1 Kings

The book of 1 Kings.

11. Solomon’s Wives and Idolatry

God promised that David’s throne would be established forever. However, David himself fell into grievous sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed for his own gain.

Psalm 132:11-12: The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.”

Did David’s sons keep the covenant?

Amnon, the oldest son, raped his half-sister Tamar and was in turn assassinated by his half-brother Absalom. (2 Samuel 13) Then, Absalom staged a rebellion against his own father and publicly committed incest by taking all his father’s concubines (2 Samuel 16). In the end he was slain for it. (2 Samuel 18) Solomon finally secured his father’s throne for himself after David’s death but only after executing his brother Adonijah, who he perceived as making a play for power. (1 Kings 2) While Solomon was a wise and mighty king who made Israel very wealthy and built the temple in Jerusalem, in the end even his heart turned after other gods.

1 Kings 11:1–4

11 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

This is why it is important that young men seek wives who are believers, or else they will turn their heart away from God. This is also why it is important that young men keep away from pornography. We live in an age where anyone can have a thousand “concubines” hidden in his pocket. If you love these images, your heart is not wholly true to the Lord, and you can’t presume to have his blessing.

The Lord Raises Adversaries

9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. 11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. 12 Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.” (1 Kings 11:9-13)

God must punish idolatry. Yet, God had also promised David’s line an eternal throne. He had not forgotten. Sin had to be punished in the short term. But in the long run, he was still working to bring about the good of all men.

Despite God’s repeated mercies, all of this idolatry, blood and destruction within the king’s household would carry on through the generations, getting worse and worse as time went on. Under Solomon’s son Rehoboam, the kingdom would be split in two, between the Kingdom of Judah and the rest of Israel. As the people and their leaders kept on sinning and practicing idolatry in both of these kingdoms, God rose up different enemies and empires that would come and punish them for their wickedness.

All this sorrow goes back to the sin of God’s chosen king, David. Even though he repented, his sin and failures set the whole nation on a bad trajectory. And rather than be repentant the way their father was, his sons took their father’s sin and accelerated it. We should consider that when we confess and repent our sins. We don’t want to carry on or multiply the sins of our earthly fathers. We don’t want our sons to carry on with our sins. But regardless of our trials, we can have more hope than ever before, because ultimately our destiny doesn’t depend on our own efforts or sinlessness, but the sinless efforts of Jesus. We have a heavenly Father who is perfect, and he is working in our hearts to make us perfect sons.

Even though we are not faithful generation to generation, God is.

Psalm 89 sings of this at length:

19 Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said:

    “I have granted help to one who is mighty;

    I have exalted one chosen from the people.

20 I have found David, my servant;

    with my holy oil I have anointed him,

21 so that my hand shall be established with him;

    my arm also shall strengthen him.

22 The enemy shall not outwit him;

    the wicked shall not humble him.

23 I will crush his foes before him

    and strike down those who hate him.

24 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,

    and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

25 I will set his hand on the sea

    and his right hand on the rivers.

26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,

    my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

27 And I will make him the firstborn,

    the highest of the kings of the earth.

28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,

    and my covenant will stand firm for him.

29 I will establish his offspring forever

    and his throne as the days of the heavens.

30 If his children forsake my law

    and do not walk according to my rules,

31 if they violate my statutes

    and do not keep my commandments,

32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod

    and their iniquity with stripes,

33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love

    or be false to my faithfulness.

34 I will not violate my covenant

    or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;

    I will not lie to David.

36 His offspring shall endure forever,

    his throne as long as the sun before me.

37 Like the moon it shall be established forever,

    a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

38 But now you have cast off and rejected;

    you are full of wrath against your anointed.

39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant;

    you have defiled his crown in the dust.

40 You have breached all his walls;

    you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

41 All who pass by plunder him;

    he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;

    you have made all his enemies rejoice.

43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword,

    and you have not made him stand in battle.

44 You have made his splendor to cease

    and cast his throne to the ground.

45 You have cut short the days of his youth;

    you have covered him with shame. Selah

46 How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?

    How long will your wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember how short my time is!

    For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

48 What man can live and never see death?

    Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

49 Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,

    which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

50 Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,

    and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,

51 with which your enemies mock, O Lord,

    with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

52 Blessed be the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen. (Psalm 89:19-52)

This psalm poetically captures the paradox of God’s faithfulness in the midst of our faithlessness. It praises God for all he has done, but it also begs him to remember what he has promised to do in times where it seems like he has forgotten. It teaches us that in the midst of disaster, God has still promised restoration. There is wrath and punishment for sin, but there is still an everlasting covenant where our souls will be delivered from death.

Even today, the servants of God are unjustly mocked and insulted throughout the world. This is one way that we share in Christ’s glory, by enduring scorn for the sake of love. However, sometimes we are mocked justly and punished because of things we have truly done wrong. We can seek power and authority all we want, but if that is not matched with holiness than our earthly efforts will only end in ruin, the way that the glory of the kings of Israel was ruined and subjugated over faithless generations.

Expanded Thoughts

This is one of the most personal subjects someone can talk about, but if any of the mentors are prepared and willing, they should share some of the problems of intergenerational sin that they or their family has had to deal with, with all respect and appropriateness.

Key Take Aways

Sons accelerate and multiply what their fathers begin, for good or for evil.

Even though God has promised us glorious things, because of our sin there may be many trials still ahead.

We need to call on God to remember his promises.

Discussion Questions

Was David just a bad father?

What are little things we can do now as sons to be more faithful to our father, and as fathers to raise up faithful sons?

Is it possible to raise your own sons perfectly and make sure they stay on the right path?