You opened my heart
And searched for what
You there did not see;
My feeble faith and lack
of trust
Stood in contrast to your
will for me.
You sorrowed for the
tears I shed
With every step I was led
to take
To find You in my hour of
agony.
How patiently You stood
waiting
With open arms hoping I
would come to Thee;
How patiently You hoped
I would give You all that
was lacking in me.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
How easy it would have been for the Saviour to wash his hands of the children of Israel when they rejected Him and asked for a king to rule and preside over them. How easy it would have been to turn his back on them and to walk away, but the Saviour who is full of 'grace, equity and truth', did not forsake the children of the covenant and sought to still be their king through the best men He could find, that His watchful eye might be over them 'with a stretched out arm; for his mercy endureth forever' (Alma 13:9; Psalm 136:12).
Because under the kingship of Solomon, they disregarded the power and might of the God who delivered them, and put their trust in the arm of the flesh instead, Israel faltered and stumbled in its prosperity and spiritual welfare. Worst of all, they lost unity as a nation. Following the death of Solomon, under the leadership of his very unwise son Rehoboam, who sought to increase the burdens of his people rather than decrease the oppression with which his extravagant father afflicted the people, the house of Israel became divided, never to be the same again.
Rehoboam refused to heed the counsel of his father’s wise old counselors, 'to serve the people and be their servant, then they will be thy servants forever' (1 Kings 12:6,7). Rather than serve, he sought to elevate himself even further causing the Ten Tribes of Israel to break their alliance with the House of David and appointed Jeroboam as their king. And thus began a new nation referred to as the Northern Kingdom consisting of 10 tribes while the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained under the reign of the House of David, a house which was preserved by the hand of the Lord to ensure the prophesied lineage of the Messiah.
Jeroboam, an Ephraimite, had been a military leader in the army of Israel under King Solomon. He was an administrator over the territorial districts of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, two of the most powerful tribes in Israel. Ahijah, a prophet of that day, revealed to Jeroboam that he would become the ruler of 10 tribes which would be 'rent' from the house of David. He demonstrated this by rending Jeroboam's robe into 12 pieces and giving him 10, saying: "...thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee" (1 Kings 11:31).
When this prophecy was made known to Solomon, he sought to kill Jeroboam who fled into Egypt and lived there in exile until Rehoboam ascended the throne and the 10 tribes who were dissatisfied with Rehoboam's 'attitude' brought him back and anointed him king. And thus began a history of darkness for the Northern Kingdom of Israel as Jeroboam established a state religion of idolatrous worship. (1 Kings 12:25-33).
And here is an insight into Jeroboam’s insecurity and floundering faith in God. He feared that he would lose the kingdom to Rehoboam if his subjects travelled to the temple in Jerusalem and decided to defect. Instead of securing his position by endearing the people to him, he foolishly used religion to serve his political purposes’ (see Adam Clarke, Commentary, 2:437).
The question begs to be asked, why would his subjects want to go back to Rehoboam and his oppression which they rejected? You cannot help but wonder if Jeroboam at all possessed a logical mind. To keep the 10 tribes away from Jerusalem, he made 2 calves of gold, installed them in cities of Bethel and Dan and told the people: "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" (1 Kings 12:28).
It blows one’s mind…in one fell swoop, he replaced Jehovah as Israel’s God in the minds of the people and he rationalised it by using the same wording as Aaron back in the wilderness suggesting this form of worship was nothing new and was used by their fathers in the desert (Exodus 32:4). And how did that work out for them???
And so the Northern Kingdom was led into idolatry by their very first king from which they never repented and which contributed to their downfall. Twenty monarchs ruled the Northern Kingdom from its beginning until its destruction by the Assyrians in 724 B.C. and all of them were characterized as evil or wicked by scriptural records (Old Testament Student Manual 1 Kings-Malachi, p. 33).
Of the twenty rulers who reigned over the Southern Kingdom, from the death of Solomon to the fall of Jerusalem and the Jews' captivity at the hands of the Babylonians in 605 B.C., twelve are characterized in the scriptural records as evil or wicked. Only four advanced their nation economically and religiously.
In response
to Israel’s wish to have kings, the words of Jehovah to Samuel echo loud and
clear: “Hearken unto
the voice of the people…for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected
me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Did You count me amongst
Your valuable host
As we met in the councils of heaven?
Did I stand strong and ready
To defend Your godship;
To smite the enemy,
To secure Your path to my eternity?
Was I brave and willing to carry the cross
Some of the way to Calvary?
Did I weep with you in the Garden
And held You as You bore the burdens of
mortality?
Did I wipe the sweat of Your brow
As I wept for You and weep even now?
Did I promise to bear Your name
Etched in my mortal heart for all to see?
Am I now worthy to carry Your sacrifice
With me into eternity?
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Solomon's is the ultimate story of corruption. His wealth was
staggering. The scriptures suggest that Solomon received annually 666 talents
of gold (1 Kings 10:14; 2 Chronicles 9:13). At today's prices that is $3,051,800,000
USD (over $3.05 billion). And herein begins Solomon's downfall. The riches turned
him into a man of excess. The description of his wealth and extravagances is
astonishing (1 Kings 10:14-23).
