Today’s Scripture Reading (October 8,
2013): 2 Chronicles 8
Have you
ever noticed that sometimes fairy tales – aren’t. The summer of 1981 contained
an event which was simply called “the Wedding.” It was a fairy tale event
between the heir apparent to the throne of England and what the world (and
Charles parents) seemed to think was the perfect princess – Charles and Diana.
But the fairy tale wedding seemed to turn out to be a little less than that. In
hindsight, the wedding itself seemed to exist only in the minds of others. Charles
just did not seem to be in love with the princess and the princess seemed to be
too in awe of the power of Charles to really come to love him. So it probably
should not have been a surprise that the marriage would eventually end in
disaster.
Charles was
in love with someone, it just wasn’t Diana – no matter how much the world (and
Charles parents wanted) desired the perfect love story to grow out of their
union. For Charles, the love of his life was Camilla Parker Bowles. But while
Charles loved Camilla, marriage to her would cause a possible problem to
Charles succession to the throne. So expediency won the day. Charles married
Diana and Camilla was relegated to the past. Except that observers have often
questioned whether that was really possible for Charles. After all, the heart
wants what the heart wants.
Solomon fell
in love with a princess from Egypt. It was a fairy tale union bringing two
ancient powers together. Solomon’s reign of peace was due, at least in part, to
Solomon’s willingness to intermarry with the daughters of other foreign powers.
But the real love of his life seemed to be this Egyptian princess (a princess
who is probably the subject of Solomon’s epic love poem – the Song of Songs.)
But the
princess brought with her some problems – quite literally. Not only was the
princess from a pagan background, but she brought with her numerous pagan
servants. And while Solomon was in love with the princess, he was not sure that
such people should be allowed to live in the home of his dad. And his reasoning
was that the Ark of the Covenant had been brought into the palace for a time,
and that temporary presence made the palace holy and set apart for the use of
the one true God. Solomon was not even sure that he wanted the Egyptian
Princess in the city of David, because the Ark and the Temple made the city
holy. So, his solution to the problem was to build a house for his love
somewhere else. From the Song of Songs we know that the Egyptian princess
dwelled, at least for a time, in the house of Bathsheba – Solomon’s mom. But
that was only a temporary solution. A palace would have to be built for his
princess somewhere else.
To modern
ears, this is hardly a fairy tale. But the story does not end here. In the end,
Solomon’s great love for his numerous pagan wives would be the cause of his
downfall. He would end up placing them above his love for his God. Jesus would
warn his followers of the problem when he commented that the heart always
follows what it is that you feel is important (Matthew 6:21.) The heart needed
to be tamed, and trained to follow God – after all, the heart wants what the
heart wants. For Solomon, his foreign loves were evidences of his untrained
heart – and in the end would lead him from a fairy tale into disaster.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2
Chronicles 9
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