Finishing Well
Solomon
certainly started well. But how did he
finish- not so well. Let's start at the
beginning and look at his prayer to God, and God's answer…
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at
night; and God said, “Ask what you wish
me to give you.”
Solomon’s
Prayer
6 Then Solomon said, “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your
servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and
righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for
him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his
throne, as it is this day.
7 “Now, O Lord my
God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but
a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.
8 “Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have
chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted.
9 “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your
people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great
people of Yours?”
God’s
Answer
10 It was pleasing in the
sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have
not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have
you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment
to understand justice,
12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have
given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you
before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.
13 “I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and
honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days.
14 “If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments,
as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”
15 Then Solomon awoke,
and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark
of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace
offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.[1]
It
appears that Solomon asked the Lord in a dream to give him unique
understanding, discernment, and judgement so that he could discharge the
responsibilities of his role as king over all Israel. God was pleased with this request and offers
to give him a wise and discerning heart as well as riches and honor. He promises to make Solomon unique above all
the kings of his day.
His
wealth and renown are well documented in 1 Kings chapters three through
ten. His wisdom is well attested to by
the Queen of Sheba and others. He reigns
during a period of unity and prosperity, makes alliances, builds a glorious
house for himself, and he completed the temple, his crowning achievement. He also wrote numerous proverbs which we have
preserved in the Bible. Unfortunately,
he did not heed God's warning that was explicitly stated in 1 Kings 9:6-7.
“But
if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My
commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve
other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I
have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will
cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all
peoples."
Despite
all his wisdom, Solomon sinned by accumulating for himself numerous wives and
concubines. In 1 Kings 11:3-4 it states:
He
had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his
wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his
heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD
his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
And
in verses 9 and 10 we are told:
Now
the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the
LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him
concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not
observe what the LORD had commanded.
So, it raises the question, was Solomon really
that wise? And if he was wise, what kind
of wisdom was it? How could someone with such wisdom fall so greatly. He started so well yet ended so poorly.
To
make matters worse, in the book of Ecclesiastes, which he wrote, he seems
ambiguous about wisdom. Although he
extols the benefits of wisdom, he also mentions the futility of it…
I,
the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my mind to
seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It
is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all
is vanity and striving after wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened and
what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified
and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind
has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” And I set my mind to know
wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving
after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing
knowledge results in increasing pain. (Eccl
1:12-18)
So
how do we reconcile these conflicting issues?
God imbued him with wisdom to have discernment and lead Israel well, but
in the end, he fails to apply it to himself.
He extols wisdom's value, but also talks of its futility.
Of
course, the theme of Ecclesiastes is "Vanity, vanity, all is
vanity." Solomon walks through all
the typical pursuits of man. He seems to
see the value of wisdom, but still finds no lasting fulfillment in it. That makes
you wonder. Though he possessed much leadership
knowledge for judging and discerning, had he lost the simple wisdom of applying
God's truth to his personal life? This
is not unlike much of what we see in our day.
Even in our own lives.
As
you look closely at Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, you see Solomon still saw the
deep spiritual issues in life…
The
fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One
is understanding.
(Prov 9:10)
The
conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments,
because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment,
everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. (Eccl 12:13-14)
I
suppose just because someone is wise, even exceptionally wise, even endued with
supernational wisdom, they still can fall. Solomon's weakness was his love for
women, especially foreign women. And
those women worshipped foreign deities.
And that foreign worship drew his heart away from the true and living
God.
This
is a cautionary tale. What could cause
you to be drawn away from God? How can
you be seduced from pure devotion to Him.
God wants our whole heart. Which
part of your heart is prone to wander? I
wonder.
“And
that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord
with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and
committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who
has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of
him they will ask all the more. (Lk 12:47-48)
Consider this warning from the Lord Jesus Christ, that he who has been
given much, much will be required. Certainly,
God had given Solomon much. Much in the
way of wisdom, riches, power, and honor.
And yet with all that he had been given, he failed to obey God's
specific instructions.
He
started so well and ended so poorly. What about you? If this can happen to Solomon, I suppose it
can happen to any of us.
[1] All passages in this post were taken from New American
Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman
Foundation, 1995).
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