King Solomon is one of the most revered figures in biblical history. Not only is he held in high regard within the pages of Christian mythology, but Islam also regards Solomon as one of the greatest prophets of its religion. But why? Why is Solomon so revered? Is his story beyond reproach, and does Solomon sit on an exalted throne of saints? Or is the story of Solomon like many in the bible, the story of a person who is given great and wondrous gifts and squandered them.
Like most biblical characters, Solomon is a mixed bag of greatness and frustration. We look at Solomon and say things like, “if I was given so much, I would appreciate it, do so much more with it.” But the truth of it is this: the downfalls of Solomon are similar to our own, and his story can serve as cautionary, and relatable on many levels. So what we’ll do is take a look at Israel’s most successful king, take a bird’s eye view of his life, his early successes and his earth-shattering failures. In all this is the simple truth that his story can and does mirror our own struggles with success, obedience and redemption.
God’s Plan for Solomon
To understand the complete story, we have to begin with Solomon’s father David. The great King David is a biblical figure of gigantic proportions, “a man after God’s own heart.” David, although deeply flawed, was a man who strove to please God, and through many of David’s chronicled foibles, we find at the heart of the man someone who continually, after falling into some pretty sinful circumstances, realizes the depth of his sin, repents, and turns back to his God.
David’s story is an important tale of redemption and how God views us and our sin. Sometimes, when lost in sin, we feel there is no way God could ever love us again. But in his story, we see God is always eager to have us back. He desires for us to turn from the sins that so easily entangle us. It is the ultimate vision of unconditional love, a father who just wants us back in his care. David understands this, and through his devotion to God, wants to build a temple for Him. But David has too much blood on his hands, so God tells him that he cannot build the temple he so longingly wants to construct. The task will fall to his son, as noted in 2 Samuel 7:11-16:
‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Through David’s son Solomon, God declares that the temple will be built. Solomon’s charge, even before his birth, is to not only build the temple for the Lord, but to consistently follow, direct his offspring to follow, so that the throne will always seat a descendent of David. This promise, from God, tells that God himself will have a hand in punishing the subsequent kings, will guide them along to lay the path for the coming Lord Jesus.
Dedicated to God/ The Restoration
To understand a little about Solomon’s dedication to God, we again have to go back to David and the story of David and Bathsheba, which is the ultimate story of restoration. This story is found in 2 Samuel 11:
11 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. 10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home. 14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” 16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. 18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’” 22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” 25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.” 26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
David is a king, a warrior king, but you may notice that David is not at war. As the story opens, David is at his palace, a place where he isn’t supposed to be. He is supposed to be at war. So as he is in a place he shouldn’t be, he finds himself bumming around, looking for something to do. And that’s when he sees her, Bathsheba, bathing on the roof.
You’ll notice, through this entire story, David has a number of choices.
CHOICE 1: to watch Bathsheba bathe on the rooftop. He could turn away, but does not. CHOICE 2: to inquire about her. He could have left it at watching her, but does not. CHOICE 3: to call her to the palace. He could have gotten the information and left it there. In fact, he learns she is the daughter of one of his staff. There is a line which he crosses here, one which he could have turned away from. CHOICE 4: Once she is in front of him, he could simply bask in her beauty and send her away. But he does not. He has a choice and he chooses poorly.
This succession into sin is probably nothing foreign to you. In fact, if you really think about it, this happens to all of us in regards to sin. Possibly not this particular sin, but the fingerprints are apparent: when we slide into sin, it is usually a succession of tiny choices we make. If we go to James 1:13-15, we see the very real cycle of sin:
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Each person is dragged away by his own evil desires and enticed, is what James says. This is very apparent with David, and in our own lives. When we sin, typically its because we ease into it, rationalize it, slip into it. As you can already see, David’s story is not only his but the shared human experience.
