The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: Remember Lot And His Wife

The Dangers of Old Age - Part 1

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Family Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2025-11-23

Synopsis: John Weaver examines Solomon's spiritual decline in old age as recorded in 1 Kings 11, emphasizing that Solomon was likely only 50–65 when his heart turned from God. The sermon focuses on the gradual nature of sin, the danger of unequal yokes, and the specific idolatry of Ashtoreth (the Queen of Heaven), a fertility goddess whose worship involved sexual immorality. Weaver draws parallels to modern pornography and sexual sin, warning that old age brings temptations to seek revival through fleshly means rather than God. He stresses the need for repentance and reliance on God's power.

[John Weaver] Well, let's open our Bibles then to 1 Kings chapter 11. 1 Kings chapter 11. And I want us to read the first 13 verses. 1 Kings chapter 11. Beginning there with verse 1. The title of the message. This is the first part. Is the dangers of old age. The dangers of old age. So look if you would. 1 Kings 11 verse 1, But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, You shall not go into them, neither shall they come into you, for surely they

[John Weaver] will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon claimed to these in love, and he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. So Solomon went after Ashereth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods.

[John Weaver] But he kept not, that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it unto thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake. and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

[John Weaver] I hope you remember last week I dealt with a message which I entitled, Losing Your Wisdom and Losing Your Mind, and I pointed out distinctly that it's possible to lose both at the same time. And the truth of the matter is old age is fraught with many dangers, especially in relationship to the mind. Many suffer from Alzheimer's, dementia, and simple forgetfulness, and they're just not able to think clearly.

[John Weaver] This does not even consider the most frequently asked question by most older people. And that question is, now why did I come into this room? Or what was I looking for when I came into this room? And of course there is something just known as simple forgetfulness as well. But since there is a tendency to forget, and consequently, we often read of scams and schemes that target the elderly. In fact, I receive bills and statements and invoices online for services that I have never asked for, for products that I've never ordered. And I don't even open them. I just put them in spam and then delete them.

[John Weaver] And if I answer them, then they know they would have a real active email address. So I don't even answer them. But there are a lot of people who will just simply open those. Oh, I forgot I ordered this and they'll pay it. And it's just nothing but a scam. But I want you to look, if you would, at verse four. Look what the Bible says. For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect. where the Lord is God, as with the heart of David his father. Now, the fall of Solomon then took place when he was old. And may I point out the fact that old, I think, is a relative term.

[John Weaver] I happen to be 81 years of age. I believe I am older, but I don't really consider myself old. And we have one fellow in our church, Dr. Bowen, who happens to be 90. I'm sure that he would probably consider me a young man since he's about nine years older than I am. But I'm just simply pointing out, you know, age is a relative term. But I distinctly remember when I turned 67 many, many years back, it just simply dawned on me that I could no longer do the things that I used to do. And I'm still very active.

[John Weaver] However, I've learned to appreciate the strength of younger men. And whenever they offer to help, I gladly accept it. And so certainly you can understand there are things that changes with age. But the question you would want to ask is how old was Solomon when his heart turned away from the Lord?

[John Weaver] Now, the truth of the matter is no one can say exactly how old he was. But I believe I can point out very clearly that he was not old according to our estimation of old. For instance, I'm going to read a verse and then I'm going to give you a couple of quotes. I want you to listen carefully. The verse is 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 7. 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 7. Listen.

[John Weaver] Solomon himself is praying and he says this, And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant Cain instead of David my father. and I am but a little child, I know not how to go out or how to come in." So Solomon initially prayed as he was anointed king and said, I am as a little child. Now, here's three quotes. The first one is from Colin Dalich. And they write, Solomon could not then be quite 20 years old as he was born after the Syro-Ammonite war, and calls himself at the commencement of his reign still, and here's the Hebrew, Chotah Nahar.

[John Weaver] The word Nahar may of itself denote not merely a boy, but also a grown youth, but here it is limited to the boy's age by the addition of the word warach. Now John Gill said it like this, and David said Solomon my son is young and tender. Jarki supposes he was about 12 years of age, though he observes at the same time the word is used of Joshua when Joshua was 42 years of age. Then he says it is possible that Solomon might now be about 20. One more, Albert Barnes, and he says the exact age of Solomon at this time is uncertain, but it cannot have been more than 24 or 25. And it may have been as little as 14 or 15.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn and look in First Kings chapter 11 and verse 42. First Kings chapter 11 and verse 42. Look at this. And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was 40 years. So we know now that Solomon reigned 40 years. OK. If you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles chapter 12 and look if you would please at verse 13. 2 Chronicles chapter 12 and verse 13. So Solomon reigned for 40 years. Solomon had a son and his name was Rehoboam. He followed Solomon. 2 Chronicles chapter 12, notice if you would, verse 13. So Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. For Rehoboam was one in 40 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which Thord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naaman, Ammonitess. But note if you would, Rehoboam began to reign at 41 years of age, which means now that he had to be born the year before Solomon was anointed as king.

[John Weaver] So Solomon then had a wife and was producing children actually before he became king. Now this fact does not give us his exact age and the reason being is because kings and those in royal families usually married early. So since you're in 2nd Chronicles turn right on over to 2nd Chronicles chapter 24 and let's begin reading there with verse 1. Look at this 2nd Chronicles 24 and verse 1.

[John Weaver] Joash was 7 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem. So he's dead at 47. His mother's name also was Zeviah of Beersheba. And Jehoiada did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took for him two wives and he began sons and daughters. Now obviously Jehoiada did not take two wives for him when he was seven years of age or he probably eight or nine. But he did probably take those wives when he was a teenager. So Solomon then may have also been married earlier, had children earlier, and we're not specifically told at what age Solomon died, but I will tell you this, in all probability, it was anywhere from 50 to 65 years of old, of age, and that is not old in my book. So, someone 50 to 65, I would consider still a young man, but However, it was probably his lifestyle that made him age very quickly. If you read the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written by Solomon, you will discover that Solomon gave his heart, gave his mind, gave his life to many different things.

[John Weaver] He gave them to wine, he gave them to agriculture, he gave them to anything imaginable because he had more money, more power than anyone in the world at that particular time. So, it could have been the old adage of wine, women, and song that basically got to him.

[John Weaver] Now, Rush Dooney pointed out many years back in his, I think, first Institute of Biblical Law book, that the 700 wives that Solomon had who were princesses, were not necessarily wives in the sense that, like Alice is my wife and Lorraine is Steve's wife. In other words, that's how we normally think of the word wives. But he's pointing out that back in those days, when you entered into a treaty or a covenant with another nation, what you normally did was marry someone out of that kingdom especially of the royal family. And then that was cementing the treaty. And the principle was simply this, you don't make war against your own family. So many of these women, Rushdoony pointed out, were probably nothing more than ambassadors or diplomats in Solomon's kingdom, in Solomon's administration, looking out after their own country. and just like a diplomat in any other country would do today.

[John Weaver] Well, you say, well, how then could these wives turn his heart away? Well, I can assure you, out of 700 of them, there were many that were probably wives in the sense that we understand, and that does not count the 300 concubines as well. So, the wives did indeed have an influence over him, and the question that would have to be asked is why Or how did he allow these wives to have this influence over him?

[John Weaver] So first of all, let me point out something in light of 1 Kings chapter 11, and that is this. Sin is always gradual and progressive. Now, one sin leads to another sin. So if nothing happens immediately when an individual sins, he thinks, well, it may be safe to progress and go just a little bit farther. And so you keep doing that, and sin is gradual, it's progressive, and one sin adds to another. So if you look back in 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 1, the Bible says this, But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites. Now, obviously, Solomon did not marry all these women at one time.

[John Weaver] So this is what I'm pointing out. He married the Egyptian, which he should not have, but he had made affinity, which means he made a treaty with the king of Egypt, and the king of Egypt gave him his daughter to be his wife. That is how business was done back then, that is for sure. So, the Bible says that he loved many strange women, together with, and then he identifies them.

[John Weaver] But look in verse 2, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, you shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after other gods, Solomon, claim to these in love. Now, I want you to see how Solomon blatantly disobeyed God. If you want to look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 34, I want to read for you verses 11 through 16. Exodus 34 verses 11 through 16. Listen to this.

[John Weaver] Observe thou that which I command thee this day, Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed of thyself, lest whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. But thou shalt destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves. For thou shalt worship no other god. For the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God. lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods. And one called thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice, and thou takest their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a-whoring after their gods." So God has said, you do not intermarry.

[John Weaver] You're not going to go with these heathen, that's all there is to it. And he said, the ultimate end will be, you will be turned away from me.

[John Weaver] Now, if you would turn right over to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7, and look if you would please at verses 1 through 6. Deuteronomy, chapter 7, beginning there with verse 1. Here it is. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land, whether thou goest to possess it, and has cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou. And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them, neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. They will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

[John Weaver] But thus shall you deal with them. You shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all the people that are upon the face of the earth. So here are two clear passages where God forbids Solomon to marry these strange women.

[John Weaver] And by the way, the word strange in the Hebrew happens to be the word nakri, and it literally means a stranger, an alien, a foreigner, one that is outlandish, one that is unknown, one that is unfamiliar. So all of these women that he married were strangers to Solomon's faith, to Solomon's culture, and to God's law. And so God has warned Solomon about this numerous times in the Bible and yet he disobeyed and he married all of these women.

[John Weaver] So there are a lot of things like this going on today. There are Christians that are marrying unsaved people, which is plainly forbidden here, but in the New Testament as well. And anytime someone marries an unsaved, a Christian marries an unsaved, well, I'm going to change him or I'm going to change her, which you're going to find absolutely impossible because change is brought by God and not by man. So clearly, if you want to read it, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 14 through 18, here's what God says.

[John Weaver] Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath a righteousness with unrighteousness? Or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God and God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

[John Weaver] Wherefore says God come ye up among them and be separate saith the Lord touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty. So many people today disobey just like Solomon did and they bring God's chastisement and God's judgment upon themselves, upon their family, through their disobedience.

[John Weaver] Now, we've looked at 1 Kings chapter 11. We have seen that Solomon built altars and or temples for Ashereth, for Milcom, who is Moloch, and for Chemosh. So here's my question. Why did Solomon build these temples or build these altars to these false gods.

[John Weaver] Now you're going to say, well, his strange wives pressured him. Well, that is probably true, but that is not the answer that I'm looking for. There is power and influence in a wife. In fact, years ago, I preached a message as I entitled it, The Power and the Influence of a Wife. And it is true that wives do have power and influence. It may be downplayed, but it is still true so but why did specific wives want Solomon to build these altars and worship with them specifically at these altars now we know that Solomon did so if you look in verse 4 for it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned

[John Weaver] away his heart after other gods. Now look, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as with the heart of David his father. So we've just been told that his heart was not perfect. Okay. Turned after other gods. Now look in verse 5. For Solomon went after Ashereth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. The Bible says he went after. Now the Hebrew word went is the word yalach.

[John Weaver] And it means to go, to walk, to proceed, to move forward, to move toward, and simply to follow. And then when you look in verse 6, and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. How did he do evil? And going after these other gods. And went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. So he compromised.

[John Weaver] Now, if you'll skip down to verse 10, you'll see this is the nail that nails him to the wall for his disobedience. And had commanded him, God had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But look at this. But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. So he did go after other gods. So the answer would have to be why?

[John Weaver] Now, I want to give you a quote from Albert Barnes, and I want you to listen to what he said concerning Solomon's Compromise, or Solomon's Apostasy. First of all, he said, old, about 50 or 55. Wow. From his age at his ascension, he could not have been any more than 60 at his death. The true nature of Solomon's idolatry was neither complete apostasy, an apostasy from which there could be no recovery, nor a mere toleration. In other words, he just didn't tolerate his wives and their idolatry. There was more. Solomon did not ever openly or wholly apostatize.

[John Weaver] He continued his attendance on the worship of Yahweh and punctually made his offerings three times a year in the temple according to 1 Kings 9 verse 25, but his heart was not perfect with God. The religious earnestness of his younger days was weakened by wealth, luxury, sensualism, and increasing worldliness leading him to worldly policy and latitudinarianism, which I'll explain, arising from contact with all the manifold forms of human opinion. His lapse into deadly sin was no doubt gradual. Partly from ostentation, partly from sensualism, which is the most common failing of oriental monarchs, he established a harem on a grand and extraordinary scale. To gratify strange women, that is foreigners, admitted either from worldly policy or for variety's sake, he built magnificent temples to their false gods right over against Jerusalem as manifest rivals to the Temple. He thus became the author of a syncretism which sought to blend together the worship of Yahweh and the worship of idols, a syncretism which possessed fatal attraction for the Jewish nation. Because, I'm going to stop right there a moment here, because not only did other kings follow him, but the nation itself followed him.

[John Weaver] Finally, he appears himself to have frequented the idol symbols and to have taken part in those fearful impurities which constituted the worst horror of the idolatrous systems, thus practically apostatizing, though theoretically he never ceased to hold that Yahweh was the true God. So, he is saying now that Solomon engaged in latitudinitarianism, which is nothing more than open-mindedness and toleration of that which is wicked, vile, and wrong. So, if you hear, well, so-and-so just had an affair with two or three women, or this wife had an affair with two or three men, and latitudinarianism would say, well, that's okay.

[John Weaver] It's going to tolerate it. They're not going to condemn it. And so, obviously, He had that attitude because he was marrying all of these people in contradiction to the plain commands of God. So the question that I asked earlier is the question that I want to answer today and next week. And that is this. Why did he build these altars to these three specific false gods? Why were they chosen? Why did he build altars for Ashtoreth for Milcom or Molech, and for Chemosh.

[John Weaver] Now, when you read about these in the Bible, as well as in history as well, you're going to find that these three usually were put together. We could call them the unholy trinity, because they were indeed together.

[John Weaver] Now, remember Solomon's wives turned his heart away when he was old. So, here's my question. What happens to be the main complaints of old age? I know I got somebody's attention. Well, let's see. The main complaints of old age is actually a loss of power, a loss of control, and a loss of ability. Now, you have to understand that Solomon introduced all of these idolatries into the land when he was old. I pointed out other kings followed in the footsteps of Solomon and so did the people of the land as well. So the very first altar he built was for Ashtoreth in verse 5 for Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians. So who in the world was Ashtoreth? Well she goes by many names in the Bible and history as well.

[John Weaver] There's the name of Starte, Asherah, Aphrodite, Venus, Ishtar, and so on. She was the consort of Baal, or the wife of Baal, who was regarded then as the goddess of love and of fertility. She is also thought to be, by religious historians, the same as the Greek Aphrodite, and the Masoretic text refers to her as Ashtoreth, which is probably a combination of Astarte and Bosheth. And Bosheth is a Hebrew word which means abomination or scandal. And you will find that name applied to idols all throughout the Old Testament because they were counted as shameful things and abominable things. So, Ashtoreth then is depicted as the goddess of the moon. Ah, not only a sex goddess, but a goddess of the moon, Venus, sexuality, sexual love, sensuality, fertility, and even war. She was a goddess of the Canaanites, considered to be the wife of Baal, and she was often presented as a nude female with rudely exaggerated organs. The name Ashtoreth was common in one form or the other. Her Greek name was Astarte. Among the Philistines, Ashtoreth was also considered to be a goddess of war.

