Solomon The Billionaire Who Tried Unsuccesfully To Be Happy

Solomon - The Unhappy Billionaire

Who Tried Unsuccessfully to Be Happy

By Bob Marcaurelle bmarcaurelle@charter.net

“The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him royal splendor such as no king over Israel ever had before /

God was with him and made him great.” (1 Chronicles 29:23, 2 Chronicles 1:1) /

“I hated life, because the work that is

done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for.”

(Ecclesiastes 3:17, 18)

The treasures of heaven and earth were laid at Solomon’s feet. But because he turned his back on God to love wealth and wicked women, he lived and died a cynical, bitter, unhappy man, comparing life to a dog chasing his tail.

From 962 to 922 B.C. he ruled over one of the most glorious kingdoms in the history of the world. Jesus Christ himself paid tribute to this fact when He compared Solomon’s glory to the beauty of the God-created flower (Luke 12:27) and Solomon’s wisdom to His own (Matthew 12:42).

With his mining (1 Kings 10:22); his merchant ships (1 Kings 4:7-28); his lavish gifts from others (1 Kings 10:1-13); and his trade alliances (1 Kings 9:26-28); he could buy Bill Gates with pocket change. His emptiness was not born of temporary depression, spoken under the shadow of some great tragedy; but was the settled, deliberate, well-thought-out cynicism of a man who had traveled the wrong roads.

A. THE PATH OF WISDOM

(1 Kings 3:3-9; 4:29-34

Ecclesiastes 1:17-18; 12:12)

When God made him king, he did the right thing and went to church; and when God handed him a blank check, he did the right thing again and asked for wisdom (1 Kings 3:5).

From his mind came 1005 songs and over 3,000 proverbs. People came from everywhere to learn from him (4:34). He traveled the earth gathering its secrets and unlocking its philosophical treasures. His wisdom, the Bible says, surpassed the wisdom of all the people (4:30).

He said, “I perceived that this also is but a striving after the wind. For in much wisdom there is much trouble and the more you know the more it hurts” (Ecclesiastes 1:17,18).

We have put men on the moon and are scratching Mars. But with full minds our souls are empty. Billy Graham says one reason college students turn to drugs and sex is that our universities lead them to believe God doesn’t matter and their textbooks don’t touch their deepest needs.

And while we love the mysteries of our universe, the soul longs for the tree of life that never withers and for fountains that never run dry and for stars that shall shine after the glories of our earthly lights have faded and died.

Learning about the universe but not about the God of the universe, we keep rags and throw away riches.

B. THE PATH OF WEALTH AND WORLDLY

PLEASURE

(1 Kings 10:14-23; Ecclesiastes 2:1-11; 5:10)

Solomon was a multi-billionaire. He had a heated pool, flanked by twelve bronze lions and inlaid with pure gold. He had forty thousand horses. His throne was made of ivory and overlaid with finest gold. He had fleet ships that brought the world’s treasures to him, totaling a profit of a half-billion dollars a year. And what did this do for him? He said,

“I denied myself no pleasure” (2:10) and “I realized it all meant nothing. It was like chasing the wind (2:11) / He who loves money will not be satisfied with money” (5:10).

The American dream of a brick house, a boat and a Buick is one mad dash for the Almighty Dollar, leaving in its trail alcoholism, drug addiction, heart attacks, divorce, depression, and kids sick of being given “things” instead of love.

The company you sacrifice your health and family and eternal soul for, gives you a gold watch, if you are lucky, and forgets you. We spend our health getting wealth and spend our wealth getting our health back.

C. THE PATH OF WORKS

(1 Kings 5-9; Ecclesiastes 2:4-5; 18-20)

He expressed himself by building tangible monuments to his creativity. He built the marvelous Temple in Jerusalem. It was small but so elaborate that 150,000 men all around the world worked seven years to gather the materials and put them in place.

And like modern television personalities, he didn’t leave himself out. It took thirteen years for all his laborers to build his palace. Solomon spoke and buildings went up, canals were cut and deserts became gardens (See 2:4-5). And what did it get him? He said,

“I came to regret that I had worked so hard. You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then you leave it all to someone who hasn’t had to work for it. It is useless and it isn’t right.” (2:20, 21, TEV