The Long and Winding Road: Solomon’s Life in Three Acts

How many of you have been keeping up with the launch and deployment of this James Webb Telescope that has been going on? I figured Clint would and a few others have done so. Last December, NASA launched a brand-new space telescope called the James Webb Telescope. It is bigger, better than the Hubble and any other previous telescope that's ever been made. It's gone out further, and it's going to bring in images of the universe and stars and galaxies better, brighter, bigger than anything we have ever seen. And those begin this week.

I've seen a few preliminary pictures on the Webb, but they are going to begin to be released in the coming days as it comes fully online and produces these stunning, what...I'm sure will be stunning photographs of parts of space that have never really been seen before. And it's an amazing story. Even the amazing development of this and how it has been so intricately designed, built, launched, and then deployed, it's a fascinating story of technology and space technology that is there.

I was thinking about it as I was looking at some of the pictures and reading about it in preparation for what I want to talk about here today. Because as telescopes like the Hubble and now the Webb will expand our reach in terms of the vision of the universe and the quest for knowledge of its origins as they seek to understand what is out there, they will see more galaxies, they will see more stars, and more than... And it will, no doubt, revolutionize the knowledge base of the universe in the coming years.

And as they look at that, I began to think and realize, what will they see? Will they... I'm sure they hope to maybe see places where life could be. I don't think they will, because I read the scriptures and I've read the books on the...even what we do know about the universe and... From everything that we do know, and I think it will be even confirmed with even more knowledge, we live on Earth, and Earth is as one book written by a man named Jay Richards, it is "The Privileged Planet." It is the one spot, one planet, one terrestrial orb in all of the known universe where everything is perfect for life as we are on this planet. No other star, planet, galaxy, universe has the conditions for life as we know it.

As we look at Scripture, we understand that life on this planet has a unique purpose in the plan of God. And so, the knowledge base will be increased. But I think that it's going to also just show the increased darkness, and, if you will, emptiness of a very intricate universe and a very complex, in some ways, chaotic and disordered universe, in the sense that there's no life out there, and there are astral bodies, but there's not the conditions for life as we know it.

And so, in a sense, our knowledge will be expanded. But what will we really learn, and what will we come to understand? I think that one of the principles behind this that is important to know is that stars and galaxies, as well as people and animals on this planet, the birth, the life of anything, does take place within the context of disorder, confusion, and chaos, whether we look out into space or even look upon this planet and look at life.

And one of the big lessons that we have to come to grips with is that we must become comfortable. In this life, on this planet, walking in darkness, and sometimes among crooked lines, because nothing in life happens in a straight line. Nothing in life happens in a straight line. What do I mean by that in connection with this? I'm not talking about cosmology and astronomy today, but what am I talking about?

Well, let's put it down to our level. We're born into a family, into life, and into what we remember and know. And as we grow and develop, our life can go along pretty good in the homes that we are a part of. And then sometimes things can happen as we know. Tragedy can strike, a father can lose his life and the family goes into disorder. Parents can divorce. And that life that's going along in what might be a straight line now becomes a crooked line because divorce upsets family patterns, doesn't it? And creates a whole set of change conditions.

We can start out in a career, in a job with a company that we like and we feel a great future and circumstances beyond our control come out and that job ends. That company is closed or bought by someone else. And we're on the street looking for another job or having to make a career change because of what happens with someone else, and other events beyond our control that are the crooked line change what we think is our straight line of trajectory and what we have planned and what we are doing.

As we look at life on this planet and life as it is ordered by God and what we are called to live with a knowledge of God's truth, we are called to a straight and narrow path, aren't we? And we are to live, in a sense, along a straight line based upon the Word of God, the law of God, the path and the principles of that law defines. And yet we all know that circumstances and people beyond our control do things and make things happen that are crooked lines, and we have to adapt and we have to live within sometimes disorder and chaos and work within that. Because all along the way, you and I are to continue to learn to fear God and to keep His commandments. That's the course and that's the path of life that we are on.

And that life that we have is a long and a winding road, which is the title of my sermon today, "The Long and Winding Road." But the subtitle is what I really want to get into and talk about. It is the story of the life of Solomon in three acts. Because Solomon's life was a long and winding road. And I want to look at it here this morning. In fact, I was sitting in the audience last week in the AM congregation where Clint gave this sermon at. And where I already had an idea about Solomon, really about Ecclesiastes, his sermon last week solidified my thinking to speak about Solomon. And so he gives the sermon here today in front of me.

