The wisdom of King Solomon (the king who followed David) was legendary. He expanded the kingdom's borders and secured trade which enriched the nation. He built the Temple in Jerusalem. Even today his name still evokes images of wealth and power (the movie King Solomon's Mines is just one such example). One would think then that Solomon's tenure as king would have been the time when the promise, even if it was not fulfilled, would have become evident in the lives of God's people. Unfortunately, once again, that would not be the case. Instead Solomon, for all of his wisdom began to see the promises of God as his personal possession intended to benefit him alone.
Solomon's beginnings were in many ways a mixed bag of both death and discernment. On the one hand he became king through the machinations of his mother Bathsheba (Solomon was not the oldest of King David's sons…but Bathsheba was David's favorite wife) and others close to his father King David. Solomon then had his rivals and their supporters either executed or exiled (I Kings 1-2). On the other hand one of his initial acts as king was to pray not for wealth or power but for wisdom (I Kings 3:3-9). The Bible tells us that God was so pleased with this prayer that God granted Solomon the power and riches for which he did not pray along with a large dose of long life.
It would be easy at this point to buy into the carefully crafted image that Solomon was the most wise and benevolent ruler by which God's people were ever privileged to be governed. That image was crafted by telling stories of his wisdom at work (the famous "cut the baby in two pieces" story…I Kings 3), the awe of other rulers at his wealth (the visit by the Queen of Sheba…I Kings 10) and ultimately by his building of the Temple in Jerusalem (I Kings 6-9). The claim that he wrote the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes additionally enhances the picture of Solomon as the perfect ruler.
There is however a second tradition which tells a different story. In this tradition Solomon became the epitome of the kind of king against which Samuel the prophet warned the people (I Samuel 8). How so? To begin with Solomon conscripted his own people without pay in order to build all of his famous cities (essentially making them short term slaves). He forcibly recruited others into his service at the palace. He taxed the people at extraordinary levels in order to pay for his excessive lifestyle. Finally and most importantly he married the daughters of foreign kings and allowed them to bring their gods with them into the palace (I Kings 11). Eventually Solomon began worshipping these other gods. That act would ultimately set the stage for the undoing of all that Solomon and his wisdom had accomplished.
It has often been said that success can be an organization's worst enemy. Success can cause an organization to lose its way and focus. This is what happened to Solomon. He saw his success as his success and not as God's blessing. Our challenge then is to be wary of our own success (more members, meeting the budget, serving the community) in such a way that we are continually asking, how are we being faithful to God's calling to be releasing, renewing and restoring the world? True wisdom is not measured in the bottom line, but is measured in our faithfulness to God's vision for our life together.
John
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