King Solomons Solace, Book · Chapter 21
CHAP. XXI.
Of Solomons ſecond ſinne: and third ſinne: viz. of his ſtrange wiues: and his turning away, with the diuine Commination for the ſame.
THe ſecond ſinne of Solomon (as I before ſayd, quod Zadok) is indeede a degree higher then the former, albeit the former was abhominable and dangerous to his body, life, fame, ſoule and glorie. And that is, the king hath combined himſelfe with ſtrange women: for hee hath taken the daughter of Pharaoh, Strange women.and the women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sydonites, and Hethites: whereas yet, concerning thoſe Nations, the Lorde ſayde vntounto our Fathers,zabud obiected. Goe yee not into them, nor let them come into you: els will they turne your hearts after their gods. To this obiected Zabud for the king: But yet it hath beene permitted in the Lawe, that ſuch women might neuertheleſſe bee taken, accepted and vſed of our Nation with certaine prouiſoes and conditions. For the Lorde ſaith by the hand of Moſes:Deut. 21.11. If thou ſeeſt among the captives (taken in warre) a beautifull woman, and haſt a deſire vntounto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife: thou ſhalt bring her home to thine owne houſe, & ſhe ſhall ſhaue her head, and pare her nailes, and put her rayment, that ſhe was taken in from her, and let her remaine in thine houſe, and bewayle her father and her mother a monethmonth long: and after that thou ſhalt goe in vntounto her, and mary her, and ſhe ſhall be thy wife. In this ſort David, the kings Father tooke one of his wiues, namely the mother of Thamar, whom he had captiued in his warres. And thus did our king take and accept Pharaohs daughter, of whom his father ſpake in the Pſalme. Hearken O daughter, and conſider, encline thine eare: forget alſo thine owne people, & thy fathers houſe: ſo ſhall the king have pleaſure in thy beautie: for he is thy Lord God, and thou muſt worſhip him. And truely, howſoeuer the Quéene did diſſemble her owne former Religion, and made ſhewe of louelove vntounto that which we louelove and imbrace; the king ſo accepted her, and thought nothing leſſe, then of any hypocriſie in her. And therefore in his integritie he imbraced her, and tooke her as his owne.
All this I grant (ſayd Zadok) And I will not denie,zadoke anſwereth the obiection. that the king did obſerue the like, according to the Lawe, in all other his wiues and Concubines. But why ſhould not ſuch as are receiued on conditions, be retained on the ſame conditions, and not otherwiſe? for the meaning of the Lawe is, that if ſuch a woman (albeit ſhe be Pharaohs daughter, or the daughter of any other Prince or perſon) ſhall not hold and obſerue the conditions touching the Religion and peace of Iſrael; but apoſtate and turne away from the Lord, and daily endeuor and ſtudy to pollute the honour of our king, and contemne the religion of our God, that thereupon ſhe be abandoned, reiected & ſent away from the Common-wealth of Iſrael, much ſooner from the kings ſocietie: yea, rather then that ſocietie ſhould he continued to the danger of thoſe inconueniencies,Exod. 34.16. Deut: 7.3. the parties ſhould bee reduced and committed to the cenſure of the generall Lawe, as when the league is infringed by the breach of the conditions, the parties ſtand as in their former eſtate: any thing to the contrary thereof notwithſtanding. And this is the Lawe to the children of Iſrael, touching the abandoning of this kinde of ſocietie, with any of thoſe ſeuen execrable Nations: as the Hethites, the Hevites, the Gergeſites, the Amorites, the Chananites, the Pherezites, and the Iebuſites: Thou ſhalt make no marriages with them: neither ſhalt thou give thy daughter vntounto his ſonne: nor take his daughter vntounto thy ſon: (The reaſon is added, whereunto this prouiſo or condition hath reſpect) For they will deceive thy ſonne, that hee ſhould not follow the Lord: and they ſhall ſerve ſtrange gods: and then will the wrath of the Lord