Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Everyone Has a Dark Side | Historical Books | 1 Kings 10:14-29

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

We all have a dark side. What was Solomon's dark side? What's your dark side? In today's episode, Keith shares how 1 Kings 10:14-29 encourages us to trust in Jesus, who has no dark side. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 10:14-29

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. History is filled with people who left a massive impact on the world, people like Thomas Jefferson or Mahatma Gandhi or Steve Jobs. Their ideas and leadership reshape cultured, they opened doors, they inspired generations. In many ways, they left the world better than they found it. But they also had a dark side.

For Gandhi, it was a series of mysterious and troubling relationships. for Jefferson, it was the contradiction of declaring all men were created equal while owning slaves. For jobs, it was the way he treated people, often cold, controlling, and arrogant. Each of them was a mixed bag, capable of greatness, but also capable of failure. They were deeply flawed. That's the story of humanity, isn't it? And Blaise Pascal said it best. He said, mankind is the glory and the scum of the universe.

We're all a mixture of beauty and brokenness. And if you're anything like me, you've seen that in your own life. But if you read your Bible, you notice that's how people have always been. Even the people we think of as heroes in the Bible are complex, flawed, and messy. Noah got drunk. Moses killed a man. David had an affair and orchestrated his murder. Abraham lied to protect himself and endangered his wife. And in First Kings chapter 10, verses 14 to 29, we meet another figure who fits this category. It's King Solomon. Let's pray before we engage with God's Word. Father, open our hearts and our minds to your word.

Help us to see ourselves and our Savior clearly. Shape us by your spirit as we learn more about you. Amen. Now at this point in Solomon's life, things look really good on the outside. If you've read the story leading up to this chapter, Solomon is known for his wisdom. He built the temple. He led Israel into a season of peace and prosperity.

He asked for wisdom instead of wealth and God gave him both. and now Israel is flourishing under his rule. And the world is noticing. Earlier in chapter 10, the queen of Sheba had visited Solomon and she's totally blown away. She says in verse 8, how happy your people must be, how happy your officials who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom. It sounds exactly like something my wife would say to me. Okay, probably not. But Solomon's wisdom and wealth and leadership are so impressive that even foreign rulers are praising the God of Israel. But then starting in verse 1st, the tone shifts. We read about gold, so much gold, shields of gold, a massive ivory throne,

overlaid with gold, goblets of gold, nothing made of silver because it was considered of little value in Solomon's days. Solomon's importing horses and chariates from Egypt. He's accumulating wealth. He's expanding military power. He's building a royal image of unmatched luxury and strength. Sounds like success, doesn't it? But if you remember God's instructions for Israel's kings back in Deuteronomy 17. This section raises some red flags. Let's revisit what God said. Deuteronomy 17, the king must not acquire great numbers of horses or make the people return to Egypt. He must not take many wives. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. Okay, let's just go through our checklist. Horses from Egypt? Yep, check. Solomon's got those.

Great amounts of gold and silver, check again. Many wives, check. Solomon has hundreds of wives. So if you're keeping track at home, that's one, two, three strikes, and you're out. It's subtle, but the author of First Kings is showing us something. Solomon looks like a great king, but under the surface, he's violating the very commands of God. Solomon, like so many leaders before and after him, is a mixed bag, brilliant and broken, wise and wayward. So what can we learn from this chapter? Well, first, everyone is a mixed bag, even our spiritual heroes. It's a big theme in the Bible.

I mean, no one is all good or all bad. Even the best people are sinful, they have flaws, and even the worst people are made in the image of God. We tend to put people in boxes. He's the good guy. She's toxic. They can do no wrong. They're hopeless. But that's not how the Bible sees them.

It's not how God sees you. Understanding this can change your relationships. You'll be less surprised when someone disappoints you, but you'll also be slower to give up on people. In other words, you'll be more realistic and more gracious. Let's pray. Lord, to help us to see ourselves and others through your eyes with honesty, humility, and hope. Remind us that we are all works in progress and that your grace is enough for both our failures and our growth. Amen.

The second thing we learn is that prosperity can cover up compromise. I mean, everything looked good on the outside. Solomon was rich. He was respected. He was revered. But prosperity is not always a sign of God's blessing. In fact, sometimes things going well for you can mask or cover. a spiritual decline. You can have a thriving career and a hollow soul. You can have a perfect Instagram

feed and a broken prayer life. You can have a reputation for wisdom while quietly drifting from God's word. Are you paying attention to your heart? Or are you just paying attention to your accomplishments? Are you paying attention to who you are or just what you do? And this is why we need Christian friends in our lives who can see beyond our mirage of success, who notice when we're drifting spiritually and encourage us to turn back to Jesus. Before going to our third point, let's just pray for a moment. Father, search your heart. Show us where we've confused success with faithfulness. Expose anything that's drawing us away from you and bring us back to a life that truly honors you. Amen. Okay, so the third and final thing we learn is that this world needs better kings.

And so do we. Solomon wasn't the king that God ultimately promised. He wasn't the king. He wasn't the the king who would bring peace and justice and righteousness forever, but he pointed to someone greater. And Jesus said it plainly in Matthew 12. He said something greater than Solomon is here. And Jesus is the true and better Solomon. Jesus is the king who didn't use his wisdom to build his own kingdom, but gave his life to build yours. He didn't ride in on a warhorse from Egypt, but on a donkey in humility. He didn't accumulate gold. He gave it away. He didn't take many wives. He laid his life down for one bride, the church. Jesus is the wise king who never broke the law. He fulfilled it. Jesus isn't a mixed bag. He is full of grace and truth, and he invites us to trust in him.

When we do, his spirit lives in us. He changes our hearts. He makes us more like Christ, more the person that we were created to be. Yes, we are mixed bags now, right? I mean, we are capable of both good and evil, beauty and brokenness. But in Christ, that's not how God sees us. Because of Jesus, we are washed. Because of Jesus, we are cleansed. Because of Jesus, we are justified. We are called saints. And one day, when Jesus returns, we will be raised in glory, no longer mixed bags, but finally whole, finally healed, finally holy. So take heart. You may feel the tension of your own contradictions, but God is not finished with you yet. God's spirit is at work. His promises are sure, and His grace is enough for every part of your story.

Jesus, you are the true and better king. Forgive us when we chase lesser kings. We build lives that look good on the outside but are disconnected from you on the inside. Help us to follow you, to trust you, to listen to you, to live for you. Amen.