While the king had a great deal of spiritual influence, be it positive or negative, the Levites especially the priests were supposed to be THE spiritual leaders. Solomon's apostasy started the downward spiral of the kingdom that led to the split.

Gerry

Today the temptation is still there. I can't tell you how many of our graduates have married outside the church with the same results as Solomon. But then my father never would have become a Seventh-day Adventist if my mother hadn't married him outside the church. I guess God overrules in such cases.

Very good discussion everyone, some interesting thoughts. Solomon in his youth is much like his father David in his love for God and in all to similar actions in later years with women. He too has to learn as each of us does that it is God who is faithful to forgive us and waits with open arms our return even after our failures. Makes me wonder if David's keeping the commandments and statues of God was more "holding on to them" after all you see the same pattern played out from father to son, at least it seems that way to me.

respectfully,
annie

Hi, Annie,

In thinking about that father and son combination, I see some differences between David and solomon (apart from the atrocious number of wives and concubines!). To me it seems as though when David sinned, he was very responsive to God's "pricking his conscience". So many times we find him regretting his sin, asking for forgiveness -- and receiving it.

On the other hand, we don't read of Solomon regretting anything -- except when he wrote Ecclesiastes. God would surely have pricked his conscience as he began his downward spiral. Did he ignore those warnings? It would appear that he did.

It never pays to ignore God's warnings.

Beryl

I would just like to add that the "strange women" syndrome has been a very destructive link in this culture today. Just look at the behavior of the young women in the media today. Look at the clothes little kids are wearing today and tell me that sin and perversion aren't rampant because of "strange women" in influential industries. Sexual depravity is on an upward spiral and schoolrooms and daycares are not safe havens for our children anymore.
annie

This morning I was supervising my government class students while they did a project in the computer lab. For some reason, I paid a great deal of attention to the images used on the MSN home page (like a lot of other pages). Almost every one of them featured a young woman dressed to allure men into sex.