Solomon - author of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of
Songs.
Pre-reign
Solomon was the 2nd son of David & Bathsheba - born to
them after the death of their first son.
2 Samuel 12:24b-25:
"[Bathsheba] gave birth to a son and they named him Solomon. The LORD
loved him; and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan his
prophet to name him Jedidiah.
Jedidiah means 'beloved of the LORD'.
1 Chronicles 22:9-10 [The LORD
speaking to David]: "But you will have a son who will be a man of peace
and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name
will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He
is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be
his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.
Beginning of his reign & request for wisdom
Solomon was installed as king of Israel, at 20 years of age,
in an emergency response to one of David's other sons (Adonijah) trying to take
the throne from David in his old age.
The first recorded things Solomon did were to clean house of
those who had tried to take his father's throne. However, he did not seek out
vengeance on them, but waited until they made yet another political move to
acquire more power. In this way, he gave
them a chance to change their ways, and when they didn't, his response could be
clearly seen as a result of their additional attempts at subverting him, rather
than as simply retribution for an old grudge.
The first matter of foreign policy that is recorded was
Solomon's alliance with Pharaoh and marriage to one of his daughters. This set
the tone for his reign as king, that he would be a peace maker who trusted in
God rather than in his armies, as his father had done (2 Samuel 24:1-4).
1 Kings 3:7-14 “Now,
Lord
my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am
only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your
servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous
to count or number. So give your
servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between
right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
The
Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So
God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth
for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment
in administering justice, I will do
what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there
will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked
for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among
kings. And if you walk in obedience to
me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a
long life.”
God offered Solomon anything, and he asked for wisdom - this
shows both maturity and no small amount of pre-existing wisdom. If I were
offered anything by God, would I ask for wisdom?
1 Kings 4:29-34: "God gave
Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as
measureless as the sand on the seashore.
Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom
of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
He was wiser than anyone else, including
Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And
his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He
spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five.
He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of
Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and
birds, reptiles and fish. From all
nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the
world, who had heard of his wisdom.
Nelson's Compact Bible Dictionary notes that Solomon came to
power during a time of relative weakness of the surrounding countries. But
instead of striking militarily at them, he established trade with them instead -
using his military to protect trade routes rather than agitate against his
neighbors.
Solomon's Building Projects
Solomon began work on the temple, possibly 13 years after
the beginning of his reign. Total construction took 7 years. The temple was not
notable for its size, but for the detailed craftsmanship that could be found on
nearly every surface of the entire building. All stone was chiseled to finished
size at the quarry and brought to Jerusalem - there was no sound of rock work
in the city. The temple was constructed primarily of these rock pieces. Much of
the inside was lined with imported wood. Solomon hired a famous bronze metal
worker from Tyre, who was half Jewish. He worked with cast (molten metal poured
into a mold) bronze (any of a family of copper base alloys). Notable metal
working for the temple included:
> Two absolutely gigantic
pillars
> The Sea - an enormous bowl for
holding water that was used as the laver in the tabernacle. The priests used
this to wash their hands and feet before entering the holy place.
Interestingly, Gill's Bible Exposition notes that from the measurements given
for the sea, the mathematical constant of Pi can be loosely derived.
Next, Solomon began work on his palace. This took 13 years -
nearly twice as long as the temple. It contained 3 notable features:
> The Palace of the Forest of
Lebanon
> The Hall of Pillars
> Hall
of Justice
These were in addition to his own living quarters. He also
built a separate living quarters for Pharaoh's daughter.
Solomon's unhappy ending
As is mentioned above, Solomon was known nearly world-wide
for his wisdom. However, even his own wisdom did not prevent sin from ruining
the end of his reign.
Mentioned earlier in his reign, in 1 Kings 3:3:
"Solomon
showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the
instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices
and burned incense on the high places." In
context, this passage appears to be referring to his practices before the
Jerusalem Temple was built - it is not saying here that he was offering
sacrifices to other gods. The practice of offering sacrifices and building
idols and altars on geographically high places was started by Jewish
patriarchs, but was widely practiced by pagan nations, and the practice began
to be adopted also by the nation of Israel.
(Christ the Redeemer
Statue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
The sin that Solomon is best (worst?) known for is being led
astray by his many wives & concubines.
At the dedication of the Temple, God warned Solomon: “But if you or
your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees
I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut
off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have
consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of
ridicule among all peoples." (1 Kings
9:6-7)
But as we see in 1 Kings 11:1-12: "King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s
daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them,
because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless,
Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth
and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As
Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart
was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as
the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth
the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So
Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not
follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.
On
a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable
god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites.
He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense
and offered sacrifices to their gods.
The Lord
became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow
other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.
So the Lord said to
Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my
decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away
from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless,
for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I
will tear it out of the hand of your son. "
It is interesting that, in reading
through the in Solomon's recording of his wisdom (which he had received from
God), he is well aware (or should have been well aware) of what he was getting
himself in to. Proverbs 2:16-19: "Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward
woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her
youth and ignored the covenant she made
before God. Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to
the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the
paths of life."
Solomon was purported to be the wisest man
of his time. And his wisdom wasn't only human wisdom, but it was a gift from
God. In a sense, he represents the best case scenario for leading a wise life -
and yet he still sinned much more (that we know about) than his father David,
who was not as wise.
Solomon's own words, "Do not forsake wisdom, and
she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you."
(Proverbs 4:6) Did Solomon, wisest of all, forsake wisdom? Or was something
else going on? Is Solomon an example of trusting in our own understanding and
ability to keep us from sin?
