The Sabbath-School by W. N. Glenn

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Dec 9, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 47.

The Sabbath-School.

By W. N. Glenn

Notes on the International Lesson.

SOLOMON'S FALL.

FOR many years Solomon walked uprightly; but he finally yielded to the allurements with which wealth and popularity naturally surrounded him. God had designed that Israel should not be as the other nations, and had given them such rules of public and private life as would have preserved them "a peculiar people" had they continued to obey his statutes. They were also a typical people, representing such as should always keep themselves "unspotted from the world."

WE have in this lesson a striking illustration of the fulfillment of God's word. God had foretold through Moses that Israel would demand a king in order to be like other nations, and gave certain directions for his observance. See Deut. 17:14-20. In the sixteenth verse we read: "He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses." But we are told in 1 Kings 4:26 that "Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses;" and in the same book, chap. 10:28, 29, we learn that he made a regular business of trading in Egyptian horses.

A FURTHER precaution was: "Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away." Thus the Lord foresaw just where trouble would arise, and interposed the warning, and pointed out how they would be dangerous: "For surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." How truly all this was fulfilled in Solomon's life. In the verse preceding the lesson, we read: "And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines." Then comes the result, just as God had predicted,—"his wives turned away his heart after other gods."

GOD always looks ahead for the interest of his people. His foresight is always a sure indicator, as a light that shineth in a dark place. See 2 Peter 1:19. All the sacred history shows that it would have been well for men to "take heed" to his forecast of events, and especially to his counsels. He "knoweth the end from the beginning," and "he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Our God is "a jealous God;" he will not give his glory to another; therefore he would carefully guard his people against the road leading to idolatry.

ALL departure from God's word means idolatry, and the farther one strays from the letter of his warning or his command, the more flagrant becomes his idolatry. In the very beginning God provided means to guard men against idolatry, but that means has been grossly neglected, with the result that is so fully demonstrated in the history of man. He established at creation a memorial of the creative power of the true God. The one grand distinction between the true God and all false gods is that the true One created the heavens and the earth. No false god has ever claimed, nor was it ever claimed for him, that he created anything.

WE read in Ex. 20:11 that "in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." Is it reasonable to suppose that if men had faithfully celebrated this weekly memorial day, they would have come to believe in any other god? See Eze. 20:12: "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." We see, then, that the one object of the Sabbath was a memorial of the true God? Is there any less necessity for such a safeguard to-day than there was in ancient times?

IT is almost impossible to comprehend how any man, endowed as was Solomon with wisdom from Heaven, could fall into the silly worship of those heathen gods. Yet the fact remains that he did so, and the record says it was "because his heart was turned from the Lord his God," and "kept not that which the Lord commanded." Then wisdom alone will not keep one from falling away from God, unless there be in the heart a true spirit of obedience. A man may be able to speak proverbs and write songs by the thousand, and yet fail in the service of God, and be rejected.

ALL the gods specially mentioned in this lesson were simply various forms of planet worship, of which the sun was the principal object. When men conceived the necessity of worshiping something which they could see, they naturally turned to the sun, which to them seemed to be the most important object—the source of all blessing. "Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians," represented the female principle in production, as Baal, the sun-god, did the male. Ashtoreth is supposed to be the same as Astarte, which in some localities was symbolized by the moon, and in others by Venus.

CHEMOSH was another form of Baal or sun-worship. It was a national deity of the Moabites (Num. 21:29), and is variously associated with Baal-zebub, Baal-peor, with Mars, and with Saturn. The worship of Chemosh was attended with the most licentious rites, as indeed may be said of most forms of sun-worship. This is why that species of worship so easily captivated the carnal mind, especially those Eastern kings who surrounded themselves with vast harems, and whom Solomon seems to have been so eager to imitate.

"MOLECH, the abomination of Ammon," was essentially identical with Chemosh of the Moabites. Smith's dictionary says that "fire-gods appear to have been common to all the Canaanite, Syrian, and Arab tribes, who worshiped the destructive element under an outward element, with the most inhuman rites." The idea of fire-worship grew out of sun-worship. The mania for sun-worship in its various phases so far led all other forms of idolatry that the first day of the week was devoted to its rites and named after it. Sunday as a religious day originated in idolatry, and its standing in the Christian church is a compromise between a degenerate Christianity and heathen philosophy.

NOTWITHSTANDING Solomon's sad apostasy, God remained faithful to his covenant with David, and saved one tribe in order to perpetuate his name and for Jerusalem's sake. He is justly entitled to be called a covenant-keeping God, and on this fact the Christian may rest assured that the final overcomer will not be disappointed in anything that has been promised. And notwithstanding so wise a man as Solomon might fail of the promise, the most humble need not be discouraged on that account. Though "God resisteth the proud," yet he "giveth grace unto the humble." James 4:6.