And I'll have to be honest, Clint, I really wasn't paying attention to your second sermon head because I was thinking about this sermon, which is just normal. And so the tweaks you made, I'm sure we're good. But it was a good message last week as I heard it, and helped me to solidify my thoughts. Any of us that have to give a sermon at our sermon, that's all we're zeroed in on when we're not listening so much to the speaking that goes on before us. That's just the way of life.

So, I want to talk about Solomon's life in this context of this long and winding road. And I want to write it down, as I said, into three acts. We basically know, I think, the trajectory of the life of King Solomon, son of David. But let's look at it, and let's begin by going back to 1 Kings. We've already been in 1 Kings 3 today, but let's go to 1 Kings 2. And let's look at a few verses here. Let's look at act one of Solomon's life, which I call "Ascension." Act one, Ascension.

Solomon ascends to the throne after the death of his father, David. He becomes the third king of Israel. Saul was the first. And David solidified the kingdoms and the tribes, established the capital of Jerusalem. But then Solomon begins a 40-year reign. But it is a beginning that is very complex. There's a lot of crooked lines, if you will, as Solomon begins his reign. And let's look at it here and begin in 1 Kings 2:1.

1 Kings 2:1-2 It says, “When the days of David drew near that he should die, he charged Solomon, his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man."

Now, we're skipping over the events of Chapter 2 because we don't have the time. But in Chapter 2, I'll just remind us. Leading up to this here in Chapter 2 and in Chapter 1, I should say, is the story of Adonijah. Adonijah, one of the other sons of David, who sought to seize the kingdom. And usurp the throne. And Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, had to quickly grab Zadok, the priest, and Nathan, the prophet, and hurry down to the Gihon spring. And there they gathered with Solomon and they got everybody together and they anointed Solomon king.

And that story is told earlier. And Adonijah then has to flee to the altar and grab hold of the horns looking for mercy. His attempt to seize the kingdom fails. And so, Solomon then has to take the kingdom. So, there's a lot that... Adonijah was drawing with a crooked line. It wasn't his to take, but he tried. And now in here, David is giving some advice to his son as the crown is passed over.

1 Kings 2:3-4 David says, "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 wherever you turn." That's kind of the core message that David passes on. Keep God's Word. Stay close to God. “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.’”

Speaking back to the covenant that God had made with David about there would never lack for a descendant upon that particular throne. But in this case, there's there is the qualifier of obedience. So, this is David's core advice to his son. But it's not all of the advice. And as I said, Adonijah drew a crooked line. But he wasn't the only one. And David has to give some advice to his son. Let's read on in verse 5.

1 Kings 2:5 "Moreover, you know also what Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and he shed the blood of war in peacetime and put the blood of war on his belt that was around his waist and his sandals that were on his feet."

Joab was, kind of, his Chief General. His chief of the combined services, if you will, chief military man. And though he was loyal to David, he stepped over the bounds. And the case, as mentioned here, "and shed innocent blood in peace." And David knew that that was unfinished business. And so, he said in verse 6.

1 kings 2:6-8 "Therefore, do according to your wisdom and do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace.” Take care of him. This is some unfinished business. But then he says, "Show kindness," verse 7, "to the sons of Barzillai, the Gileadite, let them be among those that eat at thy table, for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom, your brother. And see you have with you Shimei, the son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a malicious curse the day I went to Mahanaim, and he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord saying, I will not put you to death with the sword."

Shimei cursed David when he had to flee from Solomon. And, kind of, threw dust and stones and sticks and said some, you know, he was a pretty rough character, but David pardoned him. But as we see, that pardon wasn't going to last beyond David's lifetime.

1 Kings 2:9 He said, "Therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. And you know what you should do to him. But bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood.”

Take care of him. And so, he tells him to take care of these men. Now, the story goes on, and he has to deal with Adonijah first. Adonijah wanted to receive Abishag who had laid with David to keep him warm in his last days. And Solomon rightly understood that that was a ploy that would lead in another coup attempt. So, he kills Adonijah, and he does go on and he does, in time, have to... He takes care of Joab and he takes care of Shimei.

Now, this is the start of his reign. Solomon is supposed to be drawing a straight line. Keep the commandments, fear God, do it right. But he's got to take care of people who drew crooked lines. And this is the Kingdom of Israel. This is the covenant people. And this is, you know, David, a man after God's own heart, telling him to take care of it. And Solomon, who starts off in righteousness with everything, and he has to shed some blood.

