08. SOLOMON
SOLOMON
"In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said to God...Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this Thy great people?"
2Ch 1:7-8; 2Ch 1:10 As Solomon grew up, his father David taught him the importance of wisdom and insisted that he acquire wisdom (Pro 4:1-9). Before he died, David acknowledged his son’s wisdom and urged him to act according to his wisdom in matters where David recognized his own failures (1Ki 2:6; 1Ki 2:9). Parents today should also encourage their children to acquire true wisdom and should commend them when they demonstrate godly wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we are told over and over.
Solomon evidently took his father’s word to heart. We notice his wisdom in his first recorded decisions after he ascended the throne. We especially see it as God asks him to choose what He should give him. A truly wise man will realize his own lack of wisdom and will seek it at the fount of wisdom-God Himself.
Solomon did not request wisdom out of vanity or for personal advantage. He realized what a tremendous responsibility the Lord had entrusted to him, young and inexperienced as he was. He wanted wisdom so as to be able to rule God’s great people well. May we too seek wisdom from above to function well in our daily tasks, family needs, and in the responsibilities God entrusts to us among His people! God will be delighted to honor such requests. Jas 1:5-6 assures us that God is pleased to grant wisdom to all who request it of Him in faith, nothing doubting.
God bestowed upon Solomon wisdom and knowledge, and very great understanding and largeness of heart, and additionally, riches, wealth, and honor. The wisdom of God was in him to do justice. Kings came to hear his wisdom, for his fame spread to all lands.
"Solomon had made a platform of bronze...in the midst of the court; and upon it he stood, and he kneeled down on his knees before the whole congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward the heavens, and said, Jehovah, God of Israel! there is no God like Thee, in the heavens or on the earth."
What a wonderful example Solomon here sets for us! This great and glorious king, whose presence all the kings of the earth sought, to hear his wisdom, publicly kneels on his knees before the Lord and acknowledges His greatness and faithfulness. Of Solomon we are told, "And Solomon loved Jehovah" (1Ki 3:3). May God grant us more such leaders who truly love the Lord and who publicly honor and acknowledge Him! This is true wisdom!
Solomon goes on to make several specific requests of the Lord in connection with the temple which he had spent seven years in building. This temple was probably one of the most gorgeous and costly buildings that man has ever erected. God had given David its pattern. Built of top quality materials by skilled workmen, it was completely covered with gold on the inside and outside. When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from the heavens and consumed the sacrifices. The cloud of Jehovah’s glory filled the house of God so that the priests could not stand to do their service. When the people saw all this they too "bowed themselves with their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshipped and thanked Jehovah: for He is good, for His loving-kindness endureth forever" (2Ch 7:3). A tremendous volume of sacrifices was then offered: 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep!
Conditions are quite different today! Technological changes do not necessarily produce blessing. The American court system has for years attempted to keep God and the Lord Jesus from public honor and acknowledgement. The results are most sadly evident.
"He spoke three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spoke of the trees, from the cedar-tree that is on Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of cattle, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes."
Solomon had asked God for wisdom and an understanding heart to judge God’s people, and to discern between good and bad. The wisdom that God gave him "excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men" (1Ki 4:30-31). We see in the details mentioned here the breadth of this wisdom. Solomon’s understanding of biology reminds us of Adam who was given dominion over the earth and whose first task was to name the animals. In Scripture the thought of naming someone or something is usually associated with having knowledge of and a position superior to that being named. How interesting it would be to have a biology textbook written by Solomon. It would certainly have given glory to the great Creator-God rather than propounding evolutionary nonsense.
God has preserved many of Solomon’s 3000 proverbs in the book of Proverbs-an insightful book he wrote for his son-which is still highly relevant for young people today, and for us all. Other wise sayings of Solomon’s are given us in Ecclesiastes, a book in which he looks back on his experiences in life. It views man’s life "under the sun" in contrast to what the New Testament gives us when it presents the Christian as blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. The emptiness of living for this world only is clearly seen in Ecclesiastes.
Out of the 1005 songs Solomon wrote, we have only one, but that is "The song of songs, which is Solomon’s," a song magnifying Christ, the true Bridegroom, the delight of His people’s hearts.
"King Solomon loved many foreign women... When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods...And Jehovah was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Jehovah the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, not to go after other gods; but he kept not what Jehovah had commanded."
1Ki 11:1; 1Ki 11:4; 1Ki 11:9-10
Unbelievable! we say. No, it’s absolutely true. God gives us this sad account in His Holy Word. It is there for our warning and for our correction. How could Solomon, with all his God-given wisdom, have done something like this? What can we learn from his experience to help us avoid his disastrous mistakes?
One good clue lies in a proverb of his, where he tells us, "He that confideth in his own heart is a fool" (Pro 28:26). God had given His earthly people explicit instructions that their kings were not to multiply wives to themselves. Solomon, who in his younger years loved the Lord and built Him a magnificent temple, took 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines besides these! Perhaps he rationalized that there were reasons of state behind some of these alliances, but God tells us clearly that "to these Solomon was attached in love." Solomon’s problem was a matter of the heart! He disobeyed and his heart was turned away. Not only had God given warnings and unequivocal instructions in the Law, but He had personally appeared to Solomon twice and had commanded him not to go after other gods. Wife after wife seems to have persuaded him to build a high place for her idol. We can hear them in our minds: "Oh, Solomon, honey, you built such a gorgeous temple for your God. Can’t you build just a little high place where we can worship mine?" Before long, "the hill that is before Jerusalem," the Mount of Olives, was defiled with these high places and remained so 350 years until the reign of Josiah.
"Jehovah said to Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done by thee, and thou hast not kept My covenant and My statutes which I commanded thee, I will certainly rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant: notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it, for David thy father’s sake; I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.I will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen."
1Ki 11:11-13 In the latter part of his life Solomon did not fully follow Jehovah. His wives turned away his heart after other gods, and he built high places for them where they burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. Intermarriage between believers and unbelievers today too will have similar disastrous consequences. Seldom does the believer pull the unbeliever upward; the normal pattern is for the unbeliever to drag the believer downward with calamitous results personally, in the family, and even beyond.
Again God spoke to Solomon, but now in judgment. He had warned Solomon of the ruinous outcome of turning from following Him and keeping His commandments to serving and worshipping idols. He must now act in faithfulness to His word. In Gal 6:7 we read, "Be not deceived: God is not mocked; for whatever a man shall sow that also shall he reap." Neither Solomon’s wisdom nor his wealth nor his power could avert God’s just judgment. The kingdom would be torn from him and given to his servant.
God ever acts in faithfulness to His word and in consistency with His character. So here, in accord with His word to David, whom He calls "My servant," and for Jerusalem ’s sake which He had chosen, God refrains from executing His judgment during Solomon’s lifetime. God also tempers its severity. He would not take away the entire kingdom, but would give Solomon’s son one tribe, and so maintain a lamp for David always in Jerusalem.