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1 Kings 11:3

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

He had seven hundred wives, princesses - How he could get so many of the blood royal from the different surrounding nations, is astonishing; but probably the daughters of noblemen, generals, etc., may be included.

And three hundred concubines - These were wives of the second rank, who were taken according to the usages of those times; but their offspring could not inherit. Sarah was to Abraham what these seven hundred princesses were to Solomon; and the three hundred concubines stood in the same relation to the Israelitish king as Hagar and Keturah did to the patriarch.

Here then are one thousand wives to form this great bad man's harem! Was it possible that such a person could have any piety to God, who was absorbed by such a number of women? We scarcely allow a man to have the fear of God who has a second wife or mistress; in what state then must the man be who has one thousand of them? We may endeavor to excuse all this by saying, "It was a custom in the East to have a multitude of women, and that there were many of those whom Solomon probably never saw," etc., etc. But was there any of them whom he might not have seen? Was it for reasons of state, or merely court splendor, that he had so many? How then is it said that he loved many strange women? - that he clave to them in love? And did he not give them the utmost proofs of his attachment when he not only tolerated their iniquitous worship in the land, but built temples to their idols, and more, burnt incense to them himself? As we should not condemn what God justifies, so we should not justify what God condemns. He went after Ashtaroth, the impure Venus of the Sidonians; after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites; after Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites; and after the murderous Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. He seems to have gone as far in iniquity as it was possible.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

These numbers seem excessive to many critics, and it must be admitted that history furnishes no parallel to them. In Song of Song of Solomon 6:8 the number of Solomon‘s legitimate wives is said to be sixty, and that of his concubines eighty. It is, perhaps probable, that the text has in this place suffered corruption. For “700” we should perhaps read “70.”


Old - About fifty or fifty-five. From his age at his accession (1 Kings 2:2 note) he could not have been more than about sixty at his death.

The true nature of Solomon‘s idolatry was neither complete apostasy - an apostasy from which there could be no recovery; nor a mere toleration, rather praise-worthy than blameable. Solomon did not ever openly or wholly apostatize. He continued his attendance on the worship of Yahweh, and punctually made his offerings three times a year in the temple 1 Kings 9:25; but his heart was not “perfect” with God. The religious earnestness of his younger days was weakened by wealth, luxury, sensualism, an increasing worldliness leading him to worldly policy and latitudinarianism arising from contact with all the manifold forms of human opinion. His lapse into deadly sin was no doubt gradual. Partly from ostentation, partly from that sensualism which is the most common failing of Oriental monarchs, he established a harem on a grand and extraordinary scale. To gratify “strange women,” i. e., foreigners, admitted either from worldly policy, or for variety‘s sake, he built magnificent temples to their false gods, right over against Jerusalem, as manifest rivals to “the temple.” He thus became the author of a syncretism, which sought to blend together the worship of Yahweh and the worship of idols - a syncretism which possessed fatal attractions for the Jewish nation. Finally, he appears himself to have frequented the idol temples 1 Kings 11:5, 1 Kings 11:10, and to have taken part in those fearful impurities which constituted the worst horror of the idolatrous systems, thus practically apostatising, though theoretically he never ceased to hold that Yahweh was the true God.


Went after - This expression is common in the Pentateuch, and always signifies actual idolatry (see Deuteronomy 11:28; Deuteronomy 13:2; Deuteronomy 28:14, etc.).

For Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, see Exodus 34:13, note; Deuteronomy 16:21, note. On the tomb of a Phoenician king, discovered in 1855, on the site of Sidon, mention is made of a temple of Astarte there, which the monarch built or restored; and his mother is said to have been a priestess of the goddess.

Milcom or Molech 1 Kings 11:7 are variants of the term ordinarily used for “king” among the Semitic races of Western Asia, which appears in melkarth (Phoenic.), Abimelech (Hebrew), Andrammelek (Assyrian), Abd-ul-malik (Arabic), etc. On the character and worship of Molech, see Leviticus 20:2-5 note.


Chemosh (Numbers 21:29 note), seems to have been widely worshipped in Western Asia. His name occurs frequently on the “Moabite-Stone.” Car-Chemish, “the fort of Chemosh,” a great city of the northern Hittites, must have been under his protection. In Babylon he seems to have been known as Chomus-belus, or Chemosh-Bel.

