1 Kings 9-10: “The Pomp And Glory Of Solomon”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1.INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapter 8 and Solomon’s dedication of the temple.

1.1.1. Now that the temple was completed, Solomon organized the men of Israel to go and to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the temple. We saw that the Lord then accepted the temple which Solomon and Israel had made for the Lord by causing a thick cloud to enter the temple.

1.1.2. Solomon then made a long and intricate dedication prayer of the temple to the Lord.

1.1.3. Solomon’s prayer for God’s blessing on the nation was meant to be all encompassing of every way in which the Lord needs to work in the lives of His people through this temple.

1.1.4. At the end of Solomon’s prayer of dedication we saw the blessing that he spoke over God’s people.

1.1.5. After Solomon’s prayer there ensued an incredible two-week celebration of making sacrifices to the Lord and feasting.

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 9 and 10 and observe the incredible pomp and glory of Solomon’s reign.

2.VS 9:1-9 - “¹ Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do, ² that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. ⁴ “As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ ⁶ “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ⁸ “And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ “And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the Lord has brought all this adversity on them.’ ”” - The Lord appeared to Solomon at the conclusion of the building of the temple and his own house to tell Solomon that He had consecrated the temple and that Solomon would not lack a descendant upon the throne as long as he kept the Lord’s commandments and statutes

2.1. The temple of the Lord had been built, however this meant nothing if the Lord did not accept this house for Himself. So, the Lord tells Solomon here that He has ‘consecrated’ this house for Himself. This Hebrew word “qadash” translated ‘consecrated’ means to “set apart as a holy thing or sanctify.”

2.2. The Lord tells Solomon then that He had heard Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the temple to the Lord. Remember, when the scriptures tell us that the Lord hears our prayer this means that He also will answer our prayer. As a result of hearing Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the temple the Lord has in response accepted this work of their hands and consecrated the temple.

2.3. Further, it is interesting here that the Lord says also that He has answered this prayer, ‘by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.’ The Lord’s ‘name’ must in His mind refer to His character or that which defines Him. It is wonderful to see that the Lord’s ‘heart’ is with His people.

2.4. The Lord tells Solomon, ‘As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances,’ and notice that the Lord uses David, Solomon’s father, as a standard for Solomon to use as an example for his life. We see in the scriptures that David was not perfect as he fell into sin at times, such as his adultery with Bathsheba and arranging the murder of her husband. However, David truly repented of his sin and thus was a righteous man full of integrity in God’s estimation.

2.5. The Lord challenges Solomon yet again that he and his sons must walk in obedience to the Lord’s commandments if he is to have a descendant always sit upon the throne ruling over Israel. As we have seen, Solomon kept most of the commandments of the Lord however he rebelled against keeping a few of God’s commandments, such as: not multiplying wives, not making political alliances by marrying the daughters of foreign kings, and not multiplying horses and chariots. In the end, we will see that Solomon’s rebellion against keeping what he must consider as insignificant commandments ends up being his demise, for Solomon falls completely away from the Lord and worships the foreign gods of his many wives.

2.6. Sadly, Solomon didn’t keep the Lord’s charge here and suffered the consequences. But this has also been the history of Israel. Israel turned away from following the Lord wholeheartedly and has suffered every consequence mentioned by the Lord here all throughout their history:

2.6.1. ‘cut off Israel from the land.’

2.6.1.1. The northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians and taken captive never to appear again.

2.6.1.2. Judah was taken captive in 586 BC by the Babylonians and spent 70 years in exile. However, they didn’t learn from their exile and again rebelled against the Lord, even rejecting the Messiah, Jesus, sent to them whom they crucified, and in 70 AD the nation was conquered by the Romans and razed, and the people were dispersed to all of the nations.

2.6.1.3. In fulfillment of prophecy in 1948 Israel again became a nation. However, Israel will only be restored to relationship with the Lord during the 7 year Tribulation period of the book of Revelation when as Rom. 11:26 tells us, “all Israel shall be saved’ (come to faith in Christ).

2.6.2. ‘Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.’

2.6.2.1. Today, people in our world speak of Israel in the sense of being a ‘proverb’ or ‘byword’ and Israelites are hated by virtually every nation of the world. They have been persecuted in every nation where they have found themselves dispersed.

