Man is born, lives a certain number of years, then dies. Paul said that if this is all there is to it, then we need to eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
Solomon was gifted with wisdom, above all other men. He built the temple for God; and established the kingdom of Israel, in peace, among many hostile neighboring countries. He accomplished this peace by intermarriage. He took wives for himself from each of these other countries, to assure that he had friendly diplomatic ties to their kingly fathers. These neighboring kings were less likely to make war on Israel if their own daughters were living with the King of Israel. Pretty wise, huh? Maybe not.
Deuteronomy 17:14-20 says, “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, ‘you are not to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.”
When he married these foreign wives they brought with them to Jerusalem their foreign gods. These foreign gods were worshipped by making an image of them in wood, stone or metal. The wives would offer sacrifices to these idols to secure their favor to bless them with children, to bless their crops with rain and sunshine, to protect them from harm, and to heal their sickness, among other things. This was bad enough in and of itself, but Solomon soon followed his wives in worshipping these idols. Solomon’s heart was led astray just like Yahweh said it would be if he took many wives. (See I Kings 11:1-14.)
Solomon started out humble and of no significance among men; except that he was the son of his father, King David. He was sincere and humble when he asked God for wisdom.
II Chronicles 1:7-10 says, “that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’ Solomon answered God, ‘You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?’”
Because of the humility in Solomon’s request, God granted wisdom unlike any other man. Because he had not asked for wealth, honor, the death of his enemies, or for long life; God granted him wealth and honor, as well as wisdom and knowledge, to lead the nation of Israel above all other nations of the world.
Everything was going great and the nation had expanded and was in peaceful relationships with the surrounding nations. Solomon increased in wisdom, knowledge, wealth and honor, which included many horses, but he also increased in the number of wives and concubines. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines during his life as King of Israel. They all brought their idols, and set them up on the hills surrounding Jerusalem as shrines of worship. That is a lot of idols and false gods to lead Solomon and the nation of Israel astray. Some of these false gods demanded human sacrifices. God judged Solomon for this by dividing the kingdom and allowing captivity.
It is believed that the Book of Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon, showing his regrets. The gift of wisdom that he had sought from God had become a curse; as he walked away from obeying the commandments of God. Solomon starts out by saying all is vanity and laments that everything in life is endless and meaningless, especially human toil and the cycles of nature, for nothing is ever truly new on earth. He lived his life satiating himself with eating, drinking, sexual relationships, accumulating wealth and property, and various forms of entertainment.
The word ‘vanity’ is a translation of the Hebrew word ‘hebel’, which means “breath of the wind”; connoting uselessness, deceptiveness, and transience.
Solomon had forgotten the joy that he experienced in seeking his God in sincerity and zeal as he sought wisdom for establishing the kingdom of Israel for Yahweh. His rebellion and disobedience against the teachings of his God, especially in multiplying to himself many wives, had led him to seek that feeling of joy and satisfaction for his soul in worldly pleasures. Solomon even acquired wisdom from his sinful ways after stating that there is a time to be born, a time to die and a time for everything under the Sun; he states that this is the summation – to fear God and obey His Commandments.
Paul says the same thing in I Corinthians 15:33-34 saying, “be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” He then goes on to explain about the resurrection and our hope of bodies fashioned like the glorified body of Christ. Paul encourages us to separate ourselves unto Christ and His teachings, to avoid being corrupted and deceived by false teachers.
It is impossible to go through this life without being hurt by others and disappointed by one’s own self. Pain and suffering from broken relationships are the most traumatic experiences of life. Failure and wrong choices leave us with many regrets and emotional scars.
Our initial reaction is anger, with lots of self-justification. After a few more stages of grief, we then experience a time of sadness and regret before moving into acceptance; as we replace the feelings of hurt by fixating our attention on other things, or other people, in other relationships.
Just take a look at your own life, then look at the lives of those around you, as you listen to the news and hear the end results of this world’s rich and famous. The media brainwashes us into thinking that we all are gods, and can achieve our own utopia by going within ourselves and fulfilling all our fleshly desires. America is known abroad as the rudest nation of the world, obsessed with entertainment, materialism, violence, drugs, and sex. Rome had the same epitaph on her tombstone. How many of the idols, worshipped by our masses, started out humble and ended up dying a horrible death; or leaving the altar of fame in shame, like Solomon? Exalting self and seeking this world’s goods is vanity of vanities, just as the wise man Solomon concluded.
Jesus says that every one that does evil, hates the light; because the light reveals his evil deeds. He that does truth, comes to the light for the purpose of showing that his deeds are approved by God. (John 3:20-21) God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. God’s Word is full of light and truth. Is it any wonder that we are seeing such an intense attack on God, the Bible, Christ, and Christians today? Our world is giving itself over to the pursuit of everything that Solomon called ‘vanity’: uselessness, deceptiveness, and transient blowing in the wind.
The world and the devil want to sidetrack you with drowning your pain and suffering in the things of this life. Solomon lived to show us the vanity in all this world has to offer. Hollywood testifies in horrible deaths of her stars. Politics disappoints us with the revelation of government leaders’ soiled lives. Church leaders have become as materialistic as the world, as famous as movie stars, and as powerful as politicians – to what avail? Those who have dropped out of church have immersed themselves in alcohol, drugs, perverted sexual unions, and the accumulation of pleasures and goods; trying to drown out their consciences as they scream: “this is useless and meaningless! I am only here for a few short years and there is so much suffering and pain, I am just going to let the wind blow me where it will, and I might as well as enjoy myself today.”
Jesus Christ is the Good News and He died on a cruel horrible Roman Cross to suffer all the pain that you and I could ever experience. He didn’t stay in the grave, but He arose just like He said He would. This is a proven historical fact and it becomes personally empirical when you open your heart and confess in sincere humble acknowledgement your need of Christ as your personal Savior. You are not a god. You were never meant to be a god. You are a created being that is meant to be obedient to your Creator and live with Him in eternity. In exchange for this obedience to His teachings, He has promised through Christ that you can reign with Him without ever suffering pain again. A body of glorious light, fashioned like unto His Glorified body, that doesn’t need any of the things of this life to function at heavenly perfection.
As we accept our failures and surrender our hurts and broken relationships to Christ, He fills our spiritual man with peace as He heals the broken pieces of our hearts and souls. Then we seek more of His Light and Truth, out of love for Him as we hate the darkness that soils our souls.