He highlights 1 Kings 11:1-13, where Solomon's heart turns from God and he builds temples and high places for his wives. When we read that, because we don't know the history and context of those other religious groups, it becomes easy to think little of it.
So here's the skinny:
- The temple for Ashteroth were poles of worship - male phallic symbols where people would gather to have orgies and do all sorts of sexually deviant acts.
- He also built a temple for the god of the Moabites, Chemosh, which required regular child sacrifice (think back to Ruth).
- And more temples for the god of the Ammonites, Molech, which required child sacrifice by fire -burning your children to death.
Mind you, this was Solomon, the builder of the temple of the Lord.
- This man was richer than Bill Gates,
- Smarter than Albert Einstein,
- More spiritually influential than the pope,
- More politically powerful than the president,
- And he had a harem that makes Hugh Hefner's look junior varsity.
Now we may read that and think, those people were disgusting, horrible! But be very careful of chronological snobbery, as C.S. Lewis calls it. Statistically, we slaughter far more children than Molech and Chemosh EVER did. They called it worship, we call it "choice."
We don't have the moral high ground. We slaughtered far more children in the worship of sex than they ever did. If you walk away from God, you are capable of anything, even the murder of your own child.
After marrying his 300 non-believing wives, his heart turned from God and look at the sins he was capable of.
Carry yourself with fear and sobriety. We may look at disgustedly at Solomon's 1000-woman harem, but lust is a matter of the heart. You could have a harem on your computer or stored away in your mind. Are you that much better?
We (I) must be very careful. Chronological snobbery and moral high grounds are very easy and dangerous ways to give yourself a false sense of righteousness. We must always look deeper to understand the fullness of the Word. It can be painfully sobering.
