NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.
By Alonzo T. Jones
In the present lesson our attention is turned from Solomon in his uprightness, when he was the beloved of the Lord, to Solomon in his degradation, when "the Lord was angry with" him; from Solomon building a temple for Jehovah, which the Lord accepted and hallowed for his own name, to Solomon building temples for Ashtereth, and Chemosh, and Molech, and for the gods of all his strange wives, the abominations of heathendom, which God abhorred; from Solomon worshiping the God of Heaven in such height of purity and faith, and with such wondrous acceptance that it brought the very presence of Heaven down upon the earth, to Solomon in such depth of iniquity worshiping idols, and joining in the murderous and licentious rites of all the heathen nations round about; from Solomon in the fear of God, and from a deep sense of sin, burning sweet incense to the Lord, offering to him the acceptable sacrifices of sheep and oxen, and praying to him for forgiveness, for light, for strength, and for wisdom, to Solomon burning incense to devils, helping on the sacrifice to them of smiling babes and innocent children, and opening the gates of iniquity by which the whole land should be stained with innocent blood. In short we are turned from the contemplation of "Solomon in all his glory," to the contemplation of Solomon in all his shame. "KING Solomon loved many strange women." It seems that at this time Solomon cared for nothing but to have his own way. Contrary to the express command of the Lord, in Deut. 17:16, he did multiply horses to himself and he carried on with Egypt a regular traffic in horses and chariots, until he had for himself, one thousand four hundred chariots, which with three horses for each chariot—two to work and one in reserve—would make four thousand two hundred horses; then he had twelve thousand horsemen—cavalry—besides. But he did not conduct this trade for himself alone. He had horses and chariots brought out of Egypt for the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria, and there can be hardly a doubt that this traffic in horses with the Hittites and the other nations led him into his sinful connection with these "strange women," for seven hundred of his wives were "princesses," the daughters of these heathen kings with whom he was trading in horses. Had Solomon been obedient to the Lord, he would have been saved from all this, for Deut. 17:18 says: "And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book. . . . and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life." And this which he was to write, and read for himself was contained particularly in the two foregoing verses forbidding the very thing which Solomon did. "He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses; forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself that his heart turn not away." Solomon did send into Egypt and multiply horses unto himself; this led to the traffic with the heathen round him; this led him to the gathering to himself of the many strange women, and these led him to the final and fatal step, and his heart was turned away from his God. "WHEN Solomon was old," the text says. Not old in years, for he was only about forty-nine, but the dissipation consequent upon having seven hundred wives, every one of them shamefully licentious, besides three hundred concubines, who could have certainly been no better,—all this made him "old" though only in the prime of his years. "His wives turned away his heart after other gods." And what fearful gods they were! Devils, the psalmist calls them (Ps. 106:37, 38); and devils they were. "Ashtereth the goddess of the Zidonians." The "queen of heaven" of Jer. 7:18 and 44:19, the Astarte of the Greeks, the Venus of the Romans, and under different names worshiped by all of the ancient East, and though having different names, yet was always worshiped in the same manner, and which is fully expressed in one word—lasciviousness. She was the female Baal, and corresponded to the moon as Baal did to the sun. She represented the female principle in generation as Baal did the male. She was always worshiped in connection with him, and the rites of her worship corresponded to that idea. Her priests were men dressed in women's clothes; her priestesses were harlots, and the only worship was prostitution.647 MILCOM of the fifth verse is identical with Molech of the seventh, and Molech of the Ammonites is the same as Chemosh of the Moabites, and both are the same as Baal of the Canaanites and other Eastern nations generally. It is with Baal as with Ashtoreth above, although called by different names, he is the same god, and his worship the same amongst all the ancient nations. He represents the sun; and the worship of Baal, Molech, Chemosh, or by whatever name, was sun-worship. The form of his worship is described in the words of the Bible about Ahaz (2 Chron. 28: 2, 3): "For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel." Baalim in the text is the plural form of Baal, and signifies the images of Baal in connection with Ashtoreth, set up and worshiped together. So we see that children born of the licentious worship of Ashtoreth, were burned in the fire in the worship of Baal. Not all of the children, of course, but such as they should choose to sacrifice. The priests of Molech (Baal) ranked above the princes, and were next to the king, and sometimes even the king himself was a priest, as in the case of the father of the infamous Jezebel, who was himself a priest of Ashtoreth, and was also dedicated to Baal. It was such daughters, of such men as these, from whom Solomon took his seven hundred wives. No wonder they turned away his heart from the Lord. No wonder that in cleaving to these in their impurity he did it at the expense of forsaking Jehovah, who will be worshiped in purity alone. No wonder that now we read in quick succession: "And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon." Verse 14. "And God stirred up another adversary." Verse 23. "And Jeroboam . . . even he lifted up his hand against the king." Verse 26. No more can Solomon write as he did in his youth to Hiram: "But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent." 1 Kings 5: 4. Adversaries on all sides, from the kings abroad and from his own subjects at home. Evil "occurrent" everywhere. From his own sowing of evil, springs an abundant harvest, and he has to begin the reaping. No more can he be called Solomon—peace—but rather Magor-missabib—fear round about, for there is fear on every side, and God above all against him, to rend the kingdom from him as though no longer fit to rule over men. And in closing we may quote the words used ages after by Nehemiah in correcting sins in Israel: "Among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin." Neh. 13: 26. The words of David to Solomon are still the words of the Lord to every one of the children of men. Know thou God "and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever." 1 Chron. 28: 9. ALONZO T. JONES. SOLOMON's life is an example and a warning. In his youth an example of how good God is to all who will seek him in humility, and in entire dependence upon him, an example of how "the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." Prov. 10: 22. In his latter days his life is a warning to all, of man's helplessness when he forsakes the path which the Lord has marked out for us to walk in. It shows that, however great a man's wisdom may be, or however grand may be his success while serving the Lord in sincerity, all the wisdom that he had acquired will not keep him from becoming a fool, and that all the success that he had achieved will not prevent his making a miserable failure, when he ceases to serve the Lord. Therefore cling close to the word of God. "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom." Job 28: 28. "Good success have all they that do his commandments." Ps. 111: 10.