Pride of Prosperity
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that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself
silver and gold.”
Verse 17
.
With these warnings Solomon was familiar, and for a time he
heeded them. His greatest desire was to live and rule in accordance
with the statutes given at Sinai. His manner of conducting the affairs
of the kingdom was in striking contrast with the customs of the nations
of his time—nations who feared not God and whose rulers trampled
underfoot His holy law.
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In seeking to strengthen his relations with the powerful kingdom
lying to the southward of Israel, Solomon ventured upon forbidden
ground. Satan knew the results that would attend obedience; and dur-
ing 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. That the en-
emy 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.”
1 Kings 3:1
.
From a human point of view, this marriage, though contrary to the
teachings of God’s law, seemed to prove a blessing; for Solomon’s
heathen wife was converted and united with him in the worship of the
true God. Furthermore, Pharaoh rendered signal service to Israel by
taking Gezer, slaying “the Canaanites that dwelt in the city,” and giving
it “for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife.”
1 Kings 9:16
.
This city Solomon rebuilt and thus apparently greatly strengthened his
kingdom along the Mediterranean seacoast. But in forming an alliance
with a heathen nation, and sealing the compact by marriage with an
idolatrous princess, Solomon rashly disregarded the wise provision
that God had made for maintaining the purity of His people. The hope
that his Egyptian wife might be converted was but a feeble excuse for
the sin.
For a time God in His compassionate mercy overruled this terrible
mistake; and the king, by a wise course, could have checked at least in a
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large measure the evil forces that his imprudence had set in operation.
But Solomon had begun to lose sight of the Source of his power
and glory. As inclination gained the ascendancy over reason, self-
confidence increased, and he sought to carry out the Lord’s purpose
in his own way. He reasoned that political and commercial alliances