Solomon's Fall from God - The Books of 1 Kings & 2 Chronicles

In this Bible Story, we behold the vast wisdom of the Philosopher King Solomon. However, Solomon had a weakness for women. He amasses a harem of hundreds of wives and concubines from other nations. Eventually, he began to worship foreign gods. This story is inspired by 1 Kings 10-11:25, 42-43 & 2 Chronicles 9. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is 1 Kings 11:11 from the King James Version.

Episode 116: Under Solomon, Israel became such a wonder that rulers and dignitaries from all over the world would come to visit. One such visitor was the queen of Sheba, who came from far away with questions and a caravan of gifts. When she arrived and after she had left, she was amazed at the kindness, wealth, and wisdom of King Solomon. But all of Solomon's wisdom could not keep him from the sin developing in his heart. Because of this, Solomon would lose the united kingdom of Israel that God had placed under him.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon. Forasmuch
as this is done of THEE, and thou hast not
kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded Thee,
I will surely rend the kingdom from THEE and will
give it to thy servant first Kings. Eleven eleven, Heavenly Father,

(00:23):
with every new breath that I take, and as I
watch you bring goodness and increase into my life, help
me not to forget that apart from you and your presence,
there is no true life. I will not forget that
it is in You that I live, I breathe, and
I have my being. So when temptations and the pleasures

(00:48):
of this world try to lure me from your path
of godliness, I will hold fast and combat the lie
that life is better without you. I will reject the
many I that will try to divide me from your divinity.
Like Solomon in his latter years, I will speak to
my mind and heart and command it to remember the

(01:10):
God of your youth, the God who has always been there, guiding, loving,
protecting me on the way to my design destiny. I
confess that my future is secure as long as I
secure myself in your ways. God, Thank you for preserving
me and protecting me and drifting away from my spiritual foundation.

(01:35):
You Lord in Jesus name, Amen. Listening to these daily
prayers strengthens your relationship with God. Continue hearing from the
Lord by listening to today's Bible in a Year, brought
to you by Bible in a Year dot com.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Solomon's fall from God. In our last story, the Temple
of God was finally built. David's dream to see God's
home amongst the people of Israel had finally been fulfilled
through his son Solomon. King Solomon dedicated the temple to God,
and a new age of peace fell upon the Hebrews

(02:27):
for the first time in their history. In this story,
Solomon meets the Queen of Sheba and slowly begins to
fall from God. Solomon will seek to fill a hole
in his heart with women as his final years bring
war to the land of Israel. Inspired by the books
of First Kings and Second.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Chronicles, Hi, this is Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode
of the Bible in a Year podcast. In our lastep,
we heard how Solomon built the Temple for the Lord,
a glorious temple Israel was in a time of unprecedented
prosperity and peace, and the people gathered to worship God

(03:12):
in this magnificent temple that Solomon had built, the place
where God's presence would dwell among them. But as we
will hear today, as Solomon's fame grew, bringing wise men
and royals from far and wide to seek his council,
he became distracted by things other than God. It would
spell the end of peace for Israel and mar his

(03:33):
legacy forever. So let's listen now to today's reading from
God's Word.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Under the rule of Solomon, Israel became the crown jewel
of the Eastern world. Kings and queens of all nations
would visit Israel to marvel at Solomon's temple, libraries, architecture, gardens,
and fields. Solomon's fames spread across the deserts, forests, and ranges.

(04:01):
Wise men and women would travel far and wide to
seek his counsel. He was the heralded philosopher king, and
all adored his kind and wise nature. One day a
caravan emerged from the south. A sea of camels, jewels, spices,
and gold paraded into the city streets. At the top

(04:23):
of her carriage, pulled by prized camels, the Queen of
Sheba sat lounging in the mild Israeli sun. She had
heard of Solomon's great wisdom and sought to ask him
questions of ethics, politics, philosophy, and theology. Solomon watched as
the Queen's caravan filled Jerusalem like a golden river. He

(04:45):
beckoned her into his palace, and the two spoke of
deep things among his gardens. The queen had profound questions
and challenging problems that needed solving. However, nothing was too
hard for the king. Gently and kindly, Solomon walked the
queen through every issue. She was amazed at his wisdom.
She had not realized just how knowledgeable the king truly was,

(05:09):
nor did she expect the riches of Israel to be
so vast and immaculate. She watched the way Solomon's servants
worked diligently and with joy. She awed at the warship
in the temple, and she could not understand the depth
of Solomon's kindness despite his riches. I had heard much
about your country and its achievements, the queen said, However,

(05:32):
it has exceeded my wildest dreams. A smile came across
her face. How happy your people must be to live here,
and how happy your officials must be to learn under you.
Praise your God for what has happened here. Then she
gave Solomon a gift of nine thousand pounds of gold,
along with spices and precious jewels. After saying goodbyes, the

(05:55):
queen departed, determined to bring similar wisdom and joy to
her land. Solomon was gifted with great wisdom and riches,
yet even his intellect and wealth could not protect him
from the darkness within his own heart. Solomon slowly began
to search for meaning in things other than God. His
heart often wandered aimlessly, seeking satisfaction and carnal activities. Solomon

(06:21):
had a love for foreign women. What started as marriages
to form alliances quickly turned into a sick addition to
new women and new pleasures. Besides his first wife from Egypt,
Solomon married women from Moab, amman Edom, Sidon, and Hittite.
He immersed himself in the strange sexual practices of other cultures.

