David.  You look back to Saul, and then back at David.  Of course, David.  You look forward to Solomon, and then back to David.  Of course, David.  David.  Why?  Something is different about David.  What is it?

David and Solomon

When you arrive at 1 Kings 11:4, the Lord says:

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.

God was not saying that Solomon’s heart was not with the LORD his God.  It was not perfect with the LORD his God.  On the other hand, David’s heart was perfect with the LORD his God.  What was different about David, that his heart was perfect before the LORD his God, and Solomon’s wasn’t?

David and Jeroboam

Even Compared to Solomon

Then in 1 Kings 11:6, God says:

And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.

This puts the condition of Solomon compared to David in a different way:  he “went not fully after the LORD.”  He also did evil in the sight of the LORD.  By the time we get to Jeroboam, he’s worse than Solomon.  His heart wasn’t even with the LORD his God. 1 Kings 12:32 says:

And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

Then 1 Kings 13:33 says:

After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

Judgment on Jeroboam

Because of this, 1 Kings 13:34 says:

And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

And then God says to Jeroboam in 1 Kings 14:10:

Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.

In fulfillment of that in 1 Kings 15:29-30 we read:

And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite: Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

Distinct Paths Taken

Again and again after this, you can read the phrase, “walked in the way of Jeroboam,” very much like there was the phrase, “as David thy father walked.”  These are two different paths in the history of Israel.  David’s path is very much described by what God warned Solomon in 1 Kings 9:4 (and 11:38):

And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments.

David did not live a life of sinless perfection, but he walked in integrity of heart, uprightness, doing all God commanded him, and keeping God’s statutes and judgments. Fulfilling that is not sinlessness, but it does mean having a perfect heart with the LORD and going fully after Him.

Scripture distinguishes the heart of David from other kings.  Some other kings had a heart fully after the LORD in the heritage of David.  The way this manifested itself more than any other was in the worship of David.  Someone fully after the LORD acknowledges who God is and then offers Him what He wants.

Solomon was an idolater, not to the extent of Jeroboam.  But then Jeroboam was an even worse idolater, because he gave himself fully to idolatry.  Solomon gave himself partly to the LORD and partly to idols.  Solomon set himself part by building the temple and worshiping God there, even though later he partially turned from that and ruined his legacy with God.

Worship Distinguished David

David murdered Uriah.  He committed multiple adultery.  He was a polygamist.  What does this mean in juxtaposition with the good things scripture says about him?

David was a true worshiper of God, who sought after God.  He failed, but his direction and his sincere spirit for the Lord characterized him over the flaws in his life.  The Bible and myself do not write these things to excuse David, but to elevate the distinction of worship.

Today churches are rampant with idolatry.  The church growth movement changed and corrupts the worship of the church.  It centers on the audience and not the Lord.  The false worship profanes God and shapes a false god, unlike the God of the Bible, in the imagination of the participants.  This is akin to the path begun by Solomon and then taken full fledged by Jeroboam.  It’s ruining young people, churches everywhere, and the entire United States of America.