When Solomon begins his rule, it tells us that he is loved by God (3:3). Solomon loves God and desires to build his Temple. He loves God and wants to serve him. Because of his devotion, God gives him the greatest gift imaginable: anything in the world. God offers him anything his heart desires. Solomon asks for wisdom, showing he is wiser than he thought he was to begin with!
Solomon rules in wisdom throughout his years. Yet from the very beginning we see him also acting in folly. He chooses to marry the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh, establishing a political alliance with the strongest nation in the ANE. He breaks God's regulations from Deuteronomy 17, where God tells the kings how to behave. (Indeed, he breaks every single one!)
Towards the end of Solomon's reign he chooses to follow the gods of his wives rather than YHWH, the living God. He builds temples to these gods and worships in them. He raises the taxes of the people to an impossible point and forces them into conscripted labor in his service. He eats better than ANY subject could ever hope to, feasting on meat when most of his subjects had to subsist on bread and vegetables. Solomon's actions anger the LORD, especially because God had specifically appeared to Solomon in person!
Solomon's reign began in wisdom and ended in folly.
What does this mean for us as followers of God?
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