Solomon’s True Wealth

Read 1 Kings 10
 
1 Kings 10:8-9 “How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness.”
 
14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents ($106,000,000).
 
JESUS refers to the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon in Matthew 12:42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. Our Lord was condemning some of the Pharisees’ and teachers’ continual demand, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” (Matthew 12:38b)
    The queen exhibited a remarkable understanding of God’s providence to grant Solomon’s wisdom. She essentially said, “God so loved Israel, he has made you king, Solomon, to rule with wisdom.” Nine centuries later, John would write his elegant gospel summary, “God so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son.” (John 3:16a) God used both a pagan queen and a loving disciple to define his love and purpose for his chosen people.
    The Jewish teachers missed God’s love. Their faithless hearts dismissed the true miracle of God’s love initiating and fulfilling Jesus’ great miracle of salvation to a faithless world.
    You see the extraordinary sum of Solomon’s annual wages. But the wealth that matters is, of course, our eternal riches in Christ Jesus. As great as Solomon’s physical wealth, it paled in contrast to his wealth of knowledge. This is the gift that could have enriched generations of Israelites to come.
    What do you think Solomon thought as he lived in the luxury? He tells us some of his wisdom in Proverbs 3:13-17 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
    These are powerful words from one of history’s wisest persons. It is sad his wisdom was too often words without action.
 
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.