1Ki 11:1-4 “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”

[Study Aired March 10, 2022]

1Ki 11:1  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; 
1Ki 11:2  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. 
1Ki 11:3  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. 
1Ki 11:4  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. 

With God’s mercy in our life we can apply our hearts unto wisdom and number our days.

Psa 90:12  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Solomon ruled as king over all Israel for forty years (1Ki 11:42), and in the end it was revealed that he was not given to apply his heart unto wisdom as king David in type and shadow did.

1Ki 11:42  And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

1Ki 11:4  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.

The Godly wisdom was there in Solomon’s life at one point, and we could say in type and shadow that he had “tasted of the heavenly  gift” of Hebrews 6:4, but he was corrupted by his love for “many strange women” (1Ki 11:1) which we know represents churches where false doctrines reside turning our hearts away from the Lord if God allows this. It was these actions that caused Solomon to stop applying his heart to wisdom, unlike David who typifies the elect who are chastened and scourged by a sword that does not depart from his house or our house, which house represents the temple we are (2Sa 12:10, Heb 12:6, 1Co 3:16). Solomon, on the other hand, was brought into this bondage of ungodly relationships by loving the world, represented by “the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites.” (1Jn 2:15-17, Php 3:7-8)

1Ki 11:1  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

[“I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David” (1Ki 11:38) is a promise by God whose conditions can only be met through Christ, and so, although a sure physical house was built for Solomon, the spiritual house, the temple of God which was his body, was corrupted by “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” In the positive, Solomon can and does represent the elect during the thousand-year reign who will rule over the riches of mankind’s kingdoms (Rev 11:15), the silver and gold and ivory as well as the ape and peacock of  (1Ki 10:22) that was brought to Solomon from afar. However, in the negative all these physical liberties given to Solomon corrupted him and caused him to forget God’s commands preventing him from continuing in those things which were required of him as king. Thus, he lost sight, at least in type and shadow, of Christ’s words in Luke 12:15: “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” This brings to mind what God tells us will naturally happen to all of us unless the Lord continues to keep us humble in this life, and we know these events of Solomon’s life were written for our sakes upon whom the end of the world are come (Deu 8:10-11, 1Co 10:11)].

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, [Mat 10:39]

[If God gives us the ability to continue in the truth (Joh 8:31-32, Php 2:12-13) and value the eternal words of God more than anything in this life, we will join each other in this comparative statement Paul was inspired to write telling us as the body of Christ we will lose all things, (Rev 2:10)  in order to gain the life of Christ, which cannot happen without going through much tribulation and persecution and fiery trials. Despite all of that affliction and suffering, we will be shown to be more than conquerors through Him (Rom 8:38-39) as a result of being given to endure unto the end (Php 2:13) as we keep our eyes on Christ who promises “I will give thee a crown of life” as a result of our working out our own salvation with fear and trembling as we press toward “the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14)]

King David, like Solomon, also reigned forty years (1Ki 2:11) and both time periods represent the much tribulation and many trials [40] that we must endure in order to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection (2Ti 2:12). Solomon can be seen as our old man who must decrease, while David can represent the new man, Christ in us, as our hope of glory whom God promises will increase  and will not deny Himself in that process of overcoming within us (Joh 3:30, 2Ti 2:13).

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease. 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 
2Ti 2:13  If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful [Christ in us (Col 1:27)]: he cannot deny himself. 

It takes both forty years, however, in order to create the new man represented by the number eighty (forty plus forty). This brings us back to Psalm 90:1-13 where we read of “a prayer of Moses the man of God” that explains what God does within those eighty typical years of our life and how he uses forty of them to destroy the man of sin within us, represented by Solomon [40 year reign] and builds up the new man represented by king David [40 year reign].

Psa 90:1  A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 

Psa 90:10  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength [Php 4:13] they be fourscore years [80 years], yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

When we read this section of scripture (1Ki 11:1-43), if we keep this principle in mind that both David and Solomon are within us, then we will get the message of the books of Kings and every book of the bible that is admonishing the body of Christ to hold fast to our crown and be confident “that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Rev 3:11, Rev 2:10, Php 1:6, Gal 5:1, Php 4:1). Here is that prayer of Moses which in type and shadow reveals the certainty of God’s deliverance in the life of those who have His spirit, that enables us to go through the fiery trials of this life that will refine the gold and silver of God’s word within us.

