Author Topic: Solomon's World View (Read 2873 times)

Olde Tymer · « **on:** January 07, 2019, 08:30:56 am »

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● Ecc 2:4a . . I multiplied my possessions.

Even the poor have this opportunity— to multiply their possessions —and some are pretty good at it in their own way. It's not unusual to see a homeless person with a shopping cart or a bicycle piled high to the sky with things they've accumulated. And many low-income folk here in America have at least two television sets and one car; and sometimes a gun too.

Here in Oregon we have a colloquialism that goes something like this: When the weather gets bad, it's time to go shopping. (chuckle) Who doesn't enjoy buying something new? A new possession can cheer you up; even little doo-dads and trinkets that cost only 49 cents. Whenever we go to the mall, I stop by the LEGO store and check out the key rings; and sometimes I buy a small kit to assemble. No doubt Solomon would just shrug and wonder why I was buying that stupid stuff.

I'm always thoroughly amazed at how lifted my wife's spirits become whenever she buys herself a trendy new lipstick or nail polish at Sephora's. Multiplying possessions is good for the mood; like Godiva chocolate. True, it's only a temporary high, but it's a good high and I always enjoy buying things, even if it's only second-hand at Good Will or Salvation Army.

● Ecc 2:4b . . I built myself houses

The filthy rich never seem to be satisfied with just one home. No; they have a house in Bel-Air, and another out on The Hamptons. They have Summer cottages, and they have Winter cabins. They build custom homes costing in the millions of dollars and when they tire of those, they sell, move out, and build another custom home.

● Ecc 2:4c-6 . . and I planted vineyards. I laid out gardens and groves, in which I planted every kind of fruit tree. I constructed lakes of water, enough to irrigate a forest sprouting with trees.

It isn't unusual for governments to build parks and initiate beautification programs in their cities. What the heck, why not when you can use someone else's money and don't have to pay for it yourself? Solomon received tribute from all his neighboring kingdoms: from the borders of Egypt clear on over to the Euphrates river. It was actually a time of great peace and prosperity in Israel according to 1Kgs 4:20 and 1Kgs 5:5.

Of course Solomon himself didn't do a lick of the work. He purchased slaves and conscripted his own citizens to accomplish his expensive ambitions. David his father conscripted foreigners, but Solomon went him one better with a national draft board that inducted his fellow Jewish men into government service. There was no danger of war at the time. He just needed manpower in the labor camps.

30,000 were conscripted to work with Hiram's axe men up in Lebanon logging for the new Temple, and he had another 70,000 general laborers, plus 80,000 men working in stone quarries— and not to forget 12,000 horsemen. All his construction projects were very labor intensive because of the lack of machinery and power tools in those days.

● Ecc 2:7a . . I bought male and female slaves, and I acquired stewards

The Hebrew word for "stewards" is ben, which means sons; viz: children born of slaves he already owned. So the bens cost him nothing all the while that his purchased slaves multiplied among themselves since in that day, the children of slaves were born into slavery.

People like Solomon, born with silver spoons in their mouths, typically don't take into consideration the feelings of others less privileged than themselves. They are often totally self absorbed. Those below them exist only as cannon fodder; lackeys to serve their every wish as if that were somehow the natural order of things.

Well, Solomon was finding out that sometimes the natural order of things works against those who are very intelligent, and against those who are very rich, and against those who are very powerful. Contentment and fulfillment eluded his grasp. No matter how he exercised his advantages in life, Solomon couldn't find peace of mind. He found that for men like himself, life is pointless. The more he sought fulfillment, the more he felt like he was wasting his time trying.

NOTE: An episode in 1Kgs 12:1-14 reveals that Solomon's people sorely resented the labor camps. He delighted himself in the public works that they accomplished with their own backs and the sweat of their own brows while he laid back in his palace and thought up more things for them to do.
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Author Topic: Solomon's World View (Read 2873 times)

Olde Tymer

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