[John Weaver] So, if you remember in 1 Samuel chapter 31, when King Saul and his sons were killed on the battlefield, the Philistines then came and got Saul's armor and put it in the temple of Ashtoreth. In other words, giving her praise for defeating King Saul and the Israelites at that particular time. However, chiefly, Ashtoreth was a fertility goddess and the most prominent part of her worship consisted of sex forages at the temple and there at the temple they would have male and female prostitutes. Now, the word grows.

[John Weaver] and you're going to see this as you read the Bible. Anytime you see the word grove or groves, it does not refer to trees with the exception of Genesis chapter 21 and verse 33 where Abraham planted a grove. He actually planted trees. Now if you see a pecan orchard, when I was a boy it was not called an orchard, it was called a pecan grove. any vast number of trees that are the same species, down south we always called them a grove. It could be a peach orchard or a peach grove, or it could be a coconut orchard or a coconut grove. But Genesis 21 and verse 33 is the only time it refers to a plantation of trees. The rest of the time the word grove refers in to Asherah or Ashtoreth or Ishtar or Venus because she was worshipped under a pole or under a tree.

[John Weaver] Of course, I suppose you remember the Indians used to worship a totem pole. Well, let me show you what I'm talking about. The whole 1 Kings 11, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Hosea chapter 4. Daniel, Hosea, Hosea chapter 4 and I want to begin there with verse 11. Hosea Joel Amos. Watch Hosea chapter 4 beginning there with verse 11. God says whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart. Okay, think about that. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

[John Weaver] To explain that, here it is. My people ask counsel at their stock. that is, at their trees, at their foes, and their staff declareth unto them. For the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a-whoring from under their God. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks, and poplars, and elms, because the shadow thereof is good.

[John Weaver] He says, therefore, your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. In other words, you're committing spiritual whoredom and spiritual adultery, and the consequence is going to be physical adultery and physical whoredom as well.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will go back in your Bibles to the book of Judges, Joshua Judges, Judges chapter 6, because I want you to understand that when God called Gideon, getting, of course, cut down the altar of Baal and the grove. I want you to look in Judges chapter 6 and verse 26. In fact, let's read verse 25. And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it. and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down." So notice if you would the grove was a wooden pole and it was to start the fire. Look if you would in verse 28. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning behold the altar of Baal was cast down and the grove, that would be Asherah, Ashereth, was cut down, it was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.

[John Weaver] Now look in verse 30. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, bring out thy son that he may die, because he is cast down the altar of Baal, and because he had cut down the grove that was by it. So the grove then was Ashereth, or Asherah, and she was supposed to be the wife of Baal or the consort of Baal.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to see not only how prominent this was, even in Israel, but how wicked and blasphemous it was. So if you will turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 21, 2 Kings chapter 21, you're going to see what Manasseh did who happened to be the son of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a godly man, but Manasseh, his son, was exceedingly wicked and vile. So the Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 21, look at some of the things that Manasseh has done. Look in verse 4, And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem I will put my name. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

[John Weaver] And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness on the side of the Lord to provoke him to anger." Here it is. And he said,"...a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever. So he even put an image of this grove in the house of God.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will look in 2 Kings chapter 23, and I will cover this more in another message, it was Josiah who cut down all of these idols. Look, if you would, in verse 4, 2 Kings 23, and the king that would be Josiah commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the hosts of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. So, It was Josiah who put all of this down.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm telling you all this to bring you up to snuff on modern-day idolatry, but here it is. Asherah, or Ashtoreth, Ashteroth, was known as the Queen of Heaven. And she was worshipped not only by the heathen, but by the Israelites. So I want you to turn to the book of Jeremiah chapter 7. There are several passages I want you to see. Jeremiah chapter 7 and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 16.

[John Weaver] The people were really wicked and especially Judah and Jerusalem. God says therefore pray not thou for this people neither lift up pride or prayer for them Neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

[John Weaver] Now watch, the children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven. And therefore I'll drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? So the children are gathering wood, the fathers are kindling a fire, the women are making the dough, kneading the dough and making cakes for the Queen of Heaven. So the whole family is involved in the worship of the Queen of Heaven.

[John Weaver] Now, turn over, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 44 and let's begin reading there with verse 17. Jeremiah chapter 44 and verse 17 look at this in fact let's read verse 16 look what the people tell jeremiah as for the word that thou has spoken unto us in the name of the lord we will not hearken unto thee we're not going to listen to you we're not going to obey you then they say in verse 17 but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth to burn incense under the queen of heaven and to pour out our drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of

[John Weaver] Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of vigils, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things that have been consumed by the sword, and by the famine. And when we burned incense unto the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, Did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings in her without our men?

[John Weaver] In other words, everybody was involved in this. Now, interesting thing, and I'm not going to get into this right now, but it's very interesting. God had just judged these people, and now they're about to do something that is wicked and wrong, contrary to God. And now they're saying, look, when we were in our cities, We worshipped the Queen of Heaven. We had plenty. We didn't have any problem. This is showing you how people cannot think straight. Jeremiah said, look, God was judging you and is judging you now for your sin and forgetting him and leaving him and worshipping the other gods. And they're saying, no, we're going to go back to the Queen of Heaven. We're going to worship her. Now look in verse 25 of Jeremiah 44. Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, you and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands saying we will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense of the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings into her you will surely

[John Weaver] accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows god said you're going to do it but i'm going to judge you for it i'm going to destroy you now i want you to see how ancient idolatry has become current and modern idolatry. I told you that Ashtoreth was known as the Moon Goddess. She's also known as the Queen of Heaven. I want to give you several quotes. I want you to listen. I'm just, I'm just quoting. Here we go.

[John Weaver] The first one is from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. Ashtoreth or Ashtoreth the name of a Sidonian deity. Ashtoreth, same one, the Phoenician goddess of love. Here's Webster's New World College Dictionary. Ashtoreth, a Semitic goddess of fertility and sexual love, worshipped by the Phoenicians and others. See Ashtoreth, Ishtar. Ashtoreth, the ancient Phoenician and Syrian goddess of love and fertility, identified as Ashtoreth. Ishtar, see Ashtoreth. the goddess of love and fertility and war. Here's the Encyclopedia Britannica.

[John Weaver] Astarte, Astereth, is the Queen of Heaven, to whom the Canaanites had burned incense and poured out libations. The Soul Vision website, known by many names across time and space, Lilith or Eve, Anneth or Asheroth, Astarte, the Queen of Heaven, the Shekinah, and the Matronite, no matter her name, she was loved. Now, here's the same website. Ashekhainah, the Hebrew goddess of the Kabbalah. I know. Encyclopedia Britannica again. Ishtar is the Akkadian counterpart of the West Semitic goddess Astarte. One more time. Encyclopedia Britannica. Through her identification with the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus, Inanna Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, still survives in Roman Catholic iconography as the Virgin Mary standing on the moon. Here's another one, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1894 by the way. Queen of Heaven, with the ancient Venetians, was Astarte, with the Greeks as Hera, with the Romans Juno, Triglia, Hexoday, Diana, the Egyptian Isis, were also called but with the Roman Catholics it is the Virgin Mary. One last one, Diana was called the Mother Goddess and the Queen of Heaven just as Mary is called the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven.

[John Weaver] So you want to know where all of this came from. It came from pure paganism.

[John Weaver] Now let me make a statement and I'm going to prove it to you from scripture. Mary was not the mother of God. Now, when you hear people say mother of God. And they even pray to Mary, mother of God, save us now in the hour of our need. Mary is not the mother of God. If you'll turn in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter one, Luke chapter one. And I want you to note very carefully what is said to Mary. Then I'm going to give you a good quote. Look at this. Luke chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse, oh, let's say verse 26. Here it is. Luke 1 verse 26.

[John Weaver] And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth. to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast it in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

[John Weaver] Then the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the High shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And the old white cousin Elizabeth, she is also conceived, the son of her old age, and this is the sixth month of her who is called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. Now I want you to note what the angel said that she was going to conceive and bear a son but note if you would in verse 35 he said the holy ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the high shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of god now mary was the mother of the physical body that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, assumed.

[John Weaver] This is the Incarnation, and without controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, but our Lord assumed the body, and it was the Holy Thing that was formed in Mary, Our Lord is one person with two natures. He is not two persons with one nature. So if you try to say that she actually was the mother of Jesus Christ in this sense, then he's going to have to be two persons.

[John Weaver] Now let me give you a quote. Now I want you to listen carefully because this is from John Gill and he explains this, but yes it is, it is deep and you'll have to think and you'll have to listen. So here we go. He says, the human nature of Christ is here called a thing, for it was not a person. It never subsisted of itself, but was taken at once into union with the person of the Son of God. Otherwise, there would be two persons in Christ, whereas He is God and man in one person.

[John Weaver] And it is said to be holy, being free from that original pollution and sin, in which all that descended from Adam by ordinary generation are conceived and brought forth, and is moreover said to be born of a virgin of thee or out of thee. Christ's flesh was formed out of a virgin's. He took flesh of her. His body did not descend from heaven or pass through her as water through a pipe, as some heretics of old said, nor did his human nature either as a soul or body, pre-exists his incarnation, but in the fullness of time he was made of a woman and took a true body of her and a reasonable soul into union with his divine person and therefore should be called the Son of God. Not that he was now to become the Son of God, for he was so before his incarnation, even from all eternity. but he was now to be manifested as such in human nature. Nor does the angel predict that he should, for this reason, be called the Son of God, for he never was on this account so called either by himself or others.

[John Weaver] Now listen carefully. The angel is not giving reason why Christ should be the Son of God, but why he should be owned and acknowledged as such by his people. who would infer and conclude from this wonderful conception, Bert, that he is the Immanuel, God with us, the child that was to be born, the son that was to be given, his name should be called Wonderful, Counselor of the Mighty God. Moreover, the word also is not to be overlooked, and the sense is that seeing that human nature, which should be born of the Virgin, would be united to the Son of God, it likewise should bear the same name, being in personal union with him, who was so from all eternity. So Jesus Christ is one person with two natures. He is not two different people.

[John Weaver] And as John Gill pointed out, the body never subsisted in and of itself or by itself in Mary. That which made it alive was the fact that Jesus Christ assumed that body. He was made flesh and dwelt among us. So, Mary is not the mother of God. Mary is not a mediator. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So it does no good to pray to Mary, does no good to pray to the saints. The only mediator that we have is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

[John Weaver] Now, why in the world did Solomon build an altar and a temple to Asherah? Well, let me try to answer that by giving you some applications. You have to remember that the worship of Asherah, Ashereb, Asheroth, Venus, Ishtar, whatever you want to call her, was a sensual, sexual, promiscuous worship. You say, we don't have images like that today. We don't have Astarte. We don't have Asherah. We don't have Venus. Really? Well, let me ask you a question.

[John Weaver] Have you considered the abundance of pornography and the people that are addicted to pornography? I told you what the word pornography means. Porno is the Greek word for fornication. Drapé is the Greek word for writing. Pornography just simply means fornication writing. You look at the pornography that's available. You look at the porn sites that are available. You look at the adultery and the fornication that is rampant today.

[John Weaver] And yes, the worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on. We may not call it that, but it is still the same thing. It's the worship of the flesh is what it amounts to. And this affects old men just like it does young men. Old women just like it does young women as well. And it's amazing to me to the extremes that older people will go to to gratify and to satisfy their lusts and try to revive themselves. I've often laughed, and Alice and I have smiled, when I will see an older woman, and I say an older woman, in her 60s and 70s, trying to dress like a teeny bopper. It's insane. Why would a 70-year-old woman want to dress like a little teenager? Just stop and think about this. I have been absolutely amazed at the older and elderly people that have been caught in adultery, fornication, with prostitutes and even engaging in pedophilia. And I want to tell you something. I've mentioned this before.

[John Weaver] If you've never subscribed to Keith Graves' Christian Warrior Training, ChristianWarriorTraining.com, I encourage you to do so, because he will not only give you weekly updates about attacks on the church, he will give you weekly updates of the of the pedophilia, the child trafficking, and everything that's going on in the church. And I'm absolutely astounded at the pastors and the youth pastors and the song leaders that are now being caught and convicted of all this crazy sexuality. Pedophilia, everything. So let me give you an illustration.

[John Weaver] Multiple years ago, I saw an old program of Hee Haw. Many of you will know that Hee Haw is an old country music show. And since Alice and I probably haven't had a TV in 30, 35 years, it was multiple years ago. But Grandpa Jones, an older man, was alive. And he was part of that show. And the scene was a cornfield. and all of a sudden out of the cornfield stepped this beautiful young woman in a pair of short shorts and a tight tank top and and grandpa jones let out a humongous wolf whistle and when he did someone stepped up beside him and said why grandpa you ought to be ashamed of yourself And Grandpa Jones looked at the fella with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye and he said, well, you know the old adage, you're never too old to yearn.

[John Weaver] Now that was supposed to have been funny, but it was the truth. It was the truth. And the fact of the matter is the yearning affects old people just like it affects young people. It affects middle-aged people. It affects men and it affects women as well. So yearning and going down in your yearning is what is wicked and wrong.

[John Weaver] Now let me stop and remind you of something. God made promises to Abraham and Sarah. Do you remember that Sarah had a child when she was 90 and Abraham was 100? What did God do for them? Something miraculous because even after Sarah died, Abraham married again and had multiple children by his second wife. Wow! May I remind you that when Noah and his wife had no child and what did God do? God blessed them and God gave them Samson.

[John Weaver] Look about Zacharias and Elizabeth. They had no child and God gave them John the Baptist. The problem here is this. The problem is Solomon, instead of seeking God to revive him and to help him, he now goes down to Asherah. hoping that somehow, promiscuity, hoping that somehow, all of this fornication, all of this wickedness, all of this corruption, somehow it's going to build him up and strengthen him. It is not going to do so. Here's what I'm going to tell you, and I really believe this with all my heart, and I tried to do it myself.

[John Weaver] Every man, every woman, every boy, every girl ought to read Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 weekly until it is indelibly impressed upon your mind. And you can almost quote those chapters word by word. Because there are the warnings. We don't understand what went on in paganism. You remember I told you one of the greatest insults in the New Testament was to say that someone was acting like a Corinthian because Corinth had three major seaports and Corinth had a temple that had a thousand prostitutes in it for the free use of any visitor.

[John Weaver] It was a corrupt, perverted, wicked, vile place. And when you call someone a Corinthian, it was an insult of the insult. The point I'm trying to make is this. We still have the paganism today without the graven images. Because that which Asherah, Astarte, Ashtoreth, Venus, Ishtar represented is still strong today. We need to make sure that we never fall into the same sin that Solomon fell into. You're never going to build yourself up by going down. You're always going to incur and bring forth the chastisement and the judgment of God. I'll just point this out right now. What happened to Solomon?

