Yael Eckstein (3:44)

When gold and glory replace faithfulness, even a wise king can fall. Shalom, my friends. From here in the Holy Land of Israel, I'm Yael Eckstein with International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And welcome to the Chosen People. What happens when a great person forgets who gave them their greatness? That's the question that hovers heavy and strange over the Bible story that we explore today. First Kings, chapter 11 up until now, Solomon has been blessed beyond imagination. He's built a temple. He's ruled in peace. He's gained wisdom from the heavens. But today the descent begins, and we're left to ask why? What fractures a heart that once belonged wholly to God? Is it lust? Is it pride? Or is it simply forgetting? For Solomon, that isn't just about failure. It's about the tragic unraveling of a man who once asked for wisdom but forgot to guard his heart.

Narrator (4:47)

A headache pounded in Solomon's ears as he climbed the palace steps toward his private quarters. In his mind, he could still hear the raised voices echoing off the cedar paneled walls of the hall of Judgment. The weariness of war council after war council was beginning to weigh on him. Gone were the days of hosting diplomats and bantering with queens. The threat of civil war was pressing in on every front. Enemies from within the kingdom were uniting against him, and the foreign enemies of the past, long thought to be subdued by David, were starting to resurface and wreak havoc on his carefully crafted piece. Solomon was about to let out an audible groan of relief when he finally reached the entryway to his bedchamber. But his beloved Shulamite was standing at the window, silhouetted in the pale moonlight, and the groan died in his throat. The sheerness of her gown caught the light and illuminated her body beneath in a way that made his blood heat. But when she heard him approach, she turned to face him, arms folded, sympathy shadowing her face.

Shulamite (6:07)

I heard about your mother.

Solomon (6:10)

I'm sorry.

Narrator (6:12)

Solomon felt as though the wind was knocked out of him as he was emotionally jostled off course. Bathsheba's death was not unexpected, but it had been a blow nonetheless.

Solomon (6:24)

Yes, a great loss he had not.

Narrator (6:28)

Seen his Shulamite bride in a few weeks, and it was unusual for her to come to him unannounced. There must be a reason. His beloved met his gaze and hesitated, her forehead scrunching in indecision. She had more to say, but was calculating how much of it to say. Solomon felt his defenses start to rise. The all too familiar signs of an argument were being laid before him. Solomon was unsurprised when her eyes narrowed and she shook her head as she approached, her tone sharpening.

Shulamite (7:04)

Do you even grieve her, Solomon? Or do you bury it beneath another banquet, another wife, another project?

Narrator (7:14)

Solomon exhaled slowly. He ran a hand through his thinning hair, staring out past her to the moon kissed rooftops of Jerusalem.

Solomon (7:25)

I honor her by securing the future she wanted for me.

Rehoboam (7:29)

For Israel.

Shulamite (7:32)

The future she wanted? Tell me, is this what she saw for you? You with a thousand wives you barely know, drowning in gold while your own people grumble across the kingdom under the yoke of your vanity projects?

Rehoboam (7:52)

What would you have me do? Reject what God has given me?

Shulamite (7:56)

What God has given you? Did he tell you to build those asherah poles? How about the altar to Milcom? Have you heard their screams, Solomon?

Solomon (8:09)

What screams?

Shulamite (8:10)

The screams of the children they sacrifice on those altars. You allowed them to build children, Solomon?

Narrator (8:20)

Solomon turned away from her, reflexively wincing at the truth in her words. The tension between them coiled even tighter, but she didn't falter. She pressed ahead in her argument, speaking to him in a way no one else could.

Shulamite (8:36)

When was the last time you heard him, Solomon? When was the last time he spoke to you?

Narrator (8:43)

Solomon flinched, but then clenched his jaw and turned to face her.

Solomon (8:48)

This is why I never come to see you. You sound like my mother.

Shulamite (8:54)

No, Solomon, you forget I spent years attending your father. It's his voice speaking, not mine.

Narrator (9:04)

Solomon gulped at that his throat was caught. The tension between them finally snapped as her face softened and she stepped back. She closed her eyes and collected her thoughts. Solomon knew instinctively that what she would say next was what she had come there to say. She breathed deeply to settle herself, and when she spoke, the grief laced in her words was devastating to both her and to Solomon.

