We see the first hint of Solomon’s failure to remain faithful to the God of his father, David, in verse 11, “Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, ‘My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.’”
He recognized that his Egyptian wife, who continued to worship the pagan gods of Egypt, could not dwell in the places that had been set apart as holy to the God he worshipped. Unfortunately, rather than leading her to forego false gods and follow the true god, he simply moved her to another location and allowed her idolatry to continue.
It seems like a good compromise, doesn’t it? A great way to avoid a marital squabble, right?
But as Solomon wrote in Song of Songs, it is “the little foxes that ruin the vineyard.” Avoiding conflict is not edifying to a marital relationship, and avoiding conflict by enabling sin is purely destructive.
It may feel as if you’re showing forgiveness, being a peacemaker, or esteeming others more highly than yourself, but none of those godly behaviors include allowing sin to go unchecked. Even when Jesus proclaimed that if someone strikes us on one cheek, we should turn and let them strike the other as well, He didn’t say we must go back day after day after day to receive more abuse. And in His grace as He forgave the woman caught in adultery, He still instructed her to “go and sin no more.”
Forgiveness and grace do not require us to continue to be victimized, they don’t require us to enable others to continue destructive patterns, and they don’t necessitate us accommodating sin.
He recognized that his Egyptian wife, who continued to worship the pagan gods of Egypt, could not dwell in the places that had been set apart as holy to the God he worshipped. Unfortunately, rather than leading her to forego false gods and follow the true god, he simply moved her to another location and allowed her idolatry to continue.
It seems like a good compromise, doesn’t it? A great way to avoid a marital squabble, right?
But as Solomon wrote in Song of Songs, it is “the little foxes that ruin the vineyard.” Avoiding conflict is not edifying to a marital relationship, and avoiding conflict by enabling sin is purely destructive.
It may feel as if you’re showing forgiveness, being a peacemaker, or esteeming others more highly than yourself, but none of those godly behaviors include allowing sin to go unchecked. Even when Jesus proclaimed that if someone strikes us on one cheek, we should turn and let them strike the other as well, He didn’t say we must go back day after day after day to receive more abuse. And in His grace as He forgave the woman caught in adultery, He still instructed her to “go and sin no more.”
Forgiveness and grace do not require us to continue to be victimized, they don’t require us to enable others to continue destructive patterns, and they don’t necessitate us accommodating sin.
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