Those of you that have seen the movie "The Godfather," you remember what Vito Corleone told his son, Michael, when he was turning over the reins of the family business to his son? He told him who to recognize that would be his enemies and how to find out the traitors that were in the midst. And when Vito dies, Michael Corleone takes on. The next scene shows Michael wiping out his enemies and solidifying his rule over the Corleone family. It's a classic story. Admittedly one of my favorite movies, so don't skewer me for that, please. But there's so much to learn about human nature and life.

And, look, you're reading the same thing right here when you read the Bible. And we have to understand these things, as the line says in the movie. And Solomon had to learn this. It's not personal. It's strictly business. Solomon had to take care of the business. The business was the Kingdom, and to establishing his reign and what he had to do. And David told him how to establish that.

And as we read this, it is very good for us to remember something about how human nature interacts even in and among the very nation, and people, and Church of God. Because we have lessons to gain from this story. As we look back, we're not the nation, Israel, and we don't have a king, and we don't have the power of life and death over people who draw crooked lines. But we have to deal with people who draw crooked lines, whether it's in our own personal business or life, as I mentioned earlier, and, brethren, sometimes even in the church and in the church story.

I could tell you I could take Adonijah who sought to usurp the throne. In my own mind's eye, I can put contemporary names and faces in my Church of God experience to Adonijah. And say that was what people who sought something that wasn't theirs to take, terms of power. Any time in any organization, in any kingdom, and in even in any church, you've got people. You've got power. You've got money. You often have a cult of personality.

And when people don't walk a straight line fearing God and keeping His commandments, they'll draw crooked lines, and you and I have to deal with that disorder and that chaos as we deal with it. I can put a few names in my years of experience to Adonijah today. I didn't have to take care of them. God takes care of that. Joab, a trusted associate, a trusted lieutenant who crossed the bounds, I can put a name or two from my own experience to Joab in my church experience.

Shimei, who stood and cursed David, I've run across a few Shimeis' in my experience within the church. And you have as well. I didn't have to deal with them in terms of the final judgment. God has a way of dealing with that. And certainly, they may still live. And it's not, you know, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth situation today, but we walk in even the Church of God, in our straight line and people come in and about who aren't drawing that straight line.

Many of us in the ministry, as we get feedback from people and our messages, my sermons or articles that I write, and other things and many of our ministers interact with people who have been a part of the story of the Church of God in our lifetime and maybe have been disappointed or disillusioned, I regularly get feedback like that from people who write to me and they tell me their story. And they believe in the truth. They know that there is a church, and, in more recent cases, they feel that what we are doing in the United Church of God is right. We've upheld the truth and we're doing the work of God. But they want to tell their story and their disillusionment from years past at any particular point and phase, going back any number of decades. And yet they hold to the truth. But people who abuse power, people who abused money created disruption, crooked lines, and they didn't know how to handle that, but they held to the truth.

That's been our story because it's the story of the Bible and it's probably one of the hardest ones for us to, kind of, get right. And remember whether you're a young person looking at the church, looking at truth, or many of us who are veterans, we have to understand how this works, that nothing in life happens in a straight line. There are people that we are going to encounter, there are situations we're going to encounter where people are drawing crooked lines and they create disorder, confusion, and chaos. We have to hew to the straight line.

Solomon had to deal with some things in a very rough and tough neighborhood and time and the story of the people of God. Because not everybody fears God and keeps the commandments. And in this lesson, we learn something very strong. Hold your place here in Kings and turn back to Ecclesiastes. I'm going to turn to a few verses in the book of Ecclesiastes here today as a corollary to what we read here with the story of Solomon because Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon. Despite what certain critical scholars might think. Many other scholars, and my personal opinion, and it's been our church tradition as well, that Solomon wrote this book of Ecclesiastes. And I happen to think that he wrote it at a critical moment in his life. We'll talk a little bit more about that later. But let's look at Ecclesiastes 7. We'll break right into it at verse 15 as he makes a comment about life.

Ecclesiastes 7:15 "I have seen everything in my days of vanity." I've seen it, everything. It's like Johnny Cash thing, "I've been everywhere, man. I've seen everything. All right?" "There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness." A just man does it right, straight line, and he perishes in his righteousness. I've known that from different situations. "And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness."

