Article 2016-09 - Dangers of Success
Chapter 24: Dangers of Success
Introduction
The lives of Israel’s kings hide important lessons for missionaries. Successful Solomon shows that many advantages in the world do not guarantee success in God’s work. Even the best and most gifted workers have blind spots and successful workers seem to have more trouble to accept corrections. But God judges His most and least gifted workers with equal justice. Solomon proves that even the best, who persist in disobedience, eventually fail.
Scripture reference
The king must not … take many wives, or his heart will be led astray (Deut. 17:16,17)
King Solomon … loved many foreign women … Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told …’You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love (1 Kings 11:1,2)
The story
We learn much from the history of the kings. Solomon had it all. Born in a royal family, his father a mighty king, successful in his military exploits, a national hero like no other. He was rich, had a beautiful palace and was famous among the kings of other countries. Solomon received the best possible education, and his father had promised him the nation’s throne, as God had said. Solomon had a brilliant mind and from early childhood he knew Israel’s God, by reading His books, and from his father’s stories. His future looked bright; why should anything go wrong?
He inherited the throne. After a while he asked God for wisdom to rule His people. God was pleased and gave him not only exceptional wisdom, but tremendous riches and other blessings as well. He made God’s agenda his agenda and God rewards that. Solomon built the temple, as beautiful as ever one was constructed. It had been David’s idea and Solomon could use the vast resources his father had laid up for that purpose. God could now be visited in Jerusalem by all Gentiles that were seeking Him.
Scripture reference
Then Solomon said … ‘As for the foreigner who … has come from a distant land because of your name – for men will hear of your great name … - when he … prays towards this temple, then hear from heaven … and do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you (1 Kings 8:12,41-43)
The story, continued
Nobody had ever come this close to leading a model nation with model worship in a model temple, being a model king himself. He could truly invite all Gentiles to come to Jerusalem, meet God, worship Him and take the nation of Israel as an example of a Godly Kingdom. Indeed, Gentiles came from all directions, praising God and Solomon as well. For his wisdom, statesmanship, palace, riches, servants and organization. Because it all went so well he did not notice that things started to go wrong. Slightly, at first. Accents shifted. He became more famous than God, and started to enjoy people’s praises more and more. Although people did go to the temple to worship God, Solomon became gradually addicted to his own share of adoration. He became sensitive to the compliments of rich, beautiful and influential women who visited him. He married hundreds of them.
Solomon ignored Moses’ warnings. Moses cautioned that a king should not marry many wives, so that his heart would not turn away from the Lord. Solomon did not heed the lessons from history. He did not remember how in the time of the Judges the people fell into idolatry time and again. He imported many foreign gods, along with his foreign wives. He allowed many temples to be built for their idols. Often he went to worship these himself, just to please his wives. He had been warned by God, but did not listen. He did not notice how he lost his discernment and wisdom. He wrote wise proverbs, but failed to listen to his own wisdom. His life became very natural, loosing its spirituality, and hardly counting with a life hereafter.
Scripture reference
As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God … He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he … built a high place for Chemosh … and for Molech … He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods (1 Kings 11:4-8)
He fell from extreme heights into extreme depths and took Israel with him in his fall. Eventually the powerful kingdom split and Solomon’s son Rehoboam then ruled over Judah only. The prophet Ahijah was sent to anoint Jeroboam king over the ten northern tribes. It almost resulted in civil war, but this could, at least temporarily, be avoided in the last minute.
Comment
King Solomon was on God’s mission, but not a pioneer mission, that he had to start from scratch. He could build on the success and blessings that his father David obtained before him. He had everything going for him; he literally lacked nothing. He had to rule God’s people in a Godly manner, build a temple for God’s name and continue to shape Israel into the example nation God had meant it to be for the surrounding peoples. There was no single reason not to succeed in that mission. Apparently though, not even the best of circumstances guarantees success in the end. Nobody can do as he pleases, including sin, and still complete his mission well.
Solomon grew up in a polygamous family. He was used to the jealousy, envy, strife, sexual impurity, adultery and quarrels that were the norm in such families. If only he would have been peace-lover enough to marry one wife and stick to monogamy, he would have avoided much grief. But Solomon’s royal culture taught him that the greater the amount of wives, the greater his status would be.
For Christian leaders it may be a given to have one wife, but our lesson lies in the question how many ‘things’, besides the Lord, we ‘love’. Even successful missionaries can have ‘other loves’, like material things, status, education, reputation, thrilling ministries, influence, etc. Often they do not notice how such things negatively impact their love for God. Sad enough, to the degree that missionaries become more important, experienced, successful, affluent and appreciated, they also seem to become less corrigible. That is dangerous. Pride in accomplishments creeps in and one needs humility to accept correction.
Solomon’s end warns us that no measure of success, riches or status will move God to be less strict on us when we fail, than He is with others of less apparent significance. Simply said: the best who fail through disobedience will be set aside, whereas the least who succeed through obedience will be rewarded. Solomon lost it all, which should not have been if he had repented when he was warned.
Throughout the books of Kings, Chronicles and Prophets we see similar lessons. The stories about Saul, David and Solomon give us keys to understand missionary principles in the Old Testament.
Discussion & dialogue
- Discuss why Solomon was the ‘son of promise’ for his generation
- Which other seven of the ten themes reoccur in this chapter? If time allows, discuss how. (Answer is in the Teacher’s Guide)
