1 King 11:4 Solomon’s weakness was women. Did he keep straight all their names? This verse states he turned from God and followed his wives when he was old. Getting older and presumably weaker caused him to falter despite his wisdom. It is usually when we a tired, worn out, in a weakened state that our guard drops and sinning becomes more likely.
Solomon’s peace and prosperity was eventually lost due to his sin and it brought division and misery to his descendants and kingdom. It can be easy to think our sin (or righteousness) doesn’t affect anyone but it might be much father reaching than we will ever realize.
1 King 12:24 God divided the kingdom… This was not by choice.
1 King 12:27 Jeroboam forgot the advice of the prophet and operated out of fear which caused the people to sin. This is an easy trap to fall into.
1 King 13:18 A tough lesson here. We should always seek confirmation especially when there is conflict with God’s previous instructions.
1 King 13:33 How is it that direct demonstrations of God’s power didn’t cause the king's heart to change? Perhaps it was thought inevitable?
1 King 15:5 I find it interesting that David was declared righteous in all his ways except with Uriah the Hittite. There are many other things David did that seem questionable to me.
1 King 17:13 The widow’s faith was tested by being told to feed Elijah first, and then to see if the supply lasted for her and her son. V24, even after eating several days from the bottomless jars, it wasn’t until her dead son was restored that she stated faith in Elijah. How many proofs around us do we take for granted, still wanting a bigger sign?
1 King 18:7 “Elijah suddenly appeared” along with v12 “The Spirit of the Lord may carry you off to some place” hints at the idea that Elijah was transported on a regular basis to different places.
1 King 18:1 God’s assignment to Elijah was to present himself before Ahab. Nothing else noted in the text. Was the showdown with Baal’s prophets part of this assignment as well? I would have to assume so. But after this great act of bravery and slaughter (v40), Elijah becomes fearful of Jezebel’s words (19:2). Perhaps he had already started to give up hope for Israel and himself as we read later.
1 King 19:8 40 day and night journey on 2 meals! Angel superfood!
1 King 20 Even though Ahab was a very wicked king in God’s eyes, God still enabled him to destroy a much greater army of a boastful king. A judgement of one’s standing with God based on an outcome of events may be faulty.
1 King 20:35-36 This is a strange account. If someone said, "God said 'You need to punch me in the face' ", I would find it hard to believe as well. And then the man dies for this?
1 King 20:43 Ahab was angry because his act of mercy backfired. We cannot justify our actions that are contrary to God’s command, even if we think we are righteous in them.
1 King 22:13-14 Micah was told to be in agreement with the false prophets, but did not succumb to the pressure and spoke only as Yahweh said. Could we speak God’s word, even if it was not popular and could bring personal harm from the hearer?
Next Reading: Week 18 2 Kings 1:1 to 2 Kings 19:1
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