waxe hote againſt thee, and deſtroy thee. This thing Abraham our father both conſidered, and reſpected long before the Law giuen by Moſes: for hee had ſeene the inconuenience of ſuch coniunctions in the old time, when by the ſame the ſonnes of God were polluted, and the whole earth deſtroyed in the dayes of Noah: Gen. 24.3.therefore hee gaue his ſeruant a ſpeciall charge for the match of his ſonne Iſaak, with a mate of a faithfull Family. The like alſo Iſaak reſpected, when hee diſliked the mariage of his ſonne Eſau with the Hethites, and charged his ſonne Iacob not to take him a wife of the daughters of Chanaan: Gen. 26. & 27.but that hee ſhould repayre to his Vncle Laban, and take from thence of his daughters. But howſoeuer ſuch coniunctions might be tolerated or winked at vponupon occaſions in ſome others▪ what needed Solomon the ſonne of David, to hauehave luſted after the women of a ſtrange Natition? Are not the daughters of Zion faire, and beautifull, and wiſe, and vertuous? yea, are they not preferred in honour to all the women in the worlde? And did Solomon feare of any heathen Potentate, that hee would in this ſort be lincked vntounto him in amitie for the retayning of peace? Yea, is hee not ſtronger and more wiſe, and politicke then any of them all? And doe they not more dread and admire him, then hee hath neede to doubt, what they are able to doe againſt his Maieſtie? But alas, luſt is blinde, and many wiſe men (as I ſaid before) bee led blindfolded into the pitte of preuarication and woe, by ſuch women, as being of an euill opinion and like Religion, will receiue no kinde of Counſaile which withſtandeth or hindereth their fonde luſtes and vanities. And thereof it is, that the King ſo prudent, wiſe and famous, hath beene bewitched, enchaunted, and beſotted ſo farre; that in the lightneſſe of voluptuouſneſſe, he hath altered his ſingle minde, and diſtained his honour. *Theſe be great faults (my Lords) but yet hee is much more blameable and guiltie of iudgement, & no leſſe of puniſhment,The third ſin of Solomon. (though hee bee a king) becauſe that in his luſtes hee hath turned away his heart from the Lorde his God, which hath appeared to him at two ſundry times.
For beholde, the king hearkening vntounto thoſe his ſtrange Wiues, which had nowe at length apoſtated and turned backe againe, to the Religion of their Fathers and Countrey: hee hath followed after Aſteroth, the God of the Sydonians, and after Melcome, the abhomination of the Ammonites, and he hath built an high place for Chamos, the abomination of Moab, euen in the hill that is before Hieruſalem: and vntounto Moloch, the abhomination of the children of Ammon: and the like hath hee done for other his outlandiſh Women, which burnt incenſe, and offered diuers ſacrifices to their ſundry Gods.
Neither ſeemed the king then touched with any remorſe of conſcience: but cleane contrary to the Lawe of God, the charge which his father gaue him, the leſſons his mother taught him, and that which his owne wiſedome ſhould perſwade in him: he hath fowly proſtituted himſelfe to their lewdneſſe, and diſgraced his Nobilitie. Yea, all this hath the king done even in his elder years & in that time of his age:Solomon offended God in his elder daies. when he ſhould rather hauehave abandoned fleſhly luſtes, the delights of the ſonnes of men, and all the vanities of the worlde, and hauehave offered vp himſelfe both body and ſoule, a ſweete and holy Sacrifice acceptable to the Lorde his God, in that holy Temple, which hee both built and dedicated to his Name. Alas, what a blemiſh is this to his Grace, and that his gray haires ſhoulde bee polluted with youthfull luſtes. This is one of the things which I hauehave heard him ſaye, that his very ſoule abhorred. But when vntounto thoſe luſtes ſhall ioyne that tranſgreſſion of the Lawes, and abhominable ſinnes againſt the true ſeruice and honor of God, and that in olde men, oh God, howe great and daungerous is this kinde of abhomination!
