Forbidden Marriages
43
Those who profess the truth trample on the will of God in marrying
unbelievers; they lose His favor and make bitter work for repentance.
The unbelieving may possess an excellent moral character, but the fact
that he or she has not answered to the claims of God and has neglected
so great salvation is sufficient reason why such a union should not be
consummated. The character of the unbelieving may be similar to that
of the young man to whom Jesus addressed the words, “One thing
thou lackest”; that was the one thing needful
Solomon’s Example—There are men of poverty and obscurity
whose lives God would accept and make full of usefulness on earth
[64]
and of glory in heaven, but Satan is working persistently to defeat
His purposes and drag them down to perdition by marriage with those
whose character is such that they throw themselves directly across the
road to life. Very few come out from this entanglement triumphant
Satan well knew the results that would attend obedience; and
during the earlier years of Solomon’s reign—years glorious because
of the wisdom, the beneficence and the uprightness of the king—
he sought to bring in influences that would insidiously undermine
Solomon’s loyalty to principle and cause him to separate from God.
And that the enemy was successful in this effort, we know from the
record: “Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took
Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David.”
In forming an alliance with a heathen nation, and sealing the
compact by marriage with an idolatrous princess, Solomon rashly
disregarded the wise provisions that God had made for maintaining
the purity of His people. The hope that this Egyptian wife might be
converted was but a feeble excuse for the sin. In violation of a direct
command to remain separate from other nations, the king united his
strength with the arm of flesh.
For a time God in His compassionate mercy overruled this terri-
ble mistake. Solomon’s wife was converted; and the king, by a wise
course, might have done much to check the evil forces that his impru-
dence had set in operation. But Solomon began to lose sight of the
Source of his power and glory. Inclination gained the ascendancy over
5
Testimonies For The Church 4, 505
.
6
Testimonies For The Church 5, 124
.