Success in Most Does Not Permit Lapse in One

“And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.” (1Ki 11:10 AV)

 Solomon was, by a biblical statement, the wisest man to live.  That is, outside of Christ.  There was none wiser.  The LORD asked Solomon of anything he would desire of the LORD.  Solomon did not ask for long life.  He did not ask for riches.  He did not ask for success against his enemies.  The one thing he desired of the LORD above all else was wisdom.  In asking for wisdom above all else, Solomon already showed great wisdom.  With wisdom, he would attain the other three.  Solomon was the greatest king, as far as earthly success goes, the nation of Israel ever had.  He could do no wrong.  His wisdom exceeded that of any other person on the globe.  So much so which other leaders would come to his throne just to hear him pontificate.  In many ways, Solomon was the most successful ruler ever known to mankind.  He rarely failed.  That is until he got it in his heart to add multiple wives.  Many of them from none-Jewish nations.  He did so, in part, to ally himself with his enemies, avoiding war and enjoying free commerce.  The problem was, the LORD specifically told Solomon not to add wives of other nations.  He even told him why.  So, the question arises, if Solomon is the wisest man on earth, why would he do something so dumb as to take to himself strange wives who would steal his heart away from the one true God? 

There could be several reasons.  One of them could be simply pragmatism.  It solved diplomatic problems and brought peace to his nation.  Another could simply be he couldn’t discipline his lust.  Although we see no indication of that.  There is another possibility which we must consider.  That is, just because Solomon was successful in all other areas of life, he may have thought taking this liberty was no big deal.  If the LORD had given him success on all other sides, then this one area wouldn’t be all that harmful.  That is a dangerous assumption to make.  We know this one stumbling block was the sin that brought down the whole nation.  Solomon should have been able to see this.  As he was assigned to do, he was a student of the word of God.  He would have read in Deuteronomy and Numbers of a nation called Moab who attempted to conquer Israel as they traveled from Egypt.  Not gaining the curse of God on them, Moab decides to entice Israel into intermarrying with them.  God severely judges Israel for this.  Perhaps Solomon felt that he did have Jewish wives and the seed of the Messiah was secure through one of them.  So what would be the harm in entertaining a few pleasures?  As long as he did all that he was supposed to do, what is the harm in a bit of liberty?

This is how we think.  We think if we are mostly obedient, then the LORD will pass over those areas in which we have exercised misguided liberty.  What is worse is we begin to think if we are mostly obedient, then we are entitled to a bit of forbidden pleasure.  It’s like school.  As long as we are passing, then it doesn’t matter if we got a few questions wrong.  When I was in high school, I hated taking the state-issued final exams.  It was summertime!  Who wanted to be in a hot gym with hundreds of other students, taking exams when we’d rather be outside fishing or playing ball?  So, the teacher instructed us to read through the exam first and answer all the questions we knew first.  Then double back and work on the ones which were not so obvious.  Yeah, right!  Not this student.  As long as I was certain I got a good portion of them right, I was out of there.  I passed.  That’s all that mattered.  God doesn’t work that way.  He is not after a passing grade.  He is after Christlikeness.  He is after perfection.  We are not entitled to a bit of sinful pleasure just because we please GOD in most other areas of life.  He wants it all.  He is entitled to it all!