3.VS 9:10-14 - “¹⁰ It came about at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house ¹¹ (Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold according to all his desire), then King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² So Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they did not please him. ¹³ He said, “What are these cities which you have given me, my brother?” So they were called the land of Cabul to this day. ¹⁴ And Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold.” - Solomon finished building the temple and his own palace and then sought to pay back Hiram, king of Tyre, for the materials he had provided for these buildings but the cities given to Hiram as payment did not please Hiram

3.1. Solomon owed Hiram a huge debt. For the temple and Solomon’s palace, Hiram had given Solomon 120 talents of gold (4 ½ tons), not to mention all of the timber which was cut from the forests of Lebanon, and workers for the project. Solomon could not have built the temple nor his palace without Hiram’s assistance.

3.2. Warren Wiersbe believes that since the 3,750 tons of gold which had already been dedicated for the building of the temple were items that were dedicated to the Lord that they couldn’t be used for anything but the temple. Therefore, Solomon needed the extra gold from Hiram for the building of his own palace.

3.3. In repayment for all but the gold given by Hiram, Solomon had already provided food for Hiram’s household. However, for the gold Solomon needed to repay Hiram. Solomon decides to give to Hiram 20 cities which were up in the north by Tyre on the border of Phoenicia and Galilee.

3.4. Solomon was not to give away any of the inheritance of the tribes of Israel, for their inheritance was to be their possession forever. However, in order to pay off his debt, that Solomon probably shouldn’t have gotten into, he decides to give up the inheritance of one of the tribes of Israel in these 20 cities.

3.4.1. I should mention that there are some who believe that these cities were not part of Israel’s inheritance but were captured Canaanite cities.

3.5. In any case, these cities did not please the king of Tyre and he calls them ‘Cabul’ (worthless). Possibly since the Tyreans were a sea people Hiram didn’t see the value of inland cities where crops could be grown. When Hiram rejected these cities Solomon had them rebuilt.

3.6. We’re not sure how Solomon settled his debt with Hiram (yet we know that he did), but a couple of possibilities have been suggested:

3.6.1. Solomon could have paid back the gold from the gold given him in the next chapter by the Queen of Sheba, which happened to also be 120 talents of gold.

3.6.2. The trade that Solomon entered into that is next described may have been what Hiram was interested in getting Israel involved with and thereby get repayment. Participating with the Tyreans in trade was a means of the Israelites beginning to be corrupted by the influence of the pagan nations around them.

4.VS 9:15-24 - “¹⁵ Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. ¹⁷ So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and the lower Beth-horon ¹⁸ and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, ¹⁹ and all the storage cities which Solomon had, even the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and all that it pleased Solomon to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land under his rule. ²⁰ As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, ²¹ their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel were unable to destroy utterly, from them Solomon levied forced laborers, even to this day. ²² But Solomon did not make slaves of the sons of Israel; for they were men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen. ²³ These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people doing the work. ²⁴ As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her, then he built the Millo.” - The forced labor which Solomon used for his building projects is expounded upon

4.1. All of the incredible building projects which Solomon pursued required not only a huge amount of resources in materials but also labor for completion. Since people would not of their own free will volunteer for every building project of their king, Solomon had to make forced laborers of many in Israel. For this, we will see when Solomon’s son, Reheboam, comes to power there had developed widespread resentment towards Solomon in Israel.

4.2. We see here Solomon rebuilding many cities including Gezer (a city originally conquered by Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and given to his daughter, Solomon’s wife) the lower Beth-horon, Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, all of the storage cities, all of the cities for his chariots and horsemen.

4.3. We are told here that all of the foreigners in the land, including the ‘Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites,’ were made forced laborers for Solomon. These people were on the level of slave laborers.

4.4. We see here though that the many Israelites that were made forced laborers in Israel had a higher status than the foreigners, for they were made ‘men of war, his servants, his princes, his captains, his chariot commanders, and his horsemen… the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work.’

