need to ask ourselves is whether we trust God or not? 

We cannot please God unless we trust him. 

If we don’t trust him, then we start to do things our own way, and that’s sin.

I believe that it was C.S. Lewis who pointed out that that’s why the solution to sin is not found in doing good works. 

The opposite of sin isn’t doing good things.  The opposite of sin is faith. 

And so if our sins are to be forgiven, God requires that we put our faith once again in him, starting with Christ’s work on the cross.

How about you?  Are you walking in faith?  Or unbelief?

I was talking to a student recently, and he told me that his wife was counseling a friend whose husband was apparently having an affair. 

My student was friends with the husband, and what my student told his wife was, “My friend’s a nice guy.  He just…likes women.”

Somehow, I don’t think my student’s wife passed this information along to her friend.  This man, is risking his marriage because, “he likes women.”

And this, to say the least, was Solomon’s problem.  He “liked women.” 

So much so that he married 700 women and had 300 more concubines, including women from nations that God had warned the Israelites not to marry from.

Solomon not only married them, however. He “held fast to them in love.”  (verse 2).

One wonders how much he truly “loved them.” 

He certainly couldn’t have spent much time with each woman.  At a guess, he spent perhaps a day, or at best, a week with each concubine, and they were left to live the rest of their lives in luxury, but loneliness. 

As for his wives, I doubt they got much more attention from him. 

They would’ve been lucky to get one full day a year from him, considering that there were 700 of them and only 365 days in a year. And again, there were all his concubines too.

Even so, Solomon claimed, “I love all of them.”

The biggest problem, of course, is that these women turned his heart from God and got him worshiping false gods.

It says,

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 

He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 

So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. (1 Kings 11:4-6)

Not fully devoted. 

I have no doubt that Solomon said to himself, “Well, sure I’m worshiping these other gods.  But I still love the God of my father David.

But the point is, he was no longer wholehearted in his worship.  He became half-hearted in his pursuit of God.  And because of this, he ended up doing evil in the eyes of God.

How did this all happen?  Compromise.  And ignoring the voice of God in his life when he started going astray. 

He had to know marrying an Egyptian was a bad idea.  And you see that he understood that deep in his heart even when he married her. 

In 2 Chronicles 8:11, Solomon said to himself upon marrying the Pharaoh’s daughter,

My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.

In other words, he knew God wouldn’t be pleased with this marriage.  That God wouldn’t consider this woman acceptable.  But Solomon “held fast to her in love.”

Perhaps he told himself, “I won’t let myself be influenced by her.” 

But he ended up following her gods, along with the gods of all the other women he married.  And in the end, it led to his ruin.

How about you?  Are you committing spiritual adultery? 

Are you trying to hold on to things you know you shouldn’t?  Are you making things, if not more important as God, then as important as God? 

You may be fooling yourself, but when you make things as important to you as God in your life, you are no longer completely his. 

And soon, you’ll find yourself compromising in more and more things, doing things that God hates.

Let us not cling to the things of this world, committing spiritual adultery against God. 

Let us always make him first above all other things, letting go of the things that are taking our full devotion away from him.

Solomon was wise in many ways and apparently a sharp businessman.  But sometimes, he would get too sharp. 

We see this in his dealings with Hiram, the king of Tyre. 

Hiram had been a friend to David, and was now a friend to Solomon.  Because of this friendship, he contributed a great deal to the building of Solomon’s palace and to the temple of the Lord.

Solomon, in turn, pledged to give Hiram twenty towns because of all he had done. But when Solomon did so, he only gave Hiram towns of little worth. 

As a result, Hiram complained, saying,

What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother? (1 Kings 9:13)

And the Bible says Hiram named the towns Cabul, which means “good for nothing.” 

One could argue that Solomon had made no promises as to the value of the towns he would give, but it was hardly the way to treat a business partner, no less a friend.

I wonder, though, how often we do the same thing with God. 