[John Weaver] He basically lost his family. Rehoboam May have been his only son, but he was as stupid as the day is long. He lost his family, he lost his kingdom. And he lost the respect. And now he's known not just for being the wisest man upon the Earth at one time, but now one of the most foolish. Men upon the Earth. So whenever you begin. To desire that which is contrary to God and in contradiction to his word, it is idolatry in and of itself.

[John Weaver] And you need to repent and seek the Lord and say, Lord, I want you and your power and your ability. He is the one who gives us everything we need to turn to him. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And Lord, we pray, we pray, Father, with Jabez, that you would bless us indeed, that your hand would be upon us, that you would enlarge our coasts, and that you would keep us from evil, that we might not grieve thee, and that you would keep us from evil, that it might not grieve us. Help us, Lord, to honor thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

The Dangers of Old Age - Part 1

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	112725180325249
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: Remember Lot And His Wife
Genre	Sermon
Date	2025-11-23
Dictation Name
Book	Book 011: The Dangers of Old Age — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	80

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Scripture Reading

Weaver reads 1 Kings 11:1-13, introducing the topic of the dangers of old age and Solomon's fall.

Well, let's open our Bibles then to 1 Kings chapter 11. 1 Kings chapter 11. And I want us to read the first 13 verses. 1 Kings chapter 11, beginning there with verse 1. The title of the message—this is the first part—is "The Dangers of Old Age." The dangers of old age. So look, if you would, 1 Kings 11 verse 1:

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 11:1-13

"But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, 'You shall not go into them, neither shall they come into you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.' Solomon clave to these in love, and he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. So Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, 'Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it unto thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.' I hope you remember last week I dealt with a message which I entitled, "

Losing Your Wisdom and Losing Your Mind," and I pointed out distinctly that it's possible to lose both at the same time. And the truth of the matter is old age is fraught with many dangers, especially in relationship to the mind. Many suffer from Alzheimer's, dementia, and simple forgetfulness, and they're just not able to think clearly.

The Reality of Old Age and Forgetfulness

Weaver discusses common struggles of old age such as forgetfulness, dementia, and vulnerability to scams, linking them to Solomon's condition.

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 11:1-13

But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, 'Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it unto thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

' I hope you remember last week I dealt with a message which I entitled, "Losing Your Wisdom and Losing Your Mind," and I pointed out distinctly that it's possible to lose both at the same time. And the truth of the matter is old age is fraught with many dangers, especially in relationship to the mind. Many suffer from Alzheimer's, dementia, and simple forgetfulness, and they're just not able to think clearly.

This does not even consider the most frequently asked question by most older people. And that question is, "Now why did I come into this room?" Or "What was I looking for when I came into this room?" And of course there is something just known as simple forgetfulness as well. But since there is a tendency to forget, and consequently, we often read of scams and schemes that target the elderly. In fact, I receive bills and statements and invoices online for services that I have never asked for, for products that I've never ordered. And I don't even open them. I just put them in spam and then delete them. And if I answer them, then they know they would have a real active email address. So I don't even answer them. But there are a lot of people who will just simply open those. "Oh, I forgot I ordered this," and they'll pay it. And it's just nothing but a scam. But I want you to look, if you would, at verse four. Look what the Bible says: "For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father." Now, the fall of Solomon then took place when he was old. And may I point out the fact that old, I think, is a relative term.

I happen to be 81 years of age. I believe I am older, but I don't really consider myself old. And we have one fellow in our church, Dr. Bowen, who happens to be 90. I'm sure that he would probably consider me a young man since he's about nine years older than I am. But I'm just simply pointing out, you know, age is a relative term. But I distinctly remember when I turned 67 many, many years back, it just simply dawned on me that I could no longer do the things that I used to do. And I'm still very active.

Solomon's Age at His Fall

Using biblical chronology and commentaries, Weaver argues Solomon was likely between 50 and 65, not extremely old by modern standards, but aged prematurely by his lifestyle.

And if I answer them, then they know they would have a real active email address. So I don't even answer them. But there are a lot of people who will just simply open those. "Oh, I forgot I ordered this," and they'll pay it. And it's just nothing but a scam. But I want you to look, if you would, at verse four. Look what the Bible says: "For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father." Now, the fall of Solomon then took place when he was old. And may I point out the fact that old, I think, is a relative term.

However, I've learned to appreciate the strength of younger men. And whenever they offer to help, I gladly accept it. And so certainly you can understand there are things that change with age. But the question you would want to ask is how old was Solomon when his heart turned away from the Lord?

Now, the truth of the matter is no one can say exactly how old he was. But I believe I can point out very clearly that he was not old according to our estimation of old. For instance, I'm going to read a verse and then I'm going to give you a couple of quotes. I want you to listen carefully. The verse is 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 7. 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 7. Listen.

Solomon himself is praying and he says this: "And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am but a little child, I know not how to go out or how to come in." So Solomon initially prayed as he was anointed king and said, "I am as a little child." Now, here's three quotes. The first one is from Colin Dalich. And they write, "Solomon could not then be quite 20 years old as he was born after the Syro-Ammonite war, and calls himself at the commencement of his reign still," and here's the Hebrew, "Chotah Nahar." The word Nahar may of itself denote not merely a boy, but also a grown youth, but here it is limited to the boy's age by the addition of the word warach. Now John Gill said it like this: "And David said Solomon my son is young and tender. Jarchi supposes he was about 12 years of age, though he observes at the same time the word is used of Joshua when Joshua was 42 years of age." Then he says it is possible that Solomon might now be about 20. One more, Albert Barnes, and he says, "The exact age of Solomon at this time is uncertain, but it cannot have been more than 24 or 25. And it may have been as little as 14 or 15."

Now, I want you to turn and look in 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 42. 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 42. Look at this:

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 11:42

"And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was 40 years."

So we know now that Solomon reigned 40 years. OK. If you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles chapter 12 and look if you would please at verse 13. 2 Chronicles chapter 12 and verse 13. So Solomon reigned for 40 years. Solomon had a son and his name was Rehoboam. He followed Solomon. 2 Chronicles chapter 12, notice if you would, verse 13: "So Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. For Rehoboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonitess." But note if you would, Rehoboam began to reign at 41 years of age, which means now that he had to be born the year before Solomon was anointed as king.

So Solomon then had a wife and was producing children actually before he became king. Now this fact does not give us his exact age and the reason being is because kings and those in royal families usually married early. So since you're in 2 Chronicles, turn right on over to 2 Chronicles chapter 24 and let's begin reading there with verse 1. Look at this, 2 Chronicles 24 and verse 1.

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 24:1

"Joash was 7 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem."

So he's dead at 47.

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 24:1

"His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Jehoiada did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took for him two wives and he began sons and daughters."

Now obviously Jehoiada did not take two wives for him when he was seven years of age or he probably eight or nine. But he did probably take those wives when he was a teenager. So Solomon then may have also been married earlier, had children earlier, and we're not specifically told at what age Solomon died, but I will tell you this, in all probability, it was anywhere from 50 to 65 years of age, and that is not old in my book. So, someone 50 to 65, I would consider still a young man, but however, it was probably his lifestyle that made him age very quickly. If you read the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written by Solomon, you will discover that Solomon gave his heart, gave his mind, gave his life to many different things.

He gave them to wine, he gave them to agriculture, he gave them to anything imaginable because he had more money, more power than anyone in the world at that particular time. So, it could have been the old adage of wine, women, and song that basically got to him.

The Nature of Solomon's Marriages

Weaver explains that many of Solomon's 700 wives were diplomatic marriages to seal treaties, but some were genuine wives who influenced him toward idolatry.

Now, Rushdoony pointed out many years back in his, I think, first Institute of Biblical Law book, that the 700 wives that Solomon had who were princesses, were not necessarily wives in the sense that, like Alice is my wife and Lorraine is Steve's wife. In other words, that's how we normally think of the word wives. But he's pointing out that back in those days, when you entered into a treaty or a covenant with another nation, what you normally did was marry someone out of that kingdom, especially of the royal family. And then that was cementing the treaty. And the principle was simply this: you don't make war against your own family. So many of these women, Rushdoony pointed out, were probably nothing more than ambassadors or diplomats in Solomon's kingdom, in Solomon's administration, looking out after their own country, and just like a diplomat in any other country would do today.

Well, you say, "Well, how then could these wives turn his heart away?" Well, I can assure you, out of 700 of them, there were many that were probably wives in the sense that we understand, and that does not count the 300 concubines as well. So, the wives did indeed have an influence over him, and the question that would have to be asked is why or how did he allow these wives to have this influence over him?

Sin is Gradual and Progressive

Solomon's disobedience began with one foreign wife and escalated to building altars for false gods, illustrating how sin progresses step by step.

So first of all, let me point out something in light of 1 Kings chapter 11, and that is this: sin is always gradual and progressive. Now, one sin leads to another sin. So if nothing happens immediately when an individual sins, he thinks, "Well, it may be safe to progress and go just a little bit farther." And so you keep doing that, and sin is gradual, it's progressive, and one sin adds to another. So if you look back in 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 1, the Bible says this: "But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites." Now, obviously, Solomon did not marry all these women at one time.

So this is what I'm pointing out. He married the Egyptian, which he should not have, but he had made affinity, which means he made a treaty with the king of Egypt, and the king of Egypt gave him his daughter to be his wife. That is how business was done back then, that is for sure. So, the Bible says that he loved many strange women, together with, and then he identifies them.

But look in verse 2: "Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, 'You shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after other gods.' Solomon clave to these in love." Now, I want you to see how Solomon blatantly disobeyed God. If you want to look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 34, I want to read for you verses 11 through 16. Exodus 34 verses 11 through 16. Listen to this.

God's Clear Prohibition Against Intermarriage

Weaver cites Exodus 34:11-16 and Deuteronomy 7:1-6 to show God's explicit command not to intermarry with pagan nations, which Solomon blatantly disobeyed.

"Observe thou that which I command thee this day: Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. But thou shalt destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves. For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods." So God has said, you do not intermarry.

You're not going to go with these heathen, that's all there is to it. And he said, the ultimate end will be, you will be turned away from me. Now, if you would turn right over to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7, and look if you would please at verses 1 through 6. Deuteronomy, chapter 7, beginning there with verse 1. Here it is:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:1-6

"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. They will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

But thus shall you deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all the people that are upon the face of the earth." So here are two clear passages where God forbids Solomon to marry these strange women. And by the way, the word strange in the Hebrew happens to be the word nakri, and it literally means a stranger, an alien, a foreigner, one that is outlandish, one that is unknown, one that is unfamiliar. So all of these women that he married were strangers to Solomon's faith, to Solomon's culture, and to God's law. And so God has warned Solomon about this numerous times in the Bible and yet he disobeyed and he married all of these women.

New Testament Warning Against Unequal Yokes

Weaver applies the principle to Christians today, quoting 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 to warn against marrying unbelievers.

So there are a lot of things like this going on today. There are Christians that are marrying unsaved people, which is plainly forbidden here, but in the New Testament as well. And anytime someone marries an unsaved—a Christian marries an unsaved—well, "I'm going to change him" or "I'm going to change her," which you're going to find absolutely impossible because change is brought by God and not by man. So clearly, if you want to read it, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 14 through 18, here's what God says. "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? Or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God and God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people."

"Wherefore says God, come ye out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." So many people today disobey just like Solomon did and they bring God's chastisement and God's judgment upon themselves, upon their family, through their disobedience. Now, we've looked at 1 Kings chapter 11. We have seen that Solomon built altars and or temples for Ashtoreth, for Milcom, who is Molech, and for Chemosh. So here's my question: Why did Solomon build these temples or build these altars to these false gods?

Why Solomon Built Altars to Specific Gods

Weaver introduces the question of why Solomon built altars to Ashtoreth, Milcom, and Chemosh, noting these three often appear together as an 'unholy trinity.'

Now you're going to say, "Well, his strange wives pressured him." Well, that is probably true, but that is not the answer that I'm looking for. There is power and influence in a wife. In fact, years ago, I preached a message as I entitled it, "The Power and the Influence of a Wife." And it is true that wives do have power and influence. It may be downplayed, but it is still true. So but why did specific wives want Solomon to build these altars and worship with them specifically at these altars? Now we know that Solomon did so. If you look in verse 4: "For it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned

away his heart after other gods." Now look, "and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as with the heart of David his father." So we've just been told that his heart was not perfect. Okay. Turned after other gods. Now look in verse 5: "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites." The Bible says he went after. Now the Hebrew word went is the word yalach. And it means to go, to walk, to proceed, to move forward, to move toward, and simply to follow. And then when you look in verse 6, "and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord." How did he do evil? And going after these other gods. "And went not fully after the Lord as did David his father." So he compromised.

Now, if you'll skip down to verse 10, you'll see this is the nail that nails him to the wall for his disobedience. "And had commanded him"—God had commanded him—"concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods." But look at this: "But he kept not that which the Lord commanded." So he did go after other gods. So the answer would have to be why? Now, I want to give you a quote from Albert Barnes, and I want you to listen to what he said concerning Solomon's compromise, or Solomon's apostasy. First of all, he said, "old, about 50 or 55." Wow. From his age at his ascension, he could not have been any more than 60 at his death. The true nature of Solomon's idolatry was neither complete apostasy, an apostasy from which there could be no recovery, nor a mere toleration. In other words, he just didn't tolerate his wives and their idolatry. There was more. Solomon did not ever openly or wholly apostatize.

He continued his attendance on the worship of Yahweh and punctually made his offerings three times a year in the temple according to 1 Kings 9 verse 25, but his heart was not perfect with God. The religious earnestness of his younger days was weakened by wealth, luxury, sensualism, and increasing worldliness leading him to worldly policy and latitudinarianism, which I'll explain, arising from contact with all the manifold forms of human opinion. His lapse into deadly sin was no doubt gradual. Partly from ostentation, partly from sensualism, which is the most common failing of oriental monarchs, he established a harem on a grand and extraordinary scale. To gratify strange women, that is foreigners, admitted either from worldly policy or for variety's sake, he built magnificent temples to their false gods right over against Jerusalem as manifest rivals to the Temple. He thus became the author of a syncretism which sought to blend together the worship of Yahweh and the worship of idols, a syncretism which possessed fatal attraction for the Jewish nation. Because—I'm going to stop right there a moment here—because not only did other kings follow him, but the nation itself followed him.

Finally, he appears himself to have frequented the idol symbols and to have taken part in those fearful impurities which constituted the worst horror of the idolatrous systems, thus practically apostatizing, though theoretically he never ceased to hold that Yahweh was the true God. So, he is saying now that Solomon engaged in latitudinarianism, which is nothing more than open-mindedness and toleration of that which is wicked, vile, and wrong. So, if you hear, "Well, so-and-so just had an affair with two or three women," or "this wife had an affair with two or three men," and latitudinarianism would say, "Well, that's okay." It's going to tolerate it. They're not going to condemn it. And so, obviously, he had that attitude because he was marrying all of these people in contradiction to the plain commands of God. So the question that I asked earlier is the question that I want to answer today and next week. And that is this: Why did he build these altars to these three specific false gods? Why were they chosen? Why did he build altars for Ashtoreth, for Milcom or Molech, and for Chemosh?

