WISDOM 10 - 1 Kings 11:9

The second footnote on in 1Kings 3:5 is on the word "appeared", and it points us to 1 Kings 11:9.

9 ¶And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was ^aturned from the Lord God of Israel, which had ^bappeared unto him twice,

We have examined both of the Lord's appearances to Solomon now.  We have watched his success, first as a judge in Israel, then as the builder of a temple.  Now we see his failure. 

His second theophany contained an exhortation and a warning.  The exhortation was to "walk before me...in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and...keep my statutes and judgments" (1 Kings 9:4).  The warning was not to "turn from following me...but go and serve other gods, and worship them (1 Kings 9:6). 

In chapter 11 the writer of 1 Kings documents how Solomon first disregarded the exhortation, taking foreign wives despite the fact that the "statutes and judgments" of the Lord expressly forbade it.  The law made it clear that the Lord was worried that taking a wife or husband from outside Israel's religious tradition would "turn away your heart after their gods."  So it was with Solomon.  The natural affections of his heart for the many foreign wives he took influenced him to the point that "for all his strange wives" he burnt incense, and built sanctuaries and until "his wives turned away his heart" and "his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel."  He had not only disregarded the exhortation, he had ignored the warning.

I find it interesting that Solomon, with all of his wisdom, was not safe from spiritual downfall.  No gift or talent, even those as spiritually showy as wisdom or prophecy or revelation or miracle working can take the place of the atonement and the relationship that we build with the Savior through it as our source of safety.  Whatever else we put at the center of our lives other than Him will let us down in the end.

As I mentioned when we began this study of Wisdom, I earnestly desire an understanding heart, discernment and judgment.  I have no illusions, however, that should the Lord bless me with these wonderful qualities, that they will lesson my personal dependence upon him and the power of his atonement.