“King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— from the nations of whom THE LORD HAD SAID to the children of Israel, “YOU SHALL NOT INTERMARRY WITH THEM, nor they with you. Surely they will TURN AWAY YOUR HEART AFTER THEIR GODS.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had SEVEN HUNDRED WIVES, princesses, and THREE HUNDRED CONCUBINES; and HIS WIVES TURNED AWAY HIS HEART. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives TURNED HIS HEART AFTER OTHER GODS; and his heart was NOT LOYAL to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.” (1 Kings 11:1-4)
“Solomon DID EVIL in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for CHEMOSH the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for MOLECH the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.” (1 Kings 11:6-8) Chemosh was the god of the Moabites, some scholars believe Chemosh may have meant “destroyer” or “subduer.” Chemosh was associated with the goddess Ashteroth, another false god worshiped by wayward Israelites. One place in Scripture records Chemosh demanding human sacrifice: in the days of Judah’s King Jehoram, the king of Moab faced military defeat, and the Moabite ruler “took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall” (2 Kings 3:27).
The laws given to Moses by God EXPRESSLY FORBADE the Jews to do what was done in Egypt or in Canaan. “You SHALL NOT give any of your children to devote them by fire to MOLOCH, and so PROFANE (châlal: to defile or pollute) the name of your God” (Leviticus 18:21) Perhaps no pagan deity was as REVILED AS MOLOCH, a god whose CULT REPORTEDLY SACRIFICED CHILDREN in a furnace set inside the belly of a bronze bull.
“So the LORD BECAME ANGRY WITH SOLOMON, because his heart HAD TURNED (nâṭâh: to thrust away) FROM THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, who had appeared to him twice, and had COMMANDED HIM concerning this thing, that HE SHOULD NOT GO AFTER OTHER GODS; but Solomon DID NOT KEEP WHAT THE LORD HAD COMMANDED. Therefore, the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.” (1 Kings 11:9-11)
IF WE ARE OUT OF THE WILL OF GOD WE CAN FIX THAT BY ASKING THE LORD TO FORGIVE US AND RESTORE US TO HIM…
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham