However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses for the LORD has told you, “You are never to go back that way again.” He must not 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. Deuteronomy 17:16-17 HCSB
These are the instructions the Lord gave for the future king or kings of Israel. In these instructions He mentioned that they should not acquire too many horse, too much gold and silver or too many wives.
Solomon became the third king in Israel. In 1 Kings 3:5, the Lord appeared to Solomon and asked what Solomon would like for the Lord to give him. Solomon asked God for wisdom. God was so pleased with Solomon for asking for wisdom instead of the death of his enemies or great riches that He gave him wisdom plus great wealth. In verse 13, the Lord tells Samuel He will give him both riches and honor and no man in any kingdom will be equal to him throughout his entire life.
Solomon’s wisdom became so well known throughout the land that people travelled from far away to seek his wisdom to apply in their lands. They came bearing gifts of horses, gold, and silver. We are told that some gave tons of gold. The queen of Sheba brought Solomon four and a half tons of gold along with a great quantity of spices and precious stones.
Solomon received 25 tons of gold annually. He had a throne overlaid in gold. He had eating utensils of solid gold. The Bible tells us that Solomon had so much gold that silver became worthless during those days (I Kings 10:14).
In addition to all this silver and gold, Solomon had horses. He accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. He imported horses and chariots from Egypt (1 Kings 10:26).
He also had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Many were from foreign pagan nations, and they turned his heart away from the Lord (1 Kings 11:3). Many of these were accumulated in treaties with foreign rulers.
Solomon was devoted to the Lord in his early days as king. He had a strong devotion and the Lord blessed him. Several times the Lord promised continued blessings with the condition that Solomon continued to obey the Lord’s commands. Sadly, however, we see that Solomon does not continue to obey the Lord. He was said to be the wisest man on earth with his God given wisdom. Unfortunately, he didn’t get wiser as he got older, in fact it was quite the opposite.
As Solomon got older, he did exactly what God had forbidden kings to do. He accumulated too much gold and silver; he accumulated too many horses and too many wives.
Let’s stop and ask here why God made these rules. God made these rules because He wanted the Israelites and their king to rely on Him. He didn’t want them to rely on excessive wealth, horses or treaties with other nations to protect them and make them victorious during wartime.
The Israelites had a long history of relying on God in battle and destroying armies with horses and chariots. They had defeated much bigger nations of great wealth.
God had promised to make Solomon wise and He did. He had promised to make Solomon very wealthy and He did. The problem came when Solomon gathered wealth, horses and women from other pagan nations.
God had specifically told the Israelites not to intermarry with these foreign, pagan nations.
Solomon truly had it all. He had great wisdom. He had great wealth. But in his later years these things did not help him because he roused the Lord’s anger. In doing so, the Lord allowed him to finish his life on the throne, but he tore the kingdom of Israel apart literally.
Several times the Lord had told Solomon that his continued obedience would bring continued blessings, but disobedience would bring about destruction.
If you want to have it all, obey the Lord and trust in Him.
Have a great day!