Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love.
— 1 Kings 11:1-2
Here we find the beginning of the slow and steady downfall of a great king and a great man. The story of Solomon began as one of the truly great stories in Scripture, but we arrive here at an end that is nothing short of tragic.
Mirror Opposites
These verses stand in stark contrast to how Solomon was introduced to us back in chapter 3 verse 3, where we are told that Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David. At the beginning of his journey, we were introduced to Solomon’s love for the Lord. But here, at the end of his journey, the chapter opens by introducing us to Solomon’s love for foreign women.
The author does not leave it there — he quantifies it. Solomon loved many foreign women, and goes further to list the nations from which these women came: the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women. And notably, the author highlights twice that the feeling Solomon had for these women was love. He loved them. He held fast to them.
This is a profound tragedy.
The Deceitfulness of the Heart
Here we are reminded of the deep weakness of the human heart. In Jeremiah 17:9 we are told:
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?
— Jeremiah 17:9
It is precisely this deceitfulness of the heart that can turn one’s love away from God and toward the very things God has prohibited.
God had clearly laid out this prohibition back in Deuteronomy 7:3-4:
You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.
— Deuteronomy 7:3-4
God had foreknown and perfectly understood all that would follow if His people were to associate with the surrounding nations. And in our passage we see that this is exactly what happened to Solomon. The very thing God warned about — that they would surely turn his heart away after their gods — came to pass.
A Cautionary Tale
Scripture gives us many examples of people who started well but ended in disaster. Solomon’s story is one of the most sobering cautionary tales in all of the Bible — a story of how one can begin in a place of genuine love for God, and yet over time allow the heart to drift slowly toward the things of this world.
This drift was fundamentally an issue of the heart. The very same love that Solomon once had for God had now shifted its object of affection to these foreign women. And herein lies the great danger of matters of the heart. When we rely on emotions and feelings as our guide, we are vulnerable to being drawn away from our affection toward God.
This is why John writes in 1 John 2:15-17:
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
— 1 John 2:15-17
Guarding Our Affections
Let us take heed of the warning embedded in the story of the great King Solomon. Let us be mindful of where our affections are directed. Let us fix our eyes on God and on Jesus Christ whom He has revealed — for Scripture tells us that as we behold Jesus Christ with unveiled faces, we are transformed from glory to glory.
In Romans 12, we are instructed:
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
— Romans 12:1-2
What all of these passages are telling us is this — as we behold God, as we look to Him, as we trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and as we believe upon His life, death, and resurrection, the Holy Spirit works within our hearts to align our affections and desires toward the things of God.
The moment we take our eyes off the cross of Christ, our affections will begin to drift — away from God and toward our own foreign women, whatever form they may take in our lives.
A Prayer for Kept Hearts
May God in His grace continue to hold us fast and grant us repentance, so that our minds may be fixed wholly upon Him — and Him alone — for our sustenance and our salvation.
Amen.
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