A great deale more loathſome and daungerous is the fire in an olde houſe, then in a newe: and no leſſe dangerous and loathſome is ſinne in an old perſon, beyond thoſe which bée in the yonger ſort. Olde men ſhould bee to the yonger, examples of a chaſte life, holineſſe, godly behauiour, Religion and vertues: they ſhould be profitable to the common-wealth by their wiſedome, reuerend before all men for their age, and well prepared for the place of eternitie, vntounto whoſe gate they are, or ſhould be ready to enter with holy hearts and cleane bodies: they in whom the contrary is found (eſpecially among the Princes, Nobles, Magiſtrates, and perſons of name and account) are rightly likened vntounto thoſe olde Cockes, that bring forth certaine blacke and blewiſh Egges,Similitude. which being couered by ſome venemous beaſt (as a Toade or ſerpent) in the canicular dayes, there is hatched a Baſiliſcus, or Cockatrice, of that venom, which infecteth and killeth men with his piercing ſight. By the Egge, is vnderſtood the euill worke or action of the faultie olde man; by the venemous beaſt, is meant the ſuggeſtor or flatterer of him in his faults: by the Cockatrice, is noted the wicked example: and by the perſons killed, the ſeers and imitators thereof. For thoſe elder perſons, and namely Princes and Magiſtrates, which hauehave beene eſtéemed and honoured in their places, now ſinning againſt God, and the honor of their functions, and their ſinnes foſtered and nouriſhed by the peſtiferous and wicked ſuggeſtion, giueth a moſt peſtilent example, the which being ſeene of the Subiects, yonger, and inferiour perſons, infecteth and corrupteth them: and as much as lyeth in him, he killeth him. And thus hath the king done! Howbeit, now at length he perceiueth that the iuſt iudgements of God threatned in this caſe, and wont to enſue on them that breake and contemne his holy ordinance and Lawe, is now prepared againſt him and this whole Nation: yea, more fiercer than it was in Davids time, when ſeuenty thouſand dyed in the peſtilence. Neither hath he found (as yet) by his wiſedome, how to excuſe himſelfe in this matter: nor how to defend his innocencie: for behold, it is neither the king though ſo wiſe and royal, nor things in heauen, nor them on the earth, nor any other power or might whatſoeuer, that is able either to diſpence with this diuine Lawe, or to beare the effects of that celeſtiall wrath.
Woulde God, that King Solomons example could be remembred of all thē that ſhall come after him,An admonition for princes to remember Solomons example and learn to feare the diuine iudgements. to be placed vponupon his throne, that in the middeſt of all their proſperity, they wold thinke of aduerſity (as Iob did) with that reuerence and feare that they preſume not ſo farre to tempt the Lorde in the luſt of their eyes, the luſt of their fleſh, and in the truſt of their proper wiſedome, worldly policies, and high places: for howſoeuer they be preferred, and aduanced, and do ſtand, yet ſhoulde they know themſelues to be but men, yea miſerable and fraile men in this life, ſubiect to whatſoeuer miſery betideth other men: Wherein the King is no freer then the beggar, though preferred in his eſtate royall, and the luſtie yong man is no more reſpected then the olde man to whom crooked age is a continuall ſickeneſſe, ſuch is mans condition! for this cauſe, men be well likened to the graſſe in the field, and all their glory, honour, wealth, wiſedome, beauty, and whatſoeuer els, wherby a man is adorned in this world, and in the which hee delighteth, (as that which is mans, or incident to his pleaſures in this life) is rightly likened to the flowers of the graſſe in the fielde the which are by diuers occaſions either withered or altered in a very ſhort time, neither is any one herbe or flower in the fielde more free from thoſe blaſtings & burnings, annoies and perrils, then any other in the ſame, notwithſtanding that one beyonde the other, is in higher eſtimation and price among men. But as for the Lord our God, he is moſt mighty, euer the ſame without alteration or changes, alwaies ſufficiēt, a reuenger of them that diſhonour him, and a very conſuming fier to deuoure the ongodly as the ſtuble from the face of the earth, hee is in his iudgements moſt iuſt, in his workes moſt perfect, in his wiſedome infinite, and in all thinges good for his ſaints, and glorious in himſelfe. This is he that ouerthroweth man in offences, and compaſſeth him about with a net, wherein if ſinfull man ſhould complaine of violence done vntounto him,Iob. 19.7. he ſhall not be heard, and if he cry for helpe there is no ſentence to bee giuen for him: he muſt abide his lot, and beare the iuſtice of the Iudge without hope of change or alteration of the decree, vntill it bee his pleaſure vponupon mans true repepentance to turne Iuſtice into mercy, and paine into peace. * All this (anſwered the Lords being true can neither be denied nor diſſembled, but we wil witnes the ſame, though to our ſorrow, becauſe it toucheth our Lord the King. Howbeit, we hauehave not found that the holy religion hath beene altered: but that the ſeruices of Iehovah our God and al his holy ſacrifices are continued in that houſe which ye king had dedicated to that vſe: howſoeuer thoſe ſtrāge women hauehave in their apoſtacie turned to their Idols againe, affected the ſuperſtitions of their ſeuerall nations and obtained, by the kings fauour permiſſiō, to vſe their own religions within theſe his territories and dominions. I grant (ſaid Zadoke) that our holy religion is yet preſerued in vre: howbeit, not without a manifeſt contempt,zadoke tels that religion is much blemiſhed by thoſe ſins of Solomon. 