Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. – 2 Chronicles 1:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 1, 2013): 2 Chronicles 1

Politically it has become expedient over the past few decades for the nations that we would describe as being “in power” to share weapons and strategies with poorer countries in strategic areas of the world. The idea is that by sharing or selling weapons to friends in various places in the world, that these powerful nations could control what was happening in those areas, and reduce the threat that these areas could become to those living at home. But the reality was quite different. What really happened was that the rich ended up financing wars in various places in the world. It is the reality that Science Fiction literature has been warning us about for decades – the advanced nations gave the ability to wage a devastating war to lesser developed cultures, wars that they might not have been able to fight with such efficiency if the technologically advanced world had not intervened.

But there was a second problem with the idea of providing weapons to lesser developed nations. In essence, all the developed countries were really doing was making slaves of the lesser developed ones. That was never the intention, but it became the reality. Just taking a quick inventory of the number of countries in Africa and the Middle East that were once armed by the United States but have now rebelled against them, paints a disturbing picture. Nations that feel they are enslaved are never really content to stay that way – even if the slavery they are suffering was voluntary and of their own design; in this case, in order to receive the desired weapons.

God understood this. And he specifically commanded Israel to do two things. He first was not to build up a dependence on horses. God would be Israel’s protection, and the reality for Israel was that without God, they really couldn’t defend the nation anyway. No advanced weaponry would be able to save them in the absence of God. But Solomon disobeyed. Not only did he buy horses, he bought the best horses available. Horses from Egypt were coveted by the all of the nations - they were a powerful weapon in the art of waging war.

But God also commanded that Israel would never again return to Egypt. The idea behind the command was that if they did, they would run the risk of becoming slaves to the Egyptians one more time. Solomon has barely taken office, and he has already violated two of the commands of God directed specifically at the Kings of Israel. What had started out as the great reign of the son of David was already starting to fall apart. And the first thing that was going was going was Solomon’s dependence on God.

That is also the first thing that fails in our life. Our first priority is to depend on God – and when that begins to fail, life seems to begin to unravel. For Solomon, his reign would end and the nation would be divided in the next generation. What could have been the continuation of the reign of David would end up being something less – all because Solomon stopped really depending on God.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 2