Posted by Shofar/Liz
This is the conclusion of Chapter 9 HOW GOD FEELS ABOUT US. Please review Chapter 9 if you haven’t yet read it.
The key point from this chapter is that:
“God feels rejected and despised, reproached, ignored, and is provoked to anger. The Bible is replete with judgment from God for disobeying His Word and because of the way His people lived.”
ANGRY– God Grieved and Provoked to Anger
The most outstanding example of grieving and provoking God is found in the life of King Solomon, one of David’s 19 sons (1Chron 3), whose illustrious reign reached its zenith in power for Israel, but ended in great national apostasy. It is a picture of today’s America, a world super power that began as a God-fearing people in the land of the free, and has gradually become reduced to a weak, morally and now financially bankrupt nation. My generation that valued God, the Bible, prayer, patriotism, strong family values, honesty, etc. has now seen America become dysfunctional, corrupt, immoral, and bankrupt financially- a laughing stock among all nations as spoken of the nation of Israel in Deut 28:37.
King Solomon was the greatest disappointment to God, and would have been also to King David, who united the tribes of Israel and gave his kingdom to his son, only to have it later split into two warring factions. Both God and David had great expectations of Solomon’s leadership ability to rule righteously and to be a good example to his people. Prayers and prophecies were spoken over Solomon by his father David; and the Lord appeared to Solomon twice and exhorted him, so that he and the Israelites would be a blessed people, and that he would have a long life. The condition was that they must keep God’s commandments and walk in his ways (1Kings 3:5-14; 9:1-9). None of this came to be. Even with the wisdom, riches, and power God gave Solomon, before the end of his reign he was a dismal failure in the eyes of God and his subjects (1Kings 12:3-11).
In the often quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14, God told Solomon,
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
This ‘If…then promise’ of God came with a warning of what would happen if King Solomon and his people forsook God and committed idolatry (2 Chron 7:19-22). Disobedience of God meant being subject to His judgments, being cast out of His sight and being spoken ill of by other nations. This also applies to America and the rest of the world. America has rejected God and forsaken His ways. She has forgotten Him, grieved and provoked Him to anger with her sins and backsliding! God is calling us to repent and obey his commandments so that we will be blessed, and not incur His judgments!
FAILING GOD- Solomon’s Two Big ‘BUTS’
To learn the lessons God has for us in His Word requires study and meditation (2Tim 2:15), allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us what to learn and how to learn, e.g. looking for clues in key words like ‘if- then’, ‘because’, ‘ifs, ands and buts’ and for such conjunctions and other qualifying words. In the book of 1Kings, there are two chapters that begin with ‘BUT’ which revealed King Solomon’s character and how he fell from his place of favor with God, and his place of grandeur and power over his kingdom.
1Kings 7:1 gives us the first indication that the wise and noble king was headed toward trouble and disfavor with God. 1Kings 6:1 says that he began to build the house of the Lord in the fourth year of his reign and in the last verse in that chapter, it says he took seven years to build it. After he completed God’s house according to God’s and his father King David’s mandate and specifications, 1Kings Chapter 7 (KJV) begins,
“BUT SOLOMON was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house”.
Why would the scriptures be written this way and start with ‘BUT SOLOMON’? After building his house, he built a house “for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had taken to wife” (7:8) even after God had said to steer clear of dealings with the heathen nations (Deut 17:16-17).
God was squeezed out of Solomon’s heart and SELF began to reign instead, showing he really loved himself more than he loved God. Read about his reign in 1 Kings and 1, 2 Chronicles. He lived a life of excesses, pleasure, and luxury; he was a self-pleaser and self- indulgent. He desired more of everything he had: land, wealth, women, servants, not counting horses, chariots, and soldiers. He didn’t trust God for protection, but made military alliances, and married foreign wives from heathen nations to build up his military might. Solomon’s heart was filled with pride and vanity in his mighty accomplishments, as he described himself in the book of Ecclesiastes. This is the same Solomon whom God loved from his birth (2 Sam 2:24) and over whom great expectations were spoken in prophecies. His spectacular Golden Reign of Israel would take a turn and experience a free fall from God’s grace after the second ‘BUT’.
