Now King Solomon
loved many foreign women … Solomon clung
to these in love… For, when Solomon was
old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not
wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.[1]
When our Lord, through his Church,
has us hear (read) the historical passages from the Old Testament, many times I
ask, “What is the significance of this passage to us today?” This passage should cause us to tremble,
making us realize how frail we are, how we must rely upon God to work in us, both to will and to work for his good
pleasure.[2] King Solomon was the wisest man in the world;
nevertheless, his heart was turned to other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God. If this could occur to King Solomon, how
easily is it for us to have our hearts turned from God and for our hearts to
not be wholly true to God? But how is
this passage relevant to us?
Of course, polygamy is against the
law, so that is not relevant. Also, it
would be horribly wrong to point fingers at women. Our blessed Mother is a woman, and we have
many saints who are women. Men can turn
women’s hearts away from God just as easily as a woman can turn a man’s. We read in Haydock’s commentary: “The wisdom
which had been given to him (Solomon) entirely abandoned his heart, which the
discipline even of the smallest tribulation had not guarded;” and then he
quotes St. Gregory in his Pastoral, p. 3: “He (Solomon) had commenced his reign
with an ardent desire of wisdom; and, when he had obtained it by spiritual
love, he lost it by carnal affections.”[3] It is that which brings the passage close to
home. Carnal affections cause us to turn
away from God. King Solomon did not
cease to believe in God; he just mixed other things with God—which necessitates
an injustice to God. Carnal affections
involve any created thing. It also
involves yielding to the ideas and precepts of created beings, e.g. the ways of
the world.
Oh, the subtlety and cleverness of
the devil! How closely he observes us to
determine our weaknesses. How clever
indeed, to be able to entrap the wisest man in the world! If he could ensnare King Solomon, how easy it
is for him to entrap us. St. Aphrahat, the Persian Sage, cautions us: “For, my
beloved, our adversary is skillful. He
that contends against us is crafty. Against
the brave and the renowned does he prepare himself, that they may be weakened.”[4] Tertullian writes: “No one is wise, no one is
faithful, no one excels in dignity but the Christian; and no one is a Christian but he who perseveres even to the end (emphasis
added) (Mt 10:22).”[5] However, we do not have to despair. St. John Chrysostom instructs: “Human nature
is a slippery thing, quick to be cheated, but quick also to recover from deceit;
and as it speedily falls, so also does it readily rise. For even that blessed man--I mean David the
chosen king and prophet--after he had accomplished many good deeds, betrayed
himself to be a man, for once he fell in love with a strange woman; nor did he
stop there but he committed adultery on account of his passion; and he
committed murder on account of his adultery.
But he did not try to inflict a third blow upon himself because he had
already received two such heavy ones, but immediately hastened to the
physician, and applied the remedies: fasting, tears, lamentation, constant
prayer, frequent confession of the sin; and so, by these means, he propitiated
God insomuch that he was restored to his former position, insomuch that after
adultery and murder the memory of the father was able to shield the idolatry of
the son. For the son of this David,
Solomon by name, was caught by the same snare as his father, and out of
complaisance to women fell away from the God of his fathers.”[6] This encourages us to prayer, and is a great thing
to keep in mind as we approach Lent.
Blessed are they who observe
justice, who do righteousness at all times!
But they mingled with the nations and
learned to do as they did.[7] St. Augustine explains: “They of whose iniquities
this Psalm speaks, when they had entered into that temporal land of promise, destroyed not the heathen, which the Lord
commanded them (ver. 34), but were
mingled among the heathen, and learned their works (ver. 35).”[8] To relate this to our day: After Baptism, we
did not “destroy” all the sin in us by turning away from them. Not only did we not completely turn away from
them, we continued to “mingle” the world’s ways with God’s ways. This is not just, is not right; therefore, we
are committing injustices against God.
We are not wholeheartedly turned to God.
“The falling away (of Solomon) did not take place suddenly but
gradually, as Solomon got old, and was not a complete renunciation of the
worship of Jehovah, to whom he offered solemn sacrifices three times a year,
and that certainly to the day of his death (1Ki 9:25), but consisted simply in
the fact that his heart was no longer thoroughly devoted to the Lord (1Ki 11:4),
and that he inclined towards the idols of his foreign wives and built them
altars (1Ki 11:5-8); that is to say, it consisted merely in a syncretic mixture
of Jehovah-worship and idolatry, by which the worship which should be paid
solely and exclusively to the true God was not only injured but was even turned
into idolatry itself, Jehovah the only true God being placed on a level with
the worthless gods of the heathen.”[9] The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,
commenting upon the phrase “perfect with the Lord,” states: “The language of
the verse indicates, not that Solomon forsook for himself the worship of
Jehovah, but that he was less earnest about it and allowed side-by-side with it
the temples of heathen gods to be erected and their worship to be something
more than tolerated, even perhaps abundantly supported from his means.”[10] This appears to be the state of many
Christians today. We do not forsake the
worship of God; however, we are not earnest about it; and allow side-by-side
with it the “wisdom” of the world and its practices. Our hearts are not totally set upon God.
