It's hard to believe that the most wise man who walked the earth (with the exception of Jesus – who is both God and man) made such a foolish decision in the way of obeying God's law as it related to intermarrying with other nations. Solomon fell prey to the very thing that God warned the Israelites about: having his heart pulled away to other gods as a result having foreign wives. And while the decision to obtain these foreign wives may have had value as it came to international relationships, that value was lost because it resulted in Solomon's heart being pulled in two directions. Though he never fully gave up on the Lord, he opened his heart up to false idols. It's really a tragic story to find that one who was capable of so much led his nation in a way that tore it apart. We will never know what might have happened if Solomon had followed the Lord unswervingly. The lesson for us is clear, though: it's not enough to have wisdom; we need to apply it. Solomon should have followed his own advice in Proverbs 1:7a when he said that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." But he forgot that, and his legacy is forever marred.
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