Day 139 - 2 Chronicles 5-9

In the previous chapters the Scripture related the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of Pharaoh and did not rebuke him because she was the one wife only who did not secretly practice the religion of her homeland and was no reason of offense for him. But later he took other wives, so that the holy Scripture justly condemned both the previous marriage and these new ones. And there were four reasons for this: the first was his open transgression against religion because he had brought back [Israel’s] ancient idolatry which he had previously rejected; the second was that he took many wives against the clear precept of the Law; the third was that he loved these wives to distraction; the fourth was his apostasy from the worship of the true God which derived, as the Law had predicted, from such marriages. Therefore, with good reason the Scripture emphasizes many times, with very severe words, that the crime of Solomon was a consequence of his familiarity with these women. A further detail, which increases Solomon’s guilt, is that he did not only cause harm with his actions but also with his example. He was harmful not only because he was corrupted but also because he corrupted the kings that followed him, with the exception of one or two. Solomon was certainly the first among the leaders and kings of Israel who established public ceremonies and sacrifices of idolatry through the authority of magistrates—Mari Ephrem the Syrian