The Man Who Never Had Enough

The Man who Never Had Enough Life of Solomon Solomon’s Rise • Second Son of David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:24) • Promised to be the King to follow David (1 Chronicles 22:9) • Rule threatened multiple times before ascending to the throne (Absolom, Sheba, and Adonijah) Solomon’s Kingdom • From the Euphrates in the North all the way down to Egypt in the South • Began with 1.3 million fighting men (2 Samuel 24:9) • People were as numerous as the “sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:20) • 4,000 stalls; 12,000 horses, 1,400 chariots; whole chariot cities devoted to care, training, etc (1 Kings 10:26-28) • 30K foreign conscripts, 70K porters, 80K stone cutters requiring 3,300 foreman (1 Kings 5:13-15) Solomon’s Temple • Stone walls wrapped in cedar (no stone showing – 1 Kings 6:18) • Flooring made of cut and planed juniper (1 Kings 6:15) • Inner sanctuary was 30 feet square completely overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:16) with gold chains guarding the inner sanctuary;. • Carved, olive wood cherubim fifteen feet from wing to win and overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:28) • Cedar walls contained carved cherubim, palm trees, and flowers; doors were olive and 6 feet wide, carved inlays of cherubim, flowers, and palm trees, overlaid in gold Solomon’s Wealth • Personally received 25 tons of gold annually (modern equivalent of $1.5B); revenue of merchants, vendors, gifts from other sovereigns, etc (1 Kings 10:14) • Countless gold cups, plates, flatware, decorations. • Throne: carved ivory overlaid with gold; armrests were ivory lions overlaid in gold; six steps descended from the throne with each step flanked by two golden lions (2 Chronicles 9:17-18) • Palace, 13 years in construction, had a room replicating the forest of Lebanon – 150 feet long, 75 wide, 45 tall filled with 45 actual cedars that served as pillars Solomon’s Wealth • Possessed the extraordinary luxury of a personal navy – No other Hebrew king had a navy (1 Kings 10:22) • 700 wives; 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3) • His in-home family daily consumed 5.5 tons of the finest flour, 11 tons of cornmeal, 10 stall fed cattle, 20 pasture fed cattle, 100 sheep, and seasonal game like deer, gazelle, roebuck, and fattened birds (1 Kings 4:23-24) Solomon’s Wisdom • 3000 Proverbs; 1005 Psalms (1 Kings 4:32) • Wrote several canonical psalms; most of the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. • “Breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:29-30) • Every subject imaginable was under his grasp Solomon’s Wisdom • 3000 Proverbs; 1005 Psalms (1 Kings 4:32) • Wrote several canonical psalms; most of the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. • “Breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:29-30) • Every subject imaginable was under his grasp Solomon’s Discontent • “So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all the vanity and striving after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:17) • Solomon had to learn that happiness is a gift from God and not derived from anything in life (Ecclesiastes 2:26) • Solomon proclaimed that one finds joy and happiness by fearing God and keeping his commands (Ecclesiastes 12:13)