BIBLE CHARACTER: Faded Glory

Solomon: arguably Israel’s greatest king

 

“from the cedar tree ….  unto the hyssop” (1 Kings 4:33)

 

In the secular world we speak of someone who has been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. The expression means to have a high social position and to be rich from birth. The person “born with a silver spoon” therefore begins life with distinct advantages over other people. With an endowment like this, such an individual ought to capitalize upon the “head start” that is theirs and make their life count. Sadly, however, the silver spoon heritage is not always appreciated, and the advantages associated with it can all be lost.

 

Such a thing happened in the life of Solomon, King of Israel. His advantages were prodigious, yet his life became one of faded glory. The lustre associated with his early life waned and his epitaph became one of the “could have been” varieties. His life epitomized his earlier writing. He who had resembled the finest cedars of Lebanon in splendour was reduced to the level of the humble hyssop and to insignificance and shame (1 Kgs.4:33).

 

What went wrong? How can we account for the tragedy of Solomon’s reign? In order to answer these questions we need to consider both his assets and his liabilities, for this will enable us to pinpoint the cause of his failure. By doing this we will discover that Solomon’s life need not have followed the direction that, in reality, it took.

 

 

SIGNIFICANT ASSETS

The assets that Solomon possessed were certainly significant. To begin with, his father was King David – described in Scripture as a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). Although by no means perfect, David had repented of the grievous immorality and deceit found in his earlier life. He was concerned for Solomon and spoke pointedly to him on his deathbed of the need for Solomon to be “a man” and to obey the Lord’s commandments. This, David knew, was the only way that Solomon would succeed in life (1 Kgs.2:1-3). Those parting words should have haunted him. He would have known that his father was speaking from personal experience and that David had enjoyed the blessing of God through obedience.

 

Solomon did not come to the throne without assistance. The Law of God had already been given, and its teaching was available to guide him in his decisions. Indeed, Moses had anticipated the time when the Israelites would desire a king. On ascending the throne the new king must obtain the Law from the Levites and must write out a copy of it for his own future reference. He must then keep it safe and read it “all the days of his life” in order that it might keep him in the right paths (Deut.17:18-19).

 

Early in Solomon’s reign the Lord appeared to him in a dream and asked him to specify exactly what he wanted (1 Kgs.3:5). Acknowledging God’s mercy to David, his father, Solomon humbly pleaded for wisdom as he sensed his own inadequacy and inexperience for the reign that lay before him. The Lord was pleased with Solomon’s request and in addition offered him “riches and honour” as well as long life if he obeyed Him (1 Kgs.3:12-14). Solomon’s assets were therefore not simply of the silver spoon kind; the Lord gave him blessings and promises when he became established as king.

 

Solomon was a remarkable individual. He had a mind that encompassed the universe. God gave to him “wisdom and understanding” beyond measure so that his abilities exceeded all others. The wisdom of Egypt (which was voluminous) paled into insignificance before Solomon’s. He was “wiser than all men” and outshone the known intellectuals of his day, so much so that people all around talked about him and sought his company. Three thousand proverbs were associated with him as well as 1,005 songs. His skills, however, were not restricted to literature, poetry and music. The fields of botany and biology attracted his interest. He could speak knowledgeably of trees and plants – ranging from the majestic cedars of Lebanon to the common hyssop found growing out of the wall. He became an expert when it came to discussing animals, birds, insects and fishes (1 Kgs.4:29-34). He must have been a veritable walking encyclopaedia!

 

The wealth of Solomon was legendary. He possessed an efficient navy (1 Kgs.9:26) as well as an army equipped with golden shields (1 Kgs.10:17). Trade developed enormously during his reign with exotic imports such as gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks arriving in his kingdom (1 Kgs.10:22). His throne was imposing with its raised steps and stately lions (1 Kgs.10:18-20). Such was his opulence that silver was relatively unimportant – all his drinking vessels being made of pure gold (1 Kgs.10:21).

 

The final asset in his kingdom would have been Israel’s first temple. It was truly an architectural wonder that impressed all who saw it. David had wanted it to be a magnificent structure (1 Chr.22:5) when he planned its construction, and the finished product shone with dazzling splendour. The Queen of Sheba who visited Jerusalem was so stirred by the beauty, glory, wealth and organization of Solomon’s court – as well as by his personal wisdom – that she was left exhausted after being given a tour of the royal buildings (1 Kgs.10:5). “King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom” (1 Kgs.10:23). Nobody could compare with him. Why, then, did things go so horribly wrong?

 

 

 

SAD LIABILITIES

The first verse of 1 Kings 11 brings us to the heart of the matter. In fact, the opening word “But” draws a line under all that has gone before. We read: “But King Solomon loved many strange women…” (1 Kgs.11:1). This was the problem. Instead of loving one woman who feared the Lord (as Proverbs 31:30 teaches) Solomon loved heathen women – and he loved many of them. No doubt he would have justified the necessity for having them. Political alliances were probably bound up in these marriages, but Solomon would have done far better to have trusted in the Lord for safety instead of relying upon what he believed to be secure relationships with neighbouring countries.

 

Solomon was guilty of disobedience. The Lord had clearly stated, “Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods” (1 Kgs.11:2). Although warned, Solomon persisted in his disobedience and clung to his foreign wives “in love” (1 Kgs.11:2). It is difficult to comprehend the idea of a thousand wives and concubines – but the root of the problem lay here. Later, when Solomon was old and less strong, these wives “turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 Kgs.11:4).   

 

Many years before, when Moses anticipated the desire for a king in Israel, he stipulated that a future monarch must “not multiply horses to himself” – especially horses obtained from Egypt. Israel’s experience in Egypt was past and must not be repeated. The future king also must not “multiply wives to himself” in order to guard against his heart being turned away. The accumulation of silver and gold was also forbidden. The Law of God which he would be required to copy out would make him aware of these restrictions and was intended to cause him to “learn to fear the LORD his God” and to keep him humble (Deut.17:16-20).

 

 

WARNING SIGNS

Many of the wise sayings found in the Book of Proverbs have come from the pen of Solomon. Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon are also attributed to his authorship. But some of Solomon’s own statements condemn the once-wise king. For instance, he had written, “The wise in heart will receive commandments” (Prov.10:8). Sadly, this is where Solomon failed. He seems to have lost wisdom of heart because he certainly did not receive the commandments of the Lord. Blatantly he went his own way and accumulated possessions that had been strictly forbidden.

 

“The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel” (1 Kgs.11:9). He had done “evil in the sight of the LORD” and was guilty of incomplete commitment to Him (1 Kgs.11:6). With a heart that was turned away from the True God by his many wives (1 Kgs.11:4), one thing only remained: the kingdom would be taken from him (1 Kgs.11:11). Scripture has very little to say after this point. The 40 year reign of Solomon was soon over, and Solomon was dead.