Bible Studies
His Heart Was Turned Away from the Lord (1 Kings 8:56-61)
Series: Studies in First KingsIntroduction:
1. With these words (8:56-61) Solomon dedicated the temple and admonished all Israel to remain faithful to the Lord. 2. The Lord then appeared to Solomon a second time. (The first was at Gibeon when Solomon asked for wisdom.) 3. The Lord said (reading of 9:3-8a). 4. The author of 1 Kings is very careful to record these warnings. Solomon’s relationship with God is the most important thing in his life. The question is will he and his sons remain faithful to the Lord?Discussion:
I. Beginning with chapter 9:10 Solomon’s greatness is described.A. He built the house of the Lord and the king’s house with cedar and cypress timber and gold.
B. Hiram sent him 120 talents (9,000 lbs.) of gold. This was the exact same amount that the Queen of Sheba gave Solomon (10:10). Was it a “tax” extracted from lesser kingdoms?
C. Solomon had forced laborers who not only built the Lord’s house, but Solomon’s own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.
D. He built storage cities for his chariots and cities for his horsemen.
E. He did not destroy the Amorities, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, but used them as forced laborers.
F. He was married to Pharaoh’s daughter for whom he built a house.
G. He built a fleet of ships that went to Ophir and took 420 talents (31,500 lbs.) of gold from
II. The visit by the Queen of Sheba further evidences his greatness (10:1ff).A. Came with a very large retinue, camels, spices, gold and precious stones.
B. She tested his wisdom with questions.
C. She saw with her own eyes Solomon’s greatness. She concluded that the report she had heard did not tell half the story.
III. The writer then summarizes Solomon’s greatness in 10:14ff.A. Notice the emphasis in the text on the word gold (14-25).
1. It is mentioned 10 times in 12 verses.
2. “Silver was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks” (21-22).
B. He became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom (23-25).
1. All the earth was seeking his presence.
2. They brought gifts of silver, gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses and mules, so much year by year.
C. Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen (26-29).
1. 1,400 chariots.
2. 12,000 horsemen
3. He imported horses from Egypt and Kue and exported them to the Hittites and Arameans.
D. Solomon loved many foreign women (11:1ff).
1. The daughter of Pharaoh.
2. Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women.
3. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines.
IV. God’s instruction from the days of Moses (Deut. 17:14-20).A. What the king should NOTdo (16-17).
B. What the king should do (18-20).
C. Solomon is doing just what the Lord told him NOT to do.
1. He has multiplied horses from Egypt for himself.
2. He has multiplied wives for himself.
3. He has multiplied gold for himself.
D. He has turned his heart away from the Lord and built high places for Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech. (Use picture of the Mount of Offense.)
V. “The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord” (11:9ff).A. He had appeared to him twice (9-10).
1. In the first instance there was warning (1 Kings 3:14).
2. In the second there was warning (1 Kings 9:4-8).
B. The consequence: the kingdom torn from him (9:11-13).
VI. The warning of God to us is not any different than that to Solomon.A. “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever” (1 Jn. 2:15-17).
B. “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
C. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!” (James 5:1-3).
D. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in our steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19-21).
E. “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed” (1 Tim. 6:17-19).
Conclusion:
1. The message is clear! 2. It is not about whether we are wealthy or not. It IS about our loyalty to the Lord. 3. The problem is not wealth, but LOYALTY. 4. Solomon’s heart was turned away from the Lord. Gold, horses and relationships become the object of Solomon’s heart. These were the things that he treasured. 5. The Lord God is our greatest treasure let us not let anything turn our hearts away from Him.
