©2004 Jill Forsyth For Personal and Group Use.
Hi. My name is Solomon. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out you have heard of me at some point. I was lucky to be born into the family that I was. My father, David, was a widely loved and respected king – not that he didn’t have his enemies, but he was an amazing man. He had this great love for God, in fact, he loved and served God so much that he was known as a man after God’s own heart. As a child, I longed to be like him. He had so much wisdom and experience. Not that he never made any mistakes, after all – I was one of his mistakes. He slept with my mother, Bathsheba, who is very beautiful, while she was still married to another man. That was all it took for my older sibling to be conceived. To hide it, my father had her husband killed to try and cover up the sin he had committed, for it is a very wrong thing to sleep with another man’s wife. Sounds gruesome, huh? Well, I guess it is, but so much killing and violence goes on around here, that I guess I didn’t think too much about it. My older sibling died while still young. I was the next one to come along. Despite what my father had done, he was so repentant about his sin before God, that it wasn’t long before the whole thing had passed. Not that there were no repercussions for what he had done, on the contrary I’m sure what he did changed the course of his life, but it wasn’t spoken of anymore, or thought of too often.
I greatly looked up to my dad. I spent hours with my mother learning and training to be a respectable young man, and as a child my ideal was to be a king like my father, and to rule like he did. I prayed that God would let me be like him. I knew that it was somewhat possible, because my dad promised my mom that one day I would be king.
I think God had favor on me, because one day Nathan, a prophet, came and told me that God had said to name me Jedidiah, which means loved by the Lord. I felt loved, at least by my mom and dad. I knew that I had a great task set before me and I diligently studied and worked to get to the place where I felt I could be worthy of such a thing. I prayed earnestly that I would be able to serve the country and all the people the way a good king should – the way my father did.
One day my chance came. It was actually a very uncertain day. The time arrived when my father was aged and didn’t have much time left on earth, when one of my step-brothers, Adonijah, went and crowned himself king. My mom was amazing, she marched right in to tell my father what was happening, who immediately anointed me to be king after him. I can’t even begin to describe the exhilarating but nerve racking feeling that came as I realized that the thing I had prayed for all my life was now taking place.
The people were very supportive of my becoming king, especially since my father had been the one to anoint me as king because the people loved anything my father did or said. In their eyes that meant that I must be the right choice. Adonijah tried to stir up trouble, he was very bitter that he had not been the one anointed as king. Fortunately, I had the people’s favor behind me, so it all worked out in the end.
As my father passed away, he said something to me that meant so much to me that I wrote it down. This is what he said: "So be strong, show yourself a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go, and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’" I Kings 2:2-4 He went on to give me more instructions, which I carried out because I knew my father was so wise. When he gave me these instructions, there was nothing that I wanted more then to do what he said. I couldn’t think of any way I would rather live then to be strong and follow after God and keep his commands, and to be a great king.
In fact, it took me no time to meet the Pharaoh king of Egypt where I met his beautiful daughter. I have to say that women have always had a strong sway over me, and when I met her, not only was the thought of alleging our countries a comforting thing, but she was all that I ever wanted in a girl. At least that’s what I thought at the time. So we were married.
We were happy. Our countries were at peace, the people, as could be expected, had their problems, but there was no war or anything seriously threatening. Of course, as a new king even these "little problems" seemed like so much to me. I must admit that many of the problems that came along were very intimidating to me. Once in a while I wondered what on earth I was doing as king, and wished I could have my father back just for a day just to ask him what he would do if he were me in that situation. But he wasn’t there, so I prayed to God and asked him to help me. I wanted God to see how much I loved him, so I faithfully did all that I knew my father had done to follow after God. After all, he was known as a man after God’s own heart – yes, I know that I’ve said that before, it just means a lot to me. So I began to build my palace and a temple for the Lord. My father had already purchased all the supplies for me, so all I had to do was gather the workers together and get started. It was during this time that I had a dream. In my dream God came and told me to ask for anything I wanted and he would give it to me. I said "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. Now, o Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" I Kings 3:6-9 I was surprised at how pleased God was with my reply, in fact, this is what he said: "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for – both riches and honor – so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David you father did, I will give you a long life." I Kings 3:11-14 It seemed so real that when I woke up I was shocked to realize that had only been a dream. As I’m sure if you haven’t already heard of me, you will realize that by the time I’m done telling you about my life, that even though that had "only been a dream", it all came true.
Anyways, it took no time before what God had promised me in my dream began to show. As problems cropped up, I knew how to deal with them. It was so amazing how God just took me, a new, uncertain king, inexperienced as I was, and made me begin to have a wisdom that people from all over began to recognize. In fact, it was almost unbelievable what God was doing in me, because I began to have a earnest desire to learn more like never before. I studied everything, from plants to people to seas to nations. I knew so much that people traveled from far away places to come and hear what I had to say. I began to spend more and more time studying and teaching and meeting with kings and important people from all over.
