King Solomon began as a man who, "loved the Lord." He felt inadequate to be king, "I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in." So Solomon asked God for and was given a, "wise and understanding heart... to discern between good and bad." God established in Solomon a greatness, "so that there was none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like you." (1 Kings 3:3,7,9,12)

Because of Solomon's unselfish request God added, "riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings equal to you all your days." And a condition, "if you will go My way, keep My statutes and My commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your days." (1 Kings 3:13,14)

Solomon's, "wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men. ...and his fame was in all nations round about." Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs; "...men came from all nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom." (1 Kings 4:30-32,34)

King David, Solomon's father, advised him personally, "...know the God of your father and serve Him with blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him you will find Him; but if you forsake [abandon, renounce, withdraw from] Him, He will cast you off forever!" (1 Chronicles 28:9)

So how could Solomon, who was given such perfect wisdom, who built the Lord's temple, who had peace in the kingdom throughout his reign, how could Solomon eventually turn from serving the Lord to serve other gods?

Clearly, to have wisdom and to follow wisdom are two different things. Though Solomon was the wisest man of his time and according to God's promise, 'the wisest man of all time', Solomon did not live wisely. Solomon's greatest failure was that he did not apply the spiritual wisdom he received from God to every area of his life.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil." (Proverbs 3:5-7)

Solomon failed to trust that the Lord would keep his kingdom secure from foreign threats. Instead, he entered into foreign alliances, taking foreign wives to cement military and political pacts.

Solomon eventually found it difficult to resist the lust of the flesh and his desire for these women. "He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives turned away his heart from God. 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 he heart of David his father." (1 Kings 11:3-4)

King David's heart was 'perfect', not in the sense that he never failed God, but that he never entered into idolatry and the worship of other gods. "David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." (1 Kings 15:5) when in adultery with Bathsheba, David attempted to coverup his sin thus grievously sinning to the point of despising God and His word.

David never worshipped or depended on other gods. Solomon's fatal error was to seek power, success, wealth, and sensual pleasure through compromise with and tolerance of idolatry and sin.

As Solomon moved further and further away from God he sought comfort in the lusts of this world, yet, nothing earthly can satisfy spiritual hunger. King David wrote, "O God, Thou my God, early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh longs for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is." (Psalm 63:1)

Solomon eventually squeezed out the "Lord our God" in favor of the Sidonian goddess Ashtoreth which involved immoral rituals and the worship of the stars. Solomon built a high place or temple to the Moabite god Milcom (or Molech) which involved child sacrifice, and a high place to the Ammonite god Chemos which involved worshipping the sun.

Solomon's apostasy shows that mere knowledge of God and His Word is not enough but that his heart must be 'perfect' toward God. "Hear O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might." (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matthew 22:37-38)

King David advised, "serve Him with blameless heart and a willing mind." (1 Chronicles 28:9)

Solomon fell into such blatant sin that he directly sanctioned spiritism, encouraged immorality and cruelty, sacrificed his own children in the fire to demon-gods, defiled Israel, and dishonored God.

After all this, God still gave Solomon a chance to turn away from other gods, repent and return to Him. (1 Kings 9:2-9)

Solomon did not repent, then God's judgment came, "because you are doing this and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you." (1 Kings 11:9-10) God's judgment on Solomon resulted in the division of Israel into two kingdoms.

The Word of God warns us that if a king who had experienced such great wisdom and abundant gifts could fall, then, "let anyone who thinks he is standing firm, take heed lest he fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12)

Perhaps James may have had Solomon on mind when he wrote, "What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? ... Faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone." (James 2:14,17)

It is not enough just to KNOW the right thing, we must also DO the right thing. Peter wrote, "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." (2 Peter 2:21)

Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for 40 years and authored the book of Ecclesiastes during his last declining years. The accumulative effect of Solomon's spiritual decline, idolatry, and life of self-indulgence left him at the end disillusioned with pleasure and materialism as a way to happiness.