Judgment, and punishment doesn't come immediately, and they post along in their wickedness. And so, what does he conclude in verse 16? "Do not be overly righteous." Did we read that right? "Don't be overly righteous." How can you be overly righteous, right? Don't we want to fear God and keep the commandments? Don't we want to do everything right? Check all the boxes, cross all the t's, dot all the i's? Yes, we do.

Ecclesiastes 7:16-18 But he says, "Don't be overly righteous nor be overly wise." How can you be overly wise? I don't think I'm overly wise. I'm still learning things. But he says, "Don't be too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Do not be overly wicked nor be foolish. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you grasp this and also that you do not remove your hand from the other, for he who fears God will escape them all."

Let me read that in the New Living translation. I think it puts it really well. Read it again in the New Living. "I have seen everything in this meaningless life, including the death of good young people and the long life of wicked people. So, don't be too good or too wise. Why destroy yourself?" You ever heard of self-righteousness? You ever heard of legalism where we try to earn grace, salvation by our acts? You ever heard of that? We can be a little bit overly righteous at times. And it'll be the Achilles' heel of anyone who is. On the other hand, don't be too wicked either. You know, don't be cavalier with God's Word. Don't neglect God's law. Don't think that it's inconsequential to fudge a little bit or to, kind of, color outside the lines. Don't do that. Don't be too wicked either. Don't be a fool. Why die before your time?

Verse 18. He says, "Pay attention to these instructions for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes." Reading Ecclesiastes is just a continual challenge of learning, relearning, going deeper. One of the teachers at ABC a few years ago who taught Ecclesiastes told me, "I don't like to teach Ecclesiastes. It's too negative, it's too much." And I said, "Well, I'll be glad to teach it for you." He never did take me up on that offer, and it's being taught quite well by Randy Urwiller today, so I've got plenty to do. But, to me, it's one of my favorite books to study and to read through and to dig out how Solomon writes and what he is passing along to us.

You can be too righteous, you can be too wise, you can be too wicked and too foolish. He says, "I've seen this. Fear God, keep the commandments." Avoid the extremes. A lot to talk about there. Solomon had to strike a very important position as he ascended to the throne and took that job here now as the king. And he did establish his reign, he did remove his enemies. And he went on then to expand Jerusalem and to go on from that, which takes us to act two.

Act two of the life of Solomon, which I call "His Reign" as he now reigns as king. And we go back to 1 Kings 3 now, and we can note a few things about his reign. Solomon went on for 40 years and reigned as the king. That's a long time. That's a generation. His father had reigned for 40 years. He had 40 years together. Those two were the height of the period of the monarchy and of the nation of Israel. They reached, especially under Solomon, its peak, and the life, and what is described in Scripture in Kings and Chronicles about Solomon's reign certainly is epitomized by what he wrote in Ecclesiastes 3, which we all know, where he writes there that, "To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose."

Judy Collins wrote a really great song that the Byrds recorded, "Turn, Turn and Turn." Many of us know about that song. They took it right out of the words of Ecclesiastes, "And the time to die, the time to live and time to build up, and a time to tear down." Kind of, a poetic way of describing a cycle of life. And Solomon lived every season, it seems, fully. And what God was able to do here in 1 Kings 3. We can pick up the story at verse 5. Solomon early on had gone up to Gibeon outside of Jerusalem, and there God appeared to him.

1 Kings 3:5-9 “...came to him in a dream at night. And God said to Solomon, "Ask, what shall I give you?" Wow. What a shopping list to put together. “‘Ask, what will I give you?’ Solomon said, ‘You have shown great mercy to your servant, David, my father, because he walked before you in truth, and righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You've continued this great kindness for him, and you have given him a son to set on his throne as it is this day.’ Now, Lord, my God, you've made me your servant king instead of my father, David. But I'm a little child.’” Well-known phrase here. “‘I do not know how to go out or to come in.’” He recognizes inexperience. He recognized his youth, and the job before him was bigger than he could imagine. And he said, "Your servant is in the midst of your people whom you've 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's able to judge these great people of yours."

And so, he asked for an understanding heart. He asked for the ability to be a wise and prudent king. Verse 10 tells us the speech pleased the Lord. Solomon had asked this thing.

