We all know of Solomon. Ah, Solomon, the greatest of the ancient kings. Even the story of David his father struggles to hold a candle to this magnificent ruler who led Israel in her glory days.
Solomon’s wisdom was legendary. Yet, what he loved was equally legendary, and it was his legendary love that brought him down in the end.
1 Kings 11:1-43 tells the story, and it begins like this:
“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 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. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
“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. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites…”
When Solomon died, the kingdom was divided, with Solomon’s heir retaining only the smaller part.
Wisdom and love. Having one does not mean we will be wise with the other.
So, we are to our real question. What do we love? To answer that question, we must ask: What do we give our time to? What do we give our money to? What do we push others away to make room for? What takes our focus when our focus should be on God’s plan to redeem our fellow man?
Solomon’s love pulled him from his God, and his legacy was diminished to a pittance. How will our loves affect those connected to us? Does work take our time from our kids? Does gambling take food from our tables? Does hard living take years from our lives?
We want Solomon’s wisdom, but let’s watch what we love. If it takes over our lives, we may lose everything else.
What we love is reflected in how we live.
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