Psa 90:1  A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations [thinking within] .
Psa 90:2  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God [Eph 1:4]. 
Psa 90:3  Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. 
Psa 90:4  For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night [2Pe 3:8]. 
Psa 90:5  Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. 
Psa 90:6  In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. 
Psa 90:7  For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
Psa 90:8  Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. 
Psa 90:9  For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

[All of these verses we’ve read (Psa 90:3-9) are the narrative that leads up to the passage that reveals the new man that is formed through a lifetime of much tribulation]

Psa 90:10  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years [80], yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away [Job 5:7, Jas 4:14]. 
Psa 90:11  Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath [Rom 11:22, Act 10:35, Ecc 12:13]. 
Psa 90:12  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom [Rom 2:13].
Psa 90:13  Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. 
Psa 90:14  O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. [Rom 11:5, Rom 11:11, Rom 11:20-26, Rom 11:31-32] 
Psa 90:15  Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. 

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ [“I will give thee a crown of life“]:

Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 

Php 4:1  Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.

This section of scripture in the book of Timothy admonishes the body of Christ as to what we should and shouldn’t do in our service to God and will help brighten our understanding of what God is teaching us through this section of 1 Kings where we learn that Solomon’s heart became corrupted by “his wives [who] turned away his heart after other gods” so that he “was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.” So we are admonished today to cry out to God as Christ did (Heb 5:7) and fear Him and ask Him to “teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

1Ti 6:1  Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour [Rom12:1], that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed [Php 3:14-15, 1Jn 1:7]. 
1Ti 6:2  And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort [Christ is our believing master (Joh 13:13-15, Luk 6:46)]. 
1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 
1Ti 6:4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, 
1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. 
1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain. 
1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 
1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 
1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 
1Ti 6:10  For the love of money^{G5365 G5366 [rich young ruler (Mat 19:21)]} is the root [“a” root not “the” root – see most other translations] of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

[“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.“]

1Ti 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; [“Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches” (Pro 30:8)] and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness [“feed me with food convenient for me” (Pro 30:8)]. 
1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. [flee fornication (1Co 6:18), flee idolatry (1Co 10:14), flee youthful lusts (2Ti 2:22)]
1Ti 6:13  I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things [Joh 6:63, Joh 6:68], and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; 
1Ti 6:14  That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, [Rom 6:23] and was heard in that he feared; 

1Ki 11:1  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

God has called His children to overcome all these “strange women” which the wretchedness of our flesh could not begin to overcome except the Lord deliver us (Rom 7:24-25, Joh 8:36), and so we are admonished to flee all these ‘women’ that represent churches: “the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites” knowing that it is Christ in us who is giving us the power to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as we overcome through Him (Php 2:12-14).

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. 

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 
Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings: 

Together “with the daughter of Pharoah”^H6547 (Rev 17:1-5), these women typify the fleshly parts of Babylon within me that must be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming which will destroy (2Th 2:3-7) the part of my heart that is yet being held captive by her lies, as Solomon in type and shadow was experiencing  (2Co 6:17-18).

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: [“the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites“]
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: [We all go into Babylon and by God’s grace come out of her (2Co 6:17)] and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

[flee fornication (1Co 6:18),  flee idolatry (1Co 10:14),  flee youthful lusts (2Ti 2:22)]

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 

• Moabites,H4125  H4124 [spiritually learning the way of the heathen (Jer_10:2) typifies this incestuous spirit of H4124 where we have children with our father the devil’s children while in Babylon]

• Ammonites,H5984  H5983

• Edomites,H130  H123

• Zidonians,H6722  H6721 – H6679 – H6718 [negative use of fishers of men, hunters of men]

• Hittites;H2850  H2845  H2865 [where God’s spirit is there is liberty (2Co 3:17) but without his spirit we see what the foundation of all these Babylonian woman or churches is founded upon having no stay of bread or water (Isa 3:1, Jas 3:16, 2Ti 4:18)].

