God said to Solomon, “Since this was in your heart, and you have not requested riches, wealth, or glory, or for the life of those who hate you, and you have not even requested long life, but you have requested for yourself wisdom and knowledge that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are given to you. I will also give you riches, wealth, and glory unlike what was given to the kings who were before you or will be given to those after you.           2 Chronicles 11-12 HCSB

Solomon succeeded his father David as king and asked God for wisdom. This pleased God and our Scripture passage for today is God’s response to Solomon’s request. God not only made Solomon wise, but He blessed him with great wealth. The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s great wisdom and wealth and had to travel a very long way to see for herself. In 2 Chronicles 9:3-4 it says that when she observed Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built, the food at his table, his servant’s residence, his attendant’ service and their attire, and the burnt offerings he offered at the LORD’s temple, it took her breath away.

Solomon built the temple and dedicated the temple once construction was complete and offered a beautiful prayer up to God asking God to be present there and to forgive them of any sins they may commit in the future should they earnestly repent.

Later that night, God appeared to Solomon and said He had heard his prayer and would do as he had asked (2 Chronicles 7:12-16). He went on to tell Solomon that as long as he was obedient and did all God commanded him to do, He would establish his royal throne. But should Solomon turn away from God and abandon God’s statutes and commands and serve other gods, God would uproot Israel from the soil that He had given them and banish the temple from His presence (2 Chronicles 19-22).

Solomon had already started to mess up. God told him to obey his commands. Back in Deuteronomy 17:16 God had commanded that a king should not acquire many horses for himself or send people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the LORD has told you, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ Remember they had been held there in slavery for over 400 years. There were more instructions given in verse 17 which says, “He is not to acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself.”

Now God had promised Solomon riches and great wealth. But God warned Solomon to obey His commands. With this great wealth came great responsibility. Solomon would acquire wealth because God would bless him, but he was not to use this wealth to go against God’s commands. But we are specifically told in 2 Chronicles 1:14-16 that he amassed a great number of horses and they were imported from Egypt.

God blessed Solomon in 2 Chronicles 9:22-23. We are told that he surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and wisdom. All these kings wanted an audience with him and each would bring gifts of silver, gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses and mules.

Solomon’s history is also recorded in 1 Kings and in 1 Kings 11 we see that his accumulation of too many wives would bring his downfall. Solomon loved many foreign women. God had warned the Israelites not to intermarry with these foreign women because they would turn them away from God to worship their gods. Verse 3 tells us that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines and they turned his heart away from the LORD. He followed many foreign gods and did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. God was angry and tore the kingdom away from Solomon’s son. He agreed to give his son one of the twelve tribes to keep the covenant He had made with David.

What a sad ending for a young man who almost had it all. The moral of this historical narrative is simple, with God we are victorious. God had given Solomon great wisdom, wealth and peace and had promised to establish his kingdom, but Solomon’s disobedience was his downfall.

Solomon started well but finished poorly. I don’t know about you, but I would rather finish well. I thank God for the opportunity to do just that. If we earnestly repent and obey God’s commands, He will take good care of us. You have to decide which you will choose. You might want to start by praying for wisdom so that you can choose wisely.

Have a great day!