Setanta wrote on Jul 29
th, 2016 at 11:41pm:
Only in your imagination Setanta.
Ecclesiastes 7:29
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
God in his law, warned the proto-nation of Israel, against men's lusts [e.g. for horses and women].In the OT men's desire for horses represents the lust of men for [political/martial] power, and men's desire for women represents men's carnal lust.
So what was God's warning to the kings of Israel concerning those lusts ???Deuteronomy 17:14
When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
16
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
17
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
God understood that, in man's nature, it would always men's WILFUL lusts, which would separate men from God.
God didn't separate himself from man.
It was man [in the weakness of his
wrong, and
wilful actions] who has separated himself from God's
purity.
The OT bible records that both David and Solomon took to themselves, many wives and concubines.
What was Solomon's fault ???1 Kings 10:26
And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen:
and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem.
27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.
28 And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
29 And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.
1 Kings 11:1
But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
2 Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you:
for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
3
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
4 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.
5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
6
And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.
7 Then did Solomon build an 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.
8 And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.
God's law specifically prohibited prophets and kings from taking many wives, AND YET, both David and Solomon ignored God's law, and took to themselves many wives.
Again, .....
God didn't separate himself from man.
It was man [in the weakness of his
wrong, and
wilful actions] who has separated himself from God's
purity.
Acts 17:27
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him,
though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Psalms 119:2
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
Jeremiah 29:13
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.