Have you ever wondered why God punished even the greatest of biblical kings? Brother Eli Soriano answers that question. Let us now go to the reason why God punished David and Solomon and what we can learn from it.
First, brother Eli Soriano debunked a false notion about polygamy. "God forbids polygamy," he said. You might be surprised since we have been told so much about kings like David and Solomon. But according to Brother Eli, just because they were kings does not mean they are exempted from God’s laws.
Brother Eli said God forbade David and Solomon to do so. God punished them for it. He repeated that to us to emphasize how bad their actions were. God would not tolerate that even if they were kings and could easily get as many wives as they want.
Let us start with King David. Brother Eli explained from his perspective that David suffered greatly because of his actions. The severity of the punishment is a wake up call that everyone is under God’s law even a king.
Brother Eli was blunt when he spoke of Solomon; he said “God hated him because of his abuse as king in the latter part of his life”. Can you imagine that excess? 700 wives and 3,000 concubines. God was angry with Solomon for that.
But this is where Brother Eli’s teaching gets interesting. Although these are within the authority of kings, they are certainly against God’s commandments. Even though it is forbidden, men can do what they want because they have the power to choose whether to follow God or not.
That brings us to the main point of Brother Eli’s message: the power of choice. “It is for us to choose whether to obey God or not, the choice is ours”. The essence of free will is in that short but powerful statement. We can choose whatever we want but we must be prepared to suffer the consequence.
Brother Eli doesn’t mince words when he talks about these consequences. He says directly: “You will give account of your choice”. Isn’t that amazing? Every choice or action will be accounted to us at some point.
So what’s the impact of Brother Eli’s teaching to us today? It’s a thinking time. We shouldn’t do something all the time just because we can do it. No amount of wealth, power or prestige can excuse us from disobeying God.
Brother Eli asked, “Have you done anything bad?” That question makes us to introspect deeply. He said, “You may be held accountable on the day of judgment”. That’s not meant to scare us but to make us humans to make smart decisions that are in line with God’s will.
