The Daughter Devouring the Mother: Solomon’s Chariots and Horsemen Text: 2 Chronicles 1:14-17
Introduction: The Subtle Poison of Blessing
We live in a world that is desperately confused about the nature of blessing. Our secular age wants the fruit of God's favor without any reference to God Himself. They want prosperity, security, and peace, but they want it on their own terms. And many Christians, not wanting to be out of step with the spirit of the age, have adopted a similar confusion. We pray for blessing, we desire God's hand to be upon us, our families, and our nation. But what happens when He answers that prayer? What do we do with the blessing once we have it?
There is a recurring pattern in Scripture, a tragic cycle that we must understand if we are to navigate our own lives faithfully. The great Puritan Cotton Mather once said that faithfulness begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother. This is the story of countless individuals, churches, and nations. God blesses obedience. He pours out His favor. And then the very prosperity that came from faithfulness becomes the instrument of our downfall. We begin to trust in the gifts rather than the Giver. The blessings become idols. The tools become traps. The daughter, prosperity, turns and devours the mother, faithfulness.
This is precisely what we begin to see in the reign of Solomon. After his magnificent start, his humble request for wisdom, and God's lavish outpouring of favor, we come to this passage. On the surface, it is a simple inventory of royal strength and economic prowess. It reads like a report from the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce. Chariots, horsemen, silver like stones, cedars like sycamores. This is the very picture of national strength and security. This is what the people wanted when they first demanded a king "like all the other nations." And on the surface, it all looks like blessing. But if we have ears to hear, and if we have read the book of Deuteronomy, we can hear the faint, ominous cracking of the foundation. We are witnessing the first seeds of compromise, the subtle shift from trusting in God to trusting in the apparatus of the state. This passage is a warning, written for our instruction, about how easily blessing can curdle into a curse when the heart of a man, or a nation, begins to lean on its own understanding.
The Text
And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. And he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. The king also made silver and gold as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the Shephelah. Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s merchants procured them from Kue for a price. And they imported a chariot from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150; and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.
(2 Chronicles 1:14-17 LSB)
Trusting in Chariots (v. 14)
We begin with the inventory of Solomon's military might.
"And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. And he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem." (2 Chronicles 1:14)
The Chronicler begins with the military hardware. Chariots and horsemen were the ancient equivalent of tanks and fighter jets. They were the pinnacle of military technology, the ultimate symbol of national power and security. And Solomon has them in abundance. He is building a professional, standing army, stationing them in strategic "chariot cities." This is what a powerful king does. This is what it looks like to be a regional superpower.
But for a king of Israel, this is a deeply problematic development. The issue is not with having a military. God is not a pacifist. But the issue is one of trust. Where is the nation's confidence to be placed? David, Solomon's father, understood this perfectly. He wrote, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God" (Psalm 20:7). David knew that victory came from the hand of God, not from the might of his army. He faced Goliath with a sling, not a squadron of chariots.
More than this, Solomon's actions are in direct violation of the law for the king laid out in Deuteronomy. God had anticipated that Israel would want a king, and He laid down specific prohibitions to keep the king from becoming a tyrant and leading the people away from Him. "Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never return that way again'" (Deuteronomy 17:16). The multiplication of horses was explicitly forbidden. Why? Because horses were instruments of war and conquest, and God did not want His king to trust in military might. He wanted a king who would depend utterly on Him for deliverance and victory. Solomon's gathering of 12,000 horsemen is a flagrant, public disobedience of this command. It is the first step toward building a state that trusts in itself, a state that believes its security lies in its own power.
The Seduction of Stuff (v. 15)
Next, the Chronicler moves from military wealth to material wealth.
"The king also made silver and gold as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the Shephelah." (2 Chronicles 1:15)
This is a picture of staggering, almost comical, prosperity. Silver and gold, the measures of wealth, are demoted to the status of common paving stones. Expensive, imported cedars are as common as the cheap, local sycamore-fig trees. This is God's blessing poured out. God had promised Solomon riches and honor, and He is a God who keeps His promises. On its face, this is a good thing. Wealth is not inherently sinful; it is a tool, an opportunity to obey God.