The hill - Olivet. At present the most southern summit only (the “Mons Offensionis”) is pointed out as having been desecrated by the idol sanctuaries: but the early Eastern travelers tell us that in their time the most northern suburb was believed to have been the site of the high p ace of Chemosh, the southern one that of Moloch only.


One tribe - i. e., (marginal reference) the tribe of Judah. Benjamin was looked upon as absorbed in Judah, so as not to be really a tribe in the same sense as the others. Still, in memory of the fact that the existing tribe of Judah was a double one 1 Kings 12:2 l, the prophet Ahijah tore his garment into twelve parts, and kept back two from Jeroboam 1 Kings 11:30-31.


The writer has reserved for this place the various troubles of Solomon‘s reign, not allowing them to interrupt his previous narrative. He has, consequently, not followed chronological order. Hadad‘s 1 Kings 11:23 and Rezon‘s opposition belong to the early years of Solomon‘s reign.

Hadad was a royal title (perhaps, the Syriac name for “the Sun”) both in Syria and in Idumaea (compare Genesis 36:35; 1 Chronicles 1:51).


The verse gives certain additional particulars of David‘s conquest of Edom (marginal references). Joab was left, or sent, to complete the subjugation of the country, with orders to exterminate all the grown male inhabitants. It was not very often that David acted with any extreme severity in his wars; but he may have considered himself justified by policy, as he certainly was by the letter of the Law Deuteronomy 20:13, in adopting this fierce course against Edom.

Was in Edom - Or, according to another reading, “smote” Edom.

The slain - Probably the Israelites who had fallen in the strnggle. Translate, “when … Joab was gone up to bury the slain, and had smitten every male,” etc.


Every male in Edom - i. e., every male whom he could find. As did Hadad and his company 1 Kings 11:17, so others would escape in various directions. The Edomite nation was not destroyed on the occasion.


Midian - A town in the south of Judah. Paran is the desert tract immediately to the south of Judaea, the modern desert of et-Tih.

Pharaoh - King of the twenty-first (Tanite) dynasty; probably he was Psusennes I, Manetho‘s second king. It appears to have been the policy of the Pharaohs about this time to make friends and contract alliances with their eastern neighbors.


That Hadad should wait for the death of Joab before requesting leave to return to Idumaea shows how terrible an impression had been made by the severe measures which that commander had carried out twenty-five or thirty years previously 1 Kings 11:16. The inability of refugees to depart from an Oriental court without the king‘s leave, and his unwillingness ordinarily to grant leave, are illustrated by many passages in the history of Persia.


Rezon - Possibly the same as the Hezion of 1 Kings 15:18; but probably one who interrupted the royal line of the Damascene Hadads, which was restored after his death. We may arrange the Damascus-kings of this period as follows:

RE-DO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

Hadadezer (or Hadad I), about 1040 B.C. (conquered by David).

Rezon (usurper) was contemporary with Solomon.

Hezion (Hadad II) was contemporary with Rehoboam.

Tabrimon (Hadad III) was contemporary with Abijam.

Ben-hadad (Hadad IV) was contemporary with Asa.


And (they) reigned - A very slight emendation gives the sense, “they made him king at Damascus.”


Zereda - See Judges 7:22.

Lifted up his hand against the king - i. e., “he rebelled.” Compare marginal reference.


Millo was probably fortified in Solomon‘s twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth year.


A mighty man of valor - Here “a man of strength and activity.” It is a vague term of commendation, the exact force of which must be fixed by the context. See Rth 2:1 ; 1 Samuel 9:1, etc.

Solomon made Jeroboam superintendent of all the forced labor (“the charge”) exacted from his tribe - the tribe of Ephraim - during the time that he was building Millo and fortifying the city of Jerusalem 1 Kings 9:15.


At that time - Probably after Jeroboam‘s return from Egypt (see 1 Kings 11:40).

The Shilonite - An inhabitant of Shiloh in Mount Ephraim, the earliest and most sacred of the Hebrew sanctuaries (Joshua 18:10; Judges 18:31; 1 Samuel 4:3, etc.)


The first instance of the “acted parable.” Generally this mode was adopted upon express divine command (see Jeremiah 13:1-11; Ezekiel 3:1-3). A connection may be traced between the type selected and the words of the announcement to Solomon (1 Kings 11:11-13. Compare 1 Samuel 15:26-28).


Translate - “Howbeit I will not take ought of the kingdom out of his hand.” The context requires this sense.


