1Kings 11:1-8
Solomon, How The Mighty Have Fallen!
There is no question but that Solomon was to be a great king.
1. He was King David’s son, hand picked, raised, and trained to succeed him.
2. He also had the heart of his father. \\#1Kings 3:5-15\\ When granted
one wish from God, Solomon asked God for wisdom to lead the people.
3. God then gave to Solomon more wisdom and knowledge than any man has ever
had.
Yet, Solomon would fail God and Israel. His spiritual legacy to Israel would
be that he turned them away from worshipping God. His political legacy would
be that he reared the child that lead the country into a civil war.
There is an important lesson to be learned here, i.e even the mighty can fall.
If the mighty can fall, how much more so should the common people be watchful.
Solomon seems to have fallen for three reasons:
I. Solomon spent too much time minding the fleshly.
A. I don’t mean this in a super critical fashion for I can think of
several reasons he was that way.
1. Solomon didn’t have the filling of the Holy Spirit as we.
a. We take the Holy Ghost largely for granted or, even worse,
we ignore Him.
b. However, if we allow Him to direct us, He will make us far
more spirit conscious.
(1) He will remind us that we are eternal beings.
(2) He will remind us that others are eternal beings.
(3) He will remind us that the eternal things are the things
that will last.
c. Solomon didn’t have the Holy Ghost like you and I have Him.
2. Rather, most of Solomon blessings were physical.
a. Solomon had all that that the world could offer him—far more
than the average man would ever have to deal with.
b. Of course, all of his things were given to him by God.
1Kings 3:11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast
not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast
asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to
discern judgment;
12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and
an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither
after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and
honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy
days.
14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments,
as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
c. He had wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, which are all
good things to have, but he also had…
(1) …riches (more wealth than you and I can comprehend),
(2) …honor (people respected and revered him),
(3) ….and he had power (he was the king of the greatest
kingdom on earth).
d. With all of those things go great temptations and I am sure
he was always preoccupied with earthly things.
(1) By the way, you and I may not be as wealthy as Solomon
or has well known, but we are likely preoccupied with
earthly things.
(2) Isn’t it strange how all of our worldly possession are
supposed to save us time but we spend more time caring
for our possessions than ever before?!
B. All of Solomon’s blessings seemed to keep him world bound.
1. He had worldly possessions and responsibilities that were
staggering.
1Kings 4:21 And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land
of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and
served Solomon all the days of his life.
22 And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and
threescore measures of meal,
23 Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep,
beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.
26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve
thousand horsemen.
27 And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came
unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing.
28 Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the
place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.
2. Even the spiritual gifts that Solomon had required his physical
time and energy.
1Kings 4:29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and
largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
30 And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east
country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
32 And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
33 And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the
hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and
of creeping things, and of fishes.
34 And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of
the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.
a. He wrote songs and wrote and memorized proverbs.
b. He studied trees, birds, animals, fish.
c. He built great structures.
d. He amassed great riches.
e. He used his mind and riches to become one of the most popular
and well-honored men not only of his time but in all time!
3. Certainly he should not have neglected the great gifts that God
gave to him. To do so would bring…
a. poverty….
b. label him as foolish…
3. and for a king, brought woe on a scale that we might find
difficult to imagine.
4. Yet, all of this is fleshly occupation.
a. Materialism and mental prowess are good, but they will only
carry you so far!
(1) They can not give you satisfaction.
(2) They can not give you peace nor power with God!
b. Many, in their youth, make the mistake of hooking their cart
to the mental and materialistic wagon only to achieve a level
of greatest in this world accompanied by an equally great
level of misery!
5. Solomon documented the misery his earthly pursuits gave him.
\\#Ecc 2:1-17\\
Ecc 2:17 Therefore I hated life….
C. While we can’t neglect our earthly life, neither should we neglect
the spiritual.
1. Solomon’s father, David, with much less knowledge and wisdom, was
still able to build a great kingdom AND serve God!
2. Private (Bible reading and prayer) and public worship (church
with good singing and praising) are both necessary.
3. Putting God first in life, serving Him faithfully, keeping His
commandments, are all essential elements of a spiritual life.
4. It matters not who you are or what you do, if you are too busy
for God, you are too busy!
II. Solomon behaved as though there were two sets of standards.
A. \\#1Kings 11:1-8\\ Herein is the truth that makes most of the
mighty fall! Solomon committed sins that he would not have allowed
others to get away with.
1. \\#1Kings 3:1\\ He married wives of other nations who
worshipped other gods.
a. This is expressly forbidden in the Old Testament law.
b. No doubt, Solomon married the first one early and for
political reasons. (Sadly, this might have been something
that even Kind David did!)
c. That is no excuse!
d. But even so, he continued to do so! \\#1Kings 11:1-3\\
2. \\#1Kings 11:4\\ He allowed these women to bring their gods
with them!
