Bible Men: King Solomon: Notes On the Meaning of Vanity

All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. Ecc 7:23  

The Problem Solomon Presents to Modern Believers

I once had a very good Christian friend. But she was unapologetically critical. She believed all other denominations (including mine) are worldly and we will never see God. According to her we are Great Babylon.

We debated a lot. We argued a lot. But there’s one Bible name she couldn’t stand, Solomon. She insisted he wasn’t a believer but a castaway. However that friendship petered out because we had very few subjects we agreed on. My argument was that Solomon departed from his faith, but he changed. Her argument was that Solomon never changed.  

But this is why I believe Solomon changed. Immediately after introducing himself in his Ecclesiastes, Solomon fires his first salvo. NIV reads even better: “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’”

I believe it takes a radical to start off like that. In his Ecclesiastes the words vanity, vanities, and vain (meaningless) appear about 40 times. You jump from one vanity chapter to another.  Such a confessional book couldn’t have been written if the writer had not met his turning point.

I think part of my friend’s problem is that she couldn’t see Solomon’s repentance with her own eyes. In David we can see his Psalm 51. In Solomon you search for his “Psalm 51” moment but in vain. In the Old Testament we saw the repentant wearing sackcloth and ashes. But in Solomon it does not seem like he tore his soft raiment. Rather he seems to have gotten away quite free, and still he kept his wives.

However it is startling that the people who get stung most by God’s grace are sometimes the believers themselves. I believe my friend was caught up in that dilemma most believers find themselves in but they don’t admit. Her anger was not with Solomon, her anger was with God. “All these years I have been with you dad?” Her lament is the lament of the elder brother.

Nonetheless it can be argued that Solomon here comes across more as a philosopher than an evangelical preacher, that being his time. He is bluntly realistic. Sometimes you feel the note of a fatalist or a stoic wrapped up in his musings. He sinned. But should a man live forever in sorrow over empty ashes? So he lays bare all the facts of his life as bare facts deserve. It hurts but it sets a man free.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Ecc 9:7 

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ecc 9:9  

The Peril of an Easy Life

Solomon had too much time in his hands. For a man of 700 wives and 300 concubines he must have had time.

David had Saul who gave him sleepless nights. Jacob had Laban who kept him busy and Hannah had Peninnah. Samson had the Philistines and Delilah. Isaac dug his wells relentlessly but in quiet fortitude. In contrast Solomon was born in a palace. God visited him in his sleep with a blank cheque. He had gold and silver for toys. He had peace and one doubts he ever saw blood with his own eyes. 

Whereas David wrestled in the wilderness with real giants, Solomon’s struggle was that of a man who had too much and gained nothing from it. “What does it profit a man?” asked Christ. Then Solomon broke every commandment God had placed before him concerning the kings of Israel. He made God angry, and that is the most vexatious sore of them all.

But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. 1Ki 11:1-2  

And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice. 1Ki 11:9 

Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.  Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 1Ki 11:11-12   

Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s repentant note. It might not satisfy our flesh but let’s remember “Salvation is of the LORD.”

There’s a Better Hope

Unlike Solomon who lacked the gospel’s eternal hope, comfort and joy of life, God has given us himself, the greatest possession of all, which is Christ. He had no earthly possessions but he has made the whole world rich by his grace. “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (Joh 4:14).  

The old prophet cried, “Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?” But today life can no longer be vain for one who is in Christ. “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psa 16:11).  

There is a Season for Everything

Change happens. When Solomon was young he behaved vainly. But now he was old (though we fight strenuously not to arrive there, but we do). Change set for Solomon. Has it set for you?

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Pro 3:13-15 

So at last Solomon changed. All indications are that he died happy. “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!” (Son 4:10). 

What love! what a feeling!