King
Solomon
“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. This is the great
commandment. And a second is like it: You shall
love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments depend all the Law
and the Prophets.’”
Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV)
King Solomon
(his beginning)
son of King David and Bathsheba
(1 Kings 1:11; 28-31; 2:1)
young and inexperienced
(1Kings 3:7; 1 Chronicles 29:1)
prayed for an understanding heart to judge
God’s people, wisdom and knowledge along
with the ability to discern between good and
evil (1 Kings 3:3,9)
“. . . I am about to go the way of the earth. Be
strong, and show yourself a man, 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 might prosper in all that
you do and wherever you turn, 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.’”
1 Kings 2:2-4
“Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the
statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed
and made offerings at the high places.”
(1 Kings 3:3)
King Solomon
(his beginning)
son of King David and Bathsheba
(1 Kings 1:11; 28-31; 2:1)
young and inexperienced
(1Kings 3:7; 1 Chronicles 29:1)
prayed for an understanding heart to judge
God’s people, wisdom and knowledge along
with the ability to discern between good and
evil (1 Kings 3:3,9)
“At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a
dream by night, and God said, ‘Ask what I shall
give you.’”
“And now, O Lord my God, you have made your
servant king in place of David my father,
although I am but a little child. . .”
“Give your servant therefore an understanding
mind to govern your people, that I may discern
between good and evil, for who is able to
govern this your great people.”
1 Kings 3:5;7;9
“Behold, I give you a wise and discerning
mind, so that none like you has been before
you and none like you shall arise after you. I
give you also what you have not asked, both
riches and honor, so that no other king shall
compare with you, all your days. And if you
will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and
my commandments, as your father David
walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
1 Kings 3:12-14
King Solomon
(his impact)
Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs and his songs
were 1,005. He wrote Psalms 72 & 127 as well as
the books of Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and
Ecclesiastes. (1 Kings 4:32)
Solomon had the temple built in Jerusalem. It
took seven years to complete. (1Kings 6:38)
King Solomon had it all: wealth, power, prestige
influence, knowledge, wisdom, material goods.
(1 Kings 10:1-7; Ecclesiastes 2:9-10)
“. . . the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he
appeared to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said to him, I
have heard your prayer and your plea. . . And as for
you, if you will walk before me, as David your father
walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing
according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping
my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal
throne over Israel forever. . .”
1 Kings 9:2-5
“But if you turn aside from following me, you or your
children, and do not keep my commandments and my
statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve
other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel
from the land that I have given them. . .”
1 Kings 9:6-7
King Solomon
(his impact)
Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs and his songs
were 1,005. He wrote Psalms 72 & 127 as well
as the books of Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and
Ecclesiastes. (1 Kings 4:32)
Solomon had the temple built in Jerusalem. It
took seven years to complete. (1Kings 6:38)
King Solomon had it all: wealth, power, prestige
influence, knowledge, wisdom, material goods.
(1 Kings 10:1-7; Ecclesiastes 2:9-10)
“Solomon received twenty-five tons of gold
annually. This was above and beyond the taxes
and profit on trade with merchants and traders. All
kings of Arabia and various assorted governors
also brought silver and gold to Solomon.”
2 Chronicles 9:13-14 The Message
“King Solomon was richer and wiser than all the
kings of the earth-he surpassed them all. Kings
came from all over the world to be with Solomon
and get in on the wisdom God had given him.
Everyone brought gifts-artifacts of gold and silver,
fashionable robes and gowns, the latest in
weapons, exotic spices, horses, and mules-parades
of visitors, year after year.”
“Solomon collected chariots and horses:
fourteen hundred chariots and twelve
thousand horses! He stabled them in the
special chariot-cities as well as in Jerusalem.
The king made silver and gold as common as
rocks, and cedar as common as the fig trees in
the lowland hills. His horses were brought in
from Egypt and Cilicia, specially acquired by
the kings’s agents.”
2 Chronicles 1:14-16
The Message
Solomon was king over the
12 united tribes of Israel for forty years,
approximately 971 B.C. to 931 B.C.
(jewishencyclopedia.com)
(1Kings 2:10-12; 11:42-43)
King Solomon
(his demise)
God took away the kingdom from Solomon
because. . .
He loved many foreign women (700 wives, 300
concubines), along with the daughter of Pharaoh.
. . (1 Kings 11:1-3a), and his heart was turned to
other gods by his wives. (1 Kings 11:3b-8)
He failed to follow and keep God’s covenant and
statutes that God commanded him.
(1 Kings 11:9-13; 30-36)
Lessons from the life of Solomon:
WHEN GOD SPEAKS, WE NEED TO LISTEN
David: 1 Kings 2:1-4; 1Chronicles 28:9-10
God: 1 Kings 6:11-13; 9: 4-7
2 Chronicles 7:17-20
Torah: Deuteronomy 17:14-20
“ When you come into the land that the Lord your
God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in
it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all
the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed
set a king over you whom the Lord your God will
choose.”
Deuteronomy 17:14-15a
“Only he must not acquire many horses for himself
or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to
acquire many horses. . . . And he shall not acquire
many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away,
nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver
and gold.”
Deuteronomy 17:16a-17
Concerning a copy of this law (Deuteronomy)
approved by the Levitical priests:
“And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it
all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear
the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this
law and these statutes, and doing them, that his
heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and
that he may not turn aside from the
commandment, either to the right hand or to the
left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom,
he and his children, in Israel.”
(Deuteronomy 17:19-20)
Things that the world offer us may turn our
hearts away from loving God and obeying him.
Philippians 1:27
Colossians 1:10; 2:6-7
Hebrews 12:1-2
“ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God”
Hebrews 12:1-2
Solomon’s own warning for others,
toward the end of his life. . .
“Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and
foolish king who no longer knew how to take
advice.”
Ecclesiastes 4:13
“I said in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with
pleasure; enjoy yourself.’ But behold, this also
was vanity.”
Ecclesiastes 2:1
“So I became great and surpassed all who were
before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom
remained with me. And whatever my eyes
desired I did not keep from them. I kept my
heart from no pleasure, for my heart found
pleasure in all my toil, and this was the my
reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that
my hands had done and the toil I had expended
in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and
striving after the wind, and there was nothing
to be gained under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 2:9-11
“Remember also your Creator in the days of
your youth, before the evil days come and the
years draw near of which you will say, ‘I have
no pleasure in them.’”
Ecclesiastes 12:1
“The end of the matter; all has been
heard. ‘Fear God and keep his
commandments, for this is the whole
duty of man. For God will bring every
deed into judgment, with every secret
thing, whether good or evil.’”
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Key verses
Deuteronomy 17:14-20 (14-17)
(no abundance of horses (16), wives (17),
silver and Gold (17)
1 Kings 3:3
(Solomon Love the Lord, only he sacrificed and
made offerings at the high places)
Ecclesiastes 2:9-11
(and whatever my eyes desired i did not keep from
them. . . all was vanity and striving after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
(at the end of the matter, fear god and keep his
commandments)
How did he begin, what did he achieve, how
did he end Or
His beginning His impact His demise
then the application: so what , now what (how
does that apply to us)
Sanctification: You where sanctified, you are
being sanctified, and you will be sanctified
if solomon can fall you can fall
Distractions Have
1. immediate and long term implications
(dull our focus, get us off track)
2. Effect others
3. Lead us in to disobedience
4. turn our hearts away from our relationship
with god through Jesus