Just before Israel entered Canaan, God gave them instructions through Moses recorded in the book of Deuteronomy.  In Deuteronomy 17:14-20, commands are given concerning the conduct of the king.  It would be hundreds of years before Israel had an earthly king, but God knew they would ask for one (Deut. 17:14). God was to reign over them, but they would reject Him in favor of a man (1 Sam. 8:7). Still, God in His goodness gave orders to prevent the trouble that was liable to accompany a monarch. God foreknew the evils that would come when they had a king like all the nations (1 Sam. 8:5, 20).

God also knew what would cause a king to turn away from Him; thus, He gave these instructions: “But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself” (Deut. 17:16-17).  God went on to command that the king write a copy of the law for himself in a book (Deut. 17:18) that should be kept with the him that he should read it all the days of his life (Deut. 17:19). Why? Positively, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes (Deut. 17:19). Negatively, that his heart not be lifted up so that he turns aside from the commandment (Deut. 17:20). Additionally, that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel (Deut. 17:20).

The reign of Solomon exemplifies precisely why God commanded such things. Solomon did everything God had warned should not be done by Israel’s king.  He multiplied silver, gold and horses to himself and even had horses brought out of Egypt. “And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.   Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king’s merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price” (1 Kings 10:26-28).  He also multiplied wives to himself of other nations. “But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart” (1 Kings 11:1-3).  It is no wonder then that the next few verses say, “For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David” (1 Kings 11:4-6).

God’s commands are not arbitrary.  He knows what influences people and what people can handle.  God did not forbid intermarrying with other nations because He was racist, but because He knew Israel would worship the false gods of foreign people they married.  God gave these commands so that the days of the king and his children would be prolonged in the kingdom.  As a consequence of Solomon’s conduct, the kingdom divided shortly after his death.  Do we today take heed to what the Lord says?  Or do we brush aside His commands and warnings and think to ourselves that we will be able to handle sin, be friends with the world, and still get by?  We are deceiving ourselves and are in for destruction if we think that we can (Gal. 6:7, 8).