Now, when you read about these in the Bible, as well as in history as well, you're going to find that these three usually were put together. We could call them the unholy trinity, because they were indeed together.

The Main Complaints of Old Age and Idolatry

Weaver suggests that old age brings loss of power, control, and ability, and Solomon turned to idolatry seeking what only God could provide.

Now, remember Solomon's wives turned his heart away when he was old. So, here's my question: What happens to be the main complaints of old age? I know I got somebody's attention. Well, let's see. The main complaints of old age is actually a loss of power, a loss of control, and a loss of ability. Now, you have to understand that Solomon introduced all of these idolatries into the land when he was old. I pointed out other kings followed in the footsteps of Solomon and so did the people of the land as well. So the very first altar he built was for Ashtoreth in verse 5: "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians." So who in the world was Ashtoreth? Well she goes by many names in the Bible and history as well.

There's the name of Astarte, Asherah, Aphrodite, Venus, Ishtar, and so on. She was the consort of Baal, or the wife of Baal, who was regarded then as the goddess of love and of fertility. She is also thought to be, by religious historians, the same as the Greek Aphrodite, and the Masoretic text refers to her as Ashtoreth, which is probably a combination of Astarte and Bosheth. And Bosheth is a Hebrew word which means abomination or scandal. And you will find that name applied to idols all throughout the Old Testament because they were counted as shameful things and abominable things. So, Ashtoreth then is depicted as the goddess of the moon. Ah, not only a sex goddess, but a goddess of the moon, Venus, sexuality, sexual love, sensuality, fertility, and even war. She was a goddess of the Canaanites, considered to be the wife of Baal, and she was often presented as a nude female with rudely exaggerated organs. The name Ashtoreth was common in one form or the other. Her Greek name was Astarte. Among the Philistines, Ashtoreth was also considered to be a goddess of war.

The Identity and Worship of Ashtoreth

Weaver details Ashtoreth as a fertility goddess, the Queen of Heaven, whose worship involved sexual orgies and temple prostitution, and traces her names through history.

So, if you remember in 1 Samuel chapter 31, when King Saul and his sons were killed on the battlefield, the Philistines then came and got Saul's armor and put it in the temple of Ashtoreth. In other words, giving her praise for defeating King Saul and the Israelites at that particular time. However, chiefly, Ashtoreth was a fertility goddess and the most prominent part of her worship consisted of sex orgies at the temple and there at the temple they would have male and female prostitutes. Now, the word groves— and you're going to see this as you read the Bible. Anytime you see the word grove or groves, it does not refer to trees with the exception of Genesis chapter 21 and verse 33 where Abraham planted a grove. He actually planted trees. Now if you see a pecan orchard, when I was a boy it was not called an orchard, it was called a pecan grove. Any vast number of trees that are the same species, down south we always called them a grove. It could be a peach orchard or a peach grove, or it could be a coconut orchard or a coconut grove. But Genesis 21 and verse 33 is the only time it refers to a plantation of trees. The rest of the time the word grove refers to Asherah or Ashtoreth or Ishtar or Venus because she was worshipped under a pole or under a tree.

Of course, I suppose you remember the Indians used to worship a totem pole. Well, let me show you what I'm talking about. The whole 1 Kings 11, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Hosea chapter 4. Daniel, Hosea, Hosea chapter 4 and I want to begin there with verse 11. Hosea, Joel, Amos. Watch Hosea chapter 4 beginning there with verse 11. God says, "Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart." Okay, think about that. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.

To explain that, here it is: "My people ask counsel at their stock," that is, at their trees, at their poles, "and their staff declareth unto them. For the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks, and poplars, and elms, because the shadow thereof is good." He says, "Therefore, your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery." In other words, you're committing spiritual whoredom and spiritual adultery, and the consequence is going to be physical adultery and physical whoredom as well.

Now, if you will go back in your Bibles to the book of Judges, Joshua, Judges, Judges chapter 6, because I want you to understand that when God called Gideon, Gideon, of course, cut down the altar of Baal and the grove. I want you to look in Judges chapter 6 and verse 26. In fact, let's read verse 25:

Scripture Reading — Judges 6:25-30

"And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, 'Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it, and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place, and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.'"

So notice if you would the grove was a wooden pole and it was to start the fire. Look if you would in verse 28:

Scripture Reading — Judges 6:25-30

"And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove,"

that would be Asherah, Ashtoreth,

Scripture Reading — Judges 6:25-30

"was cut down, it was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built."

Now look in verse 30: "Then the men of the city said unto Joash, 'Bring out thy son that he may die, because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he had cut down the grove that was by it.'" So the grove then was Ashtoreth, or Asherah, and she was supposed to be the wife of Baal or the consort of Baal. Now, I want you to see not only how prominent this was, even in Israel, but how wicked and blasphemous it was. So if you will turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 21, 2 Kings chapter 21, you're going to see what Manasseh did who happened to be the son of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a godly man, but Manasseh, his son, was exceedingly wicked and vile. So the Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 21, look at some of the things that Manasseh has done. Look in verse 4:

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 21:4-7

"And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, 'In Jerusalem I will put my name.' And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger." Here it is: "And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, 'In this house and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.'" So he even put an image of this grove in the house of God.

Ashtoreth Worship in Israel's History

Weaver shows from Judges, 2 Kings, and Jeremiah that Israel repeatedly fell into worship of the Queen of Heaven, involving the whole family in idolatry.

Now, I want you to see not only how prominent this was, even in Israel, but how wicked and blasphemous it was. So if you will turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 21, 2 Kings chapter 21, you're going to see what Manasseh did who happened to be the son of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a godly man, but Manasseh, his son, was exceedingly wicked and vile. So the Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 21, look at some of the things that Manasseh has done. Look in verse 4:

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 21:4-7

"And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, 'In Jerusalem I will put my name.' And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger."

Here it is:

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 21:4-7

"And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, 'In this house and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.'"

So he even put an image of this grove in the house of God.

Now, if you will look in 2 Kings chapter 23, and I will cover this more in another message, it was Josiah who cut down all of these idols. Look, if you would, in verse 4, 2 Kings 23: "And the king"—that would be Josiah—

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:4

"commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the hosts of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel."

So, it was Josiah who put all of this down. Now, I'm telling you all this to bring you up to snuff on modern-day idolatry, but here it is. Asherah, or Ashtoreth, Ashtaroth, was known as the Queen of Heaven. And she was worshipped not only by the heathen, but by the Israelites. So I want you to turn to the book of Jeremiah chapter 7. There are several passages I want you to see. Jeremiah chapter 7 and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 16.

The people were really wicked and especially Judah and Jerusalem. God says, "Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry or prayer for them, neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?" Now watch: "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?" So the children are gathering wood, the fathers are kindling a fire, the women are making the dough, kneading the dough and making cakes for the Queen of Heaven. So the whole family is involved in the worship of the Queen of Heaven.

Now, turn over, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 44 and let's begin reading there with verse 17. Jeremiah chapter 44 and verse 17, look at this. In fact, let's read verse 16. Look what the people tell Jeremiah:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. We're not going to listen to you. We're not going to obey you."

Then they say in verse 17:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out our drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, and by the famine. And when we burned incense unto the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?"

In other words, everybody was involved in this. Now, interesting thing, and I'm not going to get into this right now, but it's very interesting. God had just judged these people, and now they're about to do something that is wicked and wrong, contrary to God. And now they're saying,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"Look, when we were in our cities, we worshipped the Queen of Heaven. We had plenty. We didn't have any problem."

This is showing you how people cannot think straight. Jeremiah said, "Look, God was judging you and is judging you now for your sin and forgetting him and leaving him and worshipping the other gods." And they're saying,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"No, we're going to go back to the Queen of Heaven. We're going to worship her."

Now look in verse 25 of Jeremiah 44:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, 'You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her. You will surely

accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows.'" God said, "You're going to do it, but I'm going to judge you for it. I'm going to destroy you." Now I want you to see how ancient idolatry has become current and modern idolatry. I told you that Ashtoreth was known as the Moon Goddess. She's also known as the Queen of Heaven. I want to give you several quotes. I want you to listen. I'm just quoting. Here we go.

Modern Parallels and Application

Weaver connects ancient Ashtoreth worship to modern pornography and sexual sin, warning that old people are tempted to seek revival through fleshly means rather than God.

The first one is from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "Ashtoreth or Ashtaroth, the name of a Sidonian deity. Ashtoreth, same one, the Phoenician goddess of love." Here's Webster's New World College Dictionary: "Ashtoreth, a Semitic goddess of fertility and sexual love, worshipped by the Phoenicians and others. See Ashtoreth, Ishtar. Ashtoreth, the ancient Phoenician and Syrian goddess of love and fertility, identified as Ashtoreth. Ishtar, see Ashtoreth, the goddess of love and fertility and war." Here's the Encyclopedia Britannica. "Astarte, Ashtoreth, is the Queen of Heaven, to whom the Canaanites had burned incense and poured out libations." The Soul Vision website: "Known by many names across time and space, Lilith or Eve, Anat or Asherah, Astarte, the Queen of Heaven, the Shekinah, and the Matronit, no matter her name, she was loved." Now, here's the same website: "Asherah, the Hebrew goddess of the Kabbalah." I know. Encyclopedia Britannica again: "Ishtar is the Akkadian counterpart of the West Semitic goddess Astarte." One more time, Encyclopedia Britannica: "Through her identification with the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus, Inanna Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, still survives in Roman Catholic iconography as the Virgin Mary standing on the moon." Here's another one, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1894 by the way: "Queen of Heaven, with the ancient Venetians, was Astarte, with the Greeks as Hera, with the Romans Juno, Trivia, Hecate, Diana, the Egyptian Isis, were also called but with the Roman Catholics it is the Virgin Mary." One last one: "Diana was called the Mother Goddess and the Queen of Heaven just as Mary is called the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven."

So you want to know where all of this came from. It came from pure paganism. Now let me make a statement and I'm going to prove it to you from scripture. Mary was not the mother of God. Now, when you hear people say "mother of God," and they even pray to Mary, "mother of God, save us now in the hour of our need," Mary is not the mother of God. If you'll turn in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter one, Luke chapter one. And I want you to note very carefully what is said to Mary. Then I'm going to give you a good quote. Look at this. Luke chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse, oh, let's say verse 26. Here it is. Luke 1 verse 26.

"And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, 'Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.' And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' Then said Mary unto the angel, 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?'

Then the angel answered and said unto her, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.'" Now I want you to note what the angel said: that she was going to conceive and bear a son, but note if you would in verse 35 he said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Now Mary was the mother of the physical body that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, assumed.

This is the Incarnation, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, but our Lord assumed the body, and it was the Holy Thing that was formed in Mary. Our Lord is one person with two natures. He is not two persons with one nature. So if you try to say that she actually was the mother of Jesus Christ in this sense, then he's going to have to be two persons.

Now let me give you a quote. Now I want you to listen carefully because this is from John Gill and he explains this, but yes it is deep and you'll have to think and you'll have to listen. So here we go. He says, "The human nature of Christ is here called a thing, for it was not a person. It never subsisted of itself, but was taken at once into union with the person of the Son of God. Otherwise, there would be two persons in Christ, whereas He is God and man in one person. And it is said to be holy, being free from that original pollution and sin, in which all that descended from Adam by ordinary generation are conceived and brought forth, and is moreover said to be born of a virgin, of thee, or out of thee. Christ's flesh was formed out of a virgin's. He took flesh of her. His body did not descend from heaven or pass through her as water through a pipe, as some heretics of old said, nor did his human nature either as a soul or body, pre-exist his incarnation, but in the fullness of time he was made of a woman and took a true body of her and a reasonable soul into union with his divine person and therefore should be called the Son of God. Not that he was now to become the Son of God, for he was so before his incarnation, even from all eternity, but he was now to be manifested as such in human nature. Nor does the angel predict that he should, for this reason, be called the Son of God, for he never was on this account so called either by himself or others.

Now listen carefully. The angel is not giving reason why Christ should be the Son of God, but why he should be owned and acknowledged as such by his people, who would infer and conclude from this wonderful conception, birth, that he is the Immanuel, God with us, the child that was to be born, the son that was to be given, his name should be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. Moreover, the word also is not to be overlooked, and the sense is that seeing that human nature, which should be born of the Virgin, would be united to the Son of God, it likewise should bear the same name, being in personal union with him, who was so from all eternity." So Jesus Christ is one person with two natures. He is not two different people.

And as John Gill pointed out, the body never subsisted in and of itself or by itself in Mary. That which made it alive was the fact that Jesus Christ assumed that body. He was made flesh and dwelt among us. So, Mary is not the mother of God. Mary is not a mediator. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5,

Scripture Reading — 1 Timothy 2:5

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

So it does no good to pray to Mary, does no good to pray to the saints. The only mediator that we have is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Now, why in the world did Solomon build an altar and a temple to Asherah? Well, let me try to answer that by giving you some applications. You have to remember that the worship of Asherah, Ashtoreth, Ashtaroth, Venus, Ishtar, whatever you want to call her, was a sensual, sexual, promiscuous worship. You say, "We don't have images like that today. We don't have Astarte. We don't have Asherah. We don't have Venus." Really? Well, let me ask you a question.

Have you considered the abundance of pornography and the people that are addicted to pornography? I told you what the word pornography means. Porno is the Greek word for fornication. Graphé is the Greek word for writing. Pornography just simply means fornication writing. You look at the pornography that's available. You look at the porn sites that are available. You look at the adultery and the fornication that is rampant today.

And yes, the worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on. We may not call it that, but it is still the same thing. It's the worship of the flesh is what it amounts to. And this affects old men just like it does young men. Old women just like it does young women as well. And it's amazing to me to the extremes that older people will go to to gratify and to satisfy their lusts and try to revive themselves. I've often laughed, and Alice and I have smiled, when I will see an older woman, and I say an older woman, in her 60s and 70s, trying to dress like a teeny bopper. It's insane. Why would a 70-year-old woman want to dress like a little teenager? Just stop and think about this. I have been absolutely amazed at the older and elderly people that have been caught in adultery, fornication, with prostitutes and even engaging in pedophilia. And I want to tell you something. I've mentioned this before.