1 Kings 3:10-14  “And God then said to him, ‘Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for 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've 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've 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, conditional. "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." And this is God's promise to him, "You walk the straight line, and I will give you what you want plus what you didn't even ask for." That was God's promise. And that's what he did. We heard it in the sermonette, the wisdom that he displayed in the case of the baby and the two mothers. If you turn over to Chapter 4, there's another case that follows after that one beginning in verse 29. We find Solomon's wisdom here and what was given in 1 Kings 4:29. This is a description of what God did give him.

1 Kings 4:29-30 “God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding in largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus, Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and of all the wisdom of Egypt.”

Egypt was a large repository of wisdom by the time of Solomon's reign. It was 2000 years or so of culture and history in Egypt by the time of Solomon. We've gone through the period of Moses and the Exodus. But they had a culture and a legacy, and there was wisdom there.

1 Kings 4:31-34 “Solomon was wiser than all the men, than Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations, and he spoke 3000 proverbs and his songs are 1005.” We only have a small percentage of those in the Book of Proverbs that were collected. “And he spoke of trees from the cedar tree of Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.” And so he amassed a great deal of knowledge about the physical world of their time. "And all the men of all nations from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom came to hear the wisdom of Solomon."

Now, Chapter 10 then tells of the one queen that did come, the Queen of Sheba. In Chapter 10 beginning in verse 1 is the story of the Queen of Sheba. She's called the Queen of the South in Matthew 12. This scene was of such renown that Jesus later quotes it in His own gospel. But it begins here in Chapter 1 where she came from the south, down in the area below Egypt. The scholars feel a great queen, and she came to hear and to see what she had heard. We just read about regarding Solomon's wisdom and his wealth.

1 Kings 10:7 "I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes. And, indeed, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard."

She saw the happy servants at this time and the blessings that Solomon's reign was bringing upon the people. She brought money, and wealth, and gifts.

1 Kings 10:13 It says, "Solomon gave the Queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal generosity. So, she turned and went to her own company, she and her servants."

And like many other biblical stories, we just wish we knew more about this interaction and what took place. But probably the most important is what Jesus brings back in Matthew 12, where he says, "The Queen of the South will rise in the day of the judgment and condemn this generation," meaning that of the time of Jesus, but by extension, will condemn all other generations who didn't and have not seen the way of God, the truth of God, and the miracles, and the blessings of God.

And she will stand in the time of the great white throne judgment. And she will be a witness to what God did during the time of Solomon. Solomon's reign becomes a type of the kingdom of the millennial reign of Christ in a physical sense. His extension of power and wealth was far and strong at the time. When you study all the scriptures here in Kings and in Chronicles about that, we know he built the temple. He built fortifications far beyond Jerusalem to establish the nation. And it was quite an extensive period of peace and time. A lot of money was expended to build that and to keep things going and to do all of that.

When you read about this and you think about today, when you go to the land of Israel, the glory of Solomon, as large as it was, virtually nothing remains. The buildings, the fortifications, you go to the place that is in the north called Megiddo, archaeologists have dug a great deal in Megiddo today, and they do have some stables. Solomon had a garrison there. It was a key position that had to be fortified with soldiers, chariots, and horses, as mentioned in Scripture. And there are remains of those stables there. You wouldn't really know the fullness of the grandeur that is there.

You go to Jerusalem, you don't see anything about Solomon's temple. Is there anything there that remains? We don't know because it's all covered up with all the centuries of additional buildings. And, of course, today, the Muslim structures that are on the Temple Mount, the two great mosques, the Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. However, there was something a few years ago I had read in one of the archaeology books, the preeminent scholar and archaeologist of the Temple Mount area in Jerusalem had written a book, a man named Leen Ritmeyer, and in it, he was describing Solomon's Temple. And he was showing where it would have been. And he mentioned that there was a remainder of a wall that had existed at the time of Solomon around the temple. Not a wall of the temple itself, but a wall around the temple. And he described exactly where it was. And it was exposed there on the Temple Mount.

I remember reading that, and it was about the time we had a feast trip to Jordan, and I was leading a tour to Israel afterward. And so, the tour group that I was leading, we went up on the Temple Mount the day we were to go there. And I knew where to go. And so, as we walked around there and we were about to exit the Temple Mount, I lined my group up on the lower step of a series of steps that came down on the west side of the gold Dome Mosque that is there, which sets very lightly over where the holy of Holies was.

