Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying: ‘I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that the Lord may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,’ He said, ‘you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 1 Kings 2:1-4

King Solomon

King David chose one of his younger sons to follow him as King of Israel. Solomon’s mother was Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:24). You can read about Solomon’s 40-year reign in 1 Kings chapters 2 – 11. Two of the most important are chapters 3 and 11. Chapter 3 tells us that God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked the young king – “Ask! What shall I give you?” Solomon responded – “Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” Here’s how God responded to Solomon –

The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Then God said to him: ‘Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, ‘behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. 1 Kings 3:10-14

Solomon was a wise king, but he had a weakness that led him away from God in his later years –

But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. 1 Kings 11:1-4

Solomon lacked wisdom toward the end of his life, even though God had given him wisdom beyond all other people (1 Kings 4:29-34).

So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen. 1 Kings 11:9-13

The one ‘tribe’ that God gave to Solomon’s descendants was Judah. The reason for that was the covenant God had made with King David many years earlier (2 Samuel 7). The lineage of King David would lead to an everlasting Kingdom. Even though God’s promise spoke about the ‘seed’ that would come from David to follow him as king (Solomon), the covenant about the ‘everlasting kingdom’ pointed to the eternal reign of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

Lessons from Solomon

Even though Solomon turned away from the Lord in his later years, we can learn many things about how to reign with Christ. Solomon, like his father, was a prolific writer. Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs and wrote one thousand and five songs (1 Kings 4:32). I highly recommend reading Solomon’s proverbs in the Book of Proverbs and some of his songs in the Book of Psalms. Solomon’s wisdom and love for God as a younger man come through these writings in a powerful way. They are a great training tool for Christians.

One of my favorite writings of Solomon is Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” The fact that Solomon did not heed his own wise advice as an older man is important to note. ‘Training to reign’ with Christ means obeying God now and forever. We must endure. As the Apostle Paul wrote at the end of his life – “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Solomon also wrote The Song of Solomon, which is about his love for his wife as a young man. It is an excellent book for newly married couples about the special gift God has given them. Solomon wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes toward the end of his life. It is about Solomon’s journey through life as a king and the futility he experienced during that journey. The way Solomon ends Ecclesiastes is important for every Christian to read –

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: ‘Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Christians have God’s promise of forgiveness and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. However, that does not mean we can follow Solomon’s example and turn away from God to follow after ‘other gods.’ We cannot and should not abuse God’s grace. As Paul wrote in Romans 6 – “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” We should heed the words of Solomon and Paul. We should fear God. We should not continue in sin.

Solomon’s Legacy

Solomon was the last king over a unified Israel (all 12 tribes). His legacy ended in a major split that led to two kingdoms – Northern and Southern. The Southern Kingdom included the tribe of Judah and a small portion of Benjamin. Jerusalem was its capital and continued the Davidic Dynasty. The Northern Kingdom included the other ten tribes, along with a portion of Benjamin. Samaria eventually became the capital.

All of the kings of the Southern Kingdom were blood relatives of David and Solomon. None of the kings of the Northern Kingdom were blood relatives of David and Solomon. That will be important to watch as we see how God moves to reveal the ‘Seed of the woman’ that will destroy the ‘seed of the serpent.’

Free eBooks

You can download the first 13 chapters of this series here.

You can download chapters 14 – 24 of this series here.

You can download chapters 25 – 30 of this series here.

Next Time

We will look at the kings from the divided kingdoms in the next part of our series, Train to Reign, to see what we can learn about how to rule under God’s leadership.

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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