Solomon's reign enforced great economic changes in the kingdom and
his massive building projects created serious problems: “He taxed the people
heavily and used forced labour to complete his projects. The people began to
complain and a deep resentment, especially in the northern tribes, began to
fester......For the first time in Israel's history, there began to be a
distinct difference between 'rich' and 'poor'. The king and his household were
rich; the common people were poor. In between were the salaried civil servants
and the merchants and artisans, many of whom had organised craft guilds by that
time. Such class separations had not been known in the Israel where a shepherd
boy like David could be anointed king - only 50 years earlier" (Great
People of the Bible, pp 192-93, Old
Testament Student Manual Vol 2., p 8).
Solomon’s riches were just the beginning. Where
is the end for a man who has everything? Is everything ever enough? Such riches
would turn you into believing you are limitless and invincible. In the end you
would believe there is nothing that should be denied you and Solomon proved
this to be true For all his wisdom,
Solomon became incredibly unwise for 'one was not wise, regardless of his vast
learning, if his actions did not comply with his righteous beliefs' (Old
Testament Student Manual, Vol. 2, p. 13).
Following the dedication of Solomon's
temple, the Lord appeared to Solomon for the second time and acknowledging the
dedicatory prayer, accepted the temple which Solomon dedicated to Him. At the
same time, however, he issued a grave and serious warning to the king of
Israel. He warned Solomon that if he and his children do not keep his
commandments and if they go and serve other gods and worship them, that He will
cut off Israel out of the land which He had given them, that He will destroy
the temple which was built, and 'Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among
all people' (1 Kings 9:1-9).
Imagine the Lord himself appearing to you
and warning you about a calamity that will befall you if you stray, and you go
and do exactly that. The beginning of the end came for Solomon when he made a
marriage alliance with Pharoah and took his daughter for his wife. This marriage alliance was the greatest act of
Solomon's foolishness. It was the beginning of him marrying many idolatrous
women out of the covenant and his many political alliances which signalled that
he had more faith in them than in God who was willing to fight and win Israel's
battles. You might say he was beginning to lose the plot.
Marrying foreign women who led him and all
Israel into idolatry aborted Solomon’s ability to endure to the end and changed
the course of Israel's history. This is the damage that one king can do to a
whole nation. By introducing idolatry to the children of Israel, the history of
Israel became a losing battle fought by prophets against the forces of
disloyalty to God.
The greatest mistake Solomon made was that he went to his grave
unrepentant, unlike his father David. He who loved the Lord, and even saw Him
twice (1 Kings 3:5; 9:2), forsook the integrity of his heart and came to
worship false gods who had no power to give him any of the blessings he
received from the God of Israel. He who had the greatest wisdom ended up
being the most foolish.
So it is sometimes with us. We overlook what the Lord has done for
us and what He is capable of giving us if we stay the course so we become
foolish and dabble in sin. And this is the outcome of sin:
“…..sin makes you stupid, stupid because when we sin we become
'deaf, dumb and blind to the ways of the Lord. Stupid because habitual sin
drives the Spirit away, leaving us outside the protective influence of the Holy
Ghost. Stupid because it makes us incapable of drawing upon the powers of
heaven. Being stupid costs a lot. Sin costs a lot too. It can cost time, money,
peace of mind, progress, self-respect, your integrity and virtue, your family,
the trust of those you love, and even your Church membership. Sin is just plain
stupid. And the cost is off the charts. So repent now. Repent daily. If you
want to be sanctified, repentance is not optional'. (Sheri L. Dew, You Were Born to Lead, You Were
Born for Glory, BYU Speeches, Dec. 2003)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Solomon, the
king who continued the golden age of Israel begun by his father David, was the
third king who proved Jehovah right when he warned the people through Samuel
that they should not be governed by kings. Solomon reigned over Israel in
extravagance and grandeur which lasted for 40 years. This is all it took to
destroy Israel's course forever.
Solomon,
like his predecessors, loved the God of Israel and at the beginning of his
reign covenanted with Him that he would walk in obedience throughout his
administration but like his father, he lacked the tenacity that could enable
him to endure to the end. Blessed with incredible wisdom that exceeded that of
any man, he ended up being a man of foolishness. A man blessed with riches that
far exceeded the riches of any man or king, sent Israel into temporal and
spiritual bankruptcy. Within a year of his death, the land was divided into two
kingdoms and the course of Israel's history was altered permanently (Old Testament
Student Manual, Vol 2, p. 1)
Solomon
excelled in two things: wisdom and riches. He ascended the throne at 20 years
of age, reigning with his father as co-regent until David's death (1 Kings 1).
His young age, inexperience and inherited responsibility weighed heavily on his
mind as is evidenced in his conversation with the Lord at Gibeon where he went
to offer sacrifices. The sacrifices which he offered to the God of Israel were
excessive in number and are indicative of the great love he had for the Lord (1
Kings 3:3,4).