Now, we may believe that our hearts
are totally set upon God; nevertheless, we are not the Judge of the state of
our heart. Satan is quick to entice us
into thinking our hearts are good.
Archbishop Luis Martinez writes: “Certainly a person can possess God
while he is attached to other things, but he cannot possess Him completely. In such a soul, our Lord will hold the
principal place, the place of honor; but He does not have complete possession,
nor is He the sole master of that abode. That soul is similar — pardon the comparison —
to a guest-house. Here abides one
disordered affection, there another. God,
of course, dwells in the principal part of the house, and He has a certain
dominion over it, but not an absolute dominion; for He is not able to do
whatsoever He wishes, since the inopportune guests impede His absolute rule.”[11] However, if a person is content in not
desiring to possess God completely, does God hold the principal place? Once again, we are not the JUDGE, the authority,
who will decide that. The archbishop
goes on to say: “…It is indispensable that we root out every inordinate
affection from our heart, because each one opposes love, hinders our perfect
union with God, and gradually renders our soul fruitless. Let us, then, enter into our heart. Let us see if there is any bagatelle [trifle,
nothing] there that is impeding our Lord from having full sway over us, and let
us root it out ruthlessly. If we do not
discover anything or if we are not able to pluck it out, let us say to our
Lord, ‘I must have some parasite in my heart, O Lord. I do not know where it is, nor am I able to
free myself of it. But I place myself in
[your] hands. Come, O Lord, with [your]
scalpel, or with [your] fire, or with whatever thing [you do] wish, to rid me
of it. Purify my heart, and dispose it
for complete union with [yourself].”[12] If our hearts are turned to God, we will
desire to be in his likeness. Children
of God are the likeness of God. Children
of man are the likeness of fallen man. To all who received him, who believed in his
name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor
of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.[13] My
little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any
one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the
sins of the whole world. And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we
keep his commandments. He who says “I know him” but disobeys his commandments
is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him
truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he
who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.[14]
Holy Scripture does not state
whether King Solomon, afterwards, turned his heart wholeheartedly back to
God. It is not for us to determine
that. It is enough for us to know that
the danger exists, that we are not strong enough nor wise enough to keep
ourselves from falling into the same state; therefore, we need to pray that God
keep us. Returning to Psalm 106: Then the anger of the Lord was kindled
against his people, and he abhorred his heritage.[15] He gave them up to their enemies because of
their injustice to him—although it very well may be that they did not realize their
injustice because they were listening to the false prophets. Nevertheless, their ignorance cannot be
excused because truth was also being conveyed to them but the truth was not
pleasant to them (reading the prophets in the Old Testament). However, if we continue in the psalm: Nevertheless, he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry (emphasis added). He
remembered for their sake his covenant, and relented according to the abundance
of his steadfast love.[16]
In conclusion, yes, we should fear
and tremble as a result of what occurred to King Solomon, but we should not
allow it to dismay us. If we do not
place confidence in ourselves, but in the One who can save us, He will make us
to persevere. We do this by constant
prayer. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now … work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to
will and to work for his good pleasure.[17] Let us acknowledge that we
have parasites in us, and ask God to remove them in any way he desires. We know he will answer, for that is a prayer
in accordance with his will: our salvation.
[1]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), 1 Ki 11:1–4.
[2] Ibid.,
Php 2:13.
[3]
George Leo Haydock, Haydock’s Catholic
Bible Commentary, (New York: Edward Dunigan and Brother, 1859),
1 Ki 11:4.
[4]
Aphrahat, Gregory the Great (Part II),
Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat, 1898, 13, 365.
[5]
Tertullian, Latin Christianity: Its
Founder, Tertullian, 1885, 3, 244.
[6] John
Chrysostom, Saint Chrysostom: On the
Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the
Statues, 1889, 9, 112.
[7]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ps 106:3, 35.
[8]
Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin:
Expositions on the Book of Psalms, 1888, 8, 530.
[9] Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, 1
Ki 11:1-13
[10] Cambridge University Press, The Cambridge Bible
for Schools and Colleges, 1 Ki 11:4.
[11] Martinez,
Archbishop Luis M., Worshipping a Hidden God (p. 24). Sophia Institute Press.
Kindle Edition.
[12]
Ibid., p. 35
[13]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Jn 1:12–13.
[14] Ibid.,
1 Jn 2:1–6.
[15] Ibid.,
Ps 106:40.
[16] Ibid.,
Ps 106:44–45.
[17] Ibid., Php 2:12–13.
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