King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. – 1 Kings 11:1-2

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 31, 2019): 1 Kings 11

One hundred and fifty. It is the number of people, approximately, that you can know by face and name without any kind of further prompt or clue. A few more faces can be connected with a name if we are given a clue as to who it is that the picture represents. If you have ever been surfing on one of the many web news sites and come across one of those quizzes where you have to identify various people, you know that reality. Given just a picture of a person, you might be able to tell me their name. But given a photo and a short list of names, you can probably correctly pair the picture with the correct name for a few more. (Personally, I have to admit that I forgot the name of my wife on our first date – I promise, I haven’t forgotten it since – and sometimes go blank on the names of some of my closest friends. So maybe my number is a little lower.)

We can know about one hundred and fifty people. Solomon married seven hundred women and added three hundred concubines. We only know the name of one of his wives, Naamah the Ammonite, the mother of Rehoboam. But then, you have to think that part of the problem was that even Solomon didn’t know all of their names. I can imagine Solomon having an unexpected meeting with one of his wives, asking her the question “Did I marry you? What is your name?”

According to the author of 1 Kings, Solomon loved them all. Yet, there is a real question whether Solomon had ever really fallen in love. Marrying a thousand women would seem to be more about lust and ego than love. Solomon doesn’t seem to understand the definition of love.  I know, John tells us to love one another, and that someone who does not love does not know God. But I don’t think John intended that we would marry all of the women or people that we love. The wise king of Israel was quickly becoming transactional, serving only his own wants and desires. He lusted after women, justified it by calling lust love, and then welcomed them into his ever-expanding family. And that became the real problem of the thousand wives and concubines of King Solomon.

In truth, the thousand women of Solomon presented the wise king with a problem that you would have thought that wisdom could have avoided. The women, just as was predicted, led Solomon into sin. The influence of gods other than the God of Israel began to hold sway over the royal court. As a result, Israel began to slip into sin, and the inferior beliefs and ways of the nations of the wives of Solomon started to be followed throughout the country, and not just in the Royal Palace of Solomon. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 1