Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Two days ago we read in First Kings 1 through 2 how Solomon was appointed King.

Yesterday we read in Psalm 119 about how God is the giver of wisdom and today those two streams flow into the same river.

It's a good thing that Solomon asks God for wisdom and we'll get to that in a minute

because he's already started out by killing a few people, maybe righteously, maybe not,

and by marrying a foreign woman, which is definitely

not a righteous move.

This marriage was for a political alliance, so does that make it any better?

No.

We don't see it right away, but this eventually causes his kingdom to crumble.

What we can see right away is that it suggests he doesn't trust God to act on Israel's behalf.

He makes alliances that involve marrying the women God

said not to marry. And did you see who he married? Pharaoh's daughter, as in

king of Egypt, as in the people who enslaved God's people for 400 years and their name is synonymous with everything God tells them to avoid,

just because Solomon's the king doesn't mean he gets a pass on obedience.

In fact, he should be the one setting an example. He's the

leader. Unfortunately, much like his father David, women are his weak spot.

Solomon loves Yaway, but he also likes to sacrifice to pagan gods. He's got a divided heart.

This wasn't uncommon in this day, or even today, honestly.

It's called syncretism.

It's where people try to synthesize two religious beliefs.

This works well with pretty much every other religion except worshiping Yaway.

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