2 Kings 17
"As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord as the heart of David his father had been." 1 Kings 11:4
Remember that King Solomon, who started well by asking God to give him wisdom to govern the people and who built a magnificent temple for God in Jerusalem, did not finish well. He acquired seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. Many of those were foreign women from lands where God had forbidden the Israelites to intermarry. God had warned His people that these foreigners were idol worshipers and would influence the Israelites to worship their false gods. This is exactly what happened. Solomon himself participated in the idol worship.
After Solomon's death, God took all of the kingdom except the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and gave it to Jeroboam to rule. Jeroboam thought that, if the Israelites went to worship at the temple in Jerusalem, they might switch their allegiance to Rehoboam. So Jeroboam made two golden calves and set one up in Dan and one in Bethel. He told the people it was too much for them for them to return to Jerusalem to worship. He said, "Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." I Kings 12:28b Jeroboam led the people in idol worship by making sacrifices to these golden calves and by building shrines to other idols.
The wicked influence of these two men was widespread throughout the kingdom of Israel. One king after another followed in their footsteps. There were twenty kings in Israel during this period, and none of them worshiped the true God. They were all idol worshipers.
Each person has a sphere of influence--those people who know you or know your reputation. This would include our family members, fellow church members if we attend a church, business associates, friends, and acquaintances. We are responsible to God for the kind of influence we have on the other people in our lives, especially those who will try to follow in our footsteps.
God had sent prophets to warn the Israelites, and particularly the kings who led the people, to put away all their idols and worship only Him. But God's people refused to listen to His warnings. So, in 722 B.C., God sent the Assyrians to defeat the northern kingdom of Israel and take many of them back to Assyria as captives.
There were twenty kings in the southern kingdom, Judah, also. Most of them indulged in idol worship, but there were several kings who led the people to worship the true God. Because of their leadership, God spared the southern kingdom until 586 B.C., when the Babylonians overran them, destroyed the temple and Jerusalem, and carried many people as captives to Babylon. God will give people many warnings, but those who ignore them will eventually receive God's punishment.
We don't need to feel puffed with pride because we do not worship images made from gold, silver, wood or stone today. Anything that takes first place in our lives other than God is an idol. Today we idolize things like wealth, power, fame, beauty, prestige, youth, athleticism, and material possessions. But only God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of mankind, only He Himself is worthy of worship--He and He alone.
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