But I lined my group up, there were probably 20 of us, along the lower step that was there. And I told them, I said, "You're very likely standing upon what was the wall around the Temple of Solomon." And they went, "Oh, wow." It's one of those neat little things, one of those moments you could do. I've since read that the Muslims have covered that step up. So, you can't stand on it anymore because Christian groups like mine were leading their groups there, and they didn't like that. So, it's under all of that. There may be some remains of the splendor of Solomon's Temple in the foundational aspects. Nobody really knows.

But when you look at what the scriptures tell us about what he built and what he did, what survives? What survives from the time of Solomon? What survives is what we're reading right now, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon. His writings is what survives. And, you know, in the scheme of life, there's a lesson for you and I. We can buy, build, create, accumulate, and we do stuff. And that stuff is not going to survive us. What's going to survive you, but your legacy that you pass on to the next generation, to your children, to your grandchildren, to your great-grandchildren if you're fortunate enough to have a part of their life. It's a legacy, spiritual legacy. Those are the things that we will pass on. It's not our stuff.

We don't see anything from Solomon today. But we do see after a lifetime of study, Solomon said, "fear God." When he wrote the Proverbs, what's the key phrase that we read in the first chapters of the Book of Proverbs? Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear God. That's the theme that runs through the Book of Proverbs. Fear God. It's the beginning of wisdom. It's the great lesson. And it comes from a lifetime of study in Ecclesiastes 12:11.

Ecclesiastes 12:11-12 He says, "The words of the wise are like the goads and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails given by one shepherd. And further, my son, be admonished by these, that of making of many books, there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh."

Solomon studied a lot of books. He wrote probably a number of books. We have just a few that come down to us. And out of a lifetime of study, the distillation is to fear God because it's the beginning of wisdom. Let's move on to Act three of Solomon's life, which I call "The Coda.” It's the conclusion in terms of his physical life and what we have in Scripture. We're here in Ecclesiastes, let's go back to Chapter 2, and let's look at the comment that he makes at this point in the story. Please ask these two.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 He said, "I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled." I'm sorry let's begin in verse 10, "Whatever my eyes desire, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor. And this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled, and, indeed, all was vanity. And grasping for the wind, and there was no profit under the sun."

He withheld nothing that his eyes desired. This is one of the scriptures that some scholars look at and realize there's only one man in the story of Israel that can fit what is described here, that's Solomon, who had the ability to take, build, accumulate whatever his eyes desired. And that's what he says that he did. He denied nothing to himself at this particular time. But what did it do? Well, let's go back to 1 Kings 11, and let's read it of the conclusion of his life that we're told beginning in verse 1.

You already know how his life turned. He had power, money, a cult of personality. But somewhere along the line, he veered from the straight line and he himself went off into a crooked line. You know, sometimes we do too. Sometimes we might veer off the straight line and make a mistake, and we have to, through a period of repentance and time, get back into a straight line. But Solomon really went off the marker here.

1 Kings 11:1-2 “He loved many foreign women as well as the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Hittites, and Sidonians, from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children, 'You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely, they will turn away your hearts after their gods.’”

Solomon clung to these loves, multiple wives with their false religion. And he goes on it goes on to list the numbers of them there. And when it says in verse 7.

1 Kings 11:4-6 “That when he was old, 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. And he went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as his father, David, had done.”

And it goes on to list more of them.

1 Kings 11:9-10 It says, "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 the things that he should not go after other gods, but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded." He strayed into crooked paths off of the straight and narrow.

1 Kings 11:11-12 "Therefore, the Lord said to Solomon, because you've 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."

God had something special with David that he remembered and extended even to this moment where Solomon had seemingly abandoned everything.

1 Kings 11:13 "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."

So, Solomon turned from God. At his coronation, he had made a pledge to obey God. He was overcome by the power, by the money, the fame, and the women, and all that came with it. But you know what, God gives is strongest denunciation for here in these verses, it's for the idols and the false religion, the idolatry. That seems to have been what tipped the balance to where God says, "I can't abide anymore, I will rip the kingdom from your successor." Which He did.

When Solomon died, already, even before he died, Jeroboam had, kind of, a minor rebellion, had to be exiled. But then afterwards, the story of Rehoboam, and Jeroboam, and the division of the tribes is well-known part of the story. It was divided. Nothing lasted. And what Solomon writes in the Book of Ecclesiastes, "Vanity, and vanity, all is vanity," then came to be a part of his legacy because when he died, his kingdom turned to dust in one sense.