So David gets Bathsheba pregnant. Now this is problematic for a number of reasons. First, Bathsheba is married to one David’s elite fighting men, a man named Uriah. Bathsheba is the daughter of one of his inner circle. Plus, David is responsible for the same OT laws that his kingdom is: if he’s having an affair, he can be put to death. Can we say scandal?
David has sinned, no doubt there, but instead of coming clean to it, he perpetuates it by attempting a clumsy coverup. First, knowing Uriah is her husband, he calls him back home from war. The idea is this: let’s get him home and making love to his wife. Then David can pin the pregnancy on Uriah and David’s off the hook! Easy, except it doesn’t work. Uriah, loyal David to the end, can’t fathom being away from battle and goes back, despite David’s attempt to get him drunk and randy. Strike one.
The next attempt is one born of desperation. He cons his commander of the army, Joab, to put Uriah on the front line. As he is to go into battle, Joab is to recede the others, leaving Uriah out in the open. Uriah is struck down in battle.
This works just right for David and although Bathsheba is stricken with grief, the plan has worked. He is able to look like the benevolent leader, takes Bathsheba into his harem and when she has the baby, it looks like David’s legal child. Perfect! But that isn’t the entire story. Because God sees all. Nathan the prophet is called to dispatch the truth to David, and once David realizes that nothing of this hatched plan has escaped the sight of God, he truly repents. In the depths of his sorrow, psalm 51, David expresses his true and earnest repentance to God. This is the beginning of what I call the Cycle of Restoration.
2 Samuel 12:1-10
1The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
God understands that we sin, we fall short, we are weak. God made us as flawed beings. Why would God do such a thing? Because if we are capable of being independent, why would we need to be dependent on God? Our weakness is an indication that we need to practice dependence. Our culture, of course, has something different to say about that. But dependence, not independence, is how God has built us. David understands this dependence.
Sometimes we struggle with the story of David and wonder why David would be so revered as God’s favorite son. He sinned. He murdered. He cheated and lied. But here’s the key: David understood dependency. He understood that he needed God and that all he did in his life depended on the grace of God. If you consider his story, you may realize that your story has its own nicks and bruises and gashes in it, welts that you don’t believe can ever be rectified. This is why David’s plight is important to understand.
God wants you to return to him. As David realizes his grievous sin and repents, we find the next leg of the story. The part of the his story and ours, the trouble with consequences: 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.” 15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackclothon the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” 19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” 20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. 21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” 22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
So when we sin, there are consequences. Sometimes these consequences are far reaching; sometimes they are between our ears. But when we sin, God promises the consequences. In David’s case, the consequence is the death of the son he and Bathsheba bore from their affair.
In this illustration we see David going through the grief of losing his son. God’s punishment is harsh, but the idea for us is this: when we sin, there will be consequences. There will be damage. But in God’s perfect love, even though harsh, it teaches us a lesson. It helps us move toward a goal of learning and growing. Sin can do that service for us, not that we should ever sin to gain knowledge, but when we do sin, we should always grasp what God is trying to teach us from it.
In the rest of the story of David, we don’t see this level of treachery again. David learned from his consequences, was able to turn back toward God, was able to grow from his wrongdoing.
In the next part of the story, David and Bathsheba are restored:
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 25 and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
Through David’s sin, and through the consequences of that sin, we see the end of the perfect cycle. David’s repentance and accepting his consequences brings he and Bathsheba from a place of suffering to a new place of restoration. They have another son and that son is Solomon, also named Jedidiah, which means loved by the Lord.
Solomon is the product of David’s restoration. This is important to note, because without David’s choices, without his sin, without all of the horror and terror, God’s plan cannot come to fruition. This is of special consideration, because God’s plan, for Solomon to take the throne of Israel, is a result of God’s providence (God’s plan that runs behind the scenes of human life).
God’s plans will always come to fruition. Even though David’s story is marked with seeming randomness, there is a mechanism moving (Proverbs 16:9). We plan our way, we make our choices, we scheme and hope and drive a certain path, but it is God directing the way. Even in a sea of seeming randomness, there is still a steady hand.
