1 Kings 11:1-3 Lust!

 “But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.” I Kings‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Solomon loved many foreign women: There are two obvious problems here. First, that he loved foreign women who worshipped other gods and brought pagan influences to Israel. Second, that he loved many women, rejecting God’s plan from the beginning for one man and one woman to become one flesh in marriage (Matthew 19:4-6, Genesis 2:23-24).

b. Nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them”: God gave a general warning to all Israel to not intermarry with these nations, because surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. For all Solomon’s great wisdom, he did not have the wisdom to apply this simple command to his own life.

i. Solomon probably did what many of us do. He somehow thought that he would be the exception, that he would escape the consequences of this sin, despite seeing how it affected others. Solomon learned – or should have learned – that he was not the exception to this rule.

c. Solomon clung to these in love: At this point, Solomon wanted romance and sensual fulfillment more than he wanted the LORD. For all his wisdom, he was snared by the power of romantic and sensual love. He did not seriously consider that it is possible to be romantically and sensually attracted to people we have no moral or righteous reason to be attracted to. Once under the power of this attraction, he clung to these in love instead of giving them up to the LORD.

d. He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: This is an almost unbelievable number of marriage partners. His wives were considered princesses, but his concubines were legal partners without the same standing as wives. All said, Solomon had far more marriage partners than any man could possibly give attention to – sexual attention or other attention.

i. In this sense a concubine was a legal mistress. Many prominent men in the Old Testament had concubines. Examples include Abraham (Genesis 25:6), Jacob (Genesis 35:22), Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:46), Saul (2 Samuel 3:7), David (2 Samuel 5:13), and Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:21). Significantly, the Bible never shows this kind of family life blessed by God.

ii. We can say that Solomon had so many marriage partners because he followed the bad example of his father David, who had many wives and concubines himself (2 Samuel 5:13-16).

iii. We can say that Solomon had so many marriage partners because of his own sexual lust. This is a profound and sobering example of the principle that if one wife is not enough to satisfy a man, then 1,000 wives will not be enough. When a man is unsatisfied with the woman God gave to him, the problem is with him, not with his wife. 1,000 women cannot satisfy the lust of a man. Solomon should have listened to Proverbs 27:20: Hell and Destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

iv. We can say that Solomon had so many marriage partners because of his lust for power and prestige. In those days a large harem was a status symbol. It said to the world, “Look how many wives and children I can support. Look how many women I have authority over.” Solomon’s desire for worldly prestige led him to these ungodly marriages.

v. “Partly for his lust, which being indulged, becomes infinite and unsatiable; and partly from his pride, accounting this a point of honour and magnificence.” (Poole)

e. And his wives turned away his heart: Of course they did. Based upon the Song of Solomon, we can say that at the first Solomon seemed to know what true love was with one woman. Yet his subsequent history shows us that it is possible to be in that place and depart from it. It is not true to say that “love will keep us together.” Solomon shows us that we can know true love and depart from it. It is better said that the blessing and power of God upon our obedience will keep us together.

i. We don’t know when Solomon added his second wife. When he did, it was easy for him to rationalize it - after all, the greatest King of Israel, his father David, had several wives and concubines. Yet once he followed his father David into this departure from God’s plan from the beginning (Matthew 19:4-6 and Genesis 2:23-24), it was easy to keep adding wives.

ii. As he added wives, he broke the specific commandment God gave to the future kings of Israel in Deuteronomy 17:17: Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. Solomon did multiply wives for himself (by any account 1,000 marriage partners is multiplication), and it did turn away his heart.

iii. “It would have been useless to argue with Solomon for the claims of idols. He could at once, by his wisdom, have annihilated all infidel arguments, and have established the existence and unity of God. But, step by step, he was led by silken cords, a captive, to the worship of other gods.” (Meyer)

iv. “The whole story of King Solomon is full of the most solemn value. His was a life full of promise, but it ended in failure and gloom, because his heart turned from loyalty to God, in response to the seductions of his sensual nature.” (Morgan) (Guzik)

Lust!

How true is this statement?

“This is a profound and sobering example of the principle that if one wife is not enough to satisfy a man, then 1,000 wives will not be enough.” (Guzik)

The siren of lust is everywhere we turn with sexual images on the television and the internet! 

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Bible teaches and warns us about the lust of the flesh and gives us life examples through king David and Solomon how they were separated from God because of it.

Is lust separating you from God?

Blessings