Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh's daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem.
Unequally Yoked
We often receive letters at Back to the Bible from heartbroken parents whose children were raised as Christians but have chosen to marry unbelievers. We also get letters from Christians who married outside the faith and now are experiencing the heartaches that such unions bring. In the long run, marriage to an unbeliever invariably brings grief.
No one discovered that more tragically than did Solomon. In his early years as Israel's king, he made a treaty with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The custom of that day was to seal such a relationship by marriage. This was not a union of two people who loved each other; it was a business deal. But such an arrangement made Solomon responsible to see that all the needs of his Egyptian wife were met, including her religious needs. As time passed, Solomon made more treaties and collected more wives with various religious backgrounds. In the end, 1 Kings 11:3 tells us he had 700 wives (not to mention 300 concubines) and "his wives turned away his heart."
The Bible warns us not to be intimately involved with unbelievers. Paul calls it being "unequally yoked" (2 Cor. 6:14). This involves not only marriage but also business partnerships and other relationships where moral and ethical issues are at stake. Such alliances will entangle us with the values of the world (2 Tim. 2:4) and seriously compromise our walk with the Lord.
If you are contemplating becoming involved intimately with an unbeliever, heed God's warning. Save yourself and others from a great deal of heartache. Don't bind yourself to someone to whom you cannot bind yourself spiritually. If you are already involved, ask God to protect you from harming your relationship with Him. Pray earnestly for the unbeliever in your life and set a godly example for him or her.
If you can't pull together, don't get together.