3. \\#1Kings 11:5-8\\ He eventually built temples to these gods
and worshipped them himself!
4. Solomon not only set himself above the law in matters of women,
he also tried to have Jeroboam killed.
a. Jeroboam was the man God appointed to take the ten tribes of
Israel away from the line of Solomon.
1 Kings 11:40 Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and
fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of
Solomon.
b. There is not do doubt that Solomon would have punished another
for doing what he did!
B. There are no double standards.
1. What is right is right for all.
a. politicians and citizens d. husbands and wives
b. rich and poor e. bosses and employees
c. older and younger f. pastors and members
d. parents and children
2. If something is wrong, it is wrong for everyone all the time.
C. I hate to say it, but Solomon became a hypocrite!
1. What is a hypocrite? Some one with one set of standards for
himself and another set for others.
2. One can’t help but to wonder did Solomon, the king of Israel and
Israel’s highest judge, ever condemn someone else for one of
these actions?
3. If so, he fulfilled the very image of the hypocrite that Jesus
warned against.
Luke 6:42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the
mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in
thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye,
and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.
4. Hypocrisy will do several things for you.
a. It will eliminate the respect people have for you.
b. It will ruin any testimony you have for Christ.
Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut
up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither
suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
c. It will bring the judgment of God down on you.
D. You might also note how sins works it way in. It starts small and
slow but before long it is a raging storm!
1. The Grand Canyon wasn’t carved in a day.
2. Neither do homes crumble, children become delinquent, or
Christians backslide in a day.
III. Solomon had no accountability.
A. This is a common mistake that people make.
1. I am seeing the danger of this more and more.
2. We condemn most politicians, even if we don’t know them.
a. Why?
b. Because they have power without accountability.
c. Even if we don’t know them, we assume they are abusing power
because we do know there is no one watching them.
3. We should also understand the danger of adulthood without
accountability.
a. When a child becomes 18, all the ropes of accountability seem
to be loosed.
b. Maybe a child doesn’t have unlimited power, wealth, or even
time, but it doesn’t take a lot of power, wealth, and time
to dig a hole so big that you fall into it.
B. Everybody must have somebody to which to be accountable, even a
king.
1. Saul had Samuel.
2. David had his Nathan. \\#2Sam 12:7\\
3. No prophet is recorded as speaking to Solomon!
a. Apparently, when Nathan died, Solomon sought no voice from God
to stand before him.
b. There is no mention of a prophet from 1Kings 2, just after
Solomon’s anointing to be king, and 1Kings 11, when God issues
the judgment against Solomon for his evil behavior.
4. That means there was no political power, no parental power, and no
religious power looking over Solomon’s actions! No wonder he got
himself into so much trouble!
C. What kind of authorities should we willingly have in our lives?
1. Your parents
a. No matter how old you get, keep your parents watchful eye
over you.
b. Just because the law no longer says they can tell you what to
do, doesn’t mean they suddenly grew stupid.
c. If they have given you good advice and counsel for 16, 18, 20
years, don’t suppose they suddenly ran out.
2. Your mate
a. When you got married, supposedly, it was to a person you
respected.
b. Learn to listen to each other.
c. More often than not, it is the man who will not listen to his
wife.
(1) That is a deadly and proud mistake.
(2) Men like to say, "God gave me the authority."
(3) Fine. You have the authority, but He gave her the sense.
(4) You better listen to her.
d. God does speak to women.
(1) In fact, God gives to women discernment men don’t have.
(2) Remember, women are helpmates given to us to make up for
areas that we aren’t programmed to handle.
(3) It is a foolish person who does not listen to his or her
mate about finances, time, disciplining the children,
investments, jobs, and even leisure activities.
3. The law
a. The Bible makes no bones about it. God gave us law to help us
to do right.
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no
power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and
they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
b. I know there are a few bad apples in the legal profession like
there are in all profession, but most of us aren’t going to
get so deep in the barrel that it will matter.
4. Good friends
a. Not just friends, but good friends.
b. Everybody needs to select folk that bring out the best in them
for friends, those who inspire them to be their best—not
their worst.
5. Your church and pastor
a. Listen to your pastor and watch the behavior of your church.
b. If you have the right kind of pastor and church, they will
help keep you living straight in a crooked world.
Solomon started out well but somewhere in life, he changed horses. He got off
the SERVE GOD horse and got on the SERVE ME horse. Thinking that life was about
pleasure, fame, and worldly pursuits, he ended up judged by God. Let us make
certain that we mount, ride, and finish on the SERVE GOD horse.
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