Proverbs -
The Life of King Solomon

INTRO
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Before we enter into studying the Book of Proverbs, chapter by chapter, it is important that we study the life of King Solomon as an introduction to our study.  We see Solomon coming to the throne at the age of 30 as he humbly walked before God.  God had placed him king over the twelve tribes of Israel after his father King David had died.  Over the timeframe of his 40-year reign as king, Solomon fell to where he became an idol worshipper of his foreign neighbors' pagan idols.  How did that happen to where such a powerful wise man of God fell down the path to wickedness?

The Young Life of Solomon

Young Solomon had grown up under the godly teachings of his father King David and his mother Bathsheiba as the Law of Moses was instilled within him from birth.  He also grew up under a lot of bloodshed with his father, King David, as David fought nation after nation around Israel to maintain peace within his home country.  So much bloodshed was smeared across the land to where God had told King David he would not be the king to build the temple of God in Israel because he had too much bloodshed on his hands.  God then told King David that his son Solomon would be the one to build the temple of God in Jerusalem.  And that is exactly what Solomon, David’s son, did. 

Solomon Became King

Solomon became king over the twelve tribes of Israel, following the death of his father in 967 B.C.  At the beginning of his reign, King Solomon had prayed to God to have an understanding heart to judge His people, so that he could discern between good from evil.  He asked for nothing else! 

Then God said to him in a dream:  "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for long life for yourself, nor have you asked riches, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but instead, you have asked that you have an understanding heart to discern justice.  As such, I will do as you ask.  I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has been no one like you in the past, nor shall any one be like you after you.  I have also given you what you have not asked - riches and honor so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days." Then God said..."If you walk in my ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David, then I will lengthen your days." That is exactly what happened.  God made King Solomon the wisest and the richest king in all of the world and he reigned for 30 years.

• In his early years of reign, King Solomon had a deep relationship with the Lord, as demonstrated in Psalm 72 and Psalm 127, in which he wrote of his loving devotions to the Lord. 

People came from far and wide just to listen to the wisdom of Solomon.  He was known for giving out Proverbs to everyone who came to see him - kings from other pagan nations, and leaders from all over the known world.  As such, over 1000 of his 3000 proverbs got written down in the Scriptures, specifically in the Book of Proverbs.  Solomon also wrote 1005 songs which were played in the newly built temple he had erected in Jerusalem.  Solomon also wrote the Book of Song of Solomon, and late in his life wrote Ecclesiastes after falling from the grace of God and looking back at the failures of his life._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Building of the Temple

It took Solomon seven years to build the temple according to 1 Kings 6:14-27.  It was a temple of splendor. People came from far-off lands to see all the splendor of the City of Jerusalem and to listen to the wisdom of King Solomon.

• And then it took another 13 years to build his palace.

Treaties to Keep Peace

King Solomon chose to use a different tactic than his father used to keep Israel safe from foreign invasion. Instead of doing battle with the surrounding countries to keep peace in his land, as his father did, Solomon chose to do trade deals and treaties with his foreign threats.  It was also a fairly common practice to exchange foreign nation's king’s daughter to assure peace between the two nations.  In doing so, Solomon took on many foreign king’s daughters as his wives…most of them being political moves.  The thought behind this kind of trade was one of protection for Israel – for if the king from one of those surrounding countries had a daughter who was married to King Solomon, peace would probably remain between the two countries.  This was, however, in violation of the Mosaic Law which says

I Kings 11: “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely, they will turn away your hearts after their gods.”

These trade agreements also expanded Solomon’s trade empire – even as far as Spain, which increased Israel’s wealth and prestige…which also fed into Solomon’s greed for more money and power. 

Solomon’s trade empire had spread and expanded until it covered 50,000 square miles – from Egypt in the south to Syria in the north to the borders of Mesopotamia in the east.

Marriages to Foreign Women

Solomon’s love for foreign women spread as he married the daughters of the Midianites, Hittites, Amorites and the other “ite” countries that surrounded Israel. All of these countries were pagan countries with pagan gods.  All of these countries did not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and furthermore, did not follow the Mosaic Law that was given to the children of Israel.  Instead, these foreign wives brought with them their pagan gods into the marriage to King Solomon.  Over the course of 40 years of reign, King Solomon had collected 700 wives and 300 concubines.

Solomon's Building Projects

Solomon built palace complexes for many of his many wives, which then cost the treasury of Israel dearly.  Jerusalem continuously had extravagant building projects underway because of the wants of his many wives.  Solomon purchased timber from the Phoenicians and hired them as architectures and workers – first for the temple, and then it continued on with the building of the many palaces for his wives, which took large chunks of money out of Israel’s treasury.  Over the course of Solomon's 40 years of reign, the land in Jerusalem had continuous building projects going at all times.  As time continued, however, especially toward the latter years of Solomon’s 40-year reign, he had built up such a huge debt to the Phoenicians for timber and labor.  Then things began to turn.

• To cut back on costs, Solomon began to hire his own people for the labor in his building projects, but still continued to purchase his supplies from the Phoenicians.  It didn't take long before Solomon began using forced labor on his own people, in which many became slaves to work on the king’s building projects for his wives.  This then caused great division within the country of Israel with many of Solomon’s own people hating him.
• By this time, King Solomon had built so many high places (worship centers) for his wives’ pagan gods, which led the Israelites to go to these high places to worship these false gods instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  As such, Israel was turning into a pagan nation.

