Category Archives: 1 Kings

The temptations of the world are hard to resist. Even people who should know better sometimes succumb to them. In a way, such knowledge is a comfort because it shows us that everyone, even great men directly called by God, is a sinner. Such knowledge also serves as a warning, because if these men could not resist the world, then how much more on guard must we be? Therefore, we must keep ourselves based in the Word and diligently focus on God’s will for our lives because that will is our greatest defense against sin. Continue reading →

We do not always receive such obvious signs, but through His word, God warns us against defying His will. While our hands may not shrivel or our treasured possessions be destroyed, it is still clear to us what God’s will for us is. Of course, we are not saved by what we do, but how can faith survive when we continue to do what we know is wrong. We were saved by faith through Christ’s death, a death that abolished sin, so there is now no longer room for sin in our lives. By faith, we are to seek out God’s will for us and actively do it, and God’s word makes it clear what that will is. Failure to do so places our souls at risk by threatening our faith with delusions of our own actions. When that state of affairs occurs, we are just as at risk as Jeroboam was standing before his altar. Continue reading →

Sin begets sin, and the sins of Solomon haunted Israel even after his death. God had ordained to Solomon that his kingdom would be divided after Solomon’s death, and that fact came to fruition in the sinful actions of his son. Worse, most of Israel was led astray by Jeroboam’s own idolatry, making an already bad problem worse. Continue reading →

If power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then can it be a surprise that Solomon became corrupt as well? Indeed, Solomon revealed himself to be just as human as all the rest of us, falling to the temptations of the world for the love of foreign women. We want to be indignant with Solomon for displaying such sin in the face of God’s great blessings of wisdom, power, and wealth, but can we say anything if we are no different? Continue reading →

The Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon is a tale that excites the imagination of many, yet it is really a simple tale at its heart. Solomon, blessed by God’s wisdom and also by the peace and wealth that resulted from that wisdom, achieved great renown. The Queen wanted to see and test that renown for herself. Continue reading →