Even in the
beginning Solomon did things in a big way, offering 1,000 burnt offerings upon
Gibeon's sacrificial altar. It was in this place of his great devotion that the
Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him that whatever he wanted, the Lord
would give it to him. This, more than anything, shows how much Jehovah was
willing to help the kings of Israel succeed. Solomon remembering the great
responsibility that rested on his shoulders asked for wisdom that he might
judge Israel in righteousness (1 Kings 3:9).
He
acknowledged the true King of Israel and lowered himself down to be nothing
more than His servant by saying: "And thy
servant is in the midst of thy people
which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for
multitude" (1 Kings 3:8). He never referred to Israel as his people or his
subjects. In one fell swoop he showed humility and acknowledged the God of
Israel as his sovereign. This was a great beginning indeed.
Following
such a demonstration of humility, God granted Solomon his wish making him the
wisest man that has ever lived and also promised him riches and honour which
would make him a king with no equal (1 Kings 3:12,13). All God's promises to
Solomon were realised. He became a man unrivalled by any upon the face of the
earth and for many years Solomon blessed the lives of his people. He
successfully arbitrated difficult issues (1 Kings 3), built up peaceful
relations with surrounding nations (1 Kings 5), attended to the thronging
guests from every quarter of the earth who sought out his wisdom (1 Kings 4:10)
and oversaw the establishment of Israel's first permanent temple (1 Kings 5:8).
Not only was Israel great in the eyes of other nations during Solomon's reign,
it stood as a monument to the power of the true and living God as was expressed
by the Queen of Sheba who came to witness its' fame and the fame of its' king
(1 Kings 10:9).
Solomon
judged Israel in righteousness and with exceeding wisdom. He is credited with
3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32). The fame of his wisdom reached
so far and wide that 'there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
from all kings of the earth....' (1Kings 4:34)
Of all
Solomon's achievements, the greatest was the building of the temple which the
Lord promised David would be built by his son after him and to whom He gave
explicit instructions, through revelation, for its' construction. Solomon built
a splendid temple with the finest materials and dedicated it himself through an
amazing dedicatory prayer once again affirming his devotion to the God of
Israel (1 Kings 8:23-53).
The temple
was indeed magnificent, adorned with fine materials such as gold which was
worth 108,000 talents, estimated to be millions of dollars in today’s currency but
in reality it was about the same size as the modern mini-temples of our day (1
Kings 6). It took 7 years to build but Solomon’s house took 13 years (1 Kings
6:38; 7:1)…..and so the cracks began to appear…..
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
The day You climbed that fateful hill
And embraced the pain of Calvary
You freed us from this world of sin
And from every agony.
How noble, how enduring
How strong You must have been
To fight my soul’s enemy
In the Garden of Gethsemane.
I give You my heart
I give You my all
To one day see Your
Reflection in my soul.
-
CATHRYNE
ALLEN
“If evil spirits could come to me, cannot
ministering spirits and angels also come from God? Of course they can, and…they
can rush as an army going to battle…That is the God whom I serve, one who has
millions of angels at His command…We do not see them, but they are here
watching us….The Lord has hosts of angels who are qualified to defend us, and
they have information enough to march armies and to select leaders to lead them
against the enemy of the Saints.” (Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, 3:229-30)
President Heber C. Kimball and his wife Vilate
Kimball were awakened by their neighbor on the night of September 22, 1827, to
witness such an army in the sky:
“It was one of the most beautiful starlight
nights, so clear we could see to pick up a pin. We saw a bow form in the sky
and it grew wide enough to contain twelve men abreast. In this bow an army
moved, commencing from the east and marching to the west. They continued
marching until they reached the western horizon. They moved in platoons and
walked so close that the rear ranks trod in the steps of their file leaders,
until the whole bow was literally crowded with soldiers…..
“We….could discern the form and features of the
men. The most profound order existed throughout the entire army. When the
foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time. I could hear their
steps. When the front rank reached the western horizon, a battle ensued, as we
could hear the report of the arms, and the rush.
“No man could judge of my feelings when I
beheld that army of men, as plainly as ever I saw armies of men in the flesh;
it seemed as though every hair of my head was alive. This scenery we gazed upon
for hours, until it began to disappear.
“After I became acquainted with Mormonism, I
learned that this took place the same evening that Joseph Smith received the
records of the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni, who had held those records
in his possession. “There were other witnesses to this event, and “the next
night similar scenery was beheld in the west, by the neighbors, representing
armies of men who were engaged in battle.”
(Whitney, Life of Heber C. Kimball, 15-17; see also McConkie, Angels,
100; Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 107-9)
Angels,
are you near me
To
catch me if I fall?
Do
you stand guard at the entrance
Of
my heart
On
God’s errand and sentinel’s call?
Do
you pave the way
And
steady my feet,
And
ensure my enemy’s defeat?
You
are unsung heroes
Of
every journey’s flight
You
are phantoms of love
Concealed
from mortal sight.
