According to Horton Solomon’s reign started near 930 B.C. (Horton, 1961, p. 3). Solomon reigned for 40 years (1 Kings 11:42). That means he reigned until about 890 B.C. The physical thing that marked, or marred, Solomon’s reign and ended in dividing the country was taxes. In 1 Kings 10:14 it says “The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,”. The exact talent used in Israel in the time is not really sure but an Attic talent, was 57 lb, a Roman talent was 71 lb an Egyptian talent was 60 lb, and a Babylonian talent 67 lb. Taking the smallest one of these is 57 x 666 = 37962 pounds of gold Solomon collected each year. Solomon’s heavy taxes led the people to ask his son to lighten the taxes; Solomon’s son Rehoboam refused and the people revolted (1 Kings 12:1-24). This led to a divided kingdom. But those are just the physical happenings. Behind the scenes the spiritual battle had been lost long before. Solomon had left his Love for Yahweh and started worshiping the gods of his exotic wives. Solomon was known for loving exotic women (1 Kings 11:1). When Solomon left God, God left him and took the kingdom from him. This was the real reason the kingdom was divided. It was the same reason Moses could not enter the promised land: “… This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: “‘Among those who approach me I will be proved holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.'” (Leviticus 10:3).
This exact scenario is being played out right now in the US. Never before has there been such a presidential race in US history. The seeds of the disaster that are evident today in the presidential campaigns were sown years ago when America left her first love for the very same gods Solomon fell for, the god of sexual autonomy and self autonomy.
