Solomon Begins to Violate God’s Prophecy in Deuteronomy 17:14-20

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And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price. I Kings 10:27-28

Steps: 4, 5

Solomon had been instructed to not accumulate the gold necessary to make silver as stones. He had also been instructed in Deuteronomy 17 not to return to Egypt to get horses. Horses were considered the tanks or planes of the Old Testament times. Those who had many horses were often tempted to go to war because of the amount of military might that they had. God wanted Israel to depend upon Him to be their defense and not on horses and warriors. The linen was also interesting for linen was the base material for making clothing a symbol of the righteousness of Jesus. To get linen from Egypt would indicate that one was seeking their understanding of spiritual things from Egypt which would be an abomination to God. All of these things, in direct violation of the straight testimony of God, indicate that Solomon was beginning to depend upon his wisdom rather than the God who gave the wisdom. This would tell us that Solomon was preparing to go farther and farther in his rebellion against his God.


Prayer for Today: God, You have granted us so many gifts and blessings that it is often difficult to remember how many things come directly from You. Help us not to get so caught up in the gifts that we forget that You are the Giver. You know how easy it is for us to forget that You are our God and we depend upon You and not on Your gifts apart from You. Thank You for allowing us to see what will happen to us if we get so caught up in our activities that we get things out of order and put Your gifts before You. Thank You for Your patience and Your willingness to get us corrected again if we go off the path of recovery.