If you've never subscribed to Keith Graves' Christian Warrior Training, ChristianWarriorTraining.com, I encourage you to do so, because he will not only give you weekly updates about attacks on the church, he will give you weekly updates of the pedophilia, the child trafficking, and everything that's going on in the church. And I'm absolutely astounded at the pastors and the youth pastors and the song leaders that are now being caught and convicted of all this crazy sexuality. Pedophilia, everything. So let me give you an illustration. Multiple years ago, I saw an old program of Hee Haw. Many of you will know that Hee Haw is an old country music show. And since Alice and I probably haven't had a TV in 30, 35 years, it was multiple years ago. But Grandpa Jones, an older man, was alive. And he was part of that show. And the scene was a cornfield. And all of a sudden out of the cornfield stepped this beautiful young woman in a pair of short shorts and a tight tank top. And Grandpa Jones let out a humongous wolf whistle. And when he did, someone stepped up beside him and said, "Why Grandpa, you ought to be ashamed of yourself." And Grandpa Jones looked at the fella with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye and he said, "Well, you know the old adage, you're never too old to yearn."

Now that was supposed to have been funny, but it was the truth. It was the truth. And the fact of the matter is the yearning affects old people just like it affects young people. It affects middle-aged people. It affects men and it affects women as well. So yearning and going down in your yearning is what is wicked and wrong.

Now let me stop and remind you of something. God made promises to Abraham and Sarah. Do you remember that Sarah had a child when she was 90 and Abraham was 100? What did God do for them? Something miraculous because even after Sarah died, Abraham married again and had multiple children by his second wife. Wow! May I remind you that when Noah and his wife had no child, what did God do? God blessed them and God gave them Samson.

Look about Zacharias and Elizabeth. They had no child and God gave them John the Baptist. The problem here is this. The problem is Solomon, instead of seeking God to revive him and to help him, he now goes down to Asherah, hoping that somehow, promiscuity, hoping that somehow, all of this fornication, all of this wickedness, all of this corruption, somehow it's going to build him up and strengthen him. It is not going to do so. Here's what I'm going to tell you, and I really believe this with all my heart, and I tried to do it myself. Every man, every woman, every boy, every girl ought to read Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 weekly until it is indelibly impressed upon your mind. And you can almost quote those chapters word by word. Because there are the warnings. We don't understand what went on in paganism. You remember I told you one of the greatest insults in the New Testament was to say that someone was acting like a Corinthian because Corinth had three major seaports and Corinth had a temple that had a thousand prostitutes in it for the free use of any visitor.

It was a corrupt, perverted, wicked, vile place. And when you call someone a Corinthian, it was an insult of the insult. The point I'm trying to make is this. We still have the paganism today without the graven images. Because that which Asherah, Astarte, Ashtoreth, Venus, Ishtar represented is still strong today. We need to make sure that we never fall into the same sin that Solomon fell into. You're never going to build yourself up by going down. You're always going to incur and bring forth the chastisement and the judgment of God. I'll just point this out right now. What happened to Solomon?

He basically lost his family. Rehoboam may have been his only son, but he was as stupid as the day is long. He lost his family, he lost his kingdom. And he lost the respect. And now he's known not just for being the wisest man upon the Earth at one time, but now one of the most foolish men upon the Earth. So whenever you begin to desire that which is contrary to God and in contradiction to his word, it is idolatry in and of itself. And you need to repent and seek the Lord and say, "Lord, I want you and your power and your ability." He is the one who gives us everything we need to turn to him. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And Lord, we pray, we pray, Father, with Jabez, that you would bless us indeed, that your hand would be upon us, that you would enlarge our coasts, and that you would keep us from evil, that we might not grieve thee, and that you would keep us from evil, that it might not grieve us. Help us, Lord, to honor thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Dangers of Old Age

Summary: Old age brings physical and mental decline, but also spiritual dangers such as forgetfulness of God's commands and vulnerability to sin.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'old age is fraught with many dangers, especially in relationship to the mind' and notes Solomon's fall occurred 'when he was old.'

Gradual Nature of Sin

Summary: Sin is progressive; one sin leads to another, and delayed consequences can deceive a person into thinking it is safe to continue.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'sin is always gradual and progressive. Now, one sin leads to another. So if nothing happens immediately when an individual sins, he thinks, Well, it may be safe to progress and go just a little bit farther.'

Unequal Yoke in Marriage

Summary: God forbids believers from marrying unbelievers because they will turn the heart away from God, as seen in Solomon's life and New Testament commands.

Evidence: Weaver cites 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 and says, 'anytime someone marries an unsaved... you're going to find absolutely impossible because change is brought by God and not by man.'

Idolatry as Spiritual Adultery

Summary: Worship of false gods is spiritual whoredom that leads to physical immorality, and God judges it severely.

Evidence: Weaver explains from Hosea 4 that 'whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart' and that spiritual adultery results in physical adultery.

The Queen of Heaven and Modern Paganism

Summary: Ashtoreth worship, characterized by sexual immorality, persists today in pornography and sexual sin, even among the elderly.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on. We may not call it that, but it is still the same thing. It's the worship of the flesh.'

Seeking Revival from God, Not Flesh

Summary: Instead of turning to sinful means for strength or satisfaction, believers must seek God's power and blessing.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Solomon, instead of seeking God to revive him and to help him, he now goes down to Asherah, hoping that somehow, promiscuity... it's going to build him up and strengthen him. It is not going to do so.'

Key Arguments

Solomon was not extremely old when he fell

Summary: Based on biblical chronology, Solomon was likely between 50 and 65, showing that spiritual decline can happen at any age.

Evidence: Weaver calculates from 1 Kings 11:42, 2 Chronicles 12:13, and commentaries that Solomon reigned 40 years and died around 60, saying 'in all probability, it was anywhere from 50 to 65 years of age, and that is not old in my book.'

Solomon's disobedience was blatant and knowing

Summary: God had explicitly commanded Israel not to intermarry with pagan nations, yet Solomon deliberately disobeyed.

Evidence: Weaver reads Exodus 34:11-16 and Deuteronomy 7:1-6, then states, 'God has warned Solomon about this numerous times in the Bible and yet he disobeyed and he married all of these women.'

Wives have power and influence over husbands

Summary: Solomon's wives turned his heart away, demonstrating the significant influence a spouse can have, for good or evil.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'There is power and influence in a wife. In fact, years ago, I preached a message as I entitled it, The Power and the Influence of a Wife.'

Old age brings a loss of power and control

Summary: The main complaints of old age are loss of power, control, and ability, which may drive people to seek false solutions.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'The main complaints of old age is actually a loss of power, a loss of control, and a loss of ability.'

Ashtoreth worship was inherently sexual

Summary: The worship of Ashtoreth involved temple prostitution and sex orgies, making it a direct assault on God's design for sexuality.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the most prominent part of her worship consisted of sex orgies at the temple and there at the temple they would have male and female prostitutes.'

Mary is not the Queen of Heaven

Summary: The title 'Queen of Heaven' originates from pagan goddess worship, and Mary is not the mother of God nor a mediator.

Evidence: Weaver argues from Luke 1:35 and John Gill that 'Mary was the mother of the physical body that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, assumed' and 'Mary is not the mother of God.'

Pornography is modern Ashtoreth worship

Summary: The prevalence of pornography and sexual sin today is a continuation of the same fleshly worship that Ashtoreth represented.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on. We may not call it that, but it is still the same thing. It's the worship of the flesh.'

Solomon's fall brought severe consequences

Summary: Solomon lost his family, his kingdom, and his reputation, demonstrating that sin leads to judgment and loss.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'He basically lost his family... he lost his kingdom. And he lost the respect. And now he's known not just for being the wisest man upon the Earth at one time, but now one of the most foolish men upon the Earth.'

Scripture References

1 Kings 11:1-13

Context: The primary text describing Solomon's many foreign wives, his heart turning to other gods in old age, and God's judgment.

1 Kings 3:7

Context: Solomon's prayer at the beginning of his reign, calling himself 'a little child,' used to estimate his age.

1 Kings 11:42

Context: States that Solomon reigned 40 years, used to calculate his age at death.

2 Chronicles 12:13

Context: Rehoboam was 41 when he began to reign, indicating he was born before Solomon became king.

2 Chronicles 24:1

Context: Joash began to reign at 7, showing that royal marriages could occur early.

Exodus 34:11-16

Context: God's command not to make covenants or intermarry with the inhabitants of Canaan, lest they turn Israel's hearts to idols.

Deuteronomy 7:1-6

Context: Another clear prohibition against intermarriage and idolatry, commanding destruction of pagan altars.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Context: New Testament command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, applied to marriage.

1 Kings 9:25

Context: Solomon continued offering sacrifices three times a year, showing he did not openly apostatize completely.

1 Samuel 31

Context: The Philistines put Saul's armor in the temple of Ashtoreth, showing her association with war.

Genesis 21:33

Context: The only time 'grove' refers to actual trees planted by Abraham, contrasting with idolatrous groves.

Hosea 4:11-13

Context: Whoredom and wine take away the heart; Israel committed spiritual adultery under trees and poles.

Judges 6:25-30

Context: Gideon cut down the altar of Baal and the grove (Asherah pole), showing the physical nature of the idol.

2 Kings 21:4-7

Context: Manasseh built altars in the temple and set up a graven image of the grove, provoking God.

2 Kings 23:4

Context: Josiah removed vessels made for Baal and the grove from the temple, purging idolatry.

Jeremiah 7:16-18

Context: Families made cakes for the Queen of Heaven, provoking God to anger.

Jeremiah 44:16-25

Context: The people defiantly vowed to continue worshiping the Queen of Heaven, blaming their troubles on ceasing her worship.

Luke 1:26-35

Context: The angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive by the Holy Ghost, and the child will be called the Son of God.

1 Timothy 2:5

Context: There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, refuting Mary's mediatorial role.

Historical References

Albert Barnes' Commentary

Context: Barnes estimated Solomon's age at his fall as about 50 or 55, and described his idolatry as syncretism rather than complete apostasy.

Colin Dalich (Keil and Delitzsch?)

Context: Cited regarding the Hebrew word for 'child' in 1 Kings 3:7, suggesting Solomon was under 20 at his accession.

John Gill's Commentary

Context: Gill noted that Solomon may have been about 12 or 20 at his accession, and later explained the incarnation and Mary's role.

Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law

Context: Rushdoony suggested that many of Solomon's wives were diplomatic marriages to seal treaties, not necessarily intimate wives.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Context: Quoted multiple times to identify Ashtoreth/Ishtar as the Queen of Heaven and her connection to later goddesses and Mary.

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

Context: Defines Ashtoreth as a Sidonian deity and Phoenician goddess of love.

Webster's New World College Dictionary

Context: Defines Ashtoreth as a Semitic goddess of fertility and sexual love.

Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1894)

Context: States that 'Queen of Heaven' was a title for various pagan goddesses and later applied to the Virgin Mary by Roman Catholics.

Soul Vision website

Context: Quoted as identifying Asherah with various goddess figures and the Kabbalah.

Keith Graves' Christian Warrior Training

Context: Recommended as a resource for updates on attacks on the church, including pedophilia and child trafficking among clergy.

Important Quotes

For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

Significance: This is the key verse of the sermon, highlighting that Solomon's spiritual decline occurred in old age, setting the theme for the message.

Sin is always gradual and progressive. Now, one sin leads to another sin. So if nothing happens immediately when an individual sins, he thinks, Well, it may be safe to progress and go just a little bit farther.

Significance: Weaver explains the deceptive nature of sin, which is central to understanding Solomon's gradual fall.

The main complaints of old age is actually a loss of power, a loss of control, and a loss of ability.

Significance: Weaver connects the struggles of old age to the temptation to seek false solutions, as Solomon did with idolatry.

The worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on. We may not call it that, but it is still the same thing. It's the worship of the flesh is what it amounts to.

Significance: This quote draws a direct parallel between ancient pagan worship and modern sexual sin, making the application contemporary.

Solomon, instead of seeking God to revive him and to help him, he now goes down to Asherah, hoping that somehow, promiscuity, hoping that somehow, all of this fornication, all of this wickedness, all of this corruption, somehow it's going to build him up and strengthen him. It is not going to do so.

Significance: Weaver identifies the core error of seeking life and strength from sin rather than from God.

You're never going to build yourself up by going down. You're always going to incur and bring forth the chastisement and the judgment of God.

Significance: A concise warning that sin leads to destruction, not restoration.

He basically lost his family. Rehoboam may have been his only son, but he was as stupid as the day is long. He lost his family, he lost his kingdom. And he lost the respect.

Significance: Weaver summarizes the tragic consequences of Solomon's sin, emphasizing the high cost of disobedience.

Discussion Questions

Why do you think Solomon's heart turned away from God specifically in his old age, even though he had seen God twice and received direct commands?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that Solomon's fall happened when he was old, despite his earlier wisdom and encounters with God.

How does the gradual nature of sin make it more dangerous, and what steps can we take to guard against small compromises?

Context: Weaver explains that sin is progressive and that delayed consequences can deceive us into thinking it is safe.

In what ways might Christians today be unequally yoked in relationships or partnerships, and what are the potential spiritual consequences?

Context: Weaver applies the prohibition against intermarriage to modern believers, citing 2 Corinthians 6.

What are some 'altars to Ashtoreth' that exist in our culture today, and how can we recognize and avoid them?

Context: Weaver draws parallels between ancient fertility worship and modern pornography and sexual immorality.

How can older believers specifically guard against the temptations that come with aging, such as the desire to recapture youth or vitality through sinful means?

Context: Weaver discusses the main complaints of old age and the temptation to seek revival from the flesh rather than God.

Why is it important to understand that Mary is not the 'Queen of Heaven' or the mother of God, and how does this protect the gospel?

Context: Weaver refutes the Catholic veneration of Mary by showing its pagan origins and clarifying the incarnation.

What practical disciplines (such as reading Proverbs 5-7 weekly) can help believers maintain purity in a sexually saturated culture?

Context: Weaver recommends regular reading of Proverbs 5-7 to impress God's warnings on the mind.

How does Solomon's loss of family, kingdom, and respect serve as a warning about the long-term consequences of sin?

Context: Weaver concludes by highlighting the devastating results of Solomon's disobedience.

Applications

Guard against gradual compromise

Summary: Recognize that sin is progressive and that small disobediences can lead to major falls; do not assume delayed consequences mean safety.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'sin is always gradual and progressive... if nothing happens immediately when an individual sins, he thinks, Well, it may be safe to progress and go just a little bit farther.'

Avoid unequal yokes in marriage

Summary: Christians should not marry unbelievers, as God's Word forbids it and such unions often lead to spiritual decline.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'anytime someone marries an unsaved... you're going to find absolutely impossible because change is brought by God and not by man.'

Seek God's power, not fleshly solutions

Summary: When facing the losses of old age or any weakness, turn to God for strength and revival rather than sinful pleasures.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Solomon, instead of seeking God to revive him and to help him, he now goes down to Asherah... It is not going to do so.'

Flee sexual immorality and pornography

Summary: Modern pornography is a form of Ashtoreth worship; believers must actively avoid it and cultivate purity.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on... It's the worship of the flesh.'

Meditate on Scripture regularly

Summary: Read Proverbs 5-7 weekly to internalize God's warnings against sexual sin and to guard the heart.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Every man, every woman, every boy, every girl ought to read Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 weekly until it is indelibly impressed upon your mind.'

