Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word. This week's question:

It is no secret about God's stand concerning idol worship, "You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 26:1) "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." (Deuteronomy 5:7-10) 'Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God, 'Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me , sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will be brought to answer him in My own person. And I shall set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I shall cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the Lord." (Ezekiel 14:6-8) "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." (Romans 1:22-25) "Little children, guard yourselves from idols." (1 John 5:21).

And that's the way it is concerning idols and brings us to our question, "Who built idols to please his wives?". King David was a king who stole God's heart by his obedience to God (2 Samuel 22:2-25) and although David's kingdom did not have a temple building, even though David did want to build one but was not allowed to do so because of the blood that was spilled during David's reign and it was reserved for his son who would next reign as king (1 Kings 8:17-19).

So his son did become king and hired Hiram, who built king David's house, to also oversee the building of the temple. Then the ark of the covenant was brought into the temple and the king said, "The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. I have surely built Thee a lofty house, a place for thy dwelling forever." (1 Kings 8:12-13), and because he walked in the ways of the Lord as his father, the Lord said to him, "Ask what you wish Me to give you." (1 Kings 3:5) and he answered, "So give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of thine?" (1 Kings 3:9) which pleased the Lord that he did not ask for riches or long life or to have his enemies done away with, but asked for wisdom, as well as the other things that God would expect from most men (1 Kings 3:10-14).

Even though the Lord asked Israel not to associate with foreign women as they would turn away their hearts from the Lord, this king loved many foreign women, as he had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines which did turn his heart away from the Lord, "For it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David His father had done." (1 Kings 11:4-6).

So there we have the answer to our question, as the one who built idols-was the son of David, the king of Israel, the wisest man upon the earth who gave in to his wives and their desire to worship idols-Solomon! Notice, his heart was not fully with God. He may have gone through the motions of worship, but his heart was not fully with God, "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me, (Matthew 15:8).

May we be not deceived into thinking that nothing can tear us away from God as the things and people we surround ourselves with will make an impression upon us either for the good or maybe the downfall into the pit, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12).