Solomon was always a confusing case in my mind.
I don't get it, here is a guy that has been given by God more wisdom than any one human would ever have in the existence of the world (with the exception of Jesus Christ), and yet he is foolish enough to go and marry hundreds of women and worship their gods. I mean, it doesn't take a genius to read the law and figure out that we really shouldn't be worshiping any god but the one true God. I'm pretty sure God meant it when He said "You shall have no other gods before me." Add that to the fact that God directly told Solomon "if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever..." When you run the equation, it just doesn't make sense. Wisdom + Law + Promise = Woops!
So for a long time I've wondered just how wise can this guy really have been if he was that foolish?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to discredit the wisdom of Solomon. The Bible is quite clear that he was wiser than any one of us would ever be, and that is nothing to laugh at.
It's just always bugged me: if the great wisdom of Solomon was not enough to bring him to the conclusion of pure, unadulterated worship of God, then what was it that he was missing?
I know that none of us will ever get it completely right this side of heaven. But you would still think that all that wisdom would keep you pointed in the right direction. So perhaps it takes more than wisdom to live wisely.
1 comment:
The point of the Old Testament is to teach us that we cannot - none of us, no matter how wise - keep the law in our own strength. Sin isn't overcome by wisdom, but by God's grace. See I Corinthians.
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