Monday, September 7, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 1 Kings 11-15
Key Verse
1 Kings 13:12 — “And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.”
Devotional Thought
Solomon had everything—wisdom, wealth, a kingdom at peace—and he lost his heart anyway. The man who once asked God for an understanding heart ended his days with a heart turned away, and the text tells us plainly why: he “clave unto these in love” (11:2). Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, many of them from nations God had explicitly warned Israel against. This wasn’t a sudden fall. It was a slow drift, one affection at a time, until the man who built the temple was building high places for Chemosh and Molech on the hill before Jerusalem. The warning in verse 2 is chilling in its accuracy: “surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” God had said it. Solomon had heard it. And still, when he was old, his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God as was the heart of David his father.
What follows is one of the saddest chains in Scripture. The kingdom is rent. Jeroboam is promised ten tribes, and even he receives a conditional promise—”if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee… I will be with thee” (11:38). But Jeroboam, fearing the loss of his new kingdom more than the loss of God’s favor, sets up golden calves at Bethel and Dan, makes priests of the lowest of the people, and invents a feast “of his own heart” (12:33). Then Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, rejects the counsel of the old men and answers the people roughly, and the nation splits. Everyone in these chapters is protecting something—a legacy, a throne, a position—and everyone loses what they were trying to keep.
Notice how ordinary the beginnings are. Solomon didn’t wake up one morning deciding to worship Molech. Jeroboam didn’t set out to lead Israel into idolatry. Rehoboam didn’t intend to lose ten tribes. Each took a small step that felt reasonable—a political marriage, a defensive strategy, a firm hand with the people—and each step carried them further from the God who had appeared to them, spoken to them, and warned them. This is how compromise usually works. It rarely announces itself. It simply asks for a little room, then a little more, until the high places are built and we can no longer remember when we stopped going up to Jerusalem.
As September opens and the routines of fall settle in—school, work, church, the ordinary rhythms of another year—these chapters ask us to examine what we are clinging to. Not the dramatic sins we would never commit, but the small affections we have allowed to take root. A habit. A relationship. A fear. A strategy for keeping what we have. The question Solomon’s life presses on us is not whether we love God, but whether our hearts remain undivided. The good news buried in this passage is that God’s covenant with David did not fail, even when David’s sons did. The light stayed in Jerusalem “for David my servant’s sake” (11:36), and that same faithful mercy reaches us in Christ, who keeps what we cannot.
Reflection
- Solomon’s heart was turned by what he “clave unto in love” (11:2). What are you clinging to right now that, however small it seems, is quietly pulling your heart away from wholehearted devotion to the LORD?
- Jeroboam received a conditional promise from God but chose to secure his kingdom with golden calves instead of trusting the One who gave it. Where are you tempted to protect yourself with your own strategies rather than obeying what God has plainly said?
Prayer
O Lord God of Israel, who appeared unto Solomon twice and warned him plainly, we confess that our hearts are prone to wander just as his did. Search us and know us. Show us the small affections we have clung to and the high places we have built without noticing. Give us hearts undivided, perfect toward Thee, as David’s was. Forgive us for the times we have protected our own kingdoms instead of trusting Thine. Thank You that Thy covenant mercy did not fail when David’s sons failed, and that Thy light still shines in Jesus Christ our Lord. Keep us faithful in the ordinary days, we pray. Amen.