(06:44):
Soon his mind began to wander into the dark recesses
of other religions. This is why the Lord had strictly
warned the people of Israel to not marry those with
other gods. Solomon was reaping the terrible consequences of his
Actionslomon amassed a harem of seven hundred wives and three
hundred concubines, Continually wanting to satisfy himself with new women,

(07:08):
he began to forget what it meant to love faithfully.
Solomon's heart began to fall from God. Solomon had built
the Temple of God for this. He would be remembered
forever for his faithfulness. However, his union with many different
cultures and nations also led him to build shrines and
altars to false gods. With each passing year, Solomon would

(07:31):
give a peace of his soul over to a new God.
This caused a deep anger in God, he had gently
warned Solomon many times. However, his heart was corrupted, just
as his ancestors in the wilderness. God's wrath burned against Solomon,
and he decided to divide his kingdom among his descendants.

(07:51):
As Solomon engaged in his sexual idle worship, rebels and
adversaries began to emerge from the depths of Israel, giving
Solomon and his first taste of war. Rebellion from the
east and south began to emerge, and Solomon was finally
called to war. His era of peace had been interrupted
by doubt, bloodshed, and conflict. This was a representation of

(08:16):
Solomon's heart. For the last years of Solomon's life, he
warred against rebellion and felt no peace. For forty years
Solomon ruled over Israel. He brought the nation into an
unprecedented era of peace. His heart to worship God reflected
his father's, and his wisdom gave him more riches than

(08:36):
he could ever have imagined. However, the last few years
of his rule was marked with woe. Towards the end
of his life, Solomon's writings became contemplative and sorrowful. He
reflected on the meaningless pursuit of knowledge, riches, and success.
As his eyes began to dim and his bones grew brittle,
Solomon finally came to the understanding that there is no

(08:59):
meaning in life apart from God's presence. With his dying breath,
he praised God and his son Ria Boam took his
place as king.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
As we begin today's passage, Solomon has become a man
of great renown, not only in Israel, but all around
the world. Word of his wisdom and kindness spread far
and wide to kings and queens and sages from distant lands,
just as God had promised him. Solomon's wisdom was matched
by no one, but his wealth and prosperity was also

(09:35):
without equal. It was an opportunity for Israel to be
a shining witness to the rest of the world. As
when the Queen of Sheba came to see Solomon, she
was impressed by his great mind and by the wealth
that she saw in his country. She even seemed to
praise God for what he had done for Israel, But
in reality she wasn't interested as much in the giver

(09:56):
of blessings as she was in the blessings and all
the benefits themselves. Though she had a chance to turn
to God, the One True God, and honor him, what
she really wanted in the end were the riches. Unfortunately,
it wasn't just the Queen of Sheba who missed the
point of things. As his fame and influence grew, Solomon's

(10:17):
attentions turned away from God and then came the gratifying
of the flesh. Like so many before him, Solomon's appetite
for sexual pleasure clouded his vision, and being a man
of such power and influence, he was able to take
many wives for himself. As he would later write in Ecclesiastes,

(10:39):
Solomon denied himself nothing he desired. That is a recipe
for disaster. He married women from many different countries, women
who worshiped other gods. Taking wives from other nations was
against God's will, and in First Kings eleven, verse two,
we hear why you shall not enter into marriage with them,

(11:01):
neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn
away your heart after their gods. But Solomon, for all
of his wisdom, ignored God's command, and sure enough his
heart became divided. He took more than seven hundred wives
and three hundred concubines, and each of these unions chipped
away at his relationship with the Lord and his ability

(11:24):
to lead. Despite multiple warnings from God, Solomon allowed himself
to be corrupted by lust, and eventually God's anger could
be held back no more. The peace that Israel had
experienced was shattered as wars broke out once more. Not
only that, but Solomon's own peace was destroyed and sorrow

(11:46):
filled his heart. For much of his latter years. Because
of his persistent sin, God would split the kingdom intwo,
but this would not happen until his son Raya Boam
became king. It is the tragic result of sin and unfaithfulness,
and it is a powerful reminder that what Israel needed,
what we all need, is a king that was not

(12:08):
just wise, but one who is perfectly good and pure.
And there is only one king who is above all kings.
He would one day rise from the House of David
as Savior and Lord and give us the power to
defeat sin. Jesus is the king of kings and the
Lord of lords. Solomon came to understand at the end

(12:31):
of his life what his father knew, that there is
nothing that compares to being in God's presence. Solomon repented
and praised God once more before he went to his
final rest and the kingdom passed into the hands of
his son Raaboam. Would the new king model the wisdom
of his father, or was Israel headed for more pain.

(12:52):
We'll find out the next time. Dear God, we remember
the words of the hymn which says, prone to wander, Lord,
I feel it prone to leave the God I love
we are all prone to leave the God that we love,
just like Solomon. We want to wander. But God, we

(13:13):
ask you to move in our hearts to sanctify and
purify us, and by your grace and because of your forgiveness,
that we would live holy and godly lives. Help us
to keep our eyes on you and to worship you
and you only. May you be our King and our Lord,
forever and ever. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's

(13:36):
Bible and a Year podcast. I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas.
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(13:57):
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