Spiderman
Veteran Member
People were more than sick of King Solomon's unjust taxes, and it wasn't even primarily to construct the Temple, since King David already gathered most of the material needed and even had the workmen in place (1 Chronicles 22:2-4).
"Rather it was the construction of a second palace that became the root of the problem. Solomon was not content to live in his father’s house and built a huge palace to house his 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 7:1-11). It took 13 years to construct, compared to just 7 years for the temple."
https://opentheword.org/2013/07/22/king-solomons-lame-excuse-for-high-taxes/
It seems King Solomon was enjoying a new wife or concubine every day of the year, and living in total luxury, indulging in constant carnal (erotic) pleasures, while people labored by the sweat of their brow and paid money from their hard labors to cover a bunch unnecessary expenses that largely just enabled him to have costly, lavish orgies with his hundreds of wives and concubines.
Scripture declares him to be the "wisest man who ever lived", but was he really demonstrating much wisdom?
He loved foreign wives and God didn't want him to marry "heathen women".
1 Kings 11:2
They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love."
Some of his wives worshipped other Gods, eventually drawing his heart away from the God of Israel to Polytheist gods/goddesses. I'm not to opposed to that behavior, because it sounds to me like he was just being multicultural and respecting what other people hold as sacred. Polytheists can be good, compassionate, charitable, nonviolent, sensitive people, and I'm not fond of Scripture dehumanizing them the way it does.
But it does seem odd, that having such favors from God, being one of God's prophets, being so blessed, and being the "wisest man to ever live", he would not fall into so many "unwise" errors.
Do you have any thoughts about King Solomon?
He is quite an unusual "wise man of God".
"Rather it was the construction of a second palace that became the root of the problem. Solomon was not content to live in his father’s house and built a huge palace to house his 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 7:1-11). It took 13 years to construct, compared to just 7 years for the temple."
https://opentheword.org/2013/07/22/king-solomons-lame-excuse-for-high-taxes/
It seems King Solomon was enjoying a new wife or concubine every day of the year, and living in total luxury, indulging in constant carnal (erotic) pleasures, while people labored by the sweat of their brow and paid money from their hard labors to cover a bunch unnecessary expenses that largely just enabled him to have costly, lavish orgies with his hundreds of wives and concubines.
Scripture declares him to be the "wisest man who ever lived", but was he really demonstrating much wisdom?
He loved foreign wives and God didn't want him to marry "heathen women".
1 Kings 11:2
They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love."
Some of his wives worshipped other Gods, eventually drawing his heart away from the God of Israel to Polytheist gods/goddesses. I'm not to opposed to that behavior, because it sounds to me like he was just being multicultural and respecting what other people hold as sacred. Polytheists can be good, compassionate, charitable, nonviolent, sensitive people, and I'm not fond of Scripture dehumanizing them the way it does.
But it does seem odd, that having such favors from God, being one of God's prophets, being so blessed, and being the "wisest man to ever live", he would not fall into so many "unwise" errors.
Do you have any thoughts about King Solomon?
He is quite an unusual "wise man of God".
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