20 He who walks with the wise grows wise,
but a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13
The wisest king who ever lived, Solomon, behaved unwisely – nobody gets it right all the time and we are responsible to hear from God for ourselves. God was wiser than Solomon and He’s wiser than anybody we’ll ever know.
11 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women … . 2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because THEY WILL SURELY TURN YOUR HEARTS AFTER THEIR GODS.’ NEVERTHELESS, SOLOMON HELD FAST TO THEM IN LOVE. 3 He had seven hundred WIVES OF ROYAL BIRTH (Standing in the world, but not before the true God) and three hundred concubines, AND HIS WIVES LED HIM ASTRAY. 1 Kings 11
God had spoken through Moses to warn Israel not to make treaties, nor intermarry with the peoples of the land of Canaan. It’s one thing to ‘walk with people’ and ‘be a companion or friend’, that’s serious enough. To enter into a Covenant of Marriage takes the bonds of unity to an entirely different level.
15 ‘Be careful not to make a treaty (Don’t come into agreement) with those who live in the land; for when they PROSTITUTE THEMSELVES TO THEIR gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and THOSE DAUGHTERS PROSTITUTE THEMSELVES TO THEIR gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. Exodus 34
The scriptures see the worship of anything other than the One God as a form of prostitution and Solomon’s wives led him astray.
4 AS SOLOMON GREW OLD, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. …6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
Solomon changed as he grew older, it may have been imperceptible at first, but then his heart turned away from God. It’s good that we start out well on our walk with the Lord and Solomon was greatly blessed by God in his beginnings.
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.
Solomon’s heart was changed by his foreign wives and he turned away from God. Starting well is important but we have to finish the race to get the prize. People and things that would distract and hinder us from walking with the Lord must be rejected.
20 He who walks with the wise grows wise, Proverbs 13
Walk with the wise and finish your race, there’s a great prize for all who are faithful to the Lord here.
God bless and keep you today.