David’s charge to Solomon
1 Kings 2:1-4
2 When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son. “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, 3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go 4 and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’
Once David’s time came, it was time to pass wisdom onto Solomon. Even though another one of Solomon’s son’s unsuccessfully tried to usurp power, Solomon, the true future king of Israel, was ready to take the throne. So David gives him the advice that, in reality, sets up the entire book of Kings and tells us a little something about our relationship with God: If we walk in obedience and keep his laws and decrees, then we will be blessed.
Now, it is a little different with Christians. We have Jesus Christ, and upon believing in him, our sins are forgiven. But that isn’t the end of the story. As a matter of fact, if we aren’t life-changed, and haven’t developed a passion for his word, then we have to check ourselves. Was our proclamation of “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior” a true proclamation?
Following obediently and following God’s decrees isn’t something from a bygone era. Obedience to God is how we show our love for His law. Following his decrees means we study, learn, understand his Word. None of that has changed. We still have a charge to follow God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength (Mark 12:30). If our repentance to God was legitimate, we should have a passion to follow and learn about God. This is the foundational truth of what David is telling Solomon. Follow God, study His word, and there will be a blessing that extends not only to you but to your desendents.
Solomon asks for wisdom
1 Kings 3:1-15
3 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. 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. 4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. 7 “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. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 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?” 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 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, 12 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. 13 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. 14 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.” 15 Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.
One of the great things about Solomon is that he followed God. We can see this by the fact that he was a worshipper at the high places. The high places were former places to worship Baal, but had been converted into places to worship God. But there is hidden code here, something we must look at and stockpile for the rest of the story: Solomon made an alliance with the King of Egypt and married his daughter. As we will discover later in the story, this is an improper alliance. Yes, it puts Israel in better standing, creates an agreement of peace between the two nations while strengthening both. But it is also inherently against God’s decrees. When we go to Deuteronomy 17: 14-20, we get a broad idea of the concept, which will come into full view later.
14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. 16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. 18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.
For now, though, we see Solomon as a devoted follower of God. God asks Solomon to ask him for whatever he desires and he will give it to him. Solomon asks for wisdom. Not just wisdom, but wisdom in governing his people, a selfless sort of discernment that will allow him to run his government effectively, help promote peace and prosperity, and grow his kingdom the way God wants him to. This pleases God, so God sweetens the deal:
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 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, 12 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. 13 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. 14 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.”
He will give Solomon all of the trapping of success, along with a discerning heart, but with one caveat: that he is obedient and follows the commands of God. This is no small feat. Obedience is the way we show that we love God. Following his decrees means we have to study his word, understand what it means, and let those truths penetrate our heart.
Solomon builds the temple
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.
Solomon does as he is commanded. He builds the temple of the Lord in the fourth year of his reign. The temple takes 7 years to build (1 Kings 6:38) and is approximately 180 feet longs, 90 feet wide, 50 feet high with a portico reaching up to 200 feet high. David’s dream is realized through Solomon, and God’s plan for Solomon to build the temple is complete.
Upon building the temple, the ark is brought to it and placed in the holy on holies (1 Kings 8:1-2). Since the building of the ark in the book of Exodus, the ark has not had a permanent home. Now the ark is set and Israel has a proper, dedicated place to worship God.
Solomon dedicates the temple and worship commences, with Solomon himself bringing the most elaborate sacrifices of all. God appears to Solomon once again, with some very important information (1 Kings 9:1-9):
When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2 the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ 6 “But if you[a] or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you[b] and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 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. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All[c] who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.’”
Verse 4 gives us God’s promise: If you walk before me faithfully with integrity and uprightness…and do all I say and observe my laws, I will establish your royal throne that will last forever… God’s promise comes upon Solomon’s faithful walk. It doesn’t mean he has to do it perfectly (David wasn’t perfect), but his heart must be turned to God in all things. God must be his foundation, he must study and learn and keep close to God’s decrees- he must actively follow God.
