Solomon’s Downfall

Solomon was a very good king, too, when he was young. He loved and honored God and built a most beautiful temple for Him in Jerusalem, the splendor of which shall be proclaimed to the end of time. But Solomon had too many of the good things of life, and these made him become soft and spineless. Finally, he became so morally weak that he even permitted idolatry and other great evils to spread in his kingdom. This made God very angry and He rebuked Solomon, but Solomon would not listen. In the end, God sent him many troubles and sufferings, and Solomon died an unhappy man. We do hope that he was truly sorry for his sins before he died and that God forgave him, for otherwise he could not have saved his soul. And if he did not get to heaven, what did it profit him to have been such a glorious earthly king? For, as Jesus said, “What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?”

We Are Greater than Solomon

The earthly glory of kings lasts but a short time at best. Then they, like all men, die and most of them are soon forgotten. But the glory of the soul can never die as long as we remain faithful to God, for we are not earthly princes and princesses, but heavenly ones, children of the King of kings. And when our bodies die someday, our souls will only be beginning to truly live; for it is after death that God will give us His beautiful heaven and clothe us with the wondrous glory of heavenly princes and princesses– not just for a short lifetime, but forever.

Jesus once praised the Queen of Sheba who had come “from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.” And then, referring to Himself, He said, “and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.” Jesus never wore a jeweled crown on His head (though He wore a thorned one on the cross). He had no luxurious palace with countless servants to wait on Him. On the contrary, He was so poor during His public life, that He once said: “The foxes have dens, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Yet He calls Himself greater than Solomon! And He was right. For all the glory of Solomon was as dust and ashes when compared to the divine glory of Jesus. Yet, when we became children of God, this glory became our own! In all truth, therefore, speaking in a spiritual way, we too are much greater than Solomon.

God In Me by Matthew M. Swizdor O.F.M. Conv., p.6-8.