Solomon began his reign as the wisest and wealthiest king in the world, due to his request to God for wisdom. However, he failed to fully obey God's commands. He accumulated hundreds of wives from foreign nations, which turned his heart away from the Lord. He also focused more on building his own palace rather than the temple. By the end of his life, Solomon worshipped other gods. As a result, God divided the kingdom after Solomon's death, separating the northern and southern kingdoms. Small sins and wrong attitudes, if not addressed, can lead even the wisest of people away from fully following God.

1. THE GLORY AND TRAGEDY OF SOLOMON
Readings:
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2. 2

3. A single wrong decision can
get you into a serious mess.
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4. JOURNEY OF LIFE
The longer you keep
walking before you
discover your mistake,
the harder it is to find
the way to where you
want to go.
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5. JOURNEY OF LIFE
Not that I have already obtained all
this, or have already been made
perfect, but I press on to take hold of
that for which Christ Jesus took hold
of me. Brothers, I do not consider
myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is
behind and straining toward what is
ahead, I press on toward the goal to
win the prize for which God has called
me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 3:12–14, NIV84)
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6. FIRST BOOK OF KINGS
• 2 Samuel - David united Israel
• “a man after God’s own heart.”
• David sought God’s guidance
in everything except for his
family.
• 1 Kings: Adonijah proclaims
himself king.
• David declares Solomon is the
king.
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7. GOD APPEARS TO
SOLOMON
• At Gibeon the Lord appeared to
Solomon during the night in a
dream, and God said, Ask for
whatever you want Me to give
you.
(1 Kings 3:5, NIV84)
• So give Your servant a
discerning heart to govern
Your people and to distinguish
between right and wrong. For
who is able to govern this great
people of Yours?
(1 Kings 3:9, NIV84)
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8. GOD APPEARS TO
SOLOMON
•
I will do what you have asked. I
will give you a wise and discerning
heart, so that there will never have
been anyone like you, nor will
there ever be. Moreover, I will give
you what you have not asked for̶
both riches and honour̶so that in
your lifetime you will have no equal
among kings. And if you walk in My
ways and obey My statutes and
commands as David your father
did, I will give you a long life.
(1 Kings 3:12–14, NIV84)
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9. GOD APPEARS TO
SOLOMON
•
King Solomon was greater
in riches and wisdom than all
the other kings of the earth.
(1 Kings 10:23, NIV84)
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10. SOLOMON’S WEALTH
• 4.5 tons of gold per
year
• 6000 kilos of wheat
per day.
• 12,000 kilos of beef
per day.
• 4000 kilos of other
meats per day.
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11. SOLOMON’S BUILDING
PROGRAM
• 200,000 workers.
• Palaces and cities.
• The Temple:
• 7.5 years to build.
• Design from God
given to David.
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12. DEDICATION OF THE
TEMPLE
•
When the priests
withdrew from the Holy
Place, the cloud filled the
temple of the Lord. And
the priests could not
perform their service
because of the cloud, for
the glory of the Lord filled
His temple.
(1 Kings 8:10–11, NIV84)
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13. DEDICATION OF THE
TEMPLE
•
But if you or your sons turn
away from me and do not
observe the commands and
decrees I have given you and go
off to serve other gods and
worship them, then I will cut off
Israel from the land I have given
them and will reject this temple
I have consecrated for My
Name. Israel will then become a
byword and an object of
ridicule among all peoples.
(1 Kings 9:6–7, NIV84)
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14. THE FALL OF SOLOMON
•
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides
Pharaoh s daughter̶Moabites, 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. He had seven hundred wives of
royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him
astray. 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 Molech 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 11:1–6, NIV84)
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15. THE DIVISION OF THE
KINGDOM
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16. THE DIVISION OF THE
KINGDOM
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17. THE DIVISION OF THE
KINGDOM
• Jereboam the first king of
the Northern Kingdom of
Israel.
• Does not want his people to
go to the temple in
Jerusalem, so he sets up a
new religion using the
golden calf idol from the
days of the Exodus.
•
The sin of Jereboam .
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18. THE DIVISION OF THE
KINGDOM
•
God does not give up on the
people of the Northern
Kingdom.
•
He sends prophets with great
power to bring the people
back to worshipping Him.
•
Much of the second half of
the book tells of the
confrontation of these great
prophets and the kings of
Israel.
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19. THE DIVISION OF THE
KINGDOM
• I Kings 13:1-6
• The unnamed prophet
confronts king Jereboam
with the power of the Lord.
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20. WHY DID SOLOMON
FAIL?
•
Solomon made an alliance with
Pharaoh king of Egypt and
married his daughter. He
brought her to the City of David
until he finished building his
palace and the temple of the
Lord, and the wall around
Jerusalem.
(1 Kings 3:1, NIV84)
•
Solomon broke the Law because
he didn t trust God s promise
of protection for his kingdom.
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21. WHY DID SOLOMON
FAIL?
•
But Solomon took thirteen
years to build his own house;
so he finished all his
house. (1 Kings 7:1, NKJV)
• Solomon
s own palace was
two times bigger than the
Lord s temple and took
twice as long to build.
• Where was Solomon
s heart?
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22. WHY DID SOLOMON
FAIL?
•
But he shall not
multiply horses for
himself, nor cause the
people to return to
Egypt to multiply
horses, for the Lord has
said to you, You shall
not return that way
again.
(Deuteronomy 17:16,
NKJV)
•
Solomon had 12,000
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23. WHY DID SOLOMON
FAIL?
•
Neither shall he multiply
wives for himself, lest his
heart turn away; nor shall
he greatly multiply silver
and gold for
himself. (Deuteronomy
17:17, NKJV)
• Solomon had 700 wives!
• Solomon accumulated
much gold.
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24. SMALL SINS
DANGEROUS ATTITUDES
•
Jesus, Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart . . . .
•
Small sins can add up little by little and lead you further
and further away from God.
•
The biggest danger of small sins is we are tempted to
ignore them or excuse them.
•
These things don t matter, the first sign that our
hearts are not 100% for God.
•
If you know you fall short you must do something about
it while you are still aware that it is a problem.
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