Age Is No Excuse

“For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.” (1Ki 11:4 AV)

 

Not much context is needed here.  Solomon had made the grave error of attaining thousands of wives and concubines.  The vast majority were from non-Jewish nations.  The law expressly warns kings from taking multiple wives for the reason stated above.  The more wives they take, especially if they are non-Jewish wives, will tempt the heart of the king away from the one true God unto the false gods of the nations from which these wives came.  Paul tells us this is the nature of marriage in the seventh chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians.  When we marry, we tend to seek those things that please our spouse more than those things that please our LORD.  It is more natural to prioritize a relationship we can see versus one which we cannot see.  However, what we want to consider this morning is the underlined portion of our verse.  In his youth, Solomon was able to withstand the temptation of idol worship. At least that is what the verse intimates.  However, as he grew older, his resolve waned.  This is something I have always noticed in my youth but am becoming more keenly aware of as I age.

Even in the animal kingdom, we see this play out.  As a deer hunter, I have seen three types of deer make foolish decisions.  There is the young buck who is so naïve and inexperienced, he doesn’t notice the obvious.  He looks up in my tree, knows there is something a bit off, gets a whiff of my sent, and carries on as though no alarm is warranted.  There is the more mature buck who does know the risks involved in his pursuit of a doe.  HE knows you are up in that tree.  He can smell your scent.  He may even see you move.  He knows the danger and will either avoid you and go another way, or the urge to procreate will be greater than the risk involved and put his life in the hunter’s hand.  Then there is the third type of buck.  He is an aged buck.  He used to be the dominant buck of the area, but youth has chased him off.  He walks through the woods and fields in a pretty deliberate and straight manner no matter the risks involved.  He sees you.  He smells you.  But he also knows there is no more future for him in the process of increasing his species.  He walks a bit slower.  When alarmed he may trot off instead of bounding and running.  His life consists of traveling from the feeding area to the bedding area.  He may look for a new herd on the outside chance he might survive a sparing.  But more than likely, his age has caught up with him and that which was once a threat he is no longer concerned with.

As we age we allow the inevitability of our death to become more of a consideration than the life that is right before us.  We get tired.  We get worn out.  Since we will not outlive the long-term consequences of our choices, we do not take as much diligence in making the right choice.  We see some fights not worth fighting anymore because pragmatism has overtaken principle.  It’s not worth the fight because we do not see and benefit of winning it.  Most of all, we simply lose our strength.  Instead of understanding we have just as much as we did before but our quickness of applying has slowed down, we perceive the absence of fortitude equals the absence of strength.  Caleb and Joshua conquered their greatest enemies in their eighties.  Elijah’s greatest miracles came in the last fifteen years of his ministry.  There is much to be said for age and experience.  Solomon could have said no.  What was the worst that was going to happen?  He may have lost the love of some.  Perhaps of many.  But he still would have had the love of a few.  Solomon allowed his age to become his greatest weakness.  And, let us consider, God still called it sin.  Age may be a reason, but as far as God is concerned, it is not an excuse.