It took years before my palace and the Lord’s temple got finished. I had been so busy, that I hadn’t been spending much time with my wife. I have to admit that with the lack of time spent with her, sometimes I thought of other women. In hopes to change that, I made her own special palace.
I was so pleased to have finally finished building the Lord’s temple. It was a desire my father had had, but I was the one who was privileged to be able to fulfill it. I dedicated everything to God, and prayed that He would have his way in this temple. I know God heard my prayer. After that time I faithfully fulfilled the temple obligations of going to burn incense before the Lord three times a year.
After spending 20 years building and working, I have to admit that not having that goal before me kind of threw me for a loop. As a child I’d always had the desire to be king, then it was to build a palace and temple for the Lord. But now I wasn’t sure what I wanted.
The Queen of Sheba came at the perfect time to fulfill that need. She came to see if all the reports she’d heard about me were true. We had a wonderful time talking about almost anything you can imagine, and I was so proud to show off all that I had built up in my kingdom. I decided that I would build up more riches then could be imagined by any human. I wanted to have the most beautiful, magnificent kingdom that had ever existed.
So now I had my new goal. It wasn’t very difficult. I began to build up more and more riches. People from the whole world were awed and amazed by my kingdom. Yet, as my riches continued to grow, I realized that even though I had all this fame and fortune, I wasn’t as happy as I wanted to be. I began to indulge in things a little more then I had before – like having comedians and performers come in to amuse me and the court.
Then I was happy. I had all these riches, I had fame and fortune, and I had things to amuse me every day at the snap of my fingers. I constantly wined and dined and spent time with others. It was only when I was alone that I felt a twinge of unhappiness, or just the thought that I was missing something. So I avoided being alone.
Throughout this time, I have to admit that I didn’t remain faithful to my first wife. On the contrary, I fell in love with another lady who was young and vibrant – in the bud of her youth. And the great thing was that she was of royal blood, she was from Sidonia, actually. My father had had more then one wife, so I decided that 2 wives wouldn’t hurt. I also knew that God had told us that we should never marry people from outside of our nation, but I knew that God loved me and was doing so much through me that I would be forgiven. So I married her. It was exhilarating, but I tired of her after a while. What I once thought was vibrancy I began to think of as nonsense talk. I began to spend less time with her, but I knew the excitement that we’d had when we first met, and when I met a beautiful princess from Edom, who was so strong and silent – so opposite to what now annoyed me in my former wife, that I was incredibly attracted to her. Her dark eyes and beauty made me melt inside each time I looked at her. So I married again. Nothing bad had happened to me the first time I married outside of my nation, so I didn’t think anything would happen this time either.
Sometimes my wives would fight and bicker so much, that I decided that that was it for me, I wasn’t going to marry anymore. So I started taking in concubines – I’d look for a pretty young girl, and when I felt like it I’d have my fun with her, and then I’d forget about her.
However, I soon realized that what I really wanted was a woman who I could really talk to, someone I could trust and really build a relationship with. This is the point I had reached when I met the new "love of my life". She was the King of Moab’s prized daughter. We spent hours philosophizing. She was incredibly smart for a woman, since in my day women aren’t encouraged to think as much. I guess that’s what attracted me to her so much. We’d spend hours talking about things, and I so incredibly enjoyed having a women who could talk to me so intelligently. There was only one thing we didn’t agree on – she didn’t believe in God. However, she was such a good person, and she never tried to push any of her beliefs on me, so I did the same and didn’t try to push God on her, and we got along just fine. We married.
It wasn’t too long after we married, however, when she began to tell me of her desire to have her god to worship. She stated she felt that she wasn’t as fulfilled since coming to live with me. I wanted desperately to see her happy, and return to the great discussions we had had before, so I told her that I’d let her, and ONLY her, build a mini temple where she could worship her god. I knew God wouldn’t be very happy, but he hadn’t done anything to me yet for marrying people from outside of our nation, and everything was going so well anyways, that I wasn’t too concerned. I knew he’d forgive me.
I guess that wasn’t the best decision, however, because it wasn’t long before my other wives began to complain. Rather then constantly listen to them bicker and see their sullen faces, I let them each do what they wanted with their gods. In fact, now that I was getting older I was realizing that God may have been good for my father David, but I really didn’t need him. I knew in my wisdom, that I personally didn’t need God like my father did because I was more secure and well-rounded so I could do things on my own. In fact, I really wasn’t so sure about God anymore. I saw how some of my wives would pray to their gods, and they’d get results, while I’d seen countless people praying to God and they’d never seem to get an answer. So, the truth was that I just didn’t see how I needed God. Not that I was against him or anything, he was great for the poor people, and the women and children who needed something to believe in, but I was doing great on my own.
