Is it me, or do you find this statement of Solomon’s to be a little strange?

"My wife shall not live in the house of King David of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy."

Why would Solomon, forbid his wife from not just living in, but also from entering the house of his father, OR for that matter any place where the ark of the Lord has been?

There are 2 reasons.

Reason number one is, the significance of the Ark.

To refresh your memory, the ark of the Lord, also known as ‘the ark of the covenant’ was a box made out of wood, built to hold the 10 commandments. It symbolized God’s covenant, God’s promise with his people. The ark was Israel’s most sacred object and was kept in the most holy place. It was a symbol of God’s presence and power.

Why would Solomon not want his wife to stand in the presence and power of God?

The answer is found in reason number two, she is an Egyptian.

If this happened today, we would be hearing shouts of racism and discrimination. Solomon would be accused of barring a person from the presence of God because of her nationality. And in truth, he would be found guilty. Guilty, however, not because of the reason you think he would. His guilt is in the fact that he has broken a law of God. Specifically the law God gave to the Israelites just prior to entering the promised land. He told Israel, that the land was occupied by many nations and that the Lord would give them over to Israel. When this happened God said,

"Do not inter marry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,"

God doesn’t stop right there. Remember God does not respond to his children’s questions, "Why?", saying, "Because I said so!" Instead God tells them why saying,

"for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods." (Deuteronomy 7:3,4)

Solomon heeded that warning about as well as grandparents and parents heed the age limitation warning on children’s toys, in other words he didn’t.

Solomon had, what he thought was good reason to marry this Egyptian woman. She was the Pharaoh’s daughter. He married her not for love, but in order to secure a military alliance with Egypt, which is breaking another of God’s laws, but that is a story for another Sunday.

The fact that Solomon forbid his wife to live in David’s palace because the Ark of the Lord was there, suggests that Solomon knew God would not approve of his pagan marriage. In an effort to cover up his sin or not flaunt it before God he banned his wife from the presence of the ark, like that is going to stop God from knowing.

This was the first of many more marriages of Solomon to foreign women. Their worshipping of false and pagan gods eventually led to Solomon’s downfall. In other words, exactly what God said would happen, did happen. A seemingly innocent marriage, opened the door to a much greater sin and tragedy. Maybe Solomon would have been better off if he had not said,

"My wife shall not live in the house of King David of Israel, for the places to which that ark of the Lord has come are holy."

The story of Solomon reminds me of a story I read in one of the volumes of Chicken Soup for the Soul. The title of the story was, Will You, Daddy?

The story is about a father who was remembering an incident in his life and that of his daughter’s. His daughter couldn’t have be more than 5. One night after supper, the father had plans of reading through the enormous amount of work he had brought home from the office.

As he began his work, his daughter, entered joyfully handing him a book.

Giving it a passing glance he remarked, "Oh, a new book, that’s nice."

(You know the way parents sometimes attempt to brush off their kids.)

The little girl asked, "Daddy, will you read me a story?

Dad said, "No dear. Not just now."

She stood there quietly for a while and then said, "But Mommy said, you probably would."

He looked over the volume of papers he was reading and said, "I’m sorry, maybe Mommy would read it."

The daughter said, "Mommy is much busier upstairs. Wouldn’t you read me just one story? See it has real pretty pictures."

"Oh, yes. Beautiful, but I have to work tonight." he said.

Again she stood quietly, this time standing for a longer time.

"The story looks really exciting," she said.

"Ah....Mnnnn," he responded

"I am sure you would enjoy it, Daddy," she said.

"I’m sure I would. But later..." he said.

"Oh," she said. "Some other time then. Will you, Daddy, some other time?"

"Yes, of course, some other time," her father responded.

The daughter remained for a while longer. Then she put her book on top of her father’s work and said, "Whenever you get ready, read it to yourself. Only read it loud enough so I can hear it, too."

"Sure," he said. "Sure - later."

This father was remembering this incident, as he read the book out loud in the back seat of the limo, as it pulled away from the grave site of his daughter and wife, who were killed by a drunken drive just days ago.

You might be wondering what does this story have to do with our scripture lesson. The connection is the downfall of Solomon and the father. For Solomon it was marrying an Egyptian. For the father it was mixed up priorities. Thinking that there will always be time tomorrow to read the book. Their decisions seemed pretty harmless, but when you scratch the surface you see the potential danger which lurks.

I wonder, what is our sin?

What seemingly innocent act or behavior leads us away from God, from family? A harsh word, a bad temper, a lack of trust, a forgotten vow, a busy schedule?

What excuses do we make? What reasons do we give for not completely surrendering to the will and love of God? How do you let sins foot to get in the door of your life? What limits do you put on your love for God and family?

God puts no limits on His love for you. He surrendered the life of His Son Jesus. He sacrificed His Son for the sake of your salvation and mine. And yet, like the father in the story, we find ourselves too busy, too preoccupied to accept His invitation, to enter into a deeper relationship.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Perhaps these 2 stories will challenge you to exam your life, your attitudes, your behavior, your calendar.

Will they lead to your downfall OR to victorious life?

Amen

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