1 Kings 10:14-29

The Decline and Fall of Solomon.

The fall of Solomon, in itself one of the most portentous facts in Scripture history, is rendered doubly suggestive and admonitory by a consideration of the way in which it was brought about. It was not that he succumbed to some fierce onslaught of temptation; it was no terrible rush of passion—no sudden guilty love of "fair idolatresses," as some have held—wrought his ruin; on the contrary, his decline in piety was so gradual and slow as to be almost imperceptible. It is almost impossible—and this consideration alone is most instructive—to trace with certainty the steps which led to his downfall. The Arab tradition teaches that a little worm—no more—was, silently and unseen, gnawing at the staff on which this Colossus leaned, and that it was only when it broke and he fell that men discovered he was dead—an instructive parable of his moral and spiritual decay. We may well cry here—

"O fall'n at length that tower of strength

Which stood foursquare to all the winds that blew."

But it is much more pertinent to ask what brought that proud fortress to the ground. It would have sustained unshaken the blows of engines of war; it would have defied the hurtling storm and tempest, but it could not resist the gradual subsidence of its foundations, and so, while preserving a fair appearance almost to the last, it settled and settled, and at the last became a heap of ruins.

Let us trace, then, as best we can, that downward course which ended in the builder of the temple building altars to Baal; let us lay bare, if we can, this worm that was noiselessly but ceaselessly eating out his inner life. Perhaps we cannot discover all its hidden workings, but we can surely see some.

Up to the date of the dedication of the temple all would seem to have gone well. Unless the dedication prayer is, as some have affirmed, the composition of a later age, the prince who poured out his soul before God in those earnest and gracious words cannot have erred very far from the right way. And the message he received during the building of the temple confirms this view. It is a message not of warning but of encouragement. It is at the completion of the palaces that we discover the first certain token of defection. For it was then that the Lord appeared unto him the second time, and the communication then made was undeniably minatory. Its tone of threatening is inexplicable, except on the supposition that Solomon's "heart was not right with the Lord," etc. At this period, then, about the twenty-fourth year of his reign, the destroying worm was already at work.

Nor is it difficult to conjecture what was the first beginning of declension on Solomon's part. We find it in the erection of the palaces, or rather in the carnal mind and the self love and the desire for ostentation which led to their erection. It is just possible that the building of these palaces was not, in itself, to be condemned. It is suspicious, no doubt, and argues selfishness and heartlessness, when, as in Russia, Turkey, etc; the huge and costly residences of the Crown contrast everywhere with the wretched hovels of the peasantry. And one would naturally expect the theocratic king to attain a higher level and to devote himself more to the advancement of his people's good than ordinary rulers. But it must be remembered that under Solomon the Jewish people enjoyed an unprecedented prosperity ( 1 Kings 4:20 , 1 Kings 4:21 ). The entire nation shared in the wealth and abundance of the court. We cannot be certain, consequently, that the palaces, per se, involved a departure from the law, the more so as some of them were necessary, for purposes of state and justice (see on 1 Kings 7:7 ). But the matter appears in a very different light when we come to consider the way in which they were reared. Forced labour, on the part of the subject races at least, can no doubt be justified from Scripture ( Joshua 9:21 sqq.), at any rate, for the house of God ( 1 Kings 10:23 ), but not for the pleasure or aggrandisement of the monarch ( 1 Samuel 8:11 , 1 Samuel 8:16 ). "It is not of the Lord of Hosts that the people shall weary themselves for very vanity " ( Habakkuk 2:13 ). And when we remember that Jeroboam was probably encouraged to rebel by seeing and hearing the murmurings of the house of Joseph ( 1 Kings 11:28 ) of whose labours he was the overseer, and that this and similar burdens laid upon the people ( 1 Kings 12:4 ) resulted in the revolt of the ten tribes, we can hardly suppose that Solomon completed his great undertakings ( 1 Kings 9:15-19 ) without inflicting positive hardship and grave injustice on large numbers of his subjects. It is probable, indeed, that the woe pronounced against a later monarch ( Jeremiah 22:13 , Jeremiah 22:14 ) had not been unmerited by him. He had "used his neighbour's service without wages," etc. Possibly he had raised his forest of cedar pillars, etc; by the sweat and groans of his serfs. It was a common thing for Eastern autocrats to do, but when "Jedidiah" did it, the cries of the oppressed labourer went up "into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth."

