Character Studies
Solomon’s Weaknesses
No king of Israel and few rulers in general had greater prospects for success than Solomon. King David had left
the nation at peace with the surrounding countries. God had granted Solomon the wisdom he asked for. Solomon
began his reign by following God’s commands and offering sacrifices. Then he proceeded to build the temple in
Jerusalem that his father had desired. He then began other ambitious construction projects to make Jerusalem both
beautiful and well defensed. With all those things going for him, he still drifted away from the Lord in the second
half of his reign. He didn’t remain faithful to God’s will and commands. We must all be careful because a strong
start to the Christian life doesn’t guarantee a strong finish. We have to be cautious that we don’t begin the slow
drift away from the Lord the same way Solomon did. God has promised He will never leave or forsake us, but we
can leave Him. Just like Solomon we have a choice.
There are several things Solomon did that brought about his drift from God.
He continued worshiping God at the Canaanite high places.
1 Kings 3:3, “And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed
and burnt incense in high places.” These high places were areas on the tops of hills or mountains originally used
by pagans to sacrifice to their gods. Orders had been given to the Israelites before they entered the land under
Joshua to destroy these places. At various times in their history to this point the altars and idols on the high places
had been torn down. But it seems they kept coming back. The verse here speaks of a time early in the reign of
Solomon with the Lord granting him wisdom a few verses later in the chapter. After the temple was completed in
Jerusalem worshiping in the high places was forbidden but it seems Solomon continued doing this even after the
temple was built.
The offerings and sacrifices Solomon was making at this time were to the Lord – he was just doing it at the
wrong place. Does it matter where we worship God? The Southern Hills Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas has
recently begun holding Sunday morning services in the “Memories” bar. The meetings are held in the back room
where the dance floor is located with a Miller Lite banner stretched across the back wall. The Pastor says he
realizes this is not in the tradition of the Church of Christ but they are seeking to reach people with “feelings of
unworthiness or prior negative experiences with a church.” The bar isn’t open on Sundays and alcohol can’t be
legally served in the town until noon Sunday. The church services are scheduled to last until 12:15. The owner of
the bar says that if anyone walks into the bar after twelve while the services are still going on he will serve them.
The rationalization is that the church is to take the message where the people are and people are in bars.
Another group in Raleigh, North Carolina has a “Beer and a Bible” night at a local pub. In Richmond, Indiana
three different church related groups meet in two local bars. Does it matter where we worship the Lord? It did in
Solomon’s time. Its fine to try to reach the lost world with the message of salvation but to hold worship services in
the strongholds of the world is wrong. The reason is pretty basic, lost people don’t worship God.
Oppressive Government
Solomon had grand building projects in Jerusalem that both beautified the city as well as providing defense for
it. The problem became that most of the wealth of the nation and virtually all the political power was concentrated
in Jerusalem. Solomon divided his kingdom into twelve districts that ignored the old tribal boundaries set when the
land was first conquered. These brought taxes to provide for the kingdom, “And Solomon had twelve officers
over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made
provision” (1 Kings 4:7).
While building the temple, he made the “strangers” in the land, the remnant of the Canaanite races, servants and
made their life “bitter with all hard bondage.” He sent 153,000 to the quarries and the forests of Lebanon to
provide building materials for the temple. Solomon also received tributes from the countries David had conquered,
“And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border
of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life” (1 Kings 4:21). “And this is the
reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and
Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer” (1 Kings 9:15).
Solomon brought heavy taxation on his people that later brought unrest and rebellion. He also forced some of
his people into labor to build the many projects he had going. His taxes on the conquered countries brought bitter
resentment from them.
Multiple wives
While the children of Israel were still in the wilderness, regulations were given concerning how the future kings
were to conduct themselves. Part of these were, “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn
not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold” (Deuteronomy 17:17). Solomon
certainly broke this command:
1 Kings 11:1-8
1 But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the
Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
2 Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them,
neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave
unto these in love.
3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his
heart.
4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his
heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the
Ammonites.
6 And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.
7 Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before
Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
8 And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.
The downfall of Solomon began with one little chip of compromise. The first marriage of Solomon that is
recorded is, “And Solomon made affinity (an alliance) with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s
daughter, and brought her into the city of David . . .” (1 Kings 3:1). This marriage was based on political
expediency rather than love and was a marriage of two nations rather than two people. Many of Solomon’s
marriages were made for the same reason, thus his wives consisted of women from several nationalities. Not only
was Solomon to not multiply wives but he (and all Israel) were not to marry foreign women, “Neither shalt thou
make marriages with them (people of Canaan); thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his
daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me . . .” (Deuteronomy
7:3-4). Perhaps Solomon thought he was so wise he could handle these situations but he became the perfect
example of why God’s word was true.
Nehemiah 13:23-26
23 In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab:
24 And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but
according to the language of each people.