4.5. We see here that Solomon built ‘the millo.’ This was a valley that was filled up and made a defensive mound for protection of Israel. Harper’s Bible Dictionary has the following entry for ‘millo’ :

millo (mil’loh; Heb., ‘earthen fill’), a type of construction in which a building, a section of a city, or an entire site was elevated on an artificial platform of earth held in place by one or more walls. The earthen platform is the ‘millo’ and the structure built on the platform is the ‘house of the millo’ (Heb. bêth-millô). The fortress temple at Shechem was built on an earth filling obtained by cutting down the embankment fortification of the Middle Bronze Age city. This temple is probably the bêth-millô mentioned in Judg. 9:6, 20. Kathleen Kenyon’s excavations on the eastern slope of the City of David indicate that during the Canaanite period the hill on which Jerusalem stood was too narrow to accommodate a growing population. It was extended by a ‘millo’ construction. Stone walls were built parallel to the line of the hill, and the spaces between them were filled with earth, creating a platform that extended the hill eastward. After his capture of Jerusalem David rebuilt the interior of the city ‘from the Millo inward’ (2 Sam. 5:9). The Jerusalem millo and the walls associated with it required frequent maintenance. Repairs by Solomon (1 Kings 9:15, 24; 11:27) and by Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32:5) are recorded. King Joash was assassinated in one of the structures built on the Jerusalem millo (2 Kings 12:20).

5.VS 9:25 - “²⁵ Now three times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the Lord, burning incense with them on the altar which was before the Lord. So he finished the house.” - Solomon’s zeal for the Lord is demonstrated by the three feasts that he attended annually

5.1. Men in Israel were required by the Law of Moses to go up to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate three feasts:

5.1.1. Passover.

5.1.1.1. This feast was a time to remember the Lord delivering the firstborn of their men in Egypt that night before the Exodus when the angel of death went over the nation killing each firstborn male who did not have blood on the doorposts of his house.

5.1.1.2. This feast symbolized the blood of Christ which when applied to a believer’s life saves him from sin and death.

5.1.2. Pentecost.

5.1.2.1. This was the feast of harvest or firstfruits in which a person was to remember and be thankful for the Lord’s provision during the harvest.

5.1.3. Tabernacles.

5.1.3.1. This feast was for remembering the Lord’s incredible protection and provision for Israel during the 40 years of their wilderness wandering after Moses led them out of Egypt.

6.VS 9:26-28 - “²⁶ King Solomon also built a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ²⁷ And Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, along with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸ They went to Ophir and took four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.” - Israel became heavily involved in overseas trade

6.1. We see here the connection with Hiram, king of Tyre, and the Israelites. Under Solomon the nation began to secularize and become a nation of might in the world’s eyes, and in every sense of the word.

6.2. It was mentioned earlier that this trade that Israel began to be involved in was possibly the payback to Hiram for all that he did for Solomon and Israel in the building of the temple and Solomon’s palace.

7.VS 10:1-3 - “¹ Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with difficult questions. ² So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her.” - The queen of Sheba came to Solomon to test him with difficult questions after she had heard about his fame

7.1. Word about Solomon had gone all over the world. Solomon’s buildings were incredible masterpieces and his wealth unsurpassed. He even had great wisdom to boot.

7.2. The queen of Sheba was from the south and probably the country of Ethiopia. In fact, there are ruins in Ethiopia that are believed by the Ethiopians to be the palace of the queen of Sheba.

7.3. The queen of Sheba was a woman of great means herself as is seen by the incredibly valuable gifts that she brings to king Solomon.

7.4. The queen of Sheba wanted to see for herself the wisdom that Solomon was reputed to have. Plus, she evidently was interested in setting up a trade arrange with this very wealthy and prosperous man and nation.

7.5. The queen of Sheba spoke with Solomon about all that was in her heart, and Solomon was very gracious towards her answering all of her questions.

8.VS 10:4-7 - “⁴ When the queen of Sheba perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵ the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. ⁶ Then she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁷ “Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard.” - The queen of Sheba was so impressed with the wisdom of Solomon as well as all of the splendor and orderliness of his house that she was speechless

8.1. The queen of Sheba recognized that among those on earth that king Solomon had no rival. He was the most prosperous of every ruler and lived in the greatest glory and splendor. Plus, Solomon was given supernatural wisdom that was beyond anyone on earth.

8.2. Notice, besides Solomon’s wisdom, some of the things that impressed the queen of Sheba:

8.2.1. ‘the house that he had built.’

8.2.2. ‘the food of his table.’

8.2.3. ‘the seating of his servants.’

8.2.4. ‘the attendance of his waiters and their attire.’

8.2.5. ‘his cupbearers.’