There is a flip side to this. If Solomon does not put God at the forefront, then God: 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. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All[c] who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.’”
There is a lot riding on Solomon’s dedication to God. He must be obedient, love the Lord and serve him, understand and apply God’s law to his life and heart. After all, if the king follows God, and the people follow the king, there is a great prosperity promised. One that God has been hoping for his people ever since he rescued them from Egypt about 500 years before.
Solomon’s kingdom
Solomon’s kingdom is the golden age of Israel. He takes David’s expansion of the borders and expands them all the way north to the Euphrates and as far south as the Wadi of Egypt. It will never be this large again. He has made peace with the surrounding nations and watched God work his wealth, creating one, if not the, wealthiest place on the planet at the time. It all seems to be running just right. But as we know, in any culture, there is a ramp up period, an apex, and a fall. Israel is no different.
Solomon’s splendor (1 kings 10:14-29)
14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, 15 besides that which came from the explorers and from the business of the merchants, and from all the kings of the west and from the governors of the land. 16 King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels of gold went into each shield. 17 And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 18 The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the throne had a round top, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, 20 while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom. 21 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. 23 Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24 And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. 25 Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh,[e] spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year. 26 And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 27 And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah. 28 And Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s traders received them from Kue at a price. 29 A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150, and so through the king’s traders they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.
Solomon’s kingdom is resplendent and gaudy. As a matter of fact, we can look at this as an indication of God’s great blessing on Solomon’s kingdom. We can make the assertion that Solomon is following properly, thus the blessing. But we also know that God promised this blessing anyway, based on Solomon’s humble request for wisdom. There is a clue that things aren’t quite right in this kingdom. 666 talents is the indicator. There are only two places in scripture we see this number. The other place is with the Anti-Christ, in the book of Revelation. 666 indicates disobedience. In the case of the anti-Christ, it is disobedience to what Christ stands for. In this case, we can determine there is some type of disobedience with the way Solomon is making his money. But how? Does the scripture give us any indication of what this disobedience could be? It happens in the very next verse: 16 King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels[a] of gold went into each shield. 17 And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; three minas[b] of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
What’s wrong with making shields? He has to prepare for war, correct? Well, there are a few problems with this approach. First, Solomon’s kingdom is at peace with all nations around it. So imminent war isn’t on the horizon. But perhaps he’s stockpiling them just in case?
Gold is perhaps the poorest metal to use for a shield. It is heavy and unstable. No, Solomon isn’t preparing for defense; he’s decoration his palace with them. The House of the Forest of Lebanon is the name of his palace. The palace, which he built at the same time as the temple, took twice as long and was twice as large as the temple.
The next issue comes in the following verse: The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and the throne had a round top,[c] and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, 20 while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom.
Doesn’t this strike us as excessive? Solomon, once a beacon for all who came seeking his wisdom, now is building a giant throne to accept anyone who requests his teachings.
21 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
Solomon’s kingdom is so rich that silver is considered valueless. When we talk about 666 talents, we’re talking roughly about 300,000,000 flowing into his kingdom yearly. 600 shekels of gold into each shield calculates out to 33,000,000 in gold shields alone! So we look at these great blessings that God has given to Solomon’s kingdom, but can we say, just in these examples, that Solomon is using it wisely? Is this blessing God or himself?
23 Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24 And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. 25 Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.
The whole earth sought his wisdom. In earlier chapters, we see Solomon freely giving his wisdom. Here, we see a departure from that. The departure is this: people are now bringing gifts to hear his wisdom and those gifts are being accepted. Why? To enrich his kingdom.
