9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.” (NIV)
Let’s put Solomon’s story into its context. Eleven chapters ago, old King David lay shivering in his bed while his son Adonijah plotted to take the throne away from David’s heir, his younger son Solomon. The important players in those days were Solomon’s mother Bathsheba and David’s spiritual advisor, the prophet Nathan. David had a good relationship with them, and he wasn’t afraid to admit that he was wrong when he was wrong. That quality doesn’t always come hand-in-hand with faith. When David finally won the throne back for Solomon (just months or even weeks before his death), we were given this report about Solomon: He “loved the Lord” (1 Kings 3:3). Now we’ve been told that he “loved many foreign women” (1 Kings 11:1). Those are the bookends of Solomon’s reign. All of the pretty gold and pleasant smelling spices and the politically savvy treaties and the first and only viable navy that Israel even had are bounded by these two statements, and the second one makes them all stink like rotten potatoes in the potato drawer. One end might look okay, but if the other end is spoiled, what good is it?
The end of Solomon’s reign was spoiled. Solomon’s many, many marriages (many or most of them for political purposes) had caused his faith to stumble. The Lord’s judgment of Solomon’s sin is on his attitude (Hebrew ya’an), not his action. If we go back to Solomon’s prayer for wisdom in chapter 3, we see the Lord using the same word, ya’an, to show his pleasure with Solomon’s request, where he says literally “Since your attitude (ya’an) is to ask for this [wisdom] and not for long life or wealth…” (1 Kings 3:11). Later in 1 Kings 8:18, God also complemented Solomon for having the intention (ya’an, NIV “in your heart”) to build a temple. This is the same ya’an attitude for which God praised Abraham as a way of showing his faith with his life (Genesis 22:16). Solomon’s attitude was no longer to be true to God.
So why did Solomon fall into sin? For the same reason I do. For the same reason you do. He had a sinful nature. Solomon fell, and his sins had consequences. I and many other theologians feel that Solomon seems to have repented later in life (his book of Ecclesiastes is the work of an old man, looking back at his folly and his sins, and turning back to God). But that doesn’t change the fact that sometimes our sins bring consequences with them, even sins we repent of.
We will see some of those consequences as the rest of this chapter unfolds, but we should also take time to examine our own lives, repent of our own sins, and remember that we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, who died to pay the eternal penalty and suffer the consequences for our sins.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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