Repent of idolatry

Summary: Any desire contrary to God's Word is idolatry; believers must repent and seek the Lord for deliverance.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'whenever you begin to desire that which is contrary to God and in contradiction to his word, it is idolatry in and of itself. And you need to repent and seek the Lord.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:53:01Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T14:39:49Z

Clean Transcript

The Dangers of Old Age - Part 1

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Well, let's open our Bibles then to 1 Kings chapter 11. 1 Kings chapter 11. And I want us to read the first 13 verses. 1 Kings chapter 11, beginning there with verse 1. The title of the message—this is the first part—is "The Dangers of Old Age." The dangers of old age. So look, if you would, 1 Kings 11 verse 1: "But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, 'You shall not go into them, neither shall they come into you, for surely they
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will turn away your heart after their gods.' Solomon clave to these in love, and he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. So Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods.
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But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, 'Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it unto thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.'
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I hope you remember last week I dealt with a message which I entitled, "Losing Your Wisdom and Losing Your Mind," and I pointed out distinctly that it's possible to lose both at the same time. And the truth of the matter is old age is fraught with many dangers, especially in relationship to the mind. Many suffer from Alzheimer's, dementia, and simple forgetfulness, and they're just not able to think clearly.
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This does not even consider the most frequently asked question by most older people. And that question is, "Now why did I come into this room?" Or "What was I looking for when I came into this room?" And of course there is something just known as simple forgetfulness as well. But since there is a tendency to forget, and consequently, we often read of scams and schemes that target the elderly. In fact, I receive bills and statements and invoices online for services that I have never asked for, for products that I've never ordered. And I don't even open them. I just put them in spam and then delete them.
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And if I answer them, then they know they would have a real active email address. So I don't even answer them. But there are a lot of people who will just simply open those. "Oh, I forgot I ordered this," and they'll pay it. And it's just nothing but a scam. But I want you to look, if you would, at verse four. Look what the Bible says: "For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father." Now, the fall of Solomon then took place when he was old. And may I point out the fact that old, I think, is a relative term.
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I happen to be 81 years of age. I believe I am older, but I don't really consider myself old. And we have one fellow in our church, Dr. Bowen, who happens to be 90. I'm sure that he would probably consider me a young man since he's about nine years older than I am. But I'm just simply pointing out, you know, age is a relative term. But I distinctly remember when I turned 67 many, many years back, it just simply dawned on me that I could no longer do the things that I used to do. And I'm still very active.
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However, I've learned to appreciate the strength of younger men. And whenever they offer to help, I gladly accept it. And so certainly you can understand there are things that change with age. But the question you would want to ask is how old was Solomon when his heart turned away from the Lord?
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Now, the truth of the matter is no one can say exactly how old he was. But I believe I can point out very clearly that he was not old according to our estimation of old. For instance, I'm going to read a verse and then I'm going to give you a couple of quotes. I want you to listen carefully. The verse is 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 7. 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 7. Listen.
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Solomon himself is praying and he says this: "And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am but a little child, I know not how to go out or how to come in." So Solomon initially prayed as he was anointed king and said, "I am as a little child." Now, here's three quotes. The first one is from Colin Dalich. And they write, "Solomon could not then be quite 20 years old as he was born after the Syro-Ammonite war, and calls himself at the commencement of his reign still," and here's the Hebrew, "Chotah Nahar."
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The word Nahar may of itself denote not merely a boy, but also a grown youth, but here it is limited to the boy's age by the addition of the word warach. Now John Gill said it like this: "And David said Solomon my son is young and tender. Jarchi supposes he was about 12 years of age, though he observes at the same time the word is used of Joshua when Joshua was 42 years of age." Then he says it is possible that Solomon might now be about 20. One more, Albert Barnes, and he says, "The exact age of Solomon at this time is uncertain, but it cannot have been more than 24 or 25. And it may have been as little as 14 or 15."
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Now, I want you to turn and look in 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 42. 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 42. Look at this: "And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was 40 years." So we know now that Solomon reigned 40 years. OK. If you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles chapter 12 and look if you would please at verse 13. 2 Chronicles chapter 12 and verse 13. So Solomon reigned for 40 years. Solomon had a son and his name was Rehoboam. He followed Solomon. 2 Chronicles chapter 12, notice if you would, verse 13: "So Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. For Rehoboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonitess." But note if you would, Rehoboam began to reign at 41 years of age, which means now that he had to be born the year before Solomon was anointed as king.
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So Solomon then had a wife and was producing children actually before he became king. Now this fact does not give us his exact age and the reason being is because kings and those in royal families usually married early. So since you're in 2 Chronicles, turn right on over to 2 Chronicles chapter 24 and let's begin reading there with verse 1. Look at this, 2 Chronicles 24 and verse 1.
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"Joash was 7 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem." So he's dead at 47. "His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Jehoiada did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took for him two wives and he began sons and daughters." Now obviously Jehoiada did not take two wives for him when he was seven years of age or he probably eight or nine. But he did probably take those wives when he was a teenager. So Solomon then may have also been married earlier, had children earlier, and we're not specifically told at what age Solomon died, but I will tell you this, in all probability, it was anywhere from 50 to 65 years of age, and that is not old in my book. So, someone 50 to 65, I would consider still a young man, but however, it was probably his lifestyle that made him age very quickly. If you read the book of Ecclesiastes, which was written by Solomon, you will discover that Solomon gave his heart, gave his mind, gave his life to many different things.
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He gave them to wine, he gave them to agriculture, he gave them to anything imaginable because he had more money, more power than anyone in the world at that particular time. So, it could have been the old adage of wine, women, and song that basically got to him.
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Now, Rushdoony pointed out many years back in his, I think, first Institute of Biblical Law book, that the 700 wives that Solomon had who were princesses, were not necessarily wives in the sense that, like Alice is my wife and Lorraine is Steve's wife. In other words, that's how we normally think of the word wives. But he's pointing out that back in those days, when you entered into a treaty or a covenant with another nation, what you normally did was marry someone out of that kingdom, especially of the royal family. And then that was cementing the treaty. And the principle was simply this: you don't make war against your own family. So many of these women, Rushdoony pointed out, were probably nothing more than ambassadors or diplomats in Solomon's kingdom, in Solomon's administration, looking out after their own country, and just like a diplomat in any other country would do today.
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Well, you say, "Well, how then could these wives turn his heart away?" Well, I can assure you, out of 700 of them, there were many that were probably wives in the sense that we understand, and that does not count the 300 concubines as well. So, the wives did indeed have an influence over him, and the question that would have to be asked is why or how did he allow these wives to have this influence over him?
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So first of all, let me point out something in light of 1 Kings chapter 11, and that is this: sin is always gradual and progressive. Now, one sin leads to another sin. So if nothing happens immediately when an individual sins, he thinks, "Well, it may be safe to progress and go just a little bit farther." And so you keep doing that, and sin is gradual, it's progressive, and one sin adds to another. So if you look back in 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 1, the Bible says this: "But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites." Now, obviously, Solomon did not marry all these women at one time.
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So this is what I'm pointing out. He married the Egyptian, which he should not have, but he had made affinity, which means he made a treaty with the king of Egypt, and the king of Egypt gave him his daughter to be his wife. That is how business was done back then, that is for sure. So, the Bible says that he loved many strange women, together with, and then he identifies them.
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But look in verse 2: "Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, 'You shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after other gods.' Solomon clave to these in love." Now, I want you to see how Solomon blatantly disobeyed God. If you want to look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 34, I want to read for you verses 11 through 16. Exodus 34 verses 11 through 16. Listen to this.
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"Observe thou that which I command thee this day: Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. But thou shalt destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves. For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods." So God has said, you do not intermarry.
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You're not going to go with these heathen, that's all there is to it. And he said, the ultimate end will be, you will be turned away from me.
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Now, if you would turn right over to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7, and look if you would please at verses 1 through 6. Deuteronomy, chapter 7, beginning there with verse 1. Here it is: "When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. They will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
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But thus shall you deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all the people that are upon the face of the earth." So here are two clear passages where God forbids Solomon to marry these strange women.
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And by the way, the word strange in the Hebrew happens to be the word nakri, and it literally means a stranger, an alien, a foreigner, one that is outlandish, one that is unknown, one that is unfamiliar. So all of these women that he married were strangers to Solomon's faith, to Solomon's culture, and to God's law. And so God has warned Solomon about this numerous times in the Bible and yet he disobeyed and he married all of these women.
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So there are a lot of things like this going on today. There are Christians that are marrying unsaved people, which is plainly forbidden here, but in the New Testament as well. And anytime someone marries an unsaved—a Christian marries an unsaved—well, "I'm going to change him" or "I'm going to change her," which you're going to find absolutely impossible because change is brought by God and not by man. So clearly, if you want to read it, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 14 through 18, here's what God says.
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"Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? Or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God and God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people."
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"Wherefore says God, come ye out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." So many people today disobey just like Solomon did and they bring God's chastisement and God's judgment upon themselves, upon their family, through their disobedience.
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Now, we've looked at 1 Kings chapter 11. We have seen that Solomon built altars and or temples for Ashtoreth, for Milcom, who is Molech, and for Chemosh. So here's my question: Why did Solomon build these temples or build these altars to these false gods?
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Now you're going to say, "Well, his strange wives pressured him." Well, that is probably true, but that is not the answer that I'm looking for. There is power and influence in a wife. In fact, years ago, I preached a message as I entitled it, "The Power and the Influence of a Wife." And it is true that wives do have power and influence. It may be downplayed, but it is still true. So but why did specific wives want Solomon to build these altars and worship with them specifically at these altars? Now we know that Solomon did so. If you look in verse 4: "For it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned
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away his heart after other gods." Now look, "and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as with the heart of David his father." So we've just been told that his heart was not perfect. Okay. Turned after other gods. Now look in verse 5: "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites." The Bible says he went after. Now the Hebrew word went is the word yalach.
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And it means to go, to walk, to proceed, to move forward, to move toward, and simply to follow. And then when you look in verse 6, "and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord." How did he do evil? And going after these other gods. "And went not fully after the Lord as did David his father." So he compromised.
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Now, if you'll skip down to verse 10, you'll see this is the nail that nails him to the wall for his disobedience. "And had commanded him"—God had commanded him—"concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods." But look at this: "But he kept not that which the Lord commanded." So he did go after other gods. So the answer would have to be why?
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Now, I want to give you a quote from Albert Barnes, and I want you to listen to what he said concerning Solomon's compromise, or Solomon's apostasy. First of all, he said, "old, about 50 or 55." Wow. From his age at his ascension, he could not have been any more than 60 at his death. The true nature of Solomon's idolatry was neither complete apostasy, an apostasy from which there could be no recovery, nor a mere toleration. In other words, he just didn't tolerate his wives and their idolatry. There was more. Solomon did not ever openly or wholly apostatize.
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He continued his attendance on the worship of Yahweh and punctually made his offerings three times a year in the temple according to 1 Kings 9 verse 25, but his heart was not perfect with God. The religious earnestness of his younger days was weakened by wealth, luxury, sensualism, and increasing worldliness leading him to worldly policy and latitudinarianism, which I'll explain, arising from contact with all the manifold forms of human opinion. His lapse into deadly sin was no doubt gradual. Partly from ostentation, partly from sensualism, which is the most common failing of oriental monarchs, he established a harem on a grand and extraordinary scale. To gratify strange women, that is foreigners, admitted either from worldly policy or for variety's sake, he built magnificent temples to their false gods right over against Jerusalem as manifest rivals to the Temple. He thus became the author of a syncretism which sought to blend together the worship of Yahweh and the worship of idols, a syncretism which possessed fatal attraction for the Jewish nation. Because—I'm going to stop right there a moment here—because not only did other kings follow him, but the nation itself followed him.
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Finally, he appears himself to have frequented the idol symbols and to have taken part in those fearful impurities which constituted the worst horror of the idolatrous systems, thus practically apostatizing, though theoretically he never ceased to hold that Yahweh was the true God. So, he is saying now that Solomon engaged in latitudinarianism, which is nothing more than open-mindedness and toleration of that which is wicked, vile, and wrong. So, if you hear, "Well, so-and-so just had an affair with two or three women," or "this wife had an affair with two or three men," and latitudinarianism would say, "Well, that's okay."
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It's going to tolerate it. They're not going to condemn it. And so, obviously, he had that attitude because he was marrying all of these people in contradiction to the plain commands of God. So the question that I asked earlier is the question that I want to answer today and next week. And that is this: Why did he build these altars to these three specific false gods? Why were they chosen? Why did he build altars for Ashtoreth, for Milcom or Molech, and for Chemosh?
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Now, when you read about these in the Bible, as well as in history as well, you're going to find that these three usually were put together. We could call them the unholy trinity, because they were indeed together.
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Now, remember Solomon's wives turned his heart away when he was old. So, here's my question: What happens to be the main complaints of old age? I know I got somebody's attention. Well, let's see. The main complaints of old age is actually a loss of power, a loss of control, and a loss of ability. Now, you have to understand that Solomon introduced all of these idolatries into the land when he was old. I pointed out other kings followed in the footsteps of Solomon and so did the people of the land as well. So the very first altar he built was for Ashtoreth in verse 5: "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians." So who in the world was Ashtoreth? Well she goes by many names in the Bible and history as well.
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There's the name of Astarte, Asherah, Aphrodite, Venus, Ishtar, and so on. She was the consort of Baal, or the wife of Baal, who was regarded then as the goddess of love and of fertility. She is also thought to be, by religious historians, the same as the Greek Aphrodite, and the Masoretic text refers to her as Ashtoreth, which is probably a combination of Astarte and Bosheth. And Bosheth is a Hebrew word which means abomination or scandal. And you will find that name applied to idols all throughout the Old Testament because they were counted as shameful things and abominable things. So, Ashtoreth then is depicted as the goddess of the moon. Ah, not only a sex goddess, but a goddess of the moon, Venus, sexuality, sexual love, sensuality, fertility, and even war. She was a goddess of the Canaanites, considered to be the wife of Baal, and she was often presented as a nude female with rudely exaggerated organs. The name Ashtoreth was common in one form or the other. Her Greek name was Astarte. Among the Philistines, Ashtoreth was also considered to be a goddess of war.
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So, if you remember in 1 Samuel chapter 31, when King Saul and his sons were killed on the battlefield, the Philistines then came and got Saul's armor and put it in the temple of Ashtoreth. In other words, giving her praise for defeating King Saul and the Israelites at that particular time. However, chiefly, Ashtoreth was a fertility goddess and the most prominent part of her worship consisted of sex orgies at the temple and there at the temple they would have male and female prostitutes. Now, the word groves—