26 And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 27 And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah. 28 And Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s traders received them from Kue at a price. 29 A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150, and so through the king’s traders they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria. Solomon begins to accumulate chariots, horsemen and horses. Now this doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but when we go to Deuteronomy 17:14-20, we see something that Solomon is in violation of:
14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. 16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. 18 When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.
This is Moses’ declaration to the future kings of Israel, a list of do’s and don’ts so that the king’s heart will not be turned away from God. So let’s examine the list:
1. Appoint a king who God chooses: Solomon was clearly chosen by God. In future stories of the kings, we see a few who climb to power in opposition to God, and that doesn’t work out too well. 2. He must be among your fellow Israelites: This is also true of Solomon. 3. The king must not acquire a great number of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt get more of them: Solomon obviously violates this completely. Why is this a problem? Well, first God says it is forbidden. But is more earthly terms, the accumulation of “stuff” in our lives causes a distraction from God. We began to focus on those things and begin to believe that it is our doing. 4. He is not to acquire many wives, or his heart will be led astray: In the next chapter we will see just how devastating it is for Solomon to forget this rule. 5. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees : There is not indications scripture that Solomon didn’t do this, but the implication, based on his actions, is that he probably strayed from this. Based on the fact that he drifted away from he teachings of Deuteronomy 17 tells this story. If he had been reading each day, writing and taking the scripture to heart, there is a possibility that he would not have strayed. 6. And not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left: His throne indicates that he put himself in an elevated position to his people.
All of this shows that the the roots in Solomon were perhaps not as deep as they should have been. His actions, although outwardly worshipful, did not reveal his true heart. Those roots are laid bare in the next section, Solomon’s downfall.
Solomon’s downfall
11 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 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. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 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. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. 7 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. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. 9 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. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. 11 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. 12 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. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
Solomon loved many foreign women. From the book of Exodus up to the book of first kings, leaders, and the people, are warned against intermarrying with foreign women. Why? Is this the first instance of biblical racism? Not at all.
When the Israelites came into the promised land, they were tasked with clearing out the land to make room for their own people. God declared judgment on the Canaanites, due to over 400 years of opposition to God. When the Israelites inhabited the land, God said that the Canaanites had to be gone completely. Why? Because their very presence would turn the Israelites away from God. The Israelites, of course, were not able to purge the land. Many of the conquering tribes merely chose to live with the people. Due to that “compromise”, they eventually intermarried and many were driven away to other gods.
God’s edict for the Jews not to intermarry wasn’t a racial profiling or anything racist at all. In fact, it was the plan to preserve the Jewish bloodline and to create a people who were wholly devoted to God. Instead they defiled it and could never recover in order to follow God fully.
This is true of Solomon as well. He marries foreign women, women who God strictly forbade the Jews to marry into. In this violation, the exact thing happens to Solomon as predicted: they drive his heart away from God. We also learn something else about this passage: Solomon has a giant amount of wives and concubines! This not only speaks to his violation, again, of Deuteronomy 17, but his excess. Another point of interest is that these women were not all collected at the end of his reign, but throughout. Remember the Egyptian princess he married back in chapter 3? Well, that is an indication that he was doing this all along, even as he was doing great things for God (i.e., building the temple).
We see Solomon falling off the edge in a big way. His heart is not only driven away from God, but to the complete other spectrum. He is seen worshipping Chemosh and Molek, two very ugly and disgusting gods who require child sacrifice and sexual practices during their worship. Exactly what the Canaanites were into when the Israelites were tasked with cleaning them out of the promised land.
This is detestable to God. And God rips the kingdom out of Solomon’s grip. But you’ll notice the mercy as well. In regard to David, God will not tear the kingdom apart until after Solomon’s death. So for the remainder of Solomon’s life, he has to sit with the concept that he ultimately failed to follow God with a pure heart.
The book of Ecclesiastes, widely considered a work of Solomon, fits perfectly into this story. A contemplative king, looking back on his life and wondering what went wrong. What were the things he chased? What was of value in this life? Did any of it matter without God at the helm?