Solomon, after building the temple and his own palace, starts building other things. He builds multiple cities for his horses, chariots, and horsemen. It makes me wonder where they were all living before.

He builds these cities on the backs of slaves. These slaves are from the peoples that should have been destroyed. God never told them to take these people and make them slaves. That was their sin in not following God’s instructions. God told them to utterly destroy them or they would be a snare. They aren’t destroyed and become a snare.

God also warns against taking a foreign wife because she will become a snare. Solomon does and God’s word, of course, proves true. Solomon brings a wife from Egypt, the daughter of Pharaoh. It may be a smart military move, creating an alliance, but it’s never smart to think you know better than God.

Solomon acted in earthly wisdom, of which he had an abundance, but disregarded Biblical wisdom, which sometimes goes directly against earthly wisdom.

Love your enemy. Give expecting nothing in return. Don’t take with you a money belt. Don’t multiply for yourself horses and chariots (the strongest part of an army at the time). And so on.

Solomon tries to justify his actions and make it right in his own eyes. He knows his wife isn’t holy before the Lord, so he has this idea that it would make it better if he didn’t keep her in David’s palace. He makes a godly sounding statement about the places being holy where the ark has been.

He pulls a Saul here and tries to act godly when in sin. God sees his heart and yours. If you catch yourself making godly excuses for doing something you know deep down is wrong, or at least aren’t completely convinced is right, then you need to stop and check yourself. It’s probably something you need to give up and give over to the Lord and turn away from.