Solomons Adulterous Lifestyle ???

[Inexplicable]

Hi

King David had three wifes if not more, one he took after killing a man (Uriah) for his wife Bathsheba. His son Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. God gave the law through Moses long before king David and Solomon were born, even the ark of the covenant was in David's possession held in the temple stating the ten commandments, one of which was thy shall NOT commit adultery.

Although chosen by God to be his servants and greatly blessed in the kingdom, why then did they themselves disobey God. Solomon even went further by committing idolatry by worshiping false Gods. how then even in our own struggles against sexual sin are we to be encouraged and understand this?

 

[ButterflyJones]

Solomon also worked magic.
It's a mystery?

 

[Ziggy]

Something about doing unto others as you would have done to you.
Solomon made mistakes in the flesh but his spirit was right with the Lord.
This Psalm written about Solomon, tells how he cared for and loved God's people, even though he was a sinful man in the flesh.
We are also told that God looks upon the heart.
Solomon also lived in a time when many peoples were gathered together. Perhaps his wanting to secure "peace and safety" led him to give the people what would make them happy.
Even though he created idols and images and groves for his wives, I believe he never lost faith or love in God.
Solomon reminds me of Nebuchadnezar who built a kingdom and was very wealthy and well known.
The difference being, that Nebuchadnezzar gave himself the glory, while Solomon gave all the glory to God.

cc 12:8
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

Perhaps God's purpose for Solomon was to give him everything he desired to see if there was anything better than God himself.
His life was his trial, as is ours.

This was his conclusion:
Ecc 12:13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

God gave Solomon every work, every secret thing to do, to try it all and to judge whether they had merit or just vanity that passes away.
Most people commit adultery because of lust or flesh desire. I don't think Solomon's adulterous lifestyle was due to these.
I believe it was to see if there was any amount of anything whether it be women or riches that could turn his heart from God.

Biblical adultery in my opinion means more than just fleshly cravings. It's when we commit adultery with God by putting him second to our own desires.
Thou shalt not commit adultery...... to God.
Thou shalt not Lie... to God.
Thou shalt not steal... from God.

Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and might. And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Somehow I don't believe the women that Solomon married were very upset about him having multiple wives.
Not much jealousy, they were there for the money and the recognition his wealth brought them.
On the other hand Solomon loved them all.

Some people believe in God because they can recieve something from him, or they believe in him out of fear.
But God loves us all the same.

God gave Solomon a work to do and I believe that work was to put his hand to everything and anything and to judge whether it be good or evil.

Hugs

 

[Bob Estey]

Hi

King David had three wifes if not more, one he took after killing a man (Uriah) for his wife Bathsheba. His son Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. God gave the law through Moses long before king David and Solomon were born, even the ark of the covenant was in David's possession held in the temple stating the ten commandments, one of which was thy shall NOT commit adultery.

Although chosen by God to be his servants and greatly blessed in the kingdom, why then did they themselves disobey God. Solomon even went further by committing idolatry by worshiping false Gods. how then even in our own struggles against sexual sin are we to be encouraged and understand this?

If you read the full story of Solomon, you will see he was no hero, and the Bible doesn't paint him as such. You might remember David was severely chastened at one point for his adulterous behavior.

 

[Behold]

why then did they themselves disobey God. Solomon even went further by committing idolatry by worshiping false Gods. how then even in our own struggles against sexual sin are we to be encouraged and understand this?

Old Testament Jews had no Cross of Christ or. "we are not under the Law but under the Grace of God.""

They had the Law, = David and Son's case. And Paul teaches us that "the law is the power of sin"....and as they both tried to keep it, they were actually being empowered by the law to want to sin more........as that is what striving against the law, causes.
See, the dominion of the law, activates your carnality when you try to keep the Law.
This is the "curse of the Law".....and "Jesus came to delivers us from the CURSE OF THE LAW".

Being born again, puts us..>"not under the law but under GRACE".


Also, sexual sins are the hardest to deny continually as they are connected to so many situations, including one of our strongest God given needs.

 

[Mr E]

Something about doing unto others as you would have done to you.
Solomon made mistakes in the flesh but his spirit was right with the Lord.
This Psalm written about Solomon, tells how he cared for and loved God's people, even though he was a sinful man in the flesh.
We are also told that God looks upon the heart.
Solomon also lived in a time when many peoples were gathered together. Perhaps his wanting to secure "peace and safety" led him to give the people what would make them happy.
Even though he created idols and images and groves for his wives, I believe he never lost faith or love in God.
Solomon reminds me of Nebuchadnezar who built a kingdom and was very wealthy and well known.
The difference being, that Nebuchadnezzar gave himself the glory, while Solomon gave all the glory to God.

cc 12:8
Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

Perhaps God's purpose for Solomon was to give him everything he desired to see if there was anything better than God himself.
His life was his trial, as is ours.

This was his conclusion:
Ecc 12:13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

God gave Solomon every work, every secret thing to do, to try it all and to judge whether they had merit or just vanity that passes away.
Most people commit adultery because of lust or flesh desire. I don't think Solomon's adulterous lifestyle was due to these.
I believe it was to see if there was any amount of anything whether it be women or riches that could turn his heart from God.

Biblical adultery in my opinion means more than just fleshly cravings. It's when we commit adultery with God by putting him second to our own desires.
Thou shalt not commit adultery...... to God.
Thou shalt not Lie... to God.
Thou shalt not steal... from God.

Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and might. And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Somehow I don't believe the women that Solomon married were very upset about him having multiple wives.
Not much jealousy, they were there for the money and the recognition his wealth brought them.
On the other hand Solomon loved them all.

Some people believe in God because they can recieve something from him, or they believe in him out of fear.
But God loves us all the same.

God gave Solomon a work to do and I believe that work was to put his hand to everything and anything and to judge whether it be good or evil.

Hugs

It’s good that you recognize all of this as things ‘you believe.’

The evidence seems to point toward the idea that God didn’t take offense. Solomon’s ultimate conclusion is correct in that all will be judged— good and evil.

 

[Space_Karen]

how then even in our own struggles against sexual sin are we to be encouraged and understand this?

The nuclear bomb of ancient times was to have a big population and large army.

All nations of the world competed to grow as large as possible and produce as many children as possible. To have the largest population and army so that no one could conquer them and capture their land as spoils of war.

This led to nations killing all the men of conquered nations and taking their women to produce more babies. Killing all the men and taking the women led to the ratio of men to women becoming disproportionate. There would be significantly more women than men in the country, which lead to each man having more than 1 wife on average.

These trends led to David having 3 wives with Solomon having 700.

Circumstances are different today. The outcome of wars are no longer decided by population and army size. Allowing us the luxury of monogamy.

Consider how things would be different for israel had they adopted monogamy and their population size had not expanded. Perhaps they would have been wiped out by a larger nation. Polygamy may have been necessary to survival in that era.

I think these are the type of logistical topics a person needs to consider to comprehend basic biblical teachings. Everything in the bible requires some effort to put things into their proper context.

 

[Inexplicable]

Perhaps God's purpose for Solomon was to give him everything he desired to see if there was anything better than God himself.
His life was his trial, as is ours.

I thought as much. I don't believe it was an accident God giving Solomon all the desires of his heart and blessed him with riches beyond comprehension. As i read Ecclesiastes this seems to be the continual theme, all is meaningless, meaningless, ending with the conclusion to fear God and obey his commandments. I suppose Solomons trile under God or (Ecclesiastes) is somthing to heed for those wishing to pursue riches and luxurious lifestyles, in that it's not all there is, and that God is more important.

Thank you to everyone who supported this post, blessings.