ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 The Abomination of Desolation

Ko e Me’a Fakalielia Faka’auha

1 KINGS 11:5-7

SOLOMON WENT AFTER ASHTORETH THE GODDESS OF THE SIDONIANS, AND AFTER MILCOM THE ABOMINATION OF THE AMMONITES. SO SOLOMON DID WHAT WAS EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD AND DID NOT WHOLLY FOLLOW THE LORD, AS DAVID HIS FATHER HAD DONE. THEN SOLOMON BUILT A HIGH PLACE FOR CHEMOSH THE ABOMINATION OF MOAB, AND FOR MOLECH THE ABOMINATION OF THE AMMONITES, ON THE MOUNTAIN EAST OF JERUSALEM.

1 Tu‘i 11:5-7

5 He na‘e muimui ‘a Solomone kia ‘Asiteloti ko e ‘otua ‘o e kau Saitoni, pea kia Milikomi ko e ‘otua fakalielia ‘o ‘Āmoni. 6 Pea fai ‘e Solomone ‘a e me‘a na‘e tau kovi ki he finangalo ‘o Sihova, ‘o ‘ikai te ne molomolomuiva‘e ki he ‘Eiki, ‘o hangē ko Tēvita ko ‘ene tamai. 7 Toki ngaohi ‘e Solomone ha ‘esi mo‘o Kīmosi ko e ‘otua fakalielia ‘o Moape ‘i he mo‘unga ‘oku hanga mai ki Selusalema, pea kia Moloke ko e ‘otua fakalielia ‘o ‘Āmoni.

Lau senituli kimu’a ‘ia Solomone, na’e fakatokanga ‘a e ‘Otua ki ‘isileli telia na’a nau ponou ki ha sikuisimi [ngaahi fakalielia]; ‘aitoli ‘akau, maka, siliva pe koula (Teutalonome 29:17). Na’e puli ai pe ‘a e fo’i lea ni ‘o toki ‘asi ‘ia 1 Tu’i 11 ‘i he taimi na’e tu’ulu ai ‘a Solomone ki  he lotu ‘aitoli. Milikome ko e sikuisimi? ‘Io. Semose ko e sikuisimi? ‘Io. ‘A’u kia Moleki, ‘i he feilaulau tutu ‘o e longa’i fanau? Ko e ngaahi fakalielia ko eni, ‘oku hange ha huhu’a kona ‘oku tafe ki he kelekele tapu ‘o Siuta pea ne fakakonahi kotoa ‘a e fonua. Na’e toki kikite ‘a Taniela fekaua’aki mo e “fakalielia ‘oku fakalala” (Taniela 11:31), te ne faka’uli’i ‘a e ‘olita toputapu ‘aki ‘a e feilaulau ‘aitoli. 

‘Oku fakamatala ‘a Sisu ki he "me’a fakalielia ‘o e faka’auha", ko e faka’ilonga ‘o e taimi ke hola ai ‘a hono kau muimui mei Siutea ki he ngaahi mo’unga (Matiu 24:15). ‘Oku talamai ‘e Paula, ke “hola mei he tauhi ‘aitoli” (1 Kolinito 10:14). Faka’ikai’i pea teke’i ‘a e sikuisimi kotoa pe kae punou ki he ‘OTUA mo’oni pe taha - ko e Tamai, ‘Alo, mo e Laumalie Ma’oni’oni, ko e Fakatupu ‘o langi mo mamani - ‘a Ia tokotaha pe ‘oku ne mafeia ke fakamo’ui kitautolu. 

Fakahaofi kimautolu, ‘e Tamai Faka-hevani, mei he ‘aitoli fakalielia kotoa pe, te nau fakatafoki homau loto meiate koe.

Centuries before Solomon, God had warned Israel to beware lest any of them bow down before the shiqqutzim ['abominations'], their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold" (Deut. 29:17). The word doesn't occur again until 1 Kings 11, when Solomon went whole hog into idolatry. Milcom the shiqqutz ("abomination")? Yes. Chemosh the shiqqutz? Yes. Even Molech, worshiped through child sacrifice? Sadly, yes. Abominations, like hazardous waste, seeped into the sacred soil of Judah, polluting the land. Later, Daniel prophesied the "abomination that makes desolation" (11:31), where the sacred altar would be profaned by an idolatrous sacrifice.

Jesus referenced this "abomination of desolation" as the time when his followers should flee from Judea into the mountains (Matt. 24:15). Paul says, "Flee from idolatry" (1 Cor. 10:14). Reject and repel every form of shiqqutz. bowing down before the one true God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Creator of heaven and earth-who alone can save us.

Rescue us, heavenly Father, from every abominable idol that would turn our hearts from you.