Shulamite (9:36)

I loved you once. The boy who wrote songs about love, who chased me through the vineyards. I don't know this man before me.

Narrator (9:49)

Without another word, she swept past him, grazing his arm with her hand, and left. Solomon remained staring at the empty space where she stood, his mind void of thought or feeling for a long while. But then Solomon did something he had not Done in a long while. He spoke to the Lord.

Rehoboam (10:12)

Will you not be satisfied until you pry every last thing you gave me out of my hand or turn my family against me? Was your promise to me empty? I did what was right. I asked for wisdom. I came to you with a humble heart and asked for what no other young king would ask for. You promised to give me what I did not ask for.

Solomon (10:34)

Both riches and honor.

Rehoboam (10:35)

So that no king would be my equal during my entire, entire life. Well, I'm still alive, and my kingdom's on the brink of civil war. You took away my mother. You turned my one true love against me. Everyone dangles the memory and legacy of my father before me like some unattainable prize.

Solomon (10:55)

My own son doesn't honor me or.

Rehoboam (10:57)

Heed me at all.

Solomon (10:59)

Did you turn against me, too, when Nathan left? Did he know the truth?

Rehoboam (11:04)

Did he conspire with the prophet Ahijah to plot my downfall? I built you a temple. I built you a temple finer than any God has on the face of the earth. And you accepted it, didn't you? The cloud filled the sanctuary. The fire came down. You wouldn't have done that if you'd forsaken me. So why? Why? Why in these final days of my reign, is it all falling apart?

Narrator (11:34)

All the years of wondering, had he done enough? Had he been enough? Came bubbling up to the surface.

Rehoboam (11:42)

Are you silent because I've sought more accessible voices?

Solomon (11:46)

Are you silent because I've not sought yours alone? What else was I to use my wisdom for?

Rehoboam (11:53)

I made Israel prosperous. I. I preserve the peace.

Solomon (11:56)

Is it so wrong that I should want more and use this gift you.

Rehoboam (12:01)

Gave me, but now you tear it all away. What of your promises to your people? What of your promises to me?

Narrator (12:09)

The weight of Solomon's words hung in the air, raw and reverberating, only to be swallowed by silence. His breath heavy and uneven, Waiting, listening, pining for a voice, for an answer, for anything. But there was nothing. The silence stretched, vast and merciless, pressing in from all sides. It was the kind of silence that mocked him. His breath shuddered as he sank to his knees, his hands bracing the cold stone beneath him. Images of that vision flashed in his mind. The temple cracking, weeds coiling. A kingdom fractured. Solomon looked up and out the window toward the heavens. No answer came in the tortured quiet. Only deafening silence. Solomon stared into the eyes of his council, expecting the worst, as he had come to expect in recent days. The men around the table in the hall of Judgment shifted in their seats, avoiding his stare at all costs. Solomon could almost see their fear in the air. Tense, thick and visceral, he was a shadow of the man he once was. His confidence was shattered, his sense of control thinning like the hair on his head. Benaiah, the commander of Israel's army and the final remnant of David's mighty men, was the first to break the silence.

Benaiah (14:00)

My king, the northern tribes grow restless. Jeroboam, who has successfully evaded our assassins, is now reported to be in exile in Egypt. But his name is everywhere. They are rallying around him, cozying up.

Solomon (14:16)

To the new pharaoh, Shishak, no doubt. One who has no incentive not to attack Israel.

Narrator (14:23)

Mark my words.

Solomon (14:24)

Especially you, Rehoboam. This Pharaoh will not be so easily convinced to keep the peace between Egypt and Israel like his predecessor did. Especially not with Jeroboam poisoning his thoughts against me and my kingdom. The Lord was with us when we were righteous, when we obeyed him. Tell me, Rehoboam, my son, are we righteous?

Narrator (14:50)

Rehoboam shrank back. At that, Solomon scoffed. His son was weak of heart and mind. Solomon knew they were doomed. He saw the writing on the walls. They were living on borrowed time. Enemies were circling them. And this time there would be no marriage pact or promise of palaces to avoid the inevitable collision.

