Year 9, Day 308: 2 Chronicles 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here

As the Chronicler tells us about the beginning of Solomon’s reign, things look like they are going well.  Solomon builds his own house.  Solomon builds a temple for the Lord.  Solomon manages to make into servants all of the non-Hebrew people in the land.  The Hebrew people are convinced to join his army when they are needed.  The sacrifices continue as expected.  The religious leaders continue to establish themselves in the temple as they had in the tabernacle.  It’s an overview and we don’t have much detail, but things seem good.

There is a passage hidden in this chapter that gets closed over without care.  Solomon takes his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh, and brings her to his house instead of living in David’s house.  This makes sense. Solomon and his family probably lived in David’s house until the king’s palace was finished.  Once finished, Solomon would move his family to the new palace.

The problem isn’t the palace; the problem is the family.  Solomon took a wife from Egypt.  In fact, Solomon took a Pharaoh’s daughter.  Solomon’s wife is not form among the Hebrew people.

First things first.  There is nothing wrong with the Egyptian people per se.  The wife could have been a Hittite, an Ammonite, a Syrian, or a Babylonian.  The issue isn’t where she is from – although Egypt is a difficult choice; the issue is that she isn’t from among the Hebrew.  It isn’t a genetics issue, it’s a faith issue.

Kings took wives from other countries as a signature of political alliances.  Kings took wives from neighboring countries as a sign that the countries wouldn’t attack one another for fear of the execution of the daughter in the foreign country.  What this passage is saying is that Solomon has made a political pact with Egypt.  He has aligned himself with Egypt and their power.

Pacts are not bad.  God doesn’t want to be at war with the world around us.  He doesn’t want us intentionally making enemies.  At the same time, however, He does tell us that there is to be nothing before Him in our life.  We are to rely upon Him.  Our faith is to be in Him.  He will provide.  He will vindicate.  He will fight for us.

What Solomon has begun to do is rely on his own strength and his own wisdom.  He is providing for himself.  He is outwardly showing us that his faith is not fully in God but in his own ability.

I’m not going to get onto Solomon here, because this is a flaw in all of us.  What Solomon does here is wrong, there is no doubt.  Solomon allows his heart to have other gods, if you will.  We all do it.  To make matters worse, in this instance it makes good logical sense!  That doesn’t make it right, however.  We need to be careful when going about our life that we rely upon God and continue to make sure that He is our rock and our salvation.  We need to make sure that we rely solely upon Him.

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