25 And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and
made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters
unto your sons, or for yourselves.
26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him,
who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish
women cause to sin.
Nehemiah compares the sin being committed by the men of Judah in his time to the same sin that brought about
Solomon’s downfall. In Solomon’s case, his success brought about his ruin. He had accumulated great personal
wealth through the success of his commercial trade of caravans and ships. To make these ventures work, he had
made trade agreements with many nations and peoples. Part of these agreements, no doubt, included marriages to
daughters of kings and other nobles. Solomon didn’t outright reject God, he continued to worship Him and offer
sacrifices. He began compromising true worship by tolerating the paganism of his wives. As is often the case,
these things probably came upon him gradually. First he consented to his wives having their idols and their
worship and then he permitted the pagan altars to be built. Finally he joined in by attending the pagan ceremonies
of his wives. Solomon went after Ashtoreth and Milcom and then built altars to Chemosh, Molech and other pagan
deities. While Solomon was still worshipping the Lord in some respects, he was also worshipping all the other
gods of his wives also. That means he wasn’t really dedicated to any of them, his worship was merely formal.
As wise as Solomon was, he acted very foolishly in disregarding the word of God that showed the result of these
unequally yoked unions. The same is true today, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
(2 Corinthians 6:14). This verse isn’t talking about someone who becomes a believer while their spouse is still an
unbeliever but is referring to someone seeking out an unbeliever to marry. The consequence of these unions is that
the believer ends up either outright rejecting the Lord or slowly turning away by growing cold and giving in to
various temptations.
Multiplying horses, gold and silver (Deuteronomy 17:14-20)
Deuteronomy 17:16-17, “But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to
Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall
henceforth return no more that way.
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly
multiply to himself silver and gold.”
1 Kings 10:23-29
23 So Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
24 And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.
25 And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour,
and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.
26 And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred
chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at
Jerusalem.
27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees
that are in the vale, for abundance.
28 And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen
yarn at a price.
29 And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an
hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out
by their means.
Solomon had great wealth that was partly accumulated from the trading of his merchants and partly by the gifts
received from foreign rulers. He used this to fill his palace and surroundings with splendor. The daily maintenance
of his household was immense, “And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures (270 bushels) of
fine flour, and threescore measures (540 bushels) of meal, Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures,
and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl” (1 Kings 4:22-23). It
would be hard to be that rich without focusing on material things and forgetting God.
After Jesus had told His disciples the parable of the rich fool who had torn down his barns to build greater, He
said, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). The reason given
for this is, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34). If a person accumulates
great wealth in this world, the tendency is to rely on these things rather than on the Lord who granted them.
Another tendency is to forget God was responsible and begin taking pride in our own accomplishments. This is
what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar, “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built
for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word
was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken;
The kingdom is departed from thee” (Daniel 4:30-31). It is very easy for us to look at what we have and begin to
praise ourselves for what we have done. We see from Nebuchadnezzar’s experience it can all be taken away in a
moment.
Lessons from Solomon’s life
Sin has consequences
Like his father David, Solomon began his reign well and blessed by God but failed to continue following God’s
commands and ended poorly. Solomon had been warned but he wouldn’t heed so judgment fell upon him and his
descendants:
1 Kings 11:9-11, “And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord
God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,
10 And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not
that which the Lord commanded.
11 Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my
covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will
give it to thy servant.”
The kingdom wasn’t taken away during Solomon’s life because of God’s compassion for David. After his
death, ten tribes of the kingdom were stripped away from his son but two tribes remained for David’s descendants
to reign over. Within the space of 120 years Israel had risen from a nation of relative obscurity to the majesty and
power of Solomon’s kingdom. After Solomon’s death, all the wealth and magnificence of the kingdom quickly
vanished. What followed was a constant state of antagonism and even warfare between the two separate kingdoms
of Israel and Judah. They were so busy contending with each other they hardly had time to fight the oppression
from neighboring nations. Solomon sinned by turning from God and there were consequences to be paid.
Knowing what is right and doing what is right is not the same thing
Solomon was the wisest man in the world (1 Kings 3:12) but he still failed miserably in his spiritual life. He
didn’t follow his own teachings, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting
get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). Solomon had wisdom but it seems he failed to get the understanding because
he also said, “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen
than silver!” (Proverbs 16:16). He began chasing gold and silver even though he knew better.
The proverbs of Solomon dealt with living a righteous life before the Lord. He taught about obeying God’s
instructions, pursuing a relationship with God, rejoicing in the wife of thy youth while avoiding immoral women
and avoiding worldly temptations. Solomon knew perfectly what to do and how to do it. The problem was – he
didn’t do it. The instruction of the New Testament is, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). Knowledge is great and the Bible does teach us to study God’s Word
but we will be judged on how we apply that insight. A lot of people today know John 3:16 and can even quote it
from memory but not all who know it commit it to their lives.