But here again, the warning of Deuteronomy 17 echoes in the background. The king was not only forbidden from multiplying horses, but he was also told, "nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold" (Deuteronomy 17:17). Why? Because the accumulation of massive wealth by the state leads to two great temptations. First, it leads to arrogance and self-reliance. The nation begins to believe that its own economic power is the source of its blessing. They forget the God who gives the power to get wealth (Deut. 8:18). Second, it centralizes power in the hands of the king, turning him from a servant of the people under God's law into a master who can fund his own ambitions. Solomon is not just getting rich; he is building a powerful, centralized state funded by that wealth. The silver may look like stones, but it is paving a road away from humble dependence on God.
The Egyptian Connection (v. 16-17)
The passage concludes by telling us the source of this military and economic engine: Egypt.
"Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s merchants procured them from Kue for a price. And they imported a chariot from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150; and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram." (2 Chronicles 1:16-17)
Here the disobedience becomes explicit and undeniable. The law did not just say "don't multiply horses." It specifically said, "or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses." Egypt, in the biblical imagination, is more than just a place on a map. It is the house of bondage. It represents the world's system of power, wisdom, and security apart from God. It is the place of slavery from which God miraculously delivered His people. To "go back to Egypt" for horses is to turn your back on God's deliverance and to seek security from the very power that once enslaved you.
Solomon doesn't just go back to Egypt; he goes into business with them. He sets up a state-sponsored horse and chariot trading enterprise. He imports from Egypt and then becomes an arms dealer to the surrounding nations, the Hittites and the Arameans, who would later be thorns in Israel's side. He is making pragmatic, geopolitical alliances. He is being a "wise" statesman by the world's standards. But by God's standards, this is disastrous compromise. He is yoking himself to the world's way of doing things. This entanglement begins here with horses, but we know where it ends. It ends with Egyptian wives, and Egyptian gods, and an apostate heart (1 Kings 11:1-8).
This is how compromise works. It never looks like a wholesale surrender at first. It looks like a smart business deal. It looks like a prudent security measure. It looks like a necessary political alliance. Solomon is making Israel "great," but he is doing it by adopting the methods and the mindset of the pagan nations. He is building a kingdom of man, with all its worldly glory, right in the heart of the kingdom of God.
Conclusion: Guarding the Gift
So what are we to make of this? This passage is a snapshot of a kingdom at the peak of its glory, and at the very moment it begins to rot from the inside. The blessings of God were pouring in, but the king's heart was slowly, subtly, turning from the Giver to the gifts. The prosperity that should have led to greater gratitude and obedience was instead funding disobedience and self-reliance.
This is a profound warning for us, both as individuals and as a people. God delights to bless His children. He gives us good gifts: financial stability, peace in our land, talents, and opportunities. But every one of those blessings comes with a test. Will we use it for His glory, with a grateful heart, in humble obedience to His Word? Or will we begin to trust in the gift itself? Will we lean on our bank account instead of our God? Will we find our security in our military and our politicians instead of in the Lord of Hosts? Will we make compromises with the world, adopting its wisdom and its methods, in order to "get things done"?
The story of Solomon is the story of a man who was given everything and who, by degrees, squandered it. He did not lose his wisdom overnight. He did not become an idolater in a day. It began with seemingly small compromises. It began with a few too many horses. It began with a little too much gold. It began with a pragmatic trade deal with Egypt. It began the moment he started to believe that the glorious kingdom he ruled was the result of his own strength and wisdom, rather than the sheer, unmerited grace of God.
Let us therefore take heed. When God blesses, we must be doubly vigilant. We must ask Him not only for the blessing, but for the wisdom and grace to handle the blessing rightly. We must cling to His Word as the only true standard, especially when the world offers us what looks like a shortcut. For if we do not, we will find that the daughter of prosperity has a voracious appetite, and she will not hesitate to devour the mother of faithfulness that gave her birth.