Benaiah (15:16)

And there's more. Hey, dad. Your father's old enemy has been officially instead stated as the King of Edom. He has allies and is no friend of ours.

Solomon (15:25)

Enemies to the south.

Benaiah (15:28)

And Rezon, another of your father's enemies has risen to be the king over Damascus and Aram. They say he's assembling an army.

Solomon (15:38)

More enemies to the north. Then perhaps they'll become Jeroboam's problem should he succeed in wrestling the northern tribes away from me.

Narrator (15:46)

Solomon exhaled slowly. His kingdom, the golden empire of his making, was splintering at the edges, with enemies within and pressing in on all sides.

Solomon (16:00)

We'll deal with them as my father did.

Benaiah (16:03)

With respect, my king, your father led his men into battle.

Rehoboam (16:08)

And I built a kingdom where our soldiers didn't have to go to battle. My wealth is our defense. Our alliances are our shields.

Solomon (16:17)

We still have Ammon.

Rehoboam (16:18)

We still have Moab and Tyre and Sheba.

Narrator (16:22)

Solomon's voice trailed off as he saw Benaiah exchange looks with the other military men and advisors at the table. He couldn't help but sense the unease between them. Benaiah steeled himself and spoke the unspeakable consensus of the table.

Benaiah (16:41)

My king, I served your father long enough to know the signs this unrest. This is judgment.

Narrator (16:49)

Isn't it? The words settled like an accusation. Solomon's grip tightened on the edge of the table, his jaw clenched.

Solomon (16:59)

If I hear one more whisper of that nonsense, I will cut out the tongue and speaks to you.

Benaiah (17:07)

Will you now?

Narrator (17:09)

The military men stiffened. Rehoboam shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Benaiah's gaze was steel. Solomon's jaw clenched and he swallowed a scoff. Solomon flicked his hand, dismissing them all. Night fell. With the darkness came a quiet. It was a disturbing, unsettling silence. Solomon leaned over the terrace, gazing out toward the Temple Mount. Then, breaking the silence, a sharp, terrifying scream. To the right of the Temple Mount, in the distance, he could see firelight. Another festival to Molech was being held. Solomon could hear the drums, the women and the crying of infants. Drunken rituals, idol worship, child sacrifice. The sound of it echoed downward to the streets of Jerusalem. The City of David. Solomon had allowed it. For what? More riches? More influence?

Solomon (18:24)

What have I done?

Narrator (18:26)

Then suddenly, the Lord spoke.

God (18:30)

Son of David.

Narrator (18:33)

Solomon fell to his knees, his crown clattering on the stone floor, trembling in awe and fear as the Lord's thundering voice surrounded all his senses, his hands and forehead pressed to the floor. The mighty voice came not in rage, but in profound, otherworldly sorrow, speaking directly to Solomon's tortured, unspoken thoughts.

God (19:01)

Because you have done this, because you have turned your heart from me, because you have chased after the gods of your wives, and because you have not kept my covenant and my statutes as your father David did, I will tear the kingdom from your hands and give it to your servant now. Your enemy, Jeroboam.

Narrator (19:27)

Solomon's breath was shallow, moistening the stone beneath his lips, his heart racing, his suspicions confirmed at last. The words were a dagger to his soul.

God (19:40)

I will not do it in your lifetime, for the sake of your father David. But I will tear it out of your son's hands. Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. Your line will keep one tribe. For the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I chose.

Narrator (20:07)

The weight in the room vanished, but it left behind an emptiness so vast it made his bones feel hollow. Solomon gasped, his hands pressing into the cold stone as if it could anchor him. But there was nothing to hold on to. Nothing at all. He had spent a lifetime building a kingdom that would not last. It was the epitome of a vanity, a vapor. Solomon dragged himself upright and pulled his knees to his chest, but remained on the ground. He wept for an untold amount of time. When his tears had finally dried and his soul felt hollow and empty. Unbidden, words sprang to his lips.

Solomon (20:57)

Vanity of vanities, says the collector of wise sayings.

Rehoboam (21:01)

Vanity of vanities.