H2865 châthath  khaw-thath’

A primitive root; properly to prostrate; hence to break down, either (literally) by violence, or (figuratively) by confusion and fear: – abolish, affright, be (make) afraid, amaze, beat down, discourage, (cause to) dismay, go down, scare, terrify.  Total KJV occurrences: 48

Links to other studies on the spiritual significance of these peoples:

• Ammonites and Moabites
• Edomites
• Zidonians
• Hittites

How blessed we are to have God’s love shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5-6, 1Jn 4:17-19) to overcome that confusion and fear, that violence to God’s word in Babylon that while it is abiding in our heavens beats down Christ and discourages us, and dismays us and scares us and terrifies us until the appointed time that God says enough (2Th 2:3, 2Th 2:6).

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 
Rom 5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 
1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us. 

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; [when God says enough]

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

That man of sin is revealed through the chastening and scourging God gives His children the ability to endure, and it is through that correction, through that suffering, we learn obedience (Heb 12:6, Heb 5:7).

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death,[Rom_6:23] and was heard in that he feared;

1Ki 11:2  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.

In type and shadow, Solomon was not just thinking above what was written (1Co 4:6), which is always the starting point of any of our divergent paths which take us away from God’s word (Jas 1:15, Gen 3:6), but he was getting right in bed with those he ought not have. By these actions he was shedding abroad his perverted sense of what love was in the lives of all these women, committing for our sake spiritual fornication before God to remind us not to lust after these things “as they also lusted” (1Co 10:5-6). Solomon demonstrated how our flesh wants to take occasion with the liberty God gives us, and instead of ‘coming out of her my people’ “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“, Solomon went in to them and they in unto him resulting in his reaping what God said he would sow if he did this, “Surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.“

1Ki 11:3  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
1Ki 11:4  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.

Solomon’s heart was turned away from God, and the numbers in these verses reveal the beastly nature of man that has seven heads and ten horns (Rev 13:1):  “Seven hundred wives” who were “princesses” and “three hundred concubines.” God is showing us through these ordained scenarios of Solomon’s life what we are before God comes in and starts to destroy the man of sin within us, the beast with seven heads and ten horns. Seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines gives us the grand total of our fleshly relationship in Babylon 1000 that must be judged and destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our heavens (2Pe 3:8).

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 

2Pe 3:8  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Solomon’s actions in this verse (1Ki 11:4) typify someone operating in their flesh and not in the spirit (Gal 5:16-21): “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.” He was not being portrayed as someone who was fighting the good fight of faith as his father king David had done, whose life typifies the fruits of righteousness that come about as a result of being “a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will” (1Ti 6:12, Act 13:22, Gal 5:22-26).

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 
Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 

Act 13:22  And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. 

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 
Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

As we get older we can either see our old man perish and our new man thrive (2Co 4:16, Psa 92:13-15), or we can see our old man negatively thrive and whatever relationship we had with Christ fall apart and come short (Eze 18:24, Heb 4:1). That is the major lesson we are to take from the life of Solomon who started off very strong in God’s service but became distracted and took his eyes off of the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ (1Co 9:24-25, Php 3:14-15). These things “happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1Co 10:11).

2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, [1Co 15:31] yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Psa 92:13  Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 
Psa 92:14  They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; 
Psa 92:15  To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 

Eze 18:24  But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die [Rom 6:1-5].

Heb 4:1  Let us therefore fear [Heb 5:7], lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 

1Co 9:24  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 
1Co 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things [Luk 21:19]. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 

Solomon, in type and shadow, was not able to handle the truth, as the riches of God’s word were only residing in him superficially and became choked by the cares of this world (Mar 4:3-7). The lesson for God’s people is to pray for a greater sense of urgency as we near the end of this age praying for each other that our faith fail not (Luk 22:32) and that we might receive the blessing of having an “honest and good heart” upon which God can “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Mar 4:8-9, Luk 8:15).

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 
Mar 4:4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 
Mar 4:5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 
Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 
Mar 4:7  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 
Mar 4:8  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased [1Co 3:6]; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 
Mar 4:9  And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 

Luk 8:15  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart [1Co 2:16], having heard the word, keep it [Rev 1:3], and bring forth fruit with patience [1Co 9:27, Luk 21:19].