THE FOOLISH WISE MAN
1 Kings 3:1-3:15 listen as I read today’s text
1And Solomon made affinity(means “Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt.”) with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
2Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.
3And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
4And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
5In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, “Ask what I shall give thee.”
6And Solomon said, “Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. 8And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? “
10And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11And God said unto him, “Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 12Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 13And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. 14And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.”
15And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.
Solomon was the wisest man on earth, but failed to realize he did not know it all.
As wise as Solomon was, he made several serious mistakes. The first mistake we will talk about is that: “He started well, but he did not finish well.”
We have all seen the runners who burst into the lead in a race and then did not have the stamina to finish the race. The world is filled with people who were voted “most likely to succeed” who not long after school, burned out early in life’s race so to speak. They’re good and strong at the beginning but soon fizzle out.
The Bible talks often about the importance of finishing well
Jesus said, in Matthew 24:13 3But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Which was a reference to some how enduring through the tribulation.
Toward the end of his life the apostle Paul was able to say, 2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Think of what Solomon was like in the beginning. God visited him in a dream and told him to ask for anything his heart desired and it would be his. He could have-- ----asked for riches or fame, but instead he asked the Lord for wisdom to rule his people. He wanted to be a good king. And because Solomon’s request pleased the Lord, he not only gave him great wisdom, but he gave him riches and fame as well.
Solomon wrote the bulk of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. the book of Proverbs, He wrote Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon and part of the book of Psalms. He had a lot to say about how to live wisely, but he failed to follow his own advice.
When he wrote the book of Proverbs, he said: Proverbs 1:77The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. But some how it seems he stopped fearing the Lord and he despised instruction. He became a foolish wise man.
His wisdom is best illustrated in the famous story of the two prostitutes.
1st kgs.3:16Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. 17And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 19And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it. 20And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. 22And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.
23Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
27Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
28And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.
Today we could solve it with a simple DNA test. But in that day it took the Wisdom of Solomon.
Solomon was very wise. He started out very well, but he did not finish well.
The spiritual battles ahead may be lost because of poor preparation and lack of consumption of the proper spiritual food. We do not end well because we did not prepare well. Endurance is best developed before it is needed. The athlete who does not prepare well will not finish well. The Christian who does not prepare well will not finish well.
The secret of endurance is careful preparation. Solomon was more serious about developing his wisdom than relying on God’s wisdom and developing his relationship with God.
Initially, he built a magnificent temple for the Lord, but then he built an even more magnificent palace for himself. And not long after that he built elaborate quarters for his wives — 700 of them, not counting the 300 concubines.
Solomon’s many foreign wives were the daughters of neighboring kings and represented political alliances. These marriages led to dependence on his political allies rather than God.
Solomon started out worshiping the Lord and HIM alone, but it was not long until he was worshiping all the pagan gods of the surrounding nations as well.
Instead of influencing the nations for the one and only God, he was seduced by all the gods of the people around him. As a result, his wisdom became foolishness. He began with a heart that was tender toward God and ended with a heart alienated from God.
The reason Solomon finished so poorly was because of his second mistake:
“He stopped growing in God.”
Many people are spiritual minimalists. They meet the minimum requirements and leave it to other people to achieve excellence.
The problem with that is: after awhile, even a little becomes too much. There may be some listening who may be experiencing that now. You have taken a step back spiritually. You have taken a little break from God. For a short time he becomes second place. But a short time turns into a long time, and second place turns into third place, and third place turns into last place, until if not careful, you may forget about being close to God.
Solomon’s original name was Jedidiah, meaning “loved of the Lord.” The name was given to him by Nathan the prophet who was responsible for his education
(2 Samuel 12:24-25).
But Solomon was seduced into worshiping the gods of Baal and Molech, the detestable gods of the heathen nations. At first he merely tolerated the worship of these gods by his foreign wives, but eventually he imitated their evil practices and embraced their gods.
The Bible says, “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God....” 1 Kings 11: 1But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; 2Of 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. 3And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. 4For 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. 5For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.
He didn’t stop worshiping the Lord and offering sacrifices at the special feasts, but his heart had been compromised and he began to turn away from the Lord more and more, until the Lord said to him, 1 Kings 11:11-12 11Wherefore 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. 12Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 13Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.
In the beginning he would only worship the Lord, but then he wanted to worship the Lord and foreign gods as well. Eventually, he worshiped the Lord less and less, except for formal occasions.
It is no accident that Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, the Bible’s book of despair.
It is a treatise of a man who has sought for pleasure and meaning in all the wrong places. But by this time he is so trapped in his sin he cannot follow his own advice.
It is the story of a man who has lost God, and now he finds no pleasure in life. He begins the book with the words: Ecclesiastes 1:2 2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Vanity is the theme of the book. He had it all and found it meant nothing. He went to the extreme on pleasure, but he was a minimalist when it came to the things of God later in life.
If the life of Solomon tells us anything, it is that ignoring God is the road to foolishness and despair.
Listen to the difference in how Jesus grew: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).
Solomon grew in wisdom, but he did not grow in favor with God. We ought to be better today than we were a year ago. We ought to know God better, love him more, and be more faithful in living for him.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. If Jesus has slipped to second place in our life it won’t be long until he is third place — and eventually no place.
We serve a jealous God. The Bible says, Exodus 34:14 14For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: He will not share us with other loves. We need to reawaken to the fact that the Christian life is an all-or-nothing affair.
Christianity is not a trivial pursuit. It is not a ritual to be performed; it is a life to be lived. It is an exclusive relationship of love.
The problem in America today is the church. Because the people of God have failed to be what they should be, we are living with moral confusion and chaos. We sat down when we should have been standing up. We have failed to be salt and light to the world.
We have failed to depend on God’s wisdom and are leaning on the wisdom of the world. We have been worshiping the gods of this world and failed to keep our love for God undivided and unspoiled. We have been so distracted by the things we are doing in the world that our priorities are upside down.
We are not so much doing bad things as we are doing other things.
The third mistake that Solomon made was: “He allowed his strength to become his weakness.” His strength was his wisdom, it was a gift from God, but it quickly became his weakness. He surely started thinking instead of praying.
Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 17And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. 18For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledgeincreaseth sorrow. He wanted to investigate every area of knowledge. But it didn’t lead to understanding, it led only to confusion. Let us try and stay close to God.