But whether the erection of the palaces was in itself wrong or not, and whether the raising of the "levy" ( 1 Kings 9:15 ) was oppressive or not, there can be little doubt that the "proud look and high stomach" ( Psalms 101:5 ; Psalms 131:1 , Psalms 131:2 )—the very spirit which David had disclaimed—which prompted some of these understandings was altogether sinful. Solomon is now no longer the "little child" he once was ( 1 Kings 3:7 ). Now that he has "strengthened himself," like his son after him, he begins to forget his God and to forsake His law ( 2 Chronicles 12:1 ). It has been promised him that he shall exceed all other kings in wisdom and riches and honour ( 1 Kings 3:12 , 1 Kings 3:18 ); but this is not enough for him, he must surpass them also in the outward tokens of wealth and power. His palaces, to begin with, must be greater than theirs, he no longer covets the best gifts. The fine gold is become dim.

Still, so far, there has been no deliberate, or perhaps even conscious, infraction of the law—only the worldly and selfish mind. He may well have argued that his state required this show of magnificence; that the Canaanites were ordained of God to hew wood and draw water at his pleasure. But this only shows how slight are the beginnings of evil; how fine sometimes is the line which divides right from wrong, and how easily our judgment is warped by our inclinations. It is the old story, Homo vult decipi et decipiatur .

It is impossible to say in what precise order the records of Solomon's reign are to be arranged, but it is probable that the next downward step is to be traced in the alliance in which he engaged with the Tyrians. We cannot blame him, of course, for the "league" of 1 Kings 5:12 . But for that, he could hardly have built the temple, to say nothing of the palaces. Whether he was justified, however, in hang at sea "a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram " ( 1 Kings 10:22 ) may well be doubted. For it was part of God's plan that the Jewish people should "dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations" ( Numbers 23:9 ). Their geographical position was one of almost complete isolation. They were not destined to be a great commercial country. Their land was to be the theatre of our redemption. Theirs were

"those holy fields

Over whose acres walked those blessed feet,

Which eighteen hundred years ago were nailed

For our salvation, to the bitter cross;"

and it was no preparation for the Incarnation that it should become the home of "gripple merchants." Contact and copartnership with idolaters could hardly be for the advantage of the faith. Nor is it difficult to see that Solomon's commerce grew at the expense of his religion. Riches, proverbially a dangerous possession, were with him—wise though he was—a step towards utter ruin. All the time that his fleets were ploughing the main, that caravans of merchants were filling his store cities, that he was driving bargains with the Syrians and Hittites (verse 29), leanness was spreading in his soul—he was becoming more and more a secular prince. It has been justly remarked that the mention of "apes and peacocks" (verse 22), is a significant indication of the moral and mental deterioration which he was undergoing. To think that the wisest of men should find his pleasure in the antics of the one or the plumage of the other; or that he, the viceroy of Jehovah, should import jibbering baboons and strutting fowls, if not for himself, for the outlandish women of his court. No, these "wide views of commerce," this partnership with the Tyrians, this influx of prosperity, has not been for Solomon's or Israel's good. Indeed, if we study the character of the average nineteenth century Jew, we may form a fair idea of what commercial enterprise and lust of gold did for Solomon, the first of Hebrew chapmen.

And yet this commerce, it is easy to see, may have been in its commencement unexceptionable. Possibly it was in part undertaken to provide gold for the embellishment of the temple. But it soon engendered, if indeed it was not engendered by, that "love of money which is the root of all evil." As Solomon grew richer he loved riches more. Verse 28 is full of significance. "So Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom ." Time was when wisdom held the first place ( 1 Kings 3:11 ). And so it came to pass that he who at first was "rich toward God," and who, like David his father, had only accumulated gold for the glory of the sanctuary, proceeded to "multiply silver and gold to himself " ( Deuteronomy 17:17 ). Even his drinking vessels were of pure gold ( 1 Kings 10:21 ). So that his commerce and its prodigious gains led at last to a distinct violation of the law. He has not ceased to serve God. He still sacrifices and burns incense three times a year ( 1 Kings 9:25 ). But he is trying to serve God and mammon, and mammon has gained the mastery. It is probably mentioned as a circumstance full of significance, that the weight of gold that came to him in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents ( 1 Kings 5:14 ). For as seven is the number of the covenant, so six marks a falling short of that covenant, and the first distinct violation of the covenant consisted in the multiplication of silver and gold.