That David may have a light - Compare the marginal references. The exact meaning of the expression is doubtful. Perhaps the best explanation is, that “light” here is taken as the essential feature of a continuing “home.”


See the marginal references. To “build a sure house,” or “give a house,” is to give a continuity of offspring, and so secure the perpetuity of a family. The promise, it will be observed, is conditional; and as the condition was not complied with, it did not take effect (see 1 Kings 14:8-14). The entire house of Jeroboam was destroyed by Baasha 1 Kings 15:29.


But not forever - David had been distinctly promised that God should never fail his seed, whatever their shortcomings Psalm 89:28-37. The fulfillment of these promises was seen, partly in the Providence which maintained David‘s family in a royal position until Zerubbabel, but mainly in the preservation of his seed to the time fixed for the coming of Christ, and in the birth of Christ - the Eternal King - from one of David‘s descendants.


Compare 1 Kings 11:26. The announcement of Ahijah was followed within a little while by rebellion on the part of Jeroboam. As Solomon‘s luster faded, as his oppression became greater and its objects more selfish, and as a prospect of deliverance arose from the personal qualities of Jeroboam 1 Kings 11:28, the tribe of Ephraim to which he belonged, again aspired after its old position (see Joshua 17:14 note). Jeroboam, active, energetic, and ambitious, placed himself at their head. The step proved premature. The power of Solomon was too firmly fixed to be shaken; and the hopes of the Ephraimites had to be deferred until a fitter season.

The “exact” date of Jeroboam‘s flight into Egypt cannot be fixed. It was certainly not earlier than Solomon‘s twenty-fourth year, since it was after the building of Millo 1 Kings 11:27. But it may have been several years later.

Shishak - This king is the first Pharaoh mentioned in Scripture who can be certainly identified with any known Egyptian monarch. He is the Sheshonk (Sheshonk I) of the monuments, and the Sesonchosis of Manetho. The Egyptian date for his accession is 980 or 983 B.C., which synchronizes, according to the ordinary Hebrew reckoning, with Solomon‘s 32nd or 35th year. Sheshonk I has left a record of his expedition against Judah, which accords well with what is related of Shishak 1 Kings 14:25-26; 2 Chronicles 12:2-4.


The book of the acts of Solomon - See the marginal reference and Introduction.


Josephus gave Solomon a reign of 80 years, either because he wished to increase the glory of his country‘s greatest king, or through his having a false reading in his copy of the Septuagint Version. It is, no doubt, remarkable that the three successive kings, Saul, David, and Solomon, should have each reigned forty years Acts 13:21; 2 Samuel 5:4-5; but such numerical coincidences occur from time to time in exact history.

 


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These files are public domain.

Bibliography Information
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on 1 Kings 11:4". "Barnes' Notes on the New Testament". "www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/1-kings-11.html. 1870.


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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

These numbers seem excessive to many critics, and it must be admitted that history furnishes no parallel to them. In Song of Song of Solomon 6:8 the number of Solomon‘s legitimate wives is said to be sixty, and that of his concubines eighty. It is, perhaps probable, that the text has in this place suffered corruption. For “700” we should perhaps read “70.”


Old - About fifty or fifty-five. From his age at his accession (1 Kings 2:2 note) he could not have been more than about sixty at his death.

The true nature of Solomon‘s idolatry was neither complete apostasy - an apostasy from which there could be no recovery; nor a mere toleration, rather praise-worthy than blameable. Solomon did not ever openly or wholly apostatize. He continued his attendance on the worship of Yahweh, and punctually made his offerings three times a year in the temple 1 Kings 9:25; but his heart was not “perfect” with God. The religious earnestness of his younger days was weakened by wealth, luxury, sensualism, an increasing worldliness leading him to worldly policy and latitudinarianism arising from contact with all the manifold forms of human opinion. His lapse into deadly sin was no doubt gradual. Partly from ostentation, partly from that sensualism which is the most common failing of Oriental monarchs, he established a harem on a grand and extraordinary scale. To gratify “strange women,” i. e., foreigners, admitted either from worldly policy, or for variety‘s sake, he built magnificent temples to their false gods, right over against Jerusalem, as manifest rivals to “the temple.” He thus became the author of a syncretism, which sought to blend together the worship of Yahweh and the worship of idols - a syncretism which possessed fatal attractions for the Jewish nation. Finally, he appears himself to have frequented the idol temples 1 Kings 11:5, 1 Kings 11:10, and to have taken part in those fearful impurities which constituted the worst horror of the idolatrous systems, thus practically apostatising, though theoretically he never ceased to hold that Yahweh was the true God.