1. Sam. 5.2.3.4 Iudg. 6.31. when ſuch as deride and diſdaine the ſame ſhalbe both permitted and maintained in the open face of the king and his people. Could Dagon ſtand before the arke of God? Would Gedeon permit in his daies, that any man ſhold pleade Baals cauſe? did our father Iacob ſuffer, that his wife Rachel ſhould retaine with her Labans Images, or that any of his ſonnes or family ſhould be polluted with any ſtrange Gods, when as they came to Bethel to ſacrifice vntounto Iehovah? and ſhould then king Solomon not only permit thoſe horrible Idolatries and loathſome ſuperſtitions of Idols, but alſo exhibit them maintenance in the ſame that follow ſuch thinges ſo neare the Temple and the holy Cittie of God? This thing is not hidden from the Lord who ſeeth and wilbe auenged on the ſame. Howbeit, the King moſt vnhappily doting on thoſe profane women, his wiues and concubines, which are now reuolted from the Lord and his religion, and turned backe vntounto their fathers and their Gods, hath beene contented to conniue and beare with them in ſuch their abhominations euen before his face and in the open ſight of the Lorde people: yea, and rather then he would diuorce them or deny them, or reproue them or correct them, or diſpleaſe them therein (as he might hauehave don and indeede ſhould hauehave done in this caſe) he hath both appointed and commaunded many great ſummes of mony and treaſure to be paied and giuen forth from his owne treaſurie both to the building of certaine houſes and places for ſuch their Gods, and alſo for the daily maintenance of their ſeruices in ye ſame. Therof it is (before al other things) that Iehovah his God is prouoked, and waxen angry with him, with vsus and his people, and hath thereon not omitted to threaten him and vsus with many mighty plagues and puniſhments, to enſew, yea ſuch as neither he, we, nor our poſteritie ſhalbe able to beare: & thereof (as I vnderſtand) the Lord hath lately ſpoken by his prophet and meſſenger vntounto the King himſelfe: ſaying Foraſmuch as this thing is done of thee, and thou haſt not kept mine appointment and my ſtatutes which I commanded thee:1. King. 11.11. I will rent the kingdome from thee, and wil giuegive it to thy Seruant. Notwithſtanding in thy dayes I will not do it, becauſe of David thy Father: but I will take it from the hand of thy ſonne. Howbeit, I will not take away all the kingdome, but will giuegive one Tribe to thy Sonne, becauſe of David my Seruant and becauſe of Ieruſalem, which I hauehave choſen. Now here I call to remembrance what the Lorde our God hath reſolued in ſuch a caſe, by the conſideration of his words once ſpoken to Eli the Prieſt, in the daies of our iudges,1. Sam. 2.25. I will worſhip them (ſaith he) that worſhip me: but they which deſpiſe me ſhall come to ſhame. Moreouer I remember what the King himſelfe hath ſaid in his wiſe Prouerbs. The turning away of the vnwiſe ſhall haſten his owne destruction. And well I wot therefore that of all the creatures in the world,pro. 1.32. the impious and wicked perſon is moſt vnhappy, that not only in reſpect of his ſinnes and condition of life, but in regard of his end and concluſion, for as the end of much eating is ſicknes, the end of pleaſure is paine, the end of this life is death and corruption: ſo the end of the Sinner is extreame anguiſh and miſerie both in this worlde and after his death. For being iuſtly ſequeſtred from the ſocietie of the Saintes, and ſo ſhut out from the diuine protection, he is, euen whiles he liueth, moleſted with an vnquiet conſcience, an aking heart feareful cogitations and dreames and many afflictions both of body and mind, the hand of God being ſtreatched foorth againſt him from aboue, and the inſtrumentes of wrath tormenting him from beneath: Finally, this life finiſhed, hee broyles and toyles in bitter tormentes for euer more: In the which he may be compared to thoſe flying fiſhes which being in the waters are perſecuted by other fiſhes for their pray, & ſpringing vp with their finnes into the aire, they are followed and deuoured of the cormorants and Sea-meawes: or to that bird which being on the ground is hunted by dogs, and flying aboue the earth is taken by the vultures: for true it is that the