When Solomon becomes king of Israel after his father David dies, God comes to him and says “Ask what I shall give you.” Solomon replies that his father David was “upright in heart”, that he was a “man after God’s own heart.” Solomon asks that God give him wisdom to lead the people.
God is pleased and gives Solomon wisdom, wealth, and honor. But God also tells Solomon, “If you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”
During Solomon’s reign, Israel flourishes with abundance. Solomon builds the temple of God and his own palace. But he builds the temple with forced laborers, harkening back to Israel’s own time of slavery in Egypt.
But in the end of Solomon’s life, his heart turns from God. He married women from different nations, who turned his heart to following their gods. Maybe these were political marriages to secure political alliances. Maybe Solomon thought to himself, “It is wise for me to marry these women and serve their gods, because that will secure safety and prosperity for Israel.”
Solomon did well to ask for wisdom, but he missed the crucial lesson from his father’s life. Instead of asking for wisdom, he should have asked God for the same heart as his father David, to be wholly devoted to God.
A couple lessons from this story:
1) God is faithful. Remember, God is the protagonist of the Bible, the only character to appear on the first page and the last page. Solomon is the first of many kings of Israel who fail and follow after other gods. Yet still, God is faithful.
2) Wisdom is good, but wisdom alone is not enough. For my part, as someone who used to pray often for wisdom, now I find myself praying for a greater heart to pursue God.
3) We need humility and perspective in terms of our government. If King Solomon, with all the wisdom he received from God, could still stray away, who is to say that any other government can do better? The very covenant people of God fell into idolatry, injustice, and unfaithfulness, and were ultimately taken into exile. What makes any of us think that we can do better? We can certainly try, but let us remain clear-eyed about what is possible. Only Jesus is the true King; all others are flawed reflections.