Went after - This expression is common in the Pentateuch, and always signifies actual idolatry (see Deuteronomy 11:28; Deuteronomy 13:2; Deuteronomy 28:14, etc.).

For Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, see Exodus 34:13, note; Deuteronomy 16:21, note. On the tomb of a Phoenician king, discovered in 1855, on the site of Sidon, mention is made of a temple of Astarte there, which the monarch built or restored; and his mother is said to have been a priestess of the goddess.

Milcom or Molech 1 Kings 11:7 are variants of the term ordinarily used for “king” among the Semitic races of Western Asia, which appears in melkarth (Phoenic.), Abimelech (Hebrew), Andrammelek (Assyrian), Abd-ul-malik (Arabic), etc. On the character and worship of Molech, see Leviticus 20:2-5 note.


Chemosh (Numbers 21:29 note), seems to have been widely worshipped in Western Asia. His name occurs frequently on the “Moabite-Stone.” Car-Chemish, “the fort of Chemosh,” a great city of the northern Hittites, must have been under his protection. In Babylon he seems to have been known as Chomus-belus, or Chemosh-Bel.

The hill - Olivet. At present the most southern summit only (the “Mons Offensionis”) is pointed out as having been desecrated by the idol sanctuaries: but the early Eastern travelers tell us that in their time the most northern suburb was believed to have been the site of the high p ace of Chemosh, the southern one that of Moloch only.


One tribe - i. e., (marginal reference) the tribe of Judah. Benjamin was looked upon as absorbed in Judah, so as not to be really a tribe in the same sense as the others. Still, in memory of the fact that the existing tribe of Judah was a double one 1 Kings 12:2 l, the prophet Ahijah tore his garment into twelve parts, and kept back two from Jeroboam 1 Kings 11:30-31.


The writer has reserved for this place the various troubles of Solomon‘s reign, not allowing them to interrupt his previous narrative. He has, consequently, not followed chronological order. Hadad‘s 1 Kings 11:23 and Rezon‘s opposition belong to the early years of Solomon‘s reign.

Hadad was a royal title (perhaps, the Syriac name for “the Sun”) both in Syria and in Idumaea (compare Genesis 36:35; 1 Chronicles 1:51).


The verse gives certain additional particulars of David‘s conquest of Edom (marginal references). Joab was left, or sent, to complete the subjugation of the country, with orders to exterminate all the grown male inhabitants. It was not very often that David acted with any extreme severity in his wars; but he may have considered himself justified by policy, as he certainly was by the letter of the Law Deuteronomy 20:13, in adopting this fierce course against Edom.

Was in Edom - Or, according to another reading, “smote” Edom.

The slain - Probably the Israelites who had fallen in the strnggle. Translate, “when … Joab was gone up to bury the slain, and had smitten every male,” etc.


Every male in Edom - i. e., every male whom he could find. As did Hadad and his company 1 Kings 11:17, so others would escape in various directions. The Edomite nation was not destroyed on the occasion.


Midian - A town in the south of Judah. Paran is the desert tract immediately to the south of Judaea, the modern desert of et-Tih.

Pharaoh - King of the twenty-first (Tanite) dynasty; probably he was Psusennes I, Manetho‘s second king. It appears to have been the policy of the Pharaohs about this time to make friends and contract alliances with their eastern neighbors.


That Hadad should wait for the death of Joab before requesting leave to return to Idumaea shows how terrible an impression had been made by the severe measures which that commander had carried out twenty-five or thirty years previously 1 Kings 11:16. The inability of refugees to depart from an Oriental court without the king‘s leave, and his unwillingness ordinarily to grant leave, are illustrated by many passages in the history of Persia.


Rezon - Possibly the same as the Hezion of 1 Kings 15:18; but probably one who interrupted the royal line of the Damascene Hadads, which was restored after his death. We may arrange the Damascus-kings of this period as follows:

RE-DO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

Hadadezer (or Hadad I), about 1040 B.C. (conquered by David).

Rezon (usurper) was contemporary with Solomon.

Hezion (Hadad II) was contemporary with Rehoboam.

