“Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh King of Egypt” 1 Kings 3:1a
If you’ve noticed, as we ended 2nd Samuel and began 1st Kings, we end the Story of King David and begin the Story of King Solomon. The same holds true with Samuel. At the end of 1st Samuel we read the end of King Saul’s reign and with 2nd Samuel, the beginning of King David’s. Though this has little to do with Insight into our Passage, it does help us keep track of the History of God’s People and where to find that information in our Bibles.
Yesterday, we saw the establishment of Solomon’s kingdom and today we begin the narrative of his reign. Today’s Verse gives us the Foundation of “Why” his Kingdom would ultimately flounder and setup his son Rehoboam for failure. Though there was no prohibition for a Jew to marry an Egyptian, for Solomon, this was not a wise decision. We are told later that “his wives turned his heart away after other gods”. We are told his choice was rooted in a strategic “alliance with Pharaoh” and may have been the precursor to his marriage choices later on.
Consider two things. 1. If you are a Christian, Marriage to a Believer is an Absolute! The New Testament makes that abundantly clear. A “Common Faith” is sometimes the only thing that gets you thru the “Hard Times”. 2. Marriage is more than an “Alliance”. True Love is part of that, but not the Disney or Hollywood Type; the “1st Corinthians 13 Type”. That is what you’ll need when the Going gets Tough!