King Solomon's Heart Turned From God

Because King Solomon married all these foreign women, it changed Israel’s religious system to where the country of Israel fell to these foreign gods.  Then Solomon, over time, began himself to follow the pagan religions of his wives.  These foreign religions involved all kinds of grossly immoral and idolatrous practices, including child sacrifices to the pagan gods Molech and Chemosh.  As such, Solomon ended up doing evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord as did his father David.

 The Lord then said to Solomon in 1 Kings 11, “because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for the sack of your father David.  I will tear it out of the hand of your son.  However, I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”

And that is what happened.  The Lord used the Prophet Ahijah to speak to Jeroboam, who was the captain of the guard for King Solomon.  Through him, God promised Jeroboam a dynasty as lasting as David's, so long as he obeyed God (1 Kings 11:38).  The purpose was to humble King Solomon and his heirs, meaning Rehoboam,  son of Solomon, in that he could only keep the city of Jerusalem where God's temple stood.  Instead of Jeroboam obeying God, he sinned against Him by leading Israel astray with his wickedness against Solomon.  King Solomon, in his latter years, set out to kill Jeroboam, and then Jeroboam fled to Egypt.

King Solomon's Epitaph

At the end of his life, King Solomon was filled with regrets over what he had done with himself and his nation.   As such, we have his writings in the Book of Ecclesiastes expressing the sorrow of what he had done.  For Israel, it was too late - they had already gone into paganism with all of its idol worship.    He died with regrets upon regrets for how he had fallen away from God.  His end brought him to realizing that everything that God had told him from the beginning was true, and he made the decision to fall from grace from the Lord.  He alone would have to stand before God in judgment. 

He wrote in the Book of Ecclestastes:

Eccl 12: 13 When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

Sadly, we can’t use Solomon as our example of one who stayed on the right path throughout his life.  Solomon who was once considered the wisest man on earth, ended his life in despair, doing what he told his son NOT to do and a whole lot more.  Solomon was a perfect example of telling his children one thing and ended up living another.  As a result, Solomon’s children did not go by the pathway of the wisdom of God.  His children did not even know God.  And because of Solomon’s decision to stop following after the things of the Lord, the whole nation of Israel fell to the worship of foreign gods.  Hundreds of thousands of Israelites left the one true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to worship pagan idols.  What a travesty!

Following King Solomon's Death

After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam became king.  He was a vain and foolish man (1 Kings 12:1-2).   Jeroboam then came out of hiding in Egypt and returned to Israel.   Then the Israelites came to King Rehoboam to lighten the load of oppression that his father had given them, as they were slaves to the king in the various building projects.  Instead, King Rehoboam became even harsher on his own people than what his father Solomon had done.  Rehoboam also increased their taxes.

This brought so much tension between all the tribes of Israel, to where the ten northern tribes declared Jeroboam as their king against King Rehoboam.  War then broke out to divide Israel.  Jeroboam led soldiers from the 10 northern tribes of Israel against King Rehoboam who only had the Tribe of Judah from the south on his side.  King Rehoboam tried to regain the ten northern tribes, but lost.  Jeroboam ended up conquering 10 of the northern tribes of Israel, and King Rehoboam ended up with only two southern tribes – the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.  And so, the nation of Israel became divided - Israel in the north and Judah in the south.  But God saved the house of David because Scripture had prophesied that out of it would come the Messiah.  One thousand years later, Jesus, the Christ – the Messiah came out of the Tribe of Judah.

Israel Became Two Nations

Once the newly appointed King Jeroboam established the northern kingdom, keeping the name of Israel, he feared that if the people traveled to the temple in Jerusalem to worship their pagan gods, they may not return, and choose to live in Judah where King Rehoboam reigned.  So he set up centers of pagan worship in Bethel and Dan, building golden calves, installing pagan priests, appointed a festival and sacrifices at their altars to keep the people in Israel.  He was no better then King Rehoboam who had already turned to idol worship.  Both of these kings were now idol worshippers and all of Israel and Judah fell away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  This was an abomination to God. 

• A whole country was torn apart because their leaders refused to follow in the ways of the Lord.   They chose to follow in the greediness of their own souls. 

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Solomon's Fall

For Solomon, his fall didn’t happen all of a sudden, but his heart strayed away from the Lord little by little, causing him to turn away from the Lord - more and more.  This can happen to any believer.  Sin comes in all kinds of forms – not just women – but lots of sin.  It could happen to you. It could happen to me.  Choosing to follow the Lord is a daily affair.

We must never forget Solomon’s downfall!

But, we must remember that God gave King Solomon the wisdom to be the wisest man in the world - and he was for many years because God gave him that wisdom to operate as the wisest king in the world.  He chose in his later years, however, to backslide in his faith.  As such, we have to take our minds off of the man and look to God as the one who gave Solomon that wisdom.  Can we seek the words that God instructed Solomon, but not follow after his life?  Solomon was vulnerable just like any human being, in need of God’s daily discipline, and failed to obey.  We need to purpose in our heart to not follow the man but follow after God’s instruction - and do it each and every single day.

We will begin studying the 1st chapter of Proverbs in our next video.

God bless!

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