Tabrimon (Hadad III) was contemporary with Abijam.

Ben-hadad (Hadad IV) was contemporary with Asa.


And (they) reigned - A very slight emendation gives the sense, “they made him king at Damascus.”


Zereda - See Judges 7:22.

Lifted up his hand against the king - i. e., “he rebelled.” Compare marginal reference.


Millo was probably fortified in Solomon‘s twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth year.


A mighty man of valor - Here “a man of strength and activity.” It is a vague term of commendation, the exact force of which must be fixed by the context. See Rth 2:1 ; 1 Samuel 9:1, etc.

Solomon made Jeroboam superintendent of all the forced labor (“the charge”) exacted from his tribe - the tribe of Ephraim - during the time that he was building Millo and fortifying the city of Jerusalem 1 Kings 9:15.


At that time - Probably after Jeroboam‘s return from Egypt (see 1 Kings 11:40).

The Shilonite - An inhabitant of Shiloh in Mount Ephraim, the earliest and most sacred of the Hebrew sanctuaries (Joshua 18:10; Judges 18:31; 1 Samuel 4:3, etc.)


The first instance of the “acted parable.” Generally this mode was adopted upon express divine command (see Jeremiah 13:1-11; Ezekiel 3:1-3). A connection may be traced between the type selected and the words of the announcement to Solomon (1 Kings 11:11-13. Compare 1 Samuel 15:26-28).


Translate - “Howbeit I will not take ought of the kingdom out of his hand.” The context requires this sense.


That David may have a light - Compare the marginal references. The exact meaning of the expression is doubtful. Perhaps the best explanation is, that “light” here is taken as the essential feature of a continuing “home.”


See the marginal references. To “build a sure house,” or “give a house,” is to give a continuity of offspring, and so secure the perpetuity of a family. The promise, it will be observed, is conditional; and as the condition was not complied with, it did not take effect (see 1 Kings 14:8-14). The entire house of Jeroboam was destroyed by Baasha 1 Kings 15:29.


But not forever - David had been distinctly promised that God should never fail his seed, whatever their shortcomings Psalm 89:28-37. The fulfillment of these promises was seen, partly in the Providence which maintained David‘s family in a royal position until Zerubbabel, but mainly in the preservation of his seed to the time fixed for the coming of Christ, and in the birth of Christ - the Eternal King - from one of David‘s descendants.


Compare 1 Kings 11:26. The announcement of Ahijah was followed within a little while by rebellion on the part of Jeroboam. As Solomon‘s luster faded, as his oppression became greater and its objects more selfish, and as a prospect of deliverance arose from the personal qualities of Jeroboam 1 Kings 11:28, the tribe of Ephraim to which he belonged, again aspired after its old position (see Joshua 17:14 note). Jeroboam, active, energetic, and ambitious, placed himself at their head. The step proved premature. The power of Solomon was too firmly fixed to be shaken; and the hopes of the Ephraimites had to be deferred until a fitter season.

The “exact” date of Jeroboam‘s flight into Egypt cannot be fixed. It was certainly not earlier than Solomon‘s twenty-fourth year, since it was after the building of Millo 1 Kings 11:27. But it may have been several years later.

Shishak - This king is the first Pharaoh mentioned in Scripture who can be certainly identified with any known Egyptian monarch. He is the Sheshonk (Sheshonk I) of the monuments, and the Sesonchosis of Manetho. The Egyptian date for his accession is 980 or 983 B.C., which synchronizes, according to the ordinary Hebrew reckoning, with Solomon‘s 32nd or 35th year. Sheshonk I has left a record of his expedition against Judah, which accords well with what is related of Shishak 1 Kings 14:25-26; 2 Chronicles 12:2-4.


The book of the acts of Solomon - See the marginal reference and Introduction.


Josephus gave Solomon a reign of 80 years, either because he wished to increase the glory of his country‘s greatest king, or through his having a false reading in his copy of the Septuagint Version. It is, no doubt, remarkable that the three successive kings, Saul, David, and Solomon, should have each reigned forty years Acts 13:21; 2 Samuel 5:4-5; but such numerical coincidences occur from time to time in exact history.

 


Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.

Bibliography Information
Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on 1 Kings 11:4". "Barnes' Notes on the New Testament". "www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/1-kings-11.html. 1870.