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and you're going to see this as you read the Bible. Anytime you see the word grove or groves, it does not refer to trees with the exception of Genesis chapter 21 and verse 33 where Abraham planted a grove. He actually planted trees. Now if you see a pecan orchard, when I was a boy it was not called an orchard, it was called a pecan grove. Any vast number of trees that are the same species, down south we always called them a grove. It could be a peach orchard or a peach grove, or it could be a coconut orchard or a coconut grove. But Genesis 21 and verse 33 is the only time it refers to a plantation of trees. The rest of the time the word grove refers to Asherah or Ashtoreth or Ishtar or Venus because she was worshipped under a pole or under a tree.
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Of course, I suppose you remember the Indians used to worship a totem pole. Well, let me show you what I'm talking about. The whole 1 Kings 11, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Hosea chapter 4. Daniel, Hosea, Hosea chapter 4 and I want to begin there with verse 11. Hosea, Joel, Amos. Watch Hosea chapter 4 beginning there with verse 11. God says, "Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart." Okay, think about that. Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
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To explain that, here it is: "My people ask counsel at their stock," that is, at their trees, at their poles, "and their staff declareth unto them. For the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks, and poplars, and elms, because the shadow thereof is good."
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He says, "Therefore, your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery." In other words, you're committing spiritual whoredom and spiritual adultery, and the consequence is going to be physical adultery and physical whoredom as well.
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Now, if you will go back in your Bibles to the book of Judges, Joshua, Judges, Judges chapter 6, because I want you to understand that when God called Gideon, Gideon, of course, cut down the altar of Baal and the grove. I want you to look in Judges chapter 6 and verse 26. In fact, let's read verse 25: "And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, 'Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it, and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place, and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.'" So notice if you would the grove was a wooden pole and it was to start the fire. Look if you would in verse 28: "And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove," that would be Asherah, Ashtoreth, "was cut down, it was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built."
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Now look in verse 30: "Then the men of the city said unto Joash, 'Bring out thy son that he may die, because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he had cut down the grove that was by it.'" So the grove then was Ashtoreth, or Asherah, and she was supposed to be the wife of Baal or the consort of Baal.
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Now, I want you to see not only how prominent this was, even in Israel, but how wicked and blasphemous it was. So if you will turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 21, 2 Kings chapter 21, you're going to see what Manasseh did who happened to be the son of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a godly man, but Manasseh, his son, was exceedingly wicked and vile. So the Bible says in 2 Kings chapter 21, look at some of the things that Manasseh has done. Look in verse 4: "And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, 'In Jerusalem I will put my name.' And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
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And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger." Here it is: "And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, 'In this house and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.'" So he even put an image of this grove in the house of God.
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Now, if you will look in 2 Kings chapter 23, and I will cover this more in another message, it was Josiah who cut down all of these idols. Look, if you would, in verse 4, 2 Kings 23: "And the king"—that would be Josiah—"commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the hosts of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel." So, it was Josiah who put all of this down.
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Now, I'm telling you all this to bring you up to snuff on modern-day idolatry, but here it is. Asherah, or Ashtoreth, Ashtaroth, was known as the Queen of Heaven. And she was worshipped not only by the heathen, but by the Israelites. So I want you to turn to the book of Jeremiah chapter 7. There are several passages I want you to see. Jeremiah chapter 7 and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 16.
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The people were really wicked and especially Judah and Jerusalem. God says, "Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry or prayer for them, neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?"
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Now watch: "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?" So the children are gathering wood, the fathers are kindling a fire, the women are making the dough, kneading the dough and making cakes for the Queen of Heaven. So the whole family is involved in the worship of the Queen of Heaven.
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Now, turn over, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 44 and let's begin reading there with verse 17. Jeremiah chapter 44 and verse 17, look at this. In fact, let's read verse 16. Look what the people tell Jeremiah: "As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. We're not going to listen to you. We're not going to obey you." Then they say in verse 17: "But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out our drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of
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Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, and by the famine. And when we burned incense unto the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?"
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In other words, everybody was involved in this. Now, interesting thing, and I'm not going to get into this right now, but it's very interesting. God had just judged these people, and now they're about to do something that is wicked and wrong, contrary to God. And now they're saying, "Look, when we were in our cities, we worshipped the Queen of Heaven. We had plenty. We didn't have any problem." This is showing you how people cannot think straight. Jeremiah said, "Look, God was judging you and is judging you now for your sin and forgetting him and leaving him and worshipping the other gods." And they're saying, "No, we're going to go back to the Queen of Heaven. We're going to worship her." Now look in verse 25 of Jeremiah 44: "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, 'You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her. You will surely
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accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows.'" God said, "You're going to do it, but I'm going to judge you for it. I'm going to destroy you." Now I want you to see how ancient idolatry has become current and modern idolatry. I told you that Ashtoreth was known as the Moon Goddess. She's also known as the Queen of Heaven. I want to give you several quotes. I want you to listen. I'm just quoting. Here we go.
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The first one is from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: "Ashtoreth or Ashtaroth, the name of a Sidonian deity. Ashtoreth, same one, the Phoenician goddess of love." Here's Webster's New World College Dictionary: "Ashtoreth, a Semitic goddess of fertility and sexual love, worshipped by the Phoenicians and others. See Ashtoreth, Ishtar. Ashtoreth, the ancient Phoenician and Syrian goddess of love and fertility, identified as Ashtoreth. Ishtar, see Ashtoreth, the goddess of love and fertility and war." Here's the Encyclopedia Britannica.
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"Astarte, Ashtoreth, is the Queen of Heaven, to whom the Canaanites had burned incense and poured out libations." The Soul Vision website: "Known by many names across time and space, Lilith or Eve, Anat or Asherah, Astarte, the Queen of Heaven, the Shekinah, and the Matronit, no matter her name, she was loved." Now, here's the same website: "Asherah, the Hebrew goddess of the Kabbalah." I know. Encyclopedia Britannica again: "Ishtar is the Akkadian counterpart of the West Semitic goddess Astarte." One more time, Encyclopedia Britannica: "Through her identification with the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus, Inanna Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, still survives in Roman Catholic iconography as the Virgin Mary standing on the moon." Here's another one, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1894 by the way: "Queen of Heaven, with the ancient Venetians, was Astarte, with the Greeks as Hera, with the Romans Juno, Trivia, Hecate, Diana, the Egyptian Isis, were also called but with the Roman Catholics it is the Virgin Mary." One last one: "Diana was called the Mother Goddess and the Queen of Heaven just as Mary is called the Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven."
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So you want to know where all of this came from. It came from pure paganism.
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Now let me make a statement and I'm going to prove it to you from scripture. Mary was not the mother of God. Now, when you hear people say "mother of God," and they even pray to Mary, "mother of God, save us now in the hour of our need," Mary is not the mother of God. If you'll turn in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter one, Luke chapter one. And I want you to note very carefully what is said to Mary. Then I'm going to give you a good quote. Look at this. Luke chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse, oh, let's say verse 26. Here it is. Luke 1 verse 26.
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"And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, 'Hail, thou art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.' And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' Then said Mary unto the angel, 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?'
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Then the angel answered and said unto her, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.'" Now I want you to note what the angel said: that she was going to conceive and bear a son, but note if you would in verse 35 he said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Now Mary was the mother of the physical body that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, assumed.
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This is the Incarnation, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, but our Lord assumed the body, and it was the Holy Thing that was formed in Mary. Our Lord is one person with two natures. He is not two persons with one nature. So if you try to say that she actually was the mother of Jesus Christ in this sense, then he's going to have to be two persons.
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Now let me give you a quote. Now I want you to listen carefully because this is from John Gill and he explains this, but yes it is deep and you'll have to think and you'll have to listen. So here we go. He says, "The human nature of Christ is here called a thing, for it was not a person. It never subsisted of itself, but was taken at once into union with the person of the Son of God. Otherwise, there would be two persons in Christ, whereas He is God and man in one person.
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And it is said to be holy, being free from that original pollution and sin, in which all that descended from Adam by ordinary generation are conceived and brought forth, and is moreover said to be born of a virgin, of thee, or out of thee. Christ's flesh was formed out of a virgin's. He took flesh of her. His body did not descend from heaven or pass through her as water through a pipe, as some heretics of old said, nor did his human nature either as a soul or body, pre-exist his incarnation, but in the fullness of time he was made of a woman and took a true body of her and a reasonable soul into union with his divine person and therefore should be called the Son of God. Not that he was now to become the Son of God, for he was so before his incarnation, even from all eternity, but he was now to be manifested as such in human nature. Nor does the angel predict that he should, for this reason, be called the Son of God, for he never was on this account so called either by himself or others.
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Now listen carefully. The angel is not giving reason why Christ should be the Son of God, but why he should be owned and acknowledged as such by his people, who would infer and conclude from this wonderful conception, birth, that he is the Immanuel, God with us, the child that was to be born, the son that was to be given, his name should be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. Moreover, the word also is not to be overlooked, and the sense is that seeing that human nature, which should be born of the Virgin, would be united to the Son of God, it likewise should bear the same name, being in personal union with him, who was so from all eternity." So Jesus Christ is one person with two natures. He is not two different people.
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And as John Gill pointed out, the body never subsisted in and of itself or by itself in Mary. That which made it alive was the fact that Jesus Christ assumed that body. He was made flesh and dwelt among us. So, Mary is not the mother of God. Mary is not a mediator. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." So it does no good to pray to Mary, does no good to pray to the saints. The only mediator that we have is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
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Now, why in the world did Solomon build an altar and a temple to Asherah? Well, let me try to answer that by giving you some applications. You have to remember that the worship of Asherah, Ashtoreth, Ashtaroth, Venus, Ishtar, whatever you want to call her, was a sensual, sexual, promiscuous worship. You say, "We don't have images like that today. We don't have Astarte. We don't have Asherah. We don't have Venus." Really? Well, let me ask you a question.
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Have you considered the abundance of pornography and the people that are addicted to pornography? I told you what the word pornography means. Porno is the Greek word for fornication. Graphé is the Greek word for writing. Pornography just simply means fornication writing. You look at the pornography that's available. You look at the porn sites that are available. You look at the adultery and the fornication that is rampant today.
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And yes, the worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on. We may not call it that, but it is still the same thing. It's the worship of the flesh is what it amounts to. And this affects old men just like it does young men. Old women just like it does young women as well. And it's amazing to me to the extremes that older people will go to to gratify and to satisfy their lusts and try to revive themselves. I've often laughed, and Alice and I have smiled, when I will see an older woman, and I say an older woman, in her 60s and 70s, trying to dress like a teeny bopper. It's insane. Why would a 70-year-old woman want to dress like a little teenager? Just stop and think about this. I have been absolutely amazed at the older and elderly people that have been caught in adultery, fornication, with prostitutes and even engaging in pedophilia. And I want to tell you something. I've mentioned this before.
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If you've never subscribed to Keith Graves' Christian Warrior Training, ChristianWarriorTraining.com, I encourage you to do so, because he will not only give you weekly updates about attacks on the church, he will give you weekly updates of the pedophilia, the child trafficking, and everything that's going on in the church. And I'm absolutely astounded at the pastors and the youth pastors and the song leaders that are now being caught and convicted of all this crazy sexuality. Pedophilia, everything. So let me give you an illustration.
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Multiple years ago, I saw an old program of Hee Haw. Many of you will know that Hee Haw is an old country music show. And since Alice and I probably haven't had a TV in 30, 35 years, it was multiple years ago. But Grandpa Jones, an older man, was alive. And he was part of that show. And the scene was a cornfield. And all of a sudden out of the cornfield stepped this beautiful young woman in a pair of short shorts and a tight tank top. And Grandpa Jones let out a humongous wolf whistle. And when he did, someone stepped up beside him and said, "Why Grandpa, you ought to be ashamed of yourself." And Grandpa Jones looked at the fella with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye and he said, "Well, you know the old adage, you're never too old to yearn."
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Now that was supposed to have been funny, but it was the truth. It was the truth. And the fact of the matter is the yearning affects old people just like it affects young people. It affects middle-aged people. It affects men and it affects women as well. So yearning and going down in your yearning is what is wicked and wrong.
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Now let me stop and remind you of something. God made promises to Abraham and Sarah. Do you remember that Sarah had a child when she was 90 and Abraham was 100? What did God do for them? Something miraculous because even after Sarah died, Abraham married again and had multiple children by his second wife. Wow! May I remind you that when Noah and his wife had no child, what did God do? God blessed them and God gave them Samson.
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Look about Zacharias and Elizabeth. They had no child and God gave them John the Baptist. The problem here is this. The problem is Solomon, instead of seeking God to revive him and to help him, he now goes down to Asherah, hoping that somehow, promiscuity, hoping that somehow, all of this fornication, all of this wickedness, all of this corruption, somehow it's going to build him up and strengthen him. It is not going to do so. Here's what I'm going to tell you, and I really believe this with all my heart, and I tried to do it myself.
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Every man, every woman, every boy, every girl ought to read Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 weekly until it is indelibly impressed upon your mind. And you can almost quote those chapters word by word. Because there are the warnings. We don't understand what went on in paganism. You remember I told you one of the greatest insults in the New Testament was to say that someone was acting like a Corinthian because Corinth had three major seaports and Corinth had a temple that had a thousand prostitutes in it for the free use of any visitor.
#77 | 58:47 to 59:38 | cleaned
It was a corrupt, perverted, wicked, vile place. And when you call someone a Corinthian, it was an insult of the insult. The point I'm trying to make is this. We still have the paganism today without the graven images. Because that which Asherah, Astarte, Ashtoreth, Venus, Ishtar represented is still strong today. We need to make sure that we never fall into the same sin that Solomon fell into. You're never going to build yourself up by going down. You're always going to incur and bring forth the chastisement and the judgment of God. I'll just point this out right now. What happened to Solomon?
#78 | 59:43 to 1:00:42 | cleaned
He basically lost his family. Rehoboam may have been his only son, but he was as stupid as the day is long. He lost his family, he lost his kingdom. And he lost the respect. And now he's known not just for being the wisest man upon the Earth at one time, but now one of the most foolish men upon the Earth. So whenever you begin to desire that which is contrary to God and in contradiction to his word, it is idolatry in and of itself.
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And you need to repent and seek the Lord and say, "Lord, I want you and your power and your ability." He is the one who gives us everything we need to turn to him. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come to thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And Lord, we pray, we pray, Father, with Jabez, that you would bless us indeed, that your hand would be upon us, that you would enlarge our coasts, and that you would keep us from evil, that we might not grieve thee, and that you would keep us from evil, that it might not grieve us. Help us, Lord, to honor thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T23:53:01Z