How often do we give him a pittance of our time, a pittance of our money, or a pittance of our efforts? 

In other words, we give him less than our best. 

If Hiram was displeased by the “gifts” he received from Solomon, how much more would the King of kings be displeased when we offer less than our best to him.

When God looks at the things you offer him, would he say that they were “good for nothing.”

I’m not saying that God is interested in how much you give him, per se. 

A poor widow once gave but two small coins to God, and Jesus was much more pleased with that gift than the larger gifts offered by the rich.  (Mark 12:41-44).

What God is interested in is your heart.  Does he have your heart? 

When you give of your time, your money, or your efforts, are you giving him the leftovers?  The things you don’t need?  Or are you giving him the first and best of what you have?

Don’t you think the King of kings is worth that much?

All of us are given gifts by God. 

But sometimes, it can be easy to forget who these gifts are really for.  And it’s not for ourselves, nor for our glory. 

Rather, it is to be used to serve others for the sake of God’s kingdom.

As you look at these chapters, you can see how Solomon did exactly that.  You see it in the justice he gave in the dispute between the two women.

And you can see it in how the people thrived under his rule.  It says in 1 Kings 4:20,

The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy.

The other thing that strikes me about this passage is that Solomon made good use of his gifts and he worked hard to get the most of them. 

It says in verse 33,

He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls.

He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish.

I strongly doubt that this was information that God simply planted in Solomon’s brain. 

Rather, it seems that Solomon actually took the time to study these things, and as he did, God gave him insight to what he studied.

But I think the best thing that can be said about Solomon is that he made sure he passed on what he knew to others.

He wrote over 3000 proverbs, sharing his wisdom and knowledge not only to his own people in Israel, but to others around the world. 

And because of this, it brought glory to God.

How about you?  What gifts do you have?  Are you using them well?  Are you using them for others and God’s kingdom? 

If you are, then you too will bring glory to God. 

Let us be light in this world through the gifts that God has given us. 

As Jesus said,

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16) 

I won’t lie and say that this passage doesn’t bother me to some extent, namely David’s charge to Solomon concerning Joab and Shimei.

His orders concerning Joab bother me not because Joab didn’t deserve death. 

Joab should have been punished twice before, first when he killed Abner, and then when he killed Amasa.

These were two generals that he killed probably because he feared they would take his place as commander of the armies of Israel.

What bothers me is that David never did anything himself concerning Joab.  He left it to his son. 

So what was done to Joab was probably justice, but it was quite delayed.  And I’m not convinced that David’s motives were all that good.

His order concerning Shimei bothers me even more.  Here he swore that he wouldn’t kill Shimei, but then he tells Solomon to make sure that Shimei doesn’t die in peace.

I suppose by God’s law, Shimei was guilty of cursing the ruler of Israel.  And cursing a ruler was probably considered a capital offense. (It was linked with blaspheming God in Exodus 22:28. See also I Kings 21:13). 

But considering that David pardoned Shimei, it doesn’t seem right to me that he ask his son to kill him.

Still, Shimei would not have died had he followed King Solomon’s command to stay in Jerusalem, a command that Shimei fully understood and said he accepted. 

So while one can argue about whether or not David was right in asking for his death, Shimei had no one to blame for his death but himself.

And finally Adonijah, Solomon’s brother. 

He apparently had not given up on his ambitions for the throne as his request to Bathsheba proved. 

A request to marry the concubine of a previous king was just as good as a making claim to the throne back in those days. 

And with that act, Adonijah lost the mercy he had received from Solomon when he had first made his claim to the throne against David’s wishes.

What can we get from all of this?  I don’t want to push the analogy too far, mostly because of the issues I have with David’s commands to Solomon.

But it does occur to me, that there is a truth we can get from all this. 

Namely, a day of judgment is coming.  And while like David, God shows forbearance by often putting off or withholding judgment, if we do not change our ways, judgment will eventually come.

