the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 2 of 5
1 Kings 11:1-13
Until now we have hardly seen a shadow cast across the brilliance of this exceptional reign. But lo and behold, ch. 11 begins with a "but", which suddenly unveils, beneath the brilliant exterior previously described, a moral condition of the most distressing kind. Transgressing the law in two respects, the king "multiplied wives to himself", and strange wives at that (Deuteronomy 17:17 and Deuteronomy 7:3), who, in his old age, turned away his heart. Had he not asked for and obtained a wise heart, an understanding heart? No doubt he had sensed the need of such in order to lead others, but not to direct his own way. This heart, large "as the sand that is on the sea shore" (1 Kings 4:29), that the LORD gave to the king to enable him to love all his great people, he had not guarded, nor watched over what entered it. A thousand strange wives had found room there, with their idols. Solomon stands condemned by his own words. "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). This is what he taught other people . . . but neglected to do himself (see Romans 2:21 and 1 Corinthians 9:27). He did not pay attention either to his father’s warning (1 Kings 2:3) or to the twice repeated warning of the LORD (vv. 9, 10).