And when a breach in the law was once made we are not surprised to hear presently that it was widened. Facilis descensus Averni . From the multiplication of the precious metals it was an easy step to the multiplication of horses. And here we see at once how Solomon's conscience has become seared, or he has learnt to disregard its warnings. He knew perfectly well that his "twelve thousand horsemen" were a violation of the law. And he could hardly excuse himself on the ground that they were required for purposes of defence. The hilly country of Palestine does not admit of their being deployed therein. It was partly because they could only be employed in aggressive warfare that they were forbidden. Whatever unction, therefore, he might lay to his soul as to his accumulation of gold, he could hardly think, if he thought at all, that his horses and chariots involved no sin. But they were necessary, he persuaded himself, to the state of so great and puissant a monarch, and he would have them. And so hardened was he, so careless of the commandment, that he actually established a market for horses on his southern frontier and supplied them to neighbouring kings, who presently employed them against the people of the Lord.

And yet, grave as was this disregard of law, it was but a worm that was at work in his soul—only self love and self confidence (cf. Isaiah 30:1 ); only the lust of the eye and the pride of life. He is still the Lord's anointed: his tips distil knowledge; he still offers hecatombs, but his "heart is not right," etc.

And so the years passed by. To all outward appearance his glory and magnificence increased. It is very suggestive to consider how hollow was that prosperity which was the marvel of the world, and how that wisdom which was so renowned was foolishness with God. The court became more splendid, more voluptuous, more dazzling, but the man became year by year poorer and meaner and baser. It only needed one step more—and apparently he was not long in taking that—to complete his defection. The other monarchs of his time had their seraglios. It was necessary that he too should have an establishment of this kind, and he must have it even greater than theirs. He knew that the law forebade the multiplication of wives, but what of that? He had violated the law already: he might just as well do it again. An obsolete precept, he may have argued, suited to primitive times, must not stand in the way of his pomp or his pleasures. And so the Lord's anointed gathered round him in the holy city a thousand strange, immodest women. His fleets and merchants brought him mistresses from every land. And they brought with them their foreign rites, and the effeminate king was taken captive by their charms, and they had their way, and nothing would suffice them but he must tolerate their religion, and what he did for one he must do for all, and—and so the end of sin and shame is reached, and the decline becomes a fall, and "the darling of Jehovah," the wisest of men, the representative of Heaven, the builder of the temple, the type of our Lord, builds altars to the "abominations" of Moab and Ammon "in the hill that is before Jerusalem" ( 1 Kings 11:7 ).

This mournful history is full of admonition and instruction. It must suffice to indicate the following lessons:—

1. A man may preach to others and yet be a castaway ( 1 Corinthians 9:27 ). Solomon's Prayer ( 1 Kings 8:1-66 .), Psalm ( Psalms 127:1-5 .), and Proverbs should be studied in the light of his fall. "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?" ( Romans 2:21 ). Compare verses 22, 23 with Proverbs 5-7.; and remember the constant references to the "law" in the dedication prayer.

2. " Nemo repente turpissimus fuit ." "He that despiseth little things shall fall by little and little."

"It is the little rift within the lute

That by and by shall make its music mute."

3. " Out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, " etc. ( Mark 7:21 ). It was not to an assault from without, it was to treachery within that Solomon yielded—Solomon who had said, "Keep thy bears with all diligence," etc.

4. " The love of money is the root of all evil " ( 1 Timothy 6:10 ). May we not say," Behold two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand?" ( 2 Kings 10:4 ). "Children, how hard it is for them that trust in riches," etc. ( Mark 10:24 ). "Take heed, and beware of covetousness" ( Luke 12:15 ), "which is idolatry" ( Colossians 3:5 ).

5. The course of sin is downhill . Vires acquirit eundo . The sinner is on an inclined plane; and the gradient at first is almost imperceptible. Let us learn, too, "the deceitfulness of sin."

6. Woman, made to be man's helpmeet, too often becomes his snare . It is seldom that a man is ruined but a woman has had a share in it.

7. Solomon was old at the time of his fall, etc. ( 1 Kings 11:4 ). Hot youth has its dangers and temptations; but mature age has them also. David was not less than fifty when he fell. See p. 225.