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the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
There is not a more melancholy and astonishing instance of human depravity in the sacred Scriptures, than that here recorded. Solomon became a public worshipper of abominable idols! Probably he by degrees gave way to pride and luxury, and thus lost his relish for true wisdom. Nothing forms in itself a security against the deceitfulness and depravity of the human heart. Nor will old age cure the heart of any evil propensity. If our sinful passions are not crucified and mortified by the grace of God, they never will die of themselves, but will last even when opportunities to gratify them are taken away. Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. We see how weak we are of ourselves, without the grace of God; let us therefore live in constant dependence on that grace. Let us watch and be sober: ours is a dangerous warfare, and in an enemy's country, while our worst foes are the traitors in our own hearts.
Ellen G. White
Education, 49

The nation, of which he had been the pride, followed his leading. Though he afterward repented, his repentance did not prevent the fruition of the evil he had sown. The discipline and training that God appointed for Israel would cause them, in all their ways of life, to differ from the people of other nations. This peculiarity, which should have been regarded as a special privilege and blessing, was to them unwelcome. The simplicity and self-restraint essential to the highest development they sought to exchange for the pomp and self-indulgence of heathen peoples. To be “like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5) was their ambition. God's plan of education was set aside, His authority disowned. Ed 49.1

In the rejection of the ways of God for the ways of men, the downfall of Israel began. Thus also it continued, until the Jewish people became a prey to the very nations whose practices they had chosen to follow. Ed 50.1

As a nation the children of Israel failed of receiving the benefits that God desired to give them. They did not appreciate His purpose or co-operate in its execution. But though individuals and peoples may thus separate themselves from Him, His purpose for those who trust Him is unchanged. “Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.” Ecclesiastes 3:14. Ed 50.2

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Ellen G. White
Fundamentals of Christian Education, 498-502

Placed at the head of a nation that had been set as a light to the surrounding nations, Solomon might have brought great glory to the Lord of the universe by a life of obedience. He might have encouraged God's people to shun the evils that were practiced in the surrounding nations. He might have used his God-given wisdom and power of influence in organizing and directing a great missionary movement for the enlightenment of those who were ignorant of God and of His truth. Thus multitudes might have been won to an allegiance to the King of kings. FE 498.1

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Ellen G. White
Patriarchs and Prophets, 457

When Balaam was called to curse the Hebrews he could not, by all his enchantments, bring evil upon them; for the Lord had not “beheld iniquity in Jacob,” neither had He “seen perverseness in Israel.” Numbers 23:21, 23. But when through yielding to temptation they transgressed God's law, their defense departed from them. When the people of God are faithful to His commandments, “there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.” Hence all the power and wily arts of Satan are exerted to seduce them into sin. If those who profess to be the depositaries of God's law become transgressors of its precepts, they separate themselves from God, and they will be unable to stand before their enemies. PP 457.1

The Israelites, who could not be overcome by the arms or by the enchantments of Midian, fell a prey to her harlots. Such is the power that woman, enlisted in the service of Satan, has exerted to entrap and destroy souls. “She hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.” Proverbs 7:26. It was thus that the children of Seth were seduced from their integrity, and the holy seed became corrupt. It was thus that Joseph was tempted. Thus Samson betrayed his strength, the defense of Israel, into the hands of the Philistines. Here David stumbled. And Solomon, the wisest of kings, who had thrice been called the beloved of his God, became a slave of passion, and sacrificed his integrity to the same bewitching power. PP 457.2

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:11, 12. Satan well knows the material with which he has to deal in the human heart. He knows—for he has studied with fiendish intensity for thousands of years—the points most easily assailed in every character; and through successive generations he has wrought to overthrow the strongest men, princes in Israel, by the same temptations that were so successful at Baalpeor. All along through the ages there are strewn wrecks of character that have been stranded upon the rocks of sensual indulgence. As we approach the close of time, as the people of God stand upon the borders of the heavenly Canaan, Satan will, as of old, redouble his efforts to prevent them from entering the goodly land. He lays his snares for every soul. It is not the ignorant and uncultured merely that need to be guarded; he will prepare his temptations for those in the highest positions, in the most holy office; if he can lead them to pollute their souls, he can through them destroy many. And he employs the same agents now as he employed three thousand years ago. By worldly friendships, by the charms of beauty, by pleasure seeking, mirth, feasting, or the wine cup, he tempts to the violation of the seventh commandment. PP 457.3

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