A Lesson From Solomon’s Fall
[
Testimonies for the Church 2:305-307
(1868).]
The life of Solomon might have been remarkable until its close,
if virtue had been preserved. But he surrendered this special grace
to lustful passion. In his youth he looked to God for guidance and
trusted in Him, and God chose for him and gave him wisdom that
astonished the world. His power and wisdom were extolled throughout
the land. But his love of women was his sin. This passion he did not
control in his manhood, and it proved a snare to him. His wives led
him into idolatry, and when he began to descend the declivity of life,
the wisdom that God had given him was removed; he lost his firmness
of character and became more like the giddy youth, wavering between
right and wrong. Yielding his principles, he placed himself in the
current of evil, and thus separated himself from God, the foundation
and source of his strength. He had moved from principle. Wisdom had
been more precious to him than the gold of Ophir. But, alas! lustful
passions gained the victory. He was deceived and ruined by women.
What a lesson for watchfulness! What a testimony as to the need of
strength from God to the very last!
In the battle with inward corruptions and outward temptations,
even the wise and powerful Solomon was vanquished. It is not safe
to permit the least departure from the strictest integrity. “Abstain
from all appearance of evil.”
1 Thessalonians 5:22
. When a woman
relates her family troubles, or complains of her husband, to another
man, she violates her marriage vows; she dishonors her husband and
breaks down the wall erected to preserve the sanctity of the marriage
relation; she throws wide open the door and invites Satan to enter
[583]
with his insidious temptations. This is just as Satan would have it. If
a woman comes to a Christian brother with a tale of her woes, her
disappointments and trials, he should ever advise her, if she must
confide her troubles to someone, to select sisters for her confidants,
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