The Divided Kingdom
But King Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, woman of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, You shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto them in love… For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect (obedient) with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as did David his father.[1]
Solomon built shrines and temples in Jerusalem in honor of the gods’ of his foreign wives.
And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou has not kept My covenant and My statues, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.[2]
On Solomon’s death, his son becomes king.
However, the ten northern tribes rebel and choose the son of Solomon’s former servant to be their king. Sad to say, both Solomon’s son who reigns over the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the new king of the ten northern tribes of Israel do not turn unto the Lord, but lead both Israel and Judah further astray. Of the new king over the northern ten tribes the Bible says,
After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places (of the shrines on the hilltops): whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priest of the high places.[3]
Jeroboam had started his own new religion to try to keep the people from going to Jerusalem each year for the various religious feasts. He needed priests, and those people obedient unto the Lord would not cooperate, so he took anyone who wanted the job. That’s not a good way to recruit religious leaders. And the Lord said of him that he
has done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke Me to anger, and hast cast Me behind thy back.[4]
The reign of Solomon’s son was not much better.
And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done, For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.[5]
That’s the Bible whether it’s what you want to hear or not. Has America abandoned the one true God of Christianity which caused her to be blessed and turned spiritually unto other gods that be not gods?
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