Many lessons can be learned from the life and times of King Solomon. His deeds have been chronicled for us in great detail; covering his vast knowledge and riches, how he accepted grace and rejected wisdom in later years, so Much has been written in the Bible concerning this once wise king of Israel, his life could have been the envy of most men who were living during those glorious wealthy days when the son of David ruled in Israel.
King Solomon was the son of David who brought the kingdom of Israel to great and prosperous heights, David himself was well-loved by the nation because he was a conquering hero, having defeated Goliath and made preparation for the building of the temple, but under King Solomon’s reign, Israel experienced the royal stately visit of the queen of Sheba, who came to test him with hard questions, the people also responded well to a change in their fortune, and the Hebrew culture was enviable.
Peace During King Solomon Time
One of the very first things that you will have noticed about King Solomon is that there was peace during his reign, no one made war with him, his vast wisdom saw to that. he also marries many wives and had lots of concubines, this, however, did not satisfy his appetite, because as we later learned, that his wives turned away his heart from serving the true and living God who had appeared to him, and granted him riches and honor.
It would seem from all indication that Solomon took all his good fortune for granted and started behaving as he pleased; he most certainly did not earn his position. It was given to him by the marvelous grace of God. As you read the story of his life, you will be able to see that he squandered what had been given to him. The value of something is determined by the price you pay for it.
Therefore it was a case of easy come and easy go. His unfathomable wisdom departed from him, and he ended up drifting away from a vital relationship with God. This was of course very sad because many kings and queens respected him, his fame went far across the globe, but He seemingly did not appreciate what he had become to others, he was a role model for the upcoming teenagers and at court, he was a shining example of worship, but then all too soon, his great wisdom was gone.
We learn more from our failures than we do from our successes.
God chooses to bless Solomon and to make him an example for others to follow, God will always choose a person, even though he knows their destiny and the decisions that they will make whether good or bad, but it does not diminish his purpose for mankind, even though Solomon let him down, God would still work with others in limited capacity.
We know of no other person in the bible that was gifted with such degree of wealth or knowledge, but we do find other good and upstanding personnel in the scriptures, who used their common sense and assailed to great heights, when Comparing other choices that God had, Solomon seemed the best choice to carry out God’s plan, but he failed miserably, yet God had a big lesson to teach his beloved people with the bad attitude and unbelief, God would eventually use Jesus to fulfill his purpose.
God’s people choose a king so they could be like the other surrounding nations, and they wanted their God to also come and live among them so they could have the prestige and power, yet God had already lived among them, but they could not see and would not accept that fact. Solomon did do some wonderful things, one of them was the building of a magnificent temple for worship, this magnificent temple was to be an enduring symbol of gods presence with his people in their land, but as sin dug deep into the hearts of the people that symbol and the significance of a wealth began to be eroded, soon other gods began to rival the temple and the land became polluted.
However, they wanted a temple that man built instead of the one God had made for Himself. The man-made temple was made out of stone, but God’s temple was not made with hands but was cut out of the mountain that was so much more beautiful than anything that man could produce. After Solomon’s death, the United Kingdom was divided and the sword once again became a powerful tool.
Among Solomon’s achievements were many poems such as the love poem, called the songs of Solomon. He had 300 wives and 700 concubines, his empire included a fleet of ships and many horses. The book of proverbs best describes his wit and wisdom.
