Wealth and fame have come to Solomon because of his renown wisdom. The Queen of Sheba (or Saba which corresponds roughly to modern Yemen. Others believe Sheba to be Ethiopia) pays Solomon a visit to test his wisdom. Solomon is able to answer all her questions. The queen is amazed and recognizes that Solomon's wealth and wisdom come from the Lord.
Solomon was the wealthiest and wisest king that ever lived. In one year, he amassed 666 talents of gold, which equals 22 tons. His house and his kingdom were very opulent. Others sought out his wisdom, his advice, and his help. But notice the tone here. The people of Israel are not mentioned, only Solomon's servants. Back in chapter 4, there was an emphasis on the benefit of Solomon's wisdom for all the people. Here, the emphasis is on Solomon and his court officials. There is a strong leaning toward luxury goods and pride. He is sought out by kings of the earth, he drinks from gold cups, he imported horses, spices, chariots - but what of the people?
Our reading ends with the consequences of Solomon's choices. He allows himself to marry many women - 700 - from all over. Women that God specifically told the Israelites not to marry. These people worshiped false gods. The Lord warned Israel not to marry into these cultures, for their worship of false gods would corrupt. Yet, Solomon did not listen. He allowed his loyalty to his wives to pull him away from true worship of the One True God. And then he did the unthinkable - he build altars of worship to these false gods and allowed his wives to make offerings and sacrifices. Chemosh was an underworld god associated with drought, plague, and death. Molech is associated with child sacrifice. Ashtoreth, also known as Ishtar and Astarte, is the goddess of the moon, sexual love and fertility.
As the Bible states, "Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord." He allowed wealth, pride, and love of himself and his wives to pull him away from God. God warned him and the people over and over to guard their hearts, to obey His ways. Solomon, the wisest king to ever live, got so caught up in his wisdom, that he forgot to follow God's wisdom. We do the same things. We are so independent. We live in the wealthiest country in the world. We have food and luxury items in abundance. It is very easy to forget that all of these things are a blessing from the Lord. We begin to go our own way, make decisions based on our wisdom, seek out relationships that pull us away from the Lord. And then we wonder why things are so difficult for us. Why do we struggle? Why do we live lives full of strive and stress and hardship? Because we are not making God the number one priority in our lives. We are not following His rules and statutes. We are making it hard on ourselves.
I just completed a week of VBS in which we learned of Moses and the Israelites in the desert. We spoke of God's rules every day. The emphasis that we need to keep in mind is that these rules are not there to spoil our fun or to keep us in bondage. They are there to keep us safe, healthy, and free. They are there to help us foster good relationships, to keep us whole, and focused on the big picture rather than our selfish wants. When we grasp that understanding, that the rules are good for us, when we turn to God and follow His ways, we will finally find the peace and joy we have been searching for.
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