though He be not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move,
and have our being.” Acts 17:24-28.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord;
And the people whom He hath chosen for his own
inheritance.
The Lord looketh from heaven;
He beholdeth all the sons of men.
From the place of his habitation
He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.”
“The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens;
And his kingdom ruleth over all.”
“Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary:
Who is so great a God as our God?
Thou art the God that doest wonders:
Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people.”
Psalm 33:12-14; 103:19; Psalm 77:13, 14.
Although God dwells not in temples made with hands, yet He honors with
his presence the assemblies of his people. He has promised that when they come
together to seek him, to acknowledge their sins, and to pray for one another, He
will meet with them by his Spirit. But those who assemble to worship him should
put away every evil thing. Unless they worship him in spirit and truth and in the
beauty of holiness, their coming together will be of no avail. Of such the Lord
declares, “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me
with their lips; but their heart is far from Me.” Matthew 15:8, 9. Those who
worship God must worship him “in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh
such to worship him.” John 4:23.
“The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Habakkuk 2:20.
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Chap. 3 - Pride of Prosperity
While Solomon exalted the law of heaven, God was with him, and wisdom
was given him to rule over Israel with impartiality and mercy. At first, as wealth
and worldly honor came to him, he remained humble, and great was the extent
of his influence. “Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river [Euphrates]
unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt.” “He ... had peace
on all sides round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under
his vine and under his fig tree, ... all the days of Solomon.” 1 Kings 4:21, 24, 25.
But after a morning of great promise his life was darkened by
apostasy. History records the melancholy fact that he who had been called
Jedidiah,—“Beloved of the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:25, margin),—he who had been
honored by God with tokens of divine favor so remarkable that his wisdom and
uprightness gained for him world-wide fame, he who had led others to ascribe
honor to the God of
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Israel, turned from the worship of Jehovah to bow before the idols of the heathen.
Hundreds of years before Solomon came to the throne, the Lord, foreseeing
the perils that would beset those who might be chosen as rulers of Israel, gave
Moses instruction for their guidance. Directions were given that he who should
sit on the throne of Israel should “write him a copy” of the statutes of Jehovah “in
a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites.” “It shall be with him,”
the Lord said, “and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn
to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to
do them: that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not
aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he
may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.”
Deuteronomy 17:18-20.
In connection with this instruction the Lord particularly cautioned the one
who might be anointed king not to “multiply wives to himself, 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 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.
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.” 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
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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.