Today's Scripture Reading (October 10, 2022): 2 Chronicles 1
Intermediate traders have performed an important function throughout
the history of our planet. Traders traveled from place to place, selling exotic
items that were unavailable through any other method. Things that originated in
faraway places became available through these traveling salesmen. They were
also instrumental in selling wares between warring factions. Neutral nations Have often been used to transfer much-needed
goods between hostile countries for a piece of the profit. In business, there
is often a way to get around trading blockages, as long as you are willing to
pay the price.
Moses had been clear, "The king, moreover, must not acquire
great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return
to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you,
'You are not to go back that way again'" (Deuteronomy 17:16). When Israel
gained a king, he must not depend on horses and chariots, and he must not trade
with Egypt. It has always been a mystery why Solomon would violate such an
obvious command of God as the one that prohibited gaining horses, especially
horses from Egypt. After all, God had given
Israel His decree.
Yet, that was precisely what Solomon
did. He traded with Egypt and gained horses and a chariot. Solomon had
disobeyed a direct command from God, and possibly, the answer to the question of
why is that Solomon reasoned that he wasn't trading with Egypt, not really; he was
just a trader working between the Egyptians and the Hittites and Arameans. He
was doing this for economic gain, and maybe that made it okay.
But in this small sin can be found
the seeds for the downfall of Solomon's reign. The first stage was trading with
Egypt for horses that Solomon sent on their way to other parties, but in the
process, he also gained horses for himself and Israel. Because of those
connections, Solomon married the Pharoah's daughter. After marrying the Pharaoh's
daughter, Solomon began to court and marry other foreign women, often establishing
treaties with the rulers of these foreign nations. To keep his foreign wives
happy, he built temples for the gods that allowed his wives to worship the same
gods in Jerusalem that they had worshipped in their homes. Solomon was
responsible for building the Temple in Jerusalem, which his father had dreamed would
be dedicated to the God of Israel, to being the designer of many places of
worship dedicated to the gods worshipped by other nations. It was a small step
from there to beginning to worship the gods of his foreign wives himself.
As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart
after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father
had been. He followed
Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god
of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the
eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely,
as David his father had done. (1 Kings 11:4-6).
And
it all seems to have started with purchasing a few horses from Egypt, which
were then sold to the Hittites and Arameans.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 3
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