High Places of the Heart ♥
I just admit it – I don’t get Solomon. This was the son of David and Bathsheba who was asked by God what his heart desired. Solomon didn’t ask for riches or long life. Rather he asked for wisdom and discernment in judging the people.
Impressive. So impressive that God honored that request and gave him riches beyond any of his (or our) wildest dreams. And then this happens….
Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. 1 Kings 11:7
Solomon is building “high places” for idols? Now that doesn’t seem to match up with wisdom or discernment. And why a high place? Think about it – when we travel to a mountain range, don’t we like to reach the HIGHEST POINT? It is a special place, a place that we strive to be. So giving idols the high place was giving them a place of honor. And the mountain east of Jerusalem is the Mt. of Olives. It’s as if Solomon is putting the idols in a face-off with the very temple he built!
You see, when you realize how wicked those idolatrous gods were, it is hard to even conceive that Solomon was the one building places of worship for them in the “high places”. Come on – a high place for Molech – the Ammonite god to which people sacrificed their own children by fire? Molech was basically a fire breathing kiln! What in the world could have turned Solomon’s heart away from the God who granted him wisdom, discernment, and riches toward such abominable idols?
I tell you what it was – his heart was turned from God by his lust for foreign women. Solomon married multiple wives from places where God expressly forbid His people to marry in Exodus 23, vv. 32-33.
Here is a really sad verse: “For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.” 1 Kings 11:4. The high places of Solomon’s heart were no longer occupied by the love for Jehovah – his heart was turned away by his own selfish lusts in his old age!
So what is occupying the high places of our hearts? I know we haven’t sacrificed our children to Molech, but if we could see the “high places” in our own hearts, who or what would be occupying that space? What has turned your heart away from God? Maybe this quote will help us answer that question!