So last week I said that there were two sources for the list of sins Solomon fell into; one was the rules for kings that Moses gave. That list led to a more 'stream of consciousness' type exploration, because in every life, one sin seems to roll into another. This time, I want to look at the other source, which will make this post a lot more cohesive- the Ten Commandments. And like I said at the beginning, I had to do this study backwards to learn it- this section, though, is best shared backwards, too. So...
Thou shalt not covet
You would think- and I did at first- this one couldn't possibly be an issue, because what could the man who has everything possibly have to covet? But there were two things- and they are the two that started his near-self destruction....
Ecc 2:17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
One of those things was something common to all of us, but worse for the man who has it all- the longing for something NEW...
Ecc 1:8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Ecc 1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
But he compounded that with the other- The man who knows everything needs to know MORE...
Ecc 1:17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
Ecc 1:18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Here I learned something huge to me- some 500 years later, the Greek Plato wrote about this very thing:
...so Plato (s) says, ignorance is a disease, of which there are two kinds, madness and folly. (In the Timaeus dialogues, John Gill.)
Thus, he who had been given wisdom from God, now sought to know , as Plato put it, ignorance as well. And he figured out quickly, his experience would be 'vexation and sorrow'; or, as my son put it when I told him about my project:
There is a saying the more you know can hurt you!
Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not steal
Solomon, if nowhere else, took these two birds down with one stone...
1Ki 9:12 But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him.
1Ki 9:13 Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul to this day.
Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in Galilee in return for the tons of timber, the workmen and artisans he used to build the Temple and his palace. But they were basically Canaanite ghettos, and Hiram was not impressed. A Martin rough translation to today's talk would be, "You screwed me over here- you got this crap from a pawn shop" (the word Cabul in the language of the day would have meant "the pawned land"). So he lied about the cities' conditions; and he robbed Hiram of a fair deal.
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Again, maybe not technically; but the Lord taught us that even the thought as much as the act; and if you truly loved ONE woman the way he claims to love the Shulamite in Song of Solomon, and still marry 699 other women, I don't think you elude the charge.
Thou shalt not kill
Even if you excuse the deaths of Adonijah and Joab and Shimei (1 Kings 2:13-46) for being dirty work that his father David handed him, I think (once again by Jesus's demand we follow the spirit not the letter of the Law), his treatment of the Canaanite workforce in building the Temple, etc, and the quarrying for Hiram that it took, probably qualify. Plus, with all the gold and silver he acquired, why were his taxes so high?
1Ki 12:3 And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,
1Ki 12:4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”
After Solomon died, the first thing his own advisers told his son Rehoboam was, "Lower the taxes, and everyone will be happy." Solomon's high taxes ended up being the lever God used to split the kingdom.
Honor thy father and thy mother
David's almost-last words to Solomon:
1Ki 2:1 When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,
1Ki 2:2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man,
1Ki 2:3 and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,
1Ki 2:4 that the LORD may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
And Solomon did this- until he didn't.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
Can you really say you've kept the sabbath day, when you've sacrificed to other so-called gods (1 Kings 11:4-8)?
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord Thy God in vain
Your challenge: Read 1 Kings 8, Solomon's prayer for the dedication of the Temple, and tell me a man who built high places to worship other gods did not take the Name in vain.
Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image
The Jewish historian Josephus hits Solomon really hard on this one, suggesting he sinned here in two places the most careful eye might have missed:
1Ki 7:23 Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
1Ki 7:24 Under its brim were gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast.
1Ki 7:25 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward.
Ki 10:18 The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold.
1Ki 10:19 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,
1Ki 10:20 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.
Josephus suggests that the oxen were a corollary to the Golden Calf of the Exodus; and the Lions were as the lions of Babylon. His translator suggests he went overboard here; I say, well, maybe. It is a archaeological fact, at least, that there has been found no throne at this time or before so adorned as Solomon's is described.
Of course, Josephus doesn't go near as overboard as some of the rabbinical myths I uncovered about Solomon's throne, but that's a bunny trail for another day.
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me
And this brings us to to the answer to my original question- what makes the wisest man of all time fall so badly? He, like us many a day, had another god in front of Our Father- himself....
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