man of impietie and ſinne hath neither peace nor ſafety either in this world, or in the world to come. This thing the kings father well knew, and conſidered of in the depth of his heart: therfore when he was remembred of his tranſgreſſions and faults by Nathan and by Gad the Lordes prophets and meſſengers to him in that reſpect, feeling the true ſenſe of Gods angry coū tenance iuſtly bent againſt him and his people for the ſame, & the perilous eſtate both of himſelfe and his dominions, by and by (although a choſen, magnanimious, puiſſant and valorous minded King) comming to anſwere before the higheſt God, hee ſodainly caſt himſelfe downe to the earth, as a baſe caitiffe, hee repented him of his ſinnes, and in the fearefull agony of his afflicted ſoule, he cried out I have ſinned! I hauehave ſinned: Mercy Lord mercye! nor would be leaue off crying, and repenting, nor any otherwiſe eſtéeme of himſelfe then a ſinfull, guilty and condemned wretch, vntill he perceiued that the Lord was willing to be appeazed and of his merciemercy, to turne his gratious face towards him as in times paſt: reſembling the bird of Paradiſe, which beeing taken in a ſnare is neuer quiet, nor leaueth crying and flittering till time he either dye or be deliuered. And thus behoveth it our Lord the King, to eſteeme of himſelfe vnderunder thoſe his tranſgreſſions, this to reſpect and the ſame to performe which in this deſperate and dangerous caſe, is the beſt counſail we may giuegive him for remedy and eaſe. For ſurely, ſurely, God being thus prouoked and that iuſtly, he will not be appeazed, nor will he ſurceaſe to ſtreatch forth his hand of iuſtice againſt him ſo offending, vntill that he meekly acknowledge his offences before him, repent, and ſeeke him with ſorrow and ſinglenes of heart, as we may ſee in th'examples of our forefathers both in the wildernes vnderunder the conduct of Moſes and Aaron and in this land vnderunder the gouernment of our wiſe and valiant Iudges. Now (my Lords) hereof is it, that Iehovah our God being moſt iuſtly diſpleaſed with our Lord the King, hee hath in iuſtice ſtirred vp and prouoked againſt him (beſides the two former enemies which much troubled him) that Ieroboam, who thirſting for the ſoueraignity of Iſrael now eſpecially oppoſeth himſelfe in might and policie againſt the King. Neither may wee thinke, but howſoeuer thoſe perſons (eſpecially Ieroboam) are maliciouſly bent and prouoked againſt the king and his gouernment,The kings enemies are the very inſtruments of Gods wrath appointed to vex the king and his people. and do of themſelues little reſpect or conſider the prouidence and working of the most high in this his diſpleaſure that yet they be the very inſtruments and miniſters of Gods iudgements, as thoſe other aduerſaries of Iſrael hauehave beene in the times paſt, againſt our fathers, when as they forgetting God, did rebell againſt him and his holy ſervants: And therefore the onelyonly way to reſiſt them, is not the wiſedome, power, policie, or arme of man, but the grace of our mercifull God, the which we muſt ſeeke by godly repentance & obtaine by faithfull praier vntounto God in the truſt of Meſſiah vntill which time the Lord will neuer be perſwaded to draw in his hand which is ſtretched forth.Solomon repenteth. This the King himſelfe well knoweth, and therefore he is humbled on the ground he bewaileth himſelfe, hee weepeth, hee lamenteth, hee abandoneth the vaine things of this world, and he turneth himſelfe both body and minde (as in the beſt ſort of pennance) vntounto his God, who (I doubt not but) wilbe mercifull vntounto him, as he was merciful vntounto his father David when he ſo repented.
* But yet in this interim, to the aggrauating of the kinges griefe, it is fallen out of late (whereof the King is alſo certified, for what can be hidden from his eyes) that when this fellow Ieroboham departed from Ieruſalem, the Prophet Ahiah the Sylonite found him in the way hauing a new garment on him and they two being alone in the field, the Prophet caught that new garment and rent it in twelue peeces,The Lord threatneth Solomon to puniſh him for ſin. 1. King. 11. and ſaid to Ieroboham: Take vntounto thee ten peeces: for thus ſaith the Lord God of Iſrael, behold I will rent the kingdome out of the handes of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee, and thou ſhall raigne according to all that my ſoule deſireth, and ſhalt be King over Iſrael. Againe I will for this offence which Solomon hath committed, puniſh the ſeede of David but not for ever.
Now the conſideration of this (being added to the former) hath cauſed the kings eies to faile through weeping, his bowels to ſwell, his liuer to be powred out on the earth, and himſelfe to ſwoone in the middeſt of his houſe. Neither ſhoulde we alſo, in the regard of this his great ſorrow, and the miſeries imminent on him, on vsus, and on the people, but wéepe and howle with him, and repent, and cry to the Lord for mercy.