All the wisdom in the world does you no good if your heart is not right with God, if you seek after other gods. And that is just what Solomon did. Solomon had it all, chariots and horses, all the gold he could want, a gold throne to sit on, the adulation of the known world, wisdom, many wives and few adversaries, until he fell under the spell of those wives. If he had chosen God-fearing wives from Israel, it would have been one thing, but he chose foreign wives; who worshipped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites and Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab. Not only did he let his wives worship these gods, he built high places where they could worship their gods.
No wonder at the end of his life, he would cry "vanity of vanities; all is vanity."- Eccl. 1:2 KJV
He saw that his money and possessions were worthless:
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? - Eccl. 5:10-11NIV
He saw that his wisdom was limited:
All this I tested by wisdom and I said, "I am determined to be wise"—
but this was beyond me. Whatever wisdom may be,
it is far off and most profound— who can discover it? - Eccl. 7:23-24 NIV
He saw that his wives were a snare:
I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. - Eccl. 7:26 NIV
And ended his life on this note:
Now all has been heard;here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil. - Eccl. 12:13-14
For Solomon, this knowledge came too late. Because of Solomon's sins, God had already chosen someone from outside of Solomon's family to be Israel's next king.
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