Wednesday, October 28
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[The king] should [not] take many wives for himself,
so that his heart [might] not go astray.—Deut. 17:17.
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Solomon disobeyed, eventually marrying 700 women. He brought into his household an additional 300 concubines. (1 Ki. 11:3) Many of his wives were non-Israelites, who worshipped false gods. Hence, Solomon also disobeyed God’s law against marrying foreign women. (Deut. 7:3, 4)

Solomon’s gradual departure from Jehovah’s requirements led him in time to extreme wrongdoing. Solomon built an altar to the idol goddess Ashtoreth and at least one other altar to the false god Chemosh. There he joined his wives in pagan worship. He built those altars on, of all places, a mountain located directly in front of Jerusalem, where he had built Jehovah’s temple! (1 Ki. 11:5-8; 2 Ki. 23:13)

Perhaps Solomon fooled himself into thinking that Jehovah would overlook his disobedience as long as he also continued to offer sacrifices at the temple. But Jehovah never overlooks wrongdoing.

w18.07 18-19 ¶7-9​