What is the Meaning of Life?

Lessons from the wisdom (and not so wise decisions) of Solomon

When we think of Solomon, we think about the book of Proverbs, much of which he wrote. He also wrote Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. He is known for his wisdom.

When he became king at a young age and had the huge job of succeeding his father David as king, he was understandably overwhelmed and asked God for wisdom. (1 Kings 3:7-9) God was pleased with his request and blessed him with wisdom as well as many other things.

His life fascinates me for many reasons, but here are some lessons we can learn from him:

1. Having wisdom doesn’t mean we use it to make wise decisions.

So Solomon was wise, right? And part of wisdom, if not a very large part of it, is following God’s commands. How can we say we are wise if we don’t do what God says, since He’s the author of wisdom?

Here are some commands that God gave for kings:

Deuteronomy 17:16-17 says, “The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself… He must not take many wives or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.”

Don’t get lots of horses, wives or gold. Got it.

In Deuteronomy 7:1-4 it says that the Israelites shouldn’t marry women from other nations because they will lead the Israelites astray. Sounds like good advice.

Here’s what Solomon did:

1 Kings 4:26: “Solomon had 40,000 horse stalls for chariot horses and 12,000 horses.”

1 Kings 11:1-9 says that Solomon married many foreign women and had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Just as God predicted, they led him away from God to worship false idols.

The descriptions of his wealth have been estimated at $2.2 trillion dollars in today’s money.

Oops.

Apparently you can have all the wisdom that God can give, but that doesn’t mean that you follow that wisdom! You have to actually do it in order for it to do you any good.

2. More stuff does not equal more happiness.

Solomon had everything and tried everything. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 goes through what he tried in order to make himself happy: big building projects, wealth and sex. “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.” (Ecclesiastes 2:10)

Can you imagine? What would that look like today? For me, it would be a big house complete with live in house cleaner and gourmet chef, anything on my Amazon list, furniture, vehicles, luxury vacations, a personal helicopter and jet, and the list goes on. Solomon had everything he wanted! Let that sink in.

Then what was his conclusion? “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

Solomon lived the experiment that we’re all subconsciously trying to conduct. We think that more stuff will make us happy. More money, more success, more things, we always want more. Solomon got all of it and more than most of us could ever dream of, and yet he said it was pointless!

3. Choose your spouse very carefully because he or she can lead you astray.

God specifically told Solomon not to marry women from other nations because those other nations worshipped false gods and idols. But, Solomon did it anyway and it went just the way God said it would. Pretty soon he was setting up temples to false gods all over the place and worshipping them himself. (1 Kings 11:1-10)

How easy it is to get caught up “in love” with someone you know isn’t going to draw you closer to God. We can think that we’re strong enough in our faith to turn the other person toward Christ, but that frequently doesn’t happen. So be very careful who you marry!

4. The meaning of life is really quite simple.

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

After all that money, sex, horses and the like, Solomon came to the conclusion that it’s all really just about fearing God and keeping His commands. May we realize the same thing!