How Solomon misused the wisdom God gave him

HOW SOLOMON MISUSED THE WISDOM GOD GAVE HIM
After Solomon was granted his request by God, he started to go astray not following the footsteps of his father. Solomon married many wives. He married from foreign lands and from countries God had warned them not to marry.

These women Solomon married turned his heart away from God completely. Solomon made burnt offerings and sacrifices to the gods of these foreign women from heathen nations.

Solomon undertook capital intensive projects. These projects were wasteful and extremely expensive. To help fund his projects, he made the people pay exorbitant taxes into the national coffers. This caused a lot of disaffection throughout the entire nation.

He also introduced forced labour where the people were made to work freely without any recompense. This infringed on the rights and freedom of the people and created disaffection for Solomon.

Solomon divided his nation into twelve administrative districts and each was headed by a Governor. Each district was to supply the needs of the king’s house for a month in a year. This system put a burden on those districts that had a small population.

Solomon did not include the people of Judah in these twelve districts; in other words, he favoured his tribe over and above the other tribes. This also created disaffection.

He gave out twenty cities to Hiram the king of Tyre as a mortgage in exchange for goods. He was not able to redeem these lands. This action was against the law that forbade the sale of land because it belonged to God. In the end, he left the country much smaller than was handed down to him by his father.

These actions, taken by Solomon indicated that he had misused the wisdom God had given him. Solomon was knowledgeable in the affairs of men; he was a shrewd judge of character. He had the wisdom to study the behaviour of nature and is able to gain insight into the appropriate behavior of men. However, politically, he was a total flop.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM SOLOMON'S MISUSE OF GOD'S WISDOM

1. God would always punish anyone who disobeys Him, no matter who he or she is.

2. We should learn to obey the voice of God in everything we do.

3. We must eschew arrogance and pride when we come into sudden wealth and prominence.

4. We should listen to the people we lead when we want to impose certain policies.

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