Yahweh Appears to Solomon Twice Solomon became king in Israel after David, and Yahweh blessed him mightily. Solomon’s kingdom was unmatched in the world during his time. His wealth and power were immense, and people traveled from distant lands simply to hear him speak because of his wisdom. Shortly after Solomon became king, Yahweh appeared to him in a dream and said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.” Since he was young and inexperienced, Solomon asked Yahweh to give him “an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil.” Obviously, God was pleased with Solomon’s request because He gave him what he asked for, but He also gave him great wealth and power that he could have asked for but did not. Yahweh appeared to Solomon again when he dedicated the Temple and said, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My Name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.” This verse should cause alarm bells to ring out in the minds of people who believe Yahweh’s Word. Anyone who thinks he can bargain with the Temple Mount is asking for trouble. Mount Moriah is not a bargaining chip. For reasons known only to Him, Yahweh chose Mount Moriah, and He made it perfectly clear that His Name will reside there forever. God told Solomon He would bless him continually if he would simply obey His Word and follow after Him the way David had done. Wealth, power, and wisdom should have been enough for Solomon, but they were not. He turned his heart and his mind to other things, and it cost him dearly. Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, and it describes his journey through life. He sought to discover anything that could be discovered, and Ecclesiastes is a litany of the things Solomon did and the things he learned. There was a great debate about whether to include Ecclesiastes in the Bible, but eventually it was included for only one reason, its conclusion. The last two verses in Ecclesiastes sum up what Solomon learned in his quest to know everything: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” This conclusion is absolutely correct. It is a shame Solomon had to do the things he did to learn it. In 1 Kings 11: 9-11, Yahweh makes clear just how disappointed in Solomon He became: “Now Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what Yahweh had commanded. So Yahweh said to Solomon, ‘Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear your kingdom from you….’” You may be wondering what Solomon did that made Yahweh so angry. The details are in the Bible: “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonite, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which Yahweh had said to the sons of Israel, ‘You shall not associate with them, neither shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.’ Solomon held fast to these in love. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.” Before he died, Solomon built places of worship for Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Milcom the god of the Ammonites, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Molech the god of the Ammonites. He did these things to make his wives happy and to keep peace in his household, but there is no good excuse for what Solomon did. Idolatry was commonplace in Israel, and King Solomon set the example that many people followed to their own detriment. Yahweh was true to His Word. When Solomon died, God tore Israel into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Eventually, the Assyrians took Israel into captivity and scattered the people throughout the world. Today, the Northern Kingdom is known as “the ten lost tribes of Israel.” Most of the descendants of people from the Northern Kingdom are still scattered throughout the world. Later, the Babylonians took the Southern Kingdom into captivity. Most of them were allowed to return to Israel when Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonian Empire.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 09:37:02 +0000
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