2 Chronicles 9:13-14 The gold that came to Solomon in one year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents, in addition to what came from the tolls on travelers and what the merchants brought.
In Deuteronomy 17, Moses gave the people specific instructions for the kings to come.
Deut 17:16 But he shall not have a great number of horses;
Deut 17:17 Neither shall he have a great number of wives, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he accumulate a vast amount of silver and gold.
In 2 chronicles we see that Solomon has gone against these instructions:
2 Chr 9: 25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses, chariots, and twelve thousand horses; these he allocated among the chariot cities and to the king’s service in Jerusalem.
2 Chr 9:14b All the kings of Arabia also, and the governors of the country, brought gold and silver to Solomon.
It doesn’t specifically say in this chapter of Chronicles how many wives Solomon had, but we know from other books he had near 1,000.
It can be argued that God promised Solomon riches and treasures along with the wisdom he asked for, so these examples are of the riches. I think that the excess of riches given to Solomon (on top of what God blessed him with) that he kept and turned into statues, plaques, thrones, shields, and other things to be look at is where the seed of discord began to grow in his heart. None of these treasures were directed at God. All of those treasures given to him because of his wisdom could have been used for good things for his people. Instead, he stashed away all the treasures he received on earth. Solomon allowed the riches to be multiplied. He allowed himself to become greedy and boastful, and thus his heart was open to being pulled from God by his numerous pagan wives. Solomon was king for 40 years. He could have been a great king for much longer if he had lived by God’s standards.
We must be careful to use the blessings given to us by God for God’s purpose. When we begin using them for our own personal gain, we are going against God. I am all for someone making a good living for themselves because they worked hard. I agree they should be able to live comfortably without having someone else taking from them and giving it to people who don’t do anything. BUT if we begin to horde our wealth, not giving to the church what we should before we buy for ourselves, God can surely see fit to take our gifts away. Our treasures do not come with us to heaven. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:21 that where our treasures are, there our hearts will also be.
No comments:
Post a Comment