Ecclesiastes records his cynical reflections about the futility and emptiness of seeking happiness in life apart from God and His Word. He had experienced great and abundant wealth, power, honor, fame and sensual pleasure, yet they added up in the end to utter emptiness, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (Ecclesiates 1:2)

Solomon's great spiritual wisdom is diminishing to random human thoughts, life, "under the sun", a phrase that occurs 29 times, is life as seen through the eyes of the unredeemed. Solomon can find ultimate meaning in life only when he looks, "above the sun", to God.

The frequently quoted Ecclesiates is 1:9 in this manner, "there is nothing new under the sun." is often used by many to justify their point of view saying that this verse means that there is no new revelation from God. Therefore, using this verse to deny the resurrection of the body, the rapture or 'catching away of the church'.

Others boast that there isn't anything that can happen to anyone in this life that hasn't already been experienced by others, making life meaningless, a pointless circle of birth and death. Some reflect here on man's endless search for the meaning of life.

Of Solomon's writings, the most important aspect to know is that the WISDOM of Proverbs is not the WISDOM of Ecclesiastes. Solomon is writing this book from the 'natural (physical) perspective' and not from the 'spiritual perspective' as is Proverbs.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 in entirety, "The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." is one of the simplest verses to paraphrase, as follows:

Throughout Ecclesiastes, not once is God recognized as LORD, and yet, at the end, the heart of Solomon's personal advice is goldly, "Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every WORK [good and bad] into judgment, with every SECRET thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Eccl. 12:13-14)

Solomon did not heed his fathers, David's warning, "if your forsake (abandon, renounce, withdraw from) Him, He will cast you off forever!" (1 Chronicles 28:9) Nor did he regard the spiritual commandments given to Moses, "I am the Lord your God... You shall not have no other gods before me. You shall not make unto you any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:2-6)

Perhaps Solomon's primary purpose in writing Ecclesiastes may have been to share his regrets and firsthand testimony with others before he died, especially with young people, in particular his children (referring to his son in in 12:12), so that they would not make the same mistakes he had.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon establishes forever the utter futility of basing one's values in life on earthly possessions and personal ambition. Though young people should enjoy their youth (Eccl. 11:9-10), it is more important to commit themselves to the Lord (Eccl. 12:1) and to resolve to fear God and keep His commandments (Eccl. 12:13-14). Such is the only path to meaning in life.

IN CONCLUSION:

Solomon's reign began as a king who 'loved the Lord'. In his later years the idols of his many wives turned him from God. Still, God gave Solomon a chance to turn away from the worship of idols and other gods. Solomon did not return to God and the judgment came which resulted in the division of Israel into two kingdoms.

The Word of God warns us that if a king who had experienced such great wisdom and abundant gifts could fall, then, "let anyone who thinks he is standing firm, take heed lest he fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12)

All the works that Solomon did for the Lord, in the name of the Lord, for the glory of the Lord -- were they pleasing to the Lord, when his heart was not right?

Solomon broke his father's best advice. Perhaps in writing the book of Ecclesiastes, David's words were haunting him. Recall: "And you Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever!" (1 Chronicles 28:9)

The Lord searches all hearts and understands all imaginations of thoughts. Solomon acted on the imaginations of his thoughts. Yet he still got a chance to repent and return to God.

Perhaps that's where his cynicism came from, because he had the chance and blew it. Maybe in the back of his mind, as he was building God's temple, perhaps he rationalized his works vs. his faith and commitment to God.

We do this a little at a time when we accept, when we tolerate, and when we condone things, actions and events around us as perfectly normal when they are things against God.

Like what?

Like Halloween -- by glorifying vampires, ghouls, the undead, and witches on Halloween and sanctioning the very "appearance of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22), an evening dedicated to blood and evil, homage is paid to satan. When deeds and events fall into any of the works of the flesh, they are against God. Solomon not only condoned these things, but he eventually participated: "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such like." (Galatians 5:19-21)

Solomon is proof that greatness comes with God and decline and cynicisms without God.

Jesus says, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found your works perfect before God." (Revelation 3:2) This is the chance God is giving us. The believer needs to strengthen his relationship with the Lord, because it's not yet too late. Return to putting God first.

Do not forsake the Lord.

Put God first and you'll never come in second.