I won’t even begin to tell you about my next wife, or my next, or my next. The fact is, I ended up marrying 700 wives of royal birth, and had 300 concubines by the time my life was over. I had countless children, though I never got to know any of them too close. I was too busy running my kingdom, and doing things I wanted to do.
As I got older, my relationships with women changed. When I was young women had been attracted to me because I was so charming and wise, and I don’t have to lie to tell you that I had been a good looking man. However, that had passed away, and now I didn’t have any real relationships with any of the women I had married. They would do what I wanted – after all I was king, who dared not do what I asked, but the enjoyment and love and passion was gone that used to accompany my relationships. It was all empty. Meaningless, really.
In fact, as I looked back on everything, and looked at all my riches, all my wives and concubines, all the great wisdom that I had, all the great wining and dining I had done, and all the lively entertainment that I had once enjoyed (believe me – THAT wore out, I am so sick of fake comedians that I think the next one I see I will have put to death!) – all these things that I thought everyone else envied and strived for. I realized that it was all meaningless. I had no relationships. Who would remember me when I died for who I was – I’m sure people will know me for years to come because of what I did, but what of who I am? After all, who even really knew me? When was the last time I’d intimately talked and poured out to someone how I felt? When was the last time a woman really enjoyed being with me? And not only that, when I looked at my children, who I would be passing my kingdom on to, I really saw none that I wanted to take my place. What had happened to the morals and beliefs that I had been brought up on? The kids I saw and heard about were horrible now a days! They had no respect for their parents or elders – I even had some children stick their tongue out at me when I asked them to move out of the way! To ME! King Solomon! I was aghast at the behavior of those children. And the stories of the things that children are doing today, and the crime that is beginning to rise from this younger generation is horrible. The sad thing is, I don’t even know any of my children. I never have known what it’s like to play with a son or a daughter. I’ve never done it.
And all the entertainment – that only lasted for a season. In fact, I’ve decided that "there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
In looking back, I’ve seen how those around me think I have accomplished so much, but I look at my life only with deepest regret. When I recall what my father told me on his death bed, and remember the passion for God I had had back then, I can only regret that it’s been so many years since I’ve even thought of it. When I see the sin and corruptness of the people around me, and how they, who only a few years before had been worshipping God, were now replacing Him with other gods, all I can think is how could I, with all the wisdom that God had given me, have allowed that to happen. And the fact that people thought this was life, that life was toiling and living the day hoping it goes good because that’s what life means to them. Because I allowed it in this country. They’re trying to be like me with all the women and money and entertainment and luxuries of life. I should have told them I wasn’t happy. I should have said something about the fact that I worked so hard because I was just like them – I just wanted to make life more fun. Because I got caught up in the moment and let myself forget about the only thing that really matters – God, and allowed only small corruptions in my life that led to bigger ones, that led me and so many others to fall away. That I never raised a son who would lead God’s people the way God would want, without corruptness. That in my death all I can see is maybe I have lots of money, maybe I have respect, maybe I have all that this world holds – but I’m miserable. I never built up God’s kingdom, but instead tore it down, while it was so subtle and hidden. I looked like I was doing good things – after all, I built the temple of God, I dedicated it to God, I built up palaces and kept peace for so many years, I had so much wisdom that people dared not come against me but instead held me in the highest regard. Yet it was so meaningless. Meaningless I tell you. I wasted all that time. Imagine if I had spent that on God. Do you know that my father was known as a man after God’s own heart, and I was seen as evil in God’s eyes because I didn’t follow in his statutes?
Another thought has also crossed my mind. I knew that I should store my treasures in heaven, where moth and rust don’t destroy. I didn’t. I stored my treasures here on earth, and you know that where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. It’s so true. It’s only in hind sight that vision is perfect, and now I wish so much that I had stored up treasures in heaven. Sure I may have what seems like so much here on earth, but when I get to heaven – for all eternity, I’m not going to have anything.
I know this may seem like the sad reflections of a old man. I’ve had a taste of what almost everyone is striving for. But I’m writing as a warning, as the last words from the wisest man who’s ever lived and ever will live, that this world really doesn’t hold anything that matters. It’s not worth it to strive for a better car or a better house. It’s not worth it to allow one little compromise because it doesn’t seem like it’ll hurt you. It’s meaningless. And it’s not worth it to have that relationship with that special someone when you know that they don’t believe in God. It’s not worth it. I’m speaking from experience, from a long, wasted life. I know that as I say these last words, it’s in the hopes that perhaps I can right some of the wrongs I have done by letting people think that what I had mattered. Let me say it one more time. It’s meaningless. And I will leave you with these parting words: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14