There's a great song called "Hurt" written by Trent Reznor. Johnny Cash did a video that some have called the best music video ever done. And there's a line there, and Johnny Cash does it real well. He says, "You can have it all, my empire of dirt." And he's wiping from the table all of his accumulations, calling everything accumulated an empire of dirt. And that's really the coda of act three of the life of Solomon. His empire crumbled. And it became an empire of dirt because it didn't last. All the two kingdoms limped along, and we won't go into all of that story, but what he had as a possibility didn't last beyond his 40-year reign and his generation. And it became a true tragedy at this particular point in his time.

So, he ascended to the throne in the midst of some intrigue that he had to take care of. But he was given wisdom and he accumulated and built a successful kingdom, a successful business. He took care of business. And he reigned and then the reputation of it spread to other nations. They came, they saw, they marveled, became a part of his testimony at that time, and then in his later years, he turned away and brought in idolatry into the nations. And so, then, at his death, the kingdom was divided. You talk about a crooked line. That was a crooked line.

Now, when we come to... Is this the conclusion of Solomon's life? Could there be that there's an act four of Solomon's life? I want you to think about that. This is the eternal question, isn't it? Where does Solomon fit in the plan of God? What's his fate? First resurrection? Second resurrection? Or will he fry in the lake of fire? I've heard all three over the years. And everybody's got an opinion. And it's worth about as much as that opinion because the Scripture doesn't tell us. When you read how he how it ends here in Chapter 11, that's essentially the last scriptural teaching that we have, that he has turned to all these women who have turned his heart against God. He brings in idolatry, and God says, I'm going to take the kingdom away from your successor after you die.

But do we have more? Is there something more? I wonder. My personal opinion, and that's what it is, is that there is more, that there is an act four that could be called redemption. Because when I read the Book of Ecclesiastes, I read it as a long and winding road, a long and winding journal, if you will, of a man who sits down at some point in his life, in my opinion, is that it may be within the last days of his life. Maybe after that... He thinks about what God said to him here in 1 Kings 11. And he begins to think about it. And maybe he writes the book of Ecclesiastes in that moment, summing up a long and winding road of life where he starts out on the high road and then he descends to the low road. I wonder.

If the queen of the South will come up in the judgment, will that be the judgment that Solomon will come up in as well? I don't have a scripture to turn to back that up exactly, explicitly. But I think that as we look at what might be in that Book of Ecclesiastes, we might be reading the thoughts of a man who realizes what he did and is repenting before God. When you turn back again to Ecclesiastes 12, we all know how it ends and the ending comment that is there. It's a Book of wisdom, and it's a Book of philosophy. But I think at the heart, the Book of Ecclesiastes is like a personal letter, a personal journal that Solomon has written out all of his thoughts, and they're enigmatic, as we read in Chapter 7, "Don't be overly righteous. Don't be overly wicked." Think about that one. Talk about that one amongst yourselves for a Friday night get-together or some, you know, session with a friend. What does that mean? What do we gain from that? And so much more. And we know that he comes down in verse 13 of Chapter 12. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all," or it is the whole duty of man. I believe the original King James leaves it that, the whole duty of man. “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil."

The conclusion of the matter, fear God, keep His commandments. Nothing happens in a straight line. Nothing in life happens in a straight line. This earth exists in a vast universe. Of disorder, confusion, and of chaos. And it is the one spot that God has aligned for on all of the right ways, for temperatures, for lights, for darkness, for the conditions of life as we know it.

We haven't found anywhere else that it could exist. We go to the moon, they have to take oxygen and food there. And if anybody goes to Mars, they'll have to take the same. And wherever else it will be, it will be. This is what we see. And upon this earth, we have what we read about here in Ecclesiastes. And a conclusion to fear God, to walk that straight line in the midst of confusion, sin, problems, people who are not walking by the commandments of God. And however that may affect us, we have to deal with it. We have to walk that straight line. And if we do, we will come to the same conclusion and have accomplished here what Solomon says, to keep us to fearing God and to keep His commandments. And that should be our judgment. That should be what life we come to.

There's a lot to think about from this Book. I hope you will consider looking at the Book of Ecclesiastes in your own personal study from a maybe a little expanded perspective as we look at images that will start coming our way about this vast universe in which we do live. We're to walk that straight line. We're to walk that straight line in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation that doesn't always do that. But if we will, we can expect the blessings of God.