1Kings 11:1 begins,
“BUT king Solomon (defiantly) loved many foreign women: the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hitties;
1Kings 11:2-3 state,
“Of the very nations of whom the Lord said to the Israelites, You shall not mingle with them neither shall they mingle with you; for surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Yet Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned away his heart from God.” (AMP)
These are the only two places in 1Kings where the chapters begin with ‘BUT’ which point out important lessons for us, how God had contrary feelings toward Solomon!
King David warned Solomon to serve God ‘with a perfect heart and with a willing mind… but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever (1Chron 28:9), and in vs 20 he said.. he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, UNTIL thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD’. This was prophetic because Solomon’s falling away from God began to increase from that time on, and he became increasingly evil from the second ‘BUT’, when he made temples for his heathen wives and began to worship idols, burn incense and sacrifice unto their gods (11:8).
1Kings 11:6 & 9 state,
“And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father… And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice.”
Nehemiah 13:26 refers to Solomon’s sins,
“Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.”
Did God cast Solomon out as his father King David warned him? The Bible says that Solomon did not repent when told of his sins. His reign and life were cut short because he led his nation into idolatry. While his father David fought to finally unite the twelve tribes of Israel, after the death of Solomon, the nation of Israel was divided into the northern and southern kingdoms.
2Chron 7:19 describes what happened to Israel,
“But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.”
Because King Solomon ignored 2 Chron 7:14, a covenant between the people and God, the land was not healed. Today, after about 3,000 years, though Israel is once more united as a nation, Israel is in great turmoil and trouble as many nations of the world hate and want to destroy her. Israel has become a “byword among all nations.” (2Chron 7:20).
SOLOMON LEFT HIS FIRST LOVE!
The story of the life of Solomon is a sad one indeed. God blessed him with the answer to his prayer to have a wise and understanding heart to judge his people, discern between good and bad, and in addition gave him “riches and honour so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days” (1Kings 3:9-13). However, before the end of his reign he was grossly backslidden, had oppressed his subjects with heavy taxes and made them work hard on the expansion of his kingdom (1Kings 12:4,11), and most significantly, led Israel into idolatry as he built temples for his many heathen wives and worshipped their many gods. An explanation for Solomon’s downfall from a place of respect and honour to one of disgrace is that Solomon LEFT HIS FIRST LOVE, HIS LOVE FOR GOD! (Rev 2:4) Solomon “did evil in the sight of the LORD” and the LORD was angry that he did not obey His commandments (1Kings 11:6, 9-10).
Solomon had found other ‘loves’ in his life of opulence- world renowned status, unsurpassed wealth, great political power, and lust for an unimaginable harem of women. He disobeyed God, rejected Him, forsook and forgot God and God’s Word to Him, provoking God to anger that brought curses and judgments upon the nation of Israel. Upon King Solomon’s death, Israel split into the northern and southern kingdoms, was steep into idolatry, and lost its place of power, and until today Israel suffers hatred by many nations.
(END OF CHAPTER 9)
Please refer to the TOP TAB BAR ‘Current Events and Eschatology’ to read about the ongoing Middle East Crisis, recent fighting and continuing hostilities between Gaza and Israel, the threat of the Ezekiel 38-39 War, etc.
Tags: Foolish King Solomon, God Despised and Ignored, God Forgotten and Rejected, God Grieved and His Name is Reproached, God Provoked to Anger, Greatest Failure That Ever Lived, Israel, Judgments for Idolatry, Kingdom Divided, Left First Love, Rejection of God's Word
UPDATED-So what was the prophetic meaning of the Gaza-Israel operation ‘Pillar of Cloud’? Isaiah 19:4 comes to mind
Posted by Shofar/Liz
God is in control; let His kingdom come and His will be done according as He has purposed it.
Article Courtesy of, The End Time: Watchmen Chronicling the End of Days
Friday, November 23, 2012
UPDATE A news story just out purports that the actual reason for the Gaza offensive was to train Israeli troops for a battle with Iran. There is always much more going on politically and prophetically than we can see.
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