“Shlomo formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. He brought her into the City of David, [where she lived] until he had finished building his own palace, the house of Adonai and the wall around Yerushalayim.”-1 Kings 3:1
By marrying the Egyptian princess, we can see that Solomon had a very specific strategy for consolidating his power.
In fact, it was a strategy common throughout the entire Middle East.
A king would attempt to create peace and stability for his kingdom by building personal relationships with the leaders of neighboring countries.
Now, you might wonder…
Wasn’t it against Torah Law for Solomon to marry the daughter of Pharaoh?
Especially given the Lord’s many warnings to His people to never return to Egypt.
The answer is no.
Marriage between Hebrews and Egyptians was legal.
In fact, it happened often…both before and after the exodus from Egypt.
What Scripture forbids is marriage between Hebrews and Canaanites.
That was an abomination, and here’s the Torah reference.
“Do not make a covenant
with people of that land.
They will lead you astray
after their false gods.
You will sacrifice with them,
and eat their offerings.
You will take their daughters
for your sons as wives.
Their daughters will turn away,
and pull your sons with them.”
Exodus 34:15–16 (CJB)
“ADONAI your God will bring you
into the land you will take.
He will drive out many nations,
greater and stronger than you.
When He hands them over,
and you defeat them,
you must destroy them completely,
make no covenant with them.
Show them absolutely no mercy.
Do not intermarry with them,
do not mix your families.
Do not give your daughters,
or take theirs for your sons.”
Deuteronomy 7:1–3 (CJB)
The only caveat to this ruling is if a Canaanite gave up his or her former heathen gods and accepted YHWH as their God.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen too often.
One notable exception was, of course, Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute, who recognized that the God of Israel was the true God.
Recall she hid the Hebrew spies, aligned herself with Israel, and was spared when the Israelites conquered Jericho.
Now, concerning Solomon, even though it wasn’t a sin that he married the Egyptian princess, boy, did he take his alliance-building via marrying foreign wives to an extreme.
The estimated total number of his wives and concubines came to around 1000.
Again, these were political alliances that had very little to do with romance or Solomon being a sex maniac or something.
We’ll discuss this more the next time we meet, but for now, let’s switch over to the takeaway.
Today’s lesson has to do with the Lord’s command that His people were NOT to marry the Canaanites.
Yet, they were fully accepted if they worshipped the God of Israel.
This shows that the Lord is no respecter of persons.
His instructions to His people not to intermarry were all about idolatry and keeping His people safe from bad influences.
I think this is an instruction we should remind ourselves of as we seek to live a life pleasing to the Lord.
Do you make proper distinctions between clean and unclean, and good and evil?
And do you do your best to separate yourself from those things or people the Lord has warned you to stay away from?
Let those who have ears to hear, LISTEN!
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Therefore, ‘Come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.’”
-2 Corinthians 6:17
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