8.2.6. ‘his stairway by which he went up to the house of the Lord.’

8.3. It is interesting to me to read these accounts of the life of king Solomon because I know that with all of the glorious splendor of his lifestyle plus all of the wisdom that he had that he was in fact just as one remarked, “the wisest fool that ever lived.”

8.4. Solomon was rich in the things of this world but did he realize that it was more important to be rich in the things of the Lord than the things of this life? He is an enigma to me. Later in his life and after he had accumulated great wealth, Solomon would write the following: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” Ecc. 1:2; 12:8.

8.4.1. In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon discusses all of this world’s goods that he had amassed and then he speaks about how these things did not bring him the things that are really important, such as life, peace, joy, and contentment.

8.4.2. Solomon also would write Prov. 15:16-17, “¹⁶ Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Than great treasure and turmoil with it. ¹⁷ Better is a dish of vegetables where love is Than a fattened ox served with hatred.”

8.5. The queen of Sheba tells Solomon that she initially could not believe the reports she had heard about the wisdom and splendor of this man Solomon, but now she believed it and realized that she had only heard the half of how great he was.

8.5.1. When we all get to heaven, I believe that this is the way that we are going to look at Jesus. Though we have heard from the scriptures the greatness and glory of the Lord that we will realize that we had only heard the half of it. We will likewise be impressed with heaven itself.

9.VS 10:8-9 - “⁸ “How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. ⁹ “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”” - The queen of Sheba tells king Solomon how blessed he and those with him really are

9.1. The Hebrew word “esher” which is translated here ‘blessed’ really means “happy,” and thus it is very similar to the Greek word Jesus used in His Sermon On the Mount when He spoke of those who were ‘blessed.’

9.2. The queen of Sheba says that the servants of Solomon who constantly hear his wisdom are ‘blessed.’

9.3. The queen of Sheba says that ‘the Lord your God’ is ‘blessed’ also because he ‘delighted’ in Solomon and thus set him upon the throne of Israel because of His love He has for Israel forever. Because of her saying these things there is conjecture that the queen of Sheba may have come to have faith in the God of Israel during her visit with Solomon.

9.4. SPECULATION: There are currently people who believe that the Ark of the Covenant is located in Ethiopia, as the government of Ethiopia asserts. There is speculation that the queen of Sheba began a form of Judaism upon return from king Solomon and that when the Ark was evacuated after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC that it ended up in Ethiopia. There is also speculation that the Ethiopian Eunuch in the book of Acts may have been sent upon official business to arrange for the delivery of the Ark back to Jerusalem upon hearing that Jesus may be the expected Messiah. After hearing that Jesus had been crucified he was confused because he didn’t understand that the Messiah must come as the suffering servant, and thus Philip helped this man to understand why Jesus first had to come and to die upon the cross for the sins of mankind. This man then returned to Ethiopia a Christian convert and his return being the reason that throughout history since the early church era there has been a Christian presence in Ethiopia.

10.VS 10:10 - “¹⁰ She gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. Never again did such abundance of spices come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.” - The queen of Sheba gives to Solomon very expensive gifts of gold, spices, and precious stones

10.1. 120 talents of gold was approx. 4 ½ tons of gold.

10.2. Perhaps the queen of Sheba in coming to Solomon was also wanting to set up a spice trade for her nation.

11.VS 10:11-13 - “¹¹ Also the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almug trees and precious stones. ¹² The king made of the almug trees supports for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again nor have they been seen to this day. ¹³ King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire which she requested, besides what he gave her according to his royal bounty. Then she turned and went to her own land together with her servants.” - King Solomon gave back to the queen of Sheba great gifts in return, all her desire which she requested

11.1. Speculation: It says here that king Solomon gave the queen of Sheba ‘all her desire,’ and there are extra-Biblical books and accounts that state that the queen of Sheba and Solomon had relations at this time and that she conceived a son as a result. The name of this son is reputed to have been Menilek. He was supposedly raised up in an Israelitish court, succeeded his mother as ruler at her death, and at that time began a Jewish sect.

11.2. Notice here that interspersed in the discussion of the queen of Sheba that there is an account in these verses of special ‘almug trees’ from Ophir that were imported to Israel from the ships of Hiram. These trees were used to make ‘supports for the house of the Lord’ as well as ‘lyres and harps for the singers.’ ‘Almug’ must have been some kind of exotic and valuable wood.