The Dangers of Old Age - Part 1

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver examines Solomon's spiritual decline in old age as recorded in 1 Kings 11, emphasizing that Solomon was likely only 50–65 when his heart turned from God. The sermon focuses on the gradual nature of sin, the danger of unequal yokes, and the specific idolatry of Ashtoreth (the Queen of Heaven), a fertility goddess whose worship involved sexual immorality. Weaver draws parallels to modern pornography and sexual sin, warning that old age brings temptations to seek revival through fleshly means rather than God. He stresses the need for repentance and reliance on God's power.

Introduction and Scripture Reading

Weaver reads 1 Kings 11:1-13, introducing the topic of the dangers of old age and Solomon's fall.

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 11:1-13

"But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, 'You shall not go into them, neither shall they come into you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.' Solomon clave to these in love, and he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. So Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as did David his father. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, 'Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it unto thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.' I hope you remember last week I dealt with a message which I entitled, "

The Reality of Old Age and Forgetfulness

Weaver discusses common struggles of old age such as forgetfulness, dementia, and vulnerability to scams, linking them to Solomon's condition.

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 11:1-13

But he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, 'Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it unto thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days, I will not do it for David thy father's sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

Solomon's Age at His Fall

Using biblical chronology and commentaries, Weaver argues Solomon was likely between 50 and 65, not extremely old by modern standards, but aged prematurely by his lifestyle.

Now, I want you to turn and look in 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 42. 1 Kings chapter 11 and verse 42. Look at this:

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 11:42

"And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was 40 years."

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 24:1

"Joash was 7 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years in Jerusalem."

So he's dead at 47.

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 24:1

"His mother's name also was Zibiah of Beersheba. And Jehoiada did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada took for him two wives and he began sons and daughters."

The Nature of Solomon's Marriages

Weaver explains that many of Solomon's 700 wives were diplomatic marriages to seal treaties, but some were genuine wives who influenced him toward idolatry.

Sin is Gradual and Progressive

Solomon's disobedience began with one foreign wife and escalated to building altars for false gods, illustrating how sin progresses step by step.

God's Clear Prohibition Against Intermarriage

Weaver cites Exodus 34:11-16 and Deuteronomy 7:1-6 to show God's explicit command not to intermarry with pagan nations, which Solomon blatantly disobeyed.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 7:1-6

"When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. They will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

New Testament Warning Against Unequal Yokes

Weaver applies the principle to Christians today, quoting 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 to warn against marrying unbelievers.

Why Solomon Built Altars to Specific Gods

Weaver introduces the question of why Solomon built altars to Ashtoreth, Milcom, and Chemosh, noting these three often appear together as an 'unholy trinity.'

The Main Complaints of Old Age and Idolatry

Weaver suggests that old age brings loss of power, control, and ability, and Solomon turned to idolatry seeking what only God could provide.

The Identity and Worship of Ashtoreth

Weaver details Ashtoreth as a fertility goddess, the Queen of Heaven, whose worship involved sexual orgies and temple prostitution, and traces her names through history.

Scripture Reading — Judges 6:25-30

"And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, 'Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it, and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock in the ordered place, and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down.'"

So notice if you would the grove was a wooden pole and it was to start the fire. Look if you would in verse 28:

Scripture Reading — Judges 6:25-30

"And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove,"

that would be Asherah, Ashtoreth,

Scripture Reading — Judges 6:25-30

"was cut down, it was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built."

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 21:4-7

"And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, 'In Jerusalem I will put my name.' And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

Ashtoreth Worship in Israel's History

Weaver shows from Judges, 2 Kings, and Jeremiah that Israel repeatedly fell into worship of the Queen of Heaven, involving the whole family in idolatry.

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 21:4-7

"And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, 'In Jerusalem I will put my name.' And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger."

Here it is:

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 21:4-7

"And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, 'In this house and in Jerusalem, which I've chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever.'"

So he even put an image of this grove in the house of God.

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:4

"commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the hosts of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel."

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. We're not going to listen to you. We're not going to obey you."

Then they say in verse 17:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out our drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, and by the famine. And when we burned incense unto the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?"

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"Look, when we were in our cities, we worshipped the Queen of Heaven. We had plenty. We didn't have any problem."

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"No, we're going to go back to the Queen of Heaven. We're going to worship her."

Now look in verse 25 of Jeremiah 44:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:16-25

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying, 'You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her. You will surely

Modern Parallels and Application

Weaver connects ancient Ashtoreth worship to modern pornography and sexual sin, warning that old people are tempted to seek revival through fleshly means rather than God.

Scripture Reading — 1 Timothy 2:5

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

So it does no good to pray to Mary, does no good to pray to the saints. The only mediator that we have is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

The Dangers of Old Age - Part 1

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	112725180325249
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: Remember Lot And His Wife
Genre	Sermon
Date	2025-11-23
Dictation Name
Book	Book 011: The Dangers of Old Age — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	80

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Scripture Reading: Weaver reads 1 Kings 11:1-13, introducing the topic of the dangers of old age and Solomon's fall.
The Reality of Old Age and Forgetfulness: Weaver discusses common struggles of old age such as forgetfulness, dementia, and vulnerability to scams, linking them to Solomon's condition.
Solomon's Age at His Fall: Using biblical chronology and commentaries, Weaver argues Solomon was likely between 50 and 65, not extremely old by modern standards, but aged prematurely by his lifestyle.
The Nature of Solomon's Marriages: Weaver explains that many of Solomon's 700 wives were diplomatic marriages to seal treaties, but some were genuine wives who influenced him toward idolatry.
Sin is Gradual and Progressive: Solomon's disobedience began with one foreign wife and escalated to building altars for false gods, illustrating how sin progresses step by step.
God's Clear Prohibition Against Intermarriage: Weaver cites Exodus 34:11-16 and Deuteronomy 7:1-6 to show God's explicit command not to intermarry with pagan nations, which Solomon blatantly disobeyed.
New Testament Warning Against Unequal Yokes: Weaver applies the principle to Christians today, quoting 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 to warn against marrying unbelievers.
Why Solomon Built Altars to Specific Gods: Weaver introduces the question of why Solomon built altars to Ashtoreth, Milcom, and Chemosh, noting these three often appear together as an 'unholy trinity.'
The Main Complaints of Old Age and Idolatry: Weaver suggests that old age brings loss of power, control, and ability, and Solomon turned to idolatry seeking what only God could provide.
The Identity and Worship of Ashtoreth: Weaver details Ashtoreth as a fertility goddess, the Queen of Heaven, whose worship involved sexual orgies and temple prostitution, and traces her names through history.
Ashtoreth Worship in Israel's History: Weaver shows from Judges, 2 Kings, and Jeremiah that Israel repeatedly fell into worship of the Queen of Heaven, involving the whole family in idolatry.
Modern Parallels and Application: Weaver connects ancient Ashtoreth worship to modern pornography and sexual sin, warning that old people are tempted to seek revival through fleshly means rather than God.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Solomon was not extremely old when he fell

Based on biblical chronology, Solomon was likely between 50 and 65, showing that spiritual decline can happen at any age.

Weaver calculates from 1 Kings 11:42, 2 Chronicles 12:13, and commentaries that Solomon reigned 40 years and died around 60, saying 'in all probability, it was anywhere from 50 to 65 years of age, and that is not old in my book.'

Solomon's disobedience was blatant and knowing

God had explicitly commanded Israel not to intermarry with pagan nations, yet Solomon deliberately disobeyed.

Weaver reads Exodus 34:11-16 and Deuteronomy 7:1-6, then states, 'God has warned Solomon about this numerous times in the Bible and yet he disobeyed and he married all of these women.'

Wives have power and influence over husbands

Solomon's wives turned his heart away, demonstrating the significant influence a spouse can have, for good or evil.

Weaver says, 'There is power and influence in a wife. In fact, years ago, I preached a message as I entitled it, The Power and the Influence of a Wife.'

Old age brings a loss of power and control

The main complaints of old age are loss of power, control, and ability, which may drive people to seek false solutions.

Weaver states, 'The main complaints of old age is actually a loss of power, a loss of control, and a loss of ability.'

Ashtoreth worship was inherently sexual

The worship of Ashtoreth involved temple prostitution and sex orgies, making it a direct assault on God's design for sexuality.

Weaver says, 'the most prominent part of her worship consisted of sex orgies at the temple and there at the temple they would have male and female prostitutes.'

Mary is not the Queen of Heaven

The title 'Queen of Heaven' originates from pagan goddess worship, and Mary is not the mother of God nor a mediator.

Weaver argues from Luke 1:35 and John Gill that 'Mary was the mother of the physical body that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, assumed' and 'Mary is not the mother of God.'

Pornography is modern Ashtoreth worship

The prevalence of pornography and sexual sin today is a continuation of the same fleshly worship that Ashtoreth represented.

Weaver says, 'the worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on. We may not call it that, but it is still the same thing. It's the worship of the flesh.'

Solomon's fall brought severe consequences

Solomon lost his family, his kingdom, and his reputation, demonstrating that sin leads to judgment and loss.

Weaver says, 'He basically lost his family... he lost his kingdom. And he lost the respect. And now he's known not just for being the wisest man upon the Earth at one time, but now one of the most foolish men upon the Earth.'

Scripture References

1 Kings 11:1-13: The primary text describing Solomon's many foreign wives, his heart turning to other gods in old age, and God's judgment.
1 Kings 3:7: Solomon's prayer at the beginning of his reign, calling himself 'a little child,' used to estimate his age.
1 Kings 11:42: States that Solomon reigned 40 years, used to calculate his age at death.
2 Chronicles 12:13: Rehoboam was 41 when he began to reign, indicating he was born before Solomon became king.
2 Chronicles 24:1: Joash began to reign at 7, showing that royal marriages could occur early.
Exodus 34:11-16: God's command not to make covenants or intermarry with the inhabitants of Canaan, lest they turn Israel's hearts to idols.
Deuteronomy 7:1-6: Another clear prohibition against intermarriage and idolatry, commanding destruction of pagan altars.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18: New Testament command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, applied to marriage.
1 Kings 9:25: Solomon continued offering sacrifices three times a year, showing he did not openly apostatize completely.
1 Samuel 31: The Philistines put Saul's armor in the temple of Ashtoreth, showing her association with war.
Genesis 21:33: The only time 'grove' refers to actual trees planted by Abraham, contrasting with idolatrous groves.
Hosea 4:11-13: Whoredom and wine take away the heart; Israel committed spiritual adultery under trees and poles.
Judges 6:25-30: Gideon cut down the altar of Baal and the grove (Asherah pole), showing the physical nature of the idol.
2 Kings 21:4-7: Manasseh built altars in the temple and set up a graven image of the grove, provoking God.
2 Kings 23:4: Josiah removed vessels made for Baal and the grove from the temple, purging idolatry.
Jeremiah 7:16-18: Families made cakes for the Queen of Heaven, provoking God to anger.
Jeremiah 44:16-25: The people defiantly vowed to continue worshiping the Queen of Heaven, blaming their troubles on ceasing her worship.
Luke 1:26-35: The angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will conceive by the Holy Ghost, and the child will be called the Son of God.
1 Timothy 2:5: There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, refuting Mary's mediatorial role.

Historical References

Albert Barnes' Commentary: Barnes estimated Solomon's age at his fall as about 50 or 55, and described his idolatry as syncretism rather than complete apostasy.
Colin Dalich (Keil and Delitzsch?): Cited regarding the Hebrew word for 'child' in 1 Kings 3:7, suggesting Solomon was under 20 at his accession.
John Gill's Commentary: Gill noted that Solomon may have been about 12 or 20 at his accession, and later explained the incarnation and Mary's role.
Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law: Rushdoony suggested that many of Solomon's wives were diplomatic marriages to seal treaties, not necessarily intimate wives.
Encyclopedia Britannica: Quoted multiple times to identify Ashtoreth/Ishtar as the Queen of Heaven and her connection to later goddesses and Mary.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: Defines Ashtoreth as a Sidonian deity and Phoenician goddess of love.
Webster's New World College Dictionary: Defines Ashtoreth as a Semitic goddess of fertility and sexual love.
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1894): States that 'Queen of Heaven' was a title for various pagan goddesses and later applied to the Virgin Mary by Roman Catholics.
Soul Vision website: Quoted as identifying Asherah with various goddess figures and the Kabbalah.
Keith Graves' Christian Warrior Training: Recommended as a resource for updates on attacks on the church, including pedophilia and child trafficking among clergy.

Important Quotes

For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.

This is the key verse of the sermon, highlighting that Solomon's spiritual decline occurred in old age, setting the theme for the message.

Sin is always gradual and progressive. Now, one sin leads to another sin. So if nothing happens immediately when an individual sins, he thinks, Well, it may be safe to progress and go just a little bit farther.

Weaver explains the deceptive nature of sin, which is central to understanding Solomon's gradual fall.

The main complaints of old age is actually a loss of power, a loss of control, and a loss of ability.

Weaver connects the struggles of old age to the temptation to seek false solutions, as Solomon did with idolatry.

The worship of Astarte, the worship of Asherah is still going on. We may not call it that, but it is still the same thing. It's the worship of the flesh is what it amounts to.

This quote draws a direct parallel between ancient pagan worship and modern sexual sin, making the application contemporary.

Solomon, instead of seeking God to revive him and to help him, he now goes down to Asherah, hoping that somehow, promiscuity, hoping that somehow, all of this fornication, all of this wickedness, all of this corruption, somehow it's going to build him up and strengthen him. It is not going to do so.

Weaver identifies the core error of seeking life and strength from sin rather than from God.

You're never going to build yourself up by going down. You're always going to incur and bring forth the chastisement and the judgment of God.

A concise warning that sin leads to destruction, not restoration.

He basically lost his family. Rehoboam may have been his only son, but he was as stupid as the day is long. He lost his family, he lost his kingdom. And he lost the respect.

Weaver summarizes the tragic consequences of Solomon's sin, emphasizing the high cost of disobedience.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

Why do you think Solomon's heart turned away from God specifically in his old age, even though he had seen God twice and received direct commands?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that Solomon's fall happened when he was old, despite his earlier wisdom and encounters with God.

[Question]

How does the gradual nature of sin make it more dangerous, and what steps can we take to guard against small compromises?

[Context]

Weaver explains that sin is progressive and that delayed consequences can deceive us into thinking it is safe.

[Question]

In what ways might Christians today be unequally yoked in relationships or partnerships, and what are the potential spiritual consequences?

[Context]

Weaver applies the prohibition against intermarriage to modern believers, citing 2 Corinthians 6.

[Question]

What are some 'altars to Ashtoreth' that exist in our culture today, and how can we recognize and avoid them?

[Context]

Weaver draws parallels between ancient fertility worship and modern pornography and sexual immorality.

[Question]

How can older believers specifically guard against the temptations that come with aging, such as the desire to recapture youth or vitality through sinful means?

[Context]

Weaver discusses the main complaints of old age and the temptation to seek revival from the flesh rather than God.

[Question]

Why is it important to understand that Mary is not the 'Queen of Heaven' or the mother of God, and how does this protect the gospel?

[Context]

Weaver refutes the Catholic veneration of Mary by showing its pagan origins and clarifying the incarnation.

[Question]

What practical disciplines (such as reading Proverbs 5-7 weekly) can help believers maintain purity in a sexually saturated culture?

[Context]

Weaver recommends regular reading of Proverbs 5-7 to impress God's warnings on the mind.

[Question]

How does Solomon's loss of family, kingdom, and respect serve as a warning about the long-term consequences of sin?

[Context]

Weaver concludes by highlighting the devastating results of Solomon's disobedience.

Applications

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