Solomon (21:04)

All is vanity. I said in my heart I have acquired great wisdom surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me. And my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I applied my heart to no wisdom and to no madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Narrator (21:39)

Solomon felt his heart harden and seal off. But he lifted his head to the loose parchment and pens that always lay ready on the table in his bedchamber. Solomon numbly stood and walked to the table, his footsteps echoing in the hollow hall. He stood and looked down at the empty pages he would write. He would collect all his wise sayings and proverbs. But he knew they would not save him. They would not change the fate he had sealed. He swallowed hard and picked up the pen. It was heavy with the weight of destiny in his hand. Outside, the golden city stood gleaming under the moonlight. But Solomon knew it was already dust. His legacy will not last. His wisdom will not save him. His son will inherit the throne only to lose it. And the Lord. The Lord had left him. The golden age was over. He knew it in his stubborn heart. He then pulled the pages toward him and picked up the pen, all that would remain of his convoluted legacy.

Yael Eckstein (23:07)

Today we witnessed a different kind of downfall. There's something that I've noticed as we've been studying God's word each day. It's very rare that the Bible gives a reason for any of God's laws. But in today's story, we actually do get a reason. In Deuteronomy 17:17, the Bible says this. He the king must not take many wives or his heart will be led astray. Here the Bible does give a reason for the law. If the king has multiplicity of wives, they may lead him in the wrong direction. Jewish tradition teaches that in response to this law from God, Salman said, I will have many wives, but I will not be led astray. In other words, Solomon believed the reason God gave this law only applied to regular kings, but not to him, not to King Solomon who God had given such great wisdom. And this, this was Solomon's fatal error. And it led to the downfall of his kingdom. Many of his wives who came from a background of idol worship established houses of idolatry right there in the Holy Land. And so, because Solomon thought that God's law didn't apply to him. He actually brought great catastrophe on all of Israel. We often want to know the reason for God's laws, don't we? But maybe it's better if we don't know God's reasons. Because if the great and wise King Solomon could rationalize away God's laws, certainly so can we. And that is a big part of faith, isn't it? So as we continue studying God's word, let's commit to observing it. Even when we don't fully understand his reasons. He knows better than we do. Solomon's fall didn't begin with rage or violence or some reckless rebellion. It began with building. Stone by stone, treaty by treaty, wife by wife. And I can't help but feel it was familiar. You remember Baville, right? That old tower that reached the heavens where men said, let us make a name for ourselves, where unity became arrogance, where structure became defiance. Well, Solomon wasn't building a sanctuary for God anymore. He was building it for himself. Solomon wasn't just forgetting God, he was trying to make himself unforgettable. But God doesn't bless self made altars. He actually breaks them. There's a painful paradox at the heart of Solomon's story. He knew better and he still chose otherwise. Solomon had great wisdom. He understood wisdom, he spoke it, he wrote it. He even passed it on to others. But in the end, his life became a cautionary tale and a source of wisdom itself. Here's the question that I'll leave you with today. What has your heart? Not just what do you say you love, but what do you actually love? What do you fear losing? Deep down, we all want to be remembered. We want to leave a mark. We want to write a book or build that thing or start that movement. We all want to stamp our name in the wet cement of history. But history forgets. The only thing that actually endures is faithfulness. Not fame, not success, not admiration, just quiet, humble faithfulness to God. And that. That's the best legacy there is. You don't need to be Solomon. You don't need palaces or thrones. You just need a soft heart and a willingness to return to God. He's waiting not with condemnation, but with welcome. Turn back to him. He loves you.

Production Team (26:49)

You can listen to the Chosen People with Yael Eckstein ad free by downloading and subscribing to ThePray.com app today. This Pray.com production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Cattina, Max Bard, Zach Schellewager and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yael Eckste. Edited by Alberto Avila. Narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Steven Ringwald, Sylvia zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Jr. Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Lashinsky. And the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith. Written by Aaron Salvato, Bree Rosely, and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier, Robin Van Etten, Caleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, Rabbi Edward Abramson, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Pray.com productions on the Pray.com app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed the Chosen People with Yael Eckstein, please rate and leave a review.

Shulamite (28:02)

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