11.3. Precious stones also came from Ophir to Israel via Hiram.

12.VS 10:14-22 - “¹⁴ Now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, ¹⁵ besides that from the traders and the wares of the merchants and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country. ¹⁶ King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, using 600 shekels of gold on each large shield. ¹⁷ He made 300 shields of beaten gold, using three minas of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸ Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold. ¹⁹ There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. ²⁰ Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom. ²¹ All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. ²² For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.” - There is further description here of the wealth that came into Israel yearly

12.1. Because of Solomon’s business arrangement with Hiram, king of Tyre, incredible commerce began to flow into Israel. 666 talents (250 tons) of gold came into Solomon a year.

12.2. Warren Wiersbe writes, “Why did Solomon need five hundred shields that required 2,525 pounds of gold to make? Why did he need an ivory throne overlaid with gold? Why must he and his guests drink only from golden vessels? To what purpose were the thousands of horses and chariots he assembled? Why did he need seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines? In pursuing each of these goals, Solomon disobeyed the very Word of the Lord! The Lord warned in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 that Israel’s king was not to mulitiply horses and go to Egypt to get htem, nor was he to multiply wives or gold. Solomon not only acquired thousands of horses, but he became a horse dealer himself! Deuteronomy 17:20 warns the king that he must remain humble before the Lord “and not consider himself better than his brothers.” It’s not difficult to believe that Solomon’s heart was lifted up with pride, and pride always leads to destruction and a fall (Prov. 16:18).”

12.3. The opulent lifestyle of king Solomon is incredible. Elephant trunks are made of ivory, and even today ivory is very expensive. A throne made of ivory covered with gold is hard to imagine. Also, just imagine the 6 steps up to king Solomon’s throne having 12 lions, 6 per side, covered also with gold. Plus, there was a golden covered lion standing next to each arm on Solomon’s throne. Solomon even had apes and peacocks imported regularly, possibly for a zoo which he set up.

13.VS 10:23-25 - “²³ So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴ All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. ²⁵ They brought every man his gift, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.” - King Solomon became greater than all of the other kings on the earth in riches and wisdom

13.1. When Solomon was first given the throne to reign over Israel, the Lord had allowed him to ask for anything that he wanted, and Solomon at that time asked for wisdom to rule God’s people. Because Solomon had not asked for riches, the Lord in 1 Kings 3:12-13 promised that He would give him both wisdom and riches greater than any other kings, and now we see this fulfilled, “¹² behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. ¹³ “I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days.”

13.2. We already saw in 1 Kings 4:30 that, “³⁰ Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.”

13.3. So famous was Solomon that people from all over the earth came to king Solomon with all kinds of gifts in order that they might hear his wisdom.

14.VS 10:26-29 - “²⁶ Now Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. ²⁷ The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland. ²⁸ Also Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s merchants procured them from Kue for a price. ²⁹ A chariot was imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of the Arameans.” - Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen and even became a horse dealer

14.1. Kings were to have no chariots or horses, Solomon amassed 1,400 chariots for himself and 12,000 horsemen for his chariots and horses.

14.2. Silver, which at this time was not considered a valuable metal, was as common as stones in Israel.

14.3. Solomon planted cedars to such an extent that they were as plentiful as sycamore trees.

15.CONCLUSIONS:

15.1. When we consider all of the ways that king Solomon sought to make himself great, amassing unsurpassed glory and splendor of riches around him, we need to also consider a couple of things:

15.1.1. We ought to remember the words of Solomon at the end of his life when he said, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” Ecc. 1:2; 12:8.

15.1.2. Solomon wrote the following about the love of money and riches in Eccles. 5:10-15, “¹⁰ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. ¹¹ When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? ¹² The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep. ¹³ There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. ¹⁴ When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him. ¹⁵ As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.”

15.1.2.1. Warren Wiersbe writes, “A Roman proverb says, “Riches are like salt water—the more you drink, the more you thirst.”

15.1.2.2. The riches of this earth do not bring lasting satisfaction nor rewards that are eternal.

15.1.3. Solomon’s final conclusion he reached is found in Eccles. 12:13-14, “¹³ The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. ¹⁴ For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

15.2. In Matt. 16:26, Jesus said, “²⁶ “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul ? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

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