Israel's first national taxation system. He drafted workers for employment and kept them as virtual slaves. When bills mounted, he went so far as to cede certain northern towns in the promised land to another king (9:10-14). Resentment opened up between Israel's North and South.
But the gulf separating Israel from God was even more dangerous. Previously, the people of Israel had looked to God as their leader. Now, however, the focus shifted from God in heaven to the king in Jerusalem. Solomon had even made himself the unofficial religious leader of the country, and when he slid badly, the nation soon followed.
Solomon started out with every advantage of wealth, power, and wisdom. But 1 Kings gives this tragic conclusion: "So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done" (11:6).
Solomon seemed obsessed with a desire to outdo anyone who had ever lived. Along the way, he failed to make God the center of his life. He achieved lasting fame in history, but as a negative example. Jesus Christ himself rendered the final verdict on Solomon and his striving for glory when he pointed to a lily growing wild in the field. "Not even Solomon in all his splendor," he said, "was dressed like one of these" (Matthew 6:29). |
