Solomon is remembered for many things – wisdom, wives, and being in many ways an astounding person overseeing a nation that was at its most astounding. The Queen of Sheba said, when she saw it all…and talked to Solomon himself – “I haven’t heard the half of it!”
But King Solomon, from early on in his public life (and presumably in his private life as well) showed signs of less than full devotion. Scripture warns us in multiple places of not being double-minded, or trying to keep our eyes on more than one ultimate thing. Check out Jesus’ words in the last half of Matthew 6, or James’ words in the beginning of James 1.
I’ve appreciated the reflections of Philip Graham Ryken on this king. Ryken (writer, former pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and current president of Wheaton College) has just written a book, King Solomon, that is subtitled: The Temptations of Money, Sex, and Power.
Ryken describes Solomon – and in the process, he writes about us:
…while it is true that Solomon was a king after David’s heart, a man who loved the Lord, it is also true that he had a wandering heart that loved money, sex, and power. The warning signs of Solomon’s tragic downfall are present from the very beginning of his story, which is not just black and white, but colored by shades of gray.
In other words, Solomon was a lot like us. He loved the Lord, as every Christ does. But he also had some other loves in his life – sinful passions that had the power to destroy his spiritual leadership. He did not love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, and strength (Deut. 6: 4). So while there is some truth to the view that his life started out spiritually positive before ending up negative, the deeper trust is that, like every believer, he was always as much a sinner as he was a saint.
We face the same struggle. In the famous words of Martin Luther, each of us is simul justus et peccator – at the same time both righteous and a sinner. Through faith in Jesus Christ, and on the basis of his perfect life and atoning death, we are perfectly righteous in the sight of God. Yet for as long as we live in this sinful word, we will continue to struggle with remaining sin. This means that the warning signs of our own tragic downfall are present right in our hearts.
What sinful desires have the power to destroy your life the way money and sex and power divided Solomon’s kingdom? We too are tempted by the purchase of money, the pleasure of sex, and the seduction of power. We face these temptations every time we reach for a credit car, get on the Internet, or start figuring out the best way tog et what we want out of other people. To resist these temptations and live by the love of God, we need the spiritual wisdom to choose what is right.”
That realization sends me back to James. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do” (James 1: 5-8).
Solomon prayed for wisdom. God answered his prayer. But somehow in his life, he forgot the ABCs of wisdom, which he himself once knew: “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9: 10).
