I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Today’s passage censures Solomon for his many wives. Not only did Solomon marry many wives against God’s instructions, they were from nations with which God had told the Israelites they were not to intermarry. Solomon did as God had warned would happen if the Israelites married women from those nations, he began to worship gods other than God. Solomon began to worship Ashtoreth, Molech and Chemosh. He even built places for worship at the high places for these foreign gods. I believe that, as worship of God gradually became more centralized at the Temple which Solomon had built, Solomon and others among the people of Israel replaced His worship at the high places with worship of idols. As a result of Solomon’s idolatry, God caused two kings to rise up in opposition to Solomon in nations which had formerly been pacified by his father David.
In addition, God sent the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam, a man whom Solomon had put in charge of the labor force from the descendants of Joseph. Ahijah told Jeroboam that God was going to tear ten of the tribes from Solomon’s son because of Solomon’s failure to faithfully follow God’s commands and decrees. God told Jeroboam that he was going to punish David’s descendants, but not forever, because of Solomon’s sins and that if Jeroboam followed God faithfully, God would establish his descendants on the throne of the ten tribes. Solomon made an attempt to have Jeroboam killed, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt until after Solomon’s death.
When Solomon died and his son Rehoboam took the throne, Jeroboam returned to Israel. Rehoboam went to Shechem to be crowned king of all Israel. The leaders of Israel asked Jeroboam to be their spokesman as they approached Rehoboam with a petition about his reign. They asked Rehoboam to reduce the labor demands and taxes which Solomon had imposed. If he was willing to do this, the people of Israel would agree to making him king. Rehoboam requested three days to formulate an answer. Rehoboam first consulted with his father’s advisers. They told him that he should agree to the request of the people of Israel, that if he did so, the people would become his devoted followers. Rehoboam did not like this answer, so he asked the advice of the young men he had grown up with. They advised him to answer with arrogance and braggadocio, to tell the people of Israel that, not only would he not reduce the burden his father Solomon had placed on them, he would increase it. As a result of his answer, the people of the northern tribes rejected Rehoboam as their king. When Rehoboam, still at Shechem, sent his official in charge of forced labor out the people of Israel stoned him to death. Rehoboam immediately fled back to Jerusalem, just barely escaping the enraged people.
After the stoning of Stephen, Saul started seeking believers and dragging them out for persecution, eager to kill those who professed belief in Jesus. He obtained letters from the high priest to the synagogues in Damascus requesting their aid in arresting believers in order to bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners. As he approached Damascus on this mission a bright light shown down on and around him. Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice asking him why he was persecuting the speaker. Saul asked who the speaker was. The voice said, “I am Jesus…” and told Saul to get up and go into the city, where he would be told what to do. The men traveling with Saul heard a voice speaking to him, but saw no one. When Saul opened his eyes, he was blind. The men with him led him into the city. Saul fasted for the next three days.
Meanwhile God spoke to a believer named Ananias (not the one who died for lying to the Holy Spirit). God told Ananias to go to the house where Saul was staying and lay hands on him so that he could see again. Ananias replied that he had heard about Saul and the terrible things he had done to believers. He had even heard that Saul had come to Damascus to arrest believers. God answered that Saul was his chosen instrument to take His name to Gentiles and their rulers. Ananias did as God had commanded.
Saul’s sight was restored and he ate some food. He stayed with the believers in Damascus and began preaching in the synagogue. He began preaching in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. Everyone who heard him preach was amazed because they knew that up until a few days prior he had been persecuting those who preached in Jesus’ name. Saul’s preaching became ever more powerful and none of the Jews in Damascus could refute his arguments that Jesus was the Messiah. Some of the Jews decided to kill Saul, but the believers in Damascus caught wind of this and lowered Saul over the wall in a basket.
This story gives us a reason to never give up hope for the salvation of those we know who have not accepted Christ. No matter how strongly someone opposes the message of the Gospel, if there is a chance that they will listen, the Holy Spirit will strike them in a way they will find impossible to ignore.
This psalm is one which we would do well to strive to live by. First it gives us this guidance:
my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too great
or too awesome for me to grasp.
I do not need to concern myself with the reasons why God does or allows the things He does, that is a matter to great for me. Rather, I should calm and quiet myself and put my hope in the Lord. I know that He will do that which is best for those who love Him. I have confidence that what He does is that will bring me the greatest joy.
The first proverb tells us that it is the wicked and liars who pay attention to gossip and slander. Do I pay attention to gossip and slander? If so, perhaps I am not the person I claim to be. I need to keep this in mind when I find myself listening to gossip and slander.
The second proverb tells us that mocking those who are poor is an insult to God who made them. If we rejoice at the misfortune of others, we will suffer for it eventually. I strive to sympathize with those who suffer misfortune, no matter how much I might have wanted to see them taken down a peg.