Solomon is one of my favorite characters in the scriptures.
1 Kings 3:12 indicates that he’s probably the wisest man who ever lived (with the exception of Jesus - Luke 11:31).
He wrote deeply and extensively of the very nature of all things. Proverbs, Song of Solomon and (probably) Ecclesiastes were written by him.
And yet, he screwed up.
That’s right. Wisest guy who ever lived, who was divinely given an unequaled amount of discernment, acted stupidly.
It gives me so much peace to know that. I’m no where near as smart as Solomon, but even still, when I do something dumb I’m relieved to know maybe he could have done it, too.
He totally could have locked his keys in the car. Or dropped his phone. Or forgot to return that Redbox DVD before 9pm.
Here’s what Solomon really did: he married a bunch of women that God said not to marry. Those women, over a thousand of them (!!!), led him to worship the idols of their homelands.
Yep. Solomon. Smartest dude ever. Starts worshiping fake gods. For those keeping score, that’s commandment #1. Probably a bad one to break.
So fulfilling God’s will doesn’t mean you have to be the smartest person in the room.
It means being obedient to him.
We learn so much through Solomon’s insights. Yet even with all his insight to the nature of everything, he still deceived himself.
He told himself that he could have all those wives even though God said not to and he would be fine. He was wrong.
It’s the garden of Eden all over again. God says ‘don’t’, but we find a way to believe he probably didn’t really mean it.
I am all for education, all for refining and improving on your brain - a wonderful gift from the Lord. But, like all else, it must remain in its proper place: obedience and service to God.
In the end, Solomon loved women and power more than faithful obedience to the Lord.
His wisdom and intelligence, as great as they were, still weren’t as great as God’s. Solomon decided to make his own path and in the end, it led him to lose the inheritance given to his father, David.
That’s why I like Solomon. He gives me hope. He shows me that even if I became the highest version of myself that could ever exist, I still wouldn’t have any hope without God actively helping me.
That even at my best, I’ll never be able to do it on my own.
I embrace this failure, this short-coming of mine. And that’s the place where I accept Jesus.