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Chronicles 9 develops a “paparazzi” picture of King Solomon at
the height of his splendor. The chapter begins, “When
the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to Jerusalem to
test him with hard questions“.
She soon learned that he was not only wealthy and powerful, but
blessed with extraordinary wisdom. “Solomon
answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for him to explain
to her. When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well
as the palace he had built… she was overwhelmed.”
There is no way to overstate Solomon’s greatness among men. God
had promised to give Solomon wisdom, intelligence and riches “such
as none of the kings who were before you has possessed, nor those who
will come after you“.
The queen explained, “Indeed,
not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far
exceeded the report I heard“.
But the queen made a common assumption, “How
happy your men must be!”
to be continually hearing your brilliance.
Hearing
the wisdom of man does not bring joy, it leaves us frustrated. You
will never find joy by looking inward for answers! Our greatest joy
comes from intimacy with God and that begins with studying God’s
Word.
It
is interesting to note, the queen made the only reference to God in
the chapter. “Praise
be to the Lord your God… Because of the love of your God for Israel
and His desire to uphold them forever, He has made you king over
them, to maintain justice and righteousness“.
Matthew 5:14 makes it clear that we have a responsibility to live
our lives in such a way that those around us will recognize the
source of our joy. “Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and
glorify your Father in heaven“.
People see what we love before they hear what we say. What do
people see when they look at your life?
The
word most used throughout the chapter is “gold”. “The
weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents (or
roughly $400 Million),
not including the revenues brought in by merchants and traders“.
The Bible does not say wealth is evil, but that “the
love of money”
leads to sorrows. “The
king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with pure
gold… a footstool of gold… All King Solomon’s goblets were gold,
and all the household articles… were pure gold.”
In
fact gold was so abundant, “Nothing
was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value“.
We also read, “Solomon
had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand
horses, which he kept in the chariot cities“.
In Ecclesiastes 2:10, Solomon himself wrote, “I
denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no
pleasure… Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I
had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after
the wind“.
Later Solomon added, “Whoever
loves money never has money enough.”
(Eccl 5:10). Clearly it is our attitude about money that can cause
problems. The chapter ends, “Solomon
reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. Then he rested
with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And
Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king“.
What picture do the ones we love cherish most?