We might think to ourselves, as perhaps Joab did, “Well, God hasn’t done anything bad to me so far.  I’m just doing my own thing, and life is great.” 

But they mistake God’s forbearance with the idea that judgment will not come at all.  Ultimately, however, as with Joab, judgment will come.

Like Adonijah or Shimei, we might reject God as our king.

And though we know what God has said, and we know his warnings to us if we continue to live our own way, we continue to ignore those warnings and do our own thing. 

But like Adonijah and Shimei, God’s forbearance will not last forever.  And judgment will come.

This is not a pleasant message to hear.  Nobody likes to hear about God’s judgment.  But it is a reality. 

The thing you need to ask yourself is this:  am I ready for that day? 

The only way you’ll be ready is to give your heart to Jesus, believe that he died on the cross for your sins and receive him as Lord of your life. 

And by making him your king, all your sins will be pardoned, not just temporarily, but forever.

Is Jesus your king?

Be a man!

How often in society do we hear this charge to the young men. 

Even in the Old Testament, fathers gave their sons this charge. 

On David’s deathbed, he told Solomon who was to succeed him as king, “Act like a man.”  (1 Kings 2:2)

But what does it mean to act like a man? 

For a lot of people today, it means many things. 

But in speaking to Solomon, David meant, “Be strong.”

“When the world comes against you, stand strong.  Don’t wilt under the pressure.”

Being a man means something more than just being strong, however. 

David went on to tell Solomon,

Observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses.

Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go.  (3)

A lot of young men think that to be man, they need to do their own thing.  To be completely independent. 

But to David, being a man meant following hard after God.  To listen to and follow the voice of God.  And ultimately to submit yourself to the lordship of the one who is Lord of all. 

That is what being a man is all about.

How about you?  Young men (and for that matter older men), are you being a man? 

Are you submitting yourself to God, and seeking to do his will? 

Or are you seeking to do your own?

For you younger single women, what kind of man are you seeking?  Do you understand the kind of man that God wants you to marry? 

Remember that a true man, more than anything else, puts himself under the lordship of Jesus Christ.  What kind of man are you seeking?  What kind of man are you with now?

Let us all be men and women who follow hard after God.

The timing for events is a little shaky in my mind, so my chronology may be a bit off.  But for now, I’ll put this event in front of David’s preparations for the temple.

Here again, we see family problems for David.  This time, Adonijah is the one causing it, trying to take for himself what David had promised Solomon:  the king’s throne.

And again, this is partly due to David’s failures as a father.  As verse 6 says,

[Adonijah’s) father (David) had never interfered with him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” (1 Kings 1:6)

So now, here is Adonijah, and one day he decides, “I will be king.” 

He calls people in to support him:  priests, David’s general Joab, and others.

But ultimately, his attempts failed as Nathan the prophet found about it and warned David and Bathsheba about what Adonijah was doing.

Solomon was crowned king, and in his mercy, he spared Adonijah (at least for the moment).

The story is very reminiscent of what many people do today.  They say in their hearts, “I will be king.” 

And I’m not talking about becoming ruler of a country.  Rather, they take the throne of their hearts, and shove God to the side. 

Rather than letting God rule, they try to rule themselves.  But in the end, it leads to disaster.

A lot of people think of sin as just doing bad things.  But sin at its base is not trusting God to be king of your life, and taking the throne for yourself. 

It was the sin of Satan.  It was the sin of Adam and Eve.  And it’s the sin of every single person on this earth today. 

Time and again, we take the throne of our hearts, and shove God to the side.

As a result, we hurt God, we hurt each other, and we hurt ourselves.  And unless we repent, a time will come when God will take his rightful throne, and we will be judged for taking what is his.

What about you?  Have your surrendered the throne of your heart to God?  Have you given what is rightfully his back to him? 

Or are you still holding on to the throne in your heart?