After completing God’s temple and his royal palace, Solomon built new cities throughout his territories. For his extensive building projects, he drafted the Canaanites in Israel as slave labor. He allotted the Israelites as soldiers and commanders. He appointed priests to work in the temple offering the sacrifices in accordance with the law of God and the ordinance of David, his father. He ventured out to the sea for trade, with building projects in the north and fleets of ships in the south. He built a navy to accumulate large sums of gold from foreign countries. All his achievements show that Solomon was an ambitious builder and a shrewd administrator and made his kingdom very wealthy.

Solomon appeared to do everything well outwardly, but inwardly, he was drifting from the Lord slowly. He formed a marriage alliance with Egypt, taking Pharaoh’s daughter as his wife. He recognized his wrong but justified it by not letting her live in the City of David. This marriage alliance affected the course of his life, and he later built pagan places of worship for his foreign wives (1Ki 7:2-8). His compromise eventually led him and his kingdom to idol worship and the division of the kingdom. Compromises can create a “slippery slope” towards more serious failings. God’s people are to live according to God’s words faithfully.
Application: Lord, help me not to compromise but to stand firm in your words.
One Word: Be faithful to the truth of God