This is a timeline of the life of the richest man in the entire Bible, King Solomon. He lived a life full of some of the most epic and tragic stories in the Bible that very few people know about. But right before he died, he shared seven secrets he learned from his 60 years on earth in a book of the Bible called Ecclesiastes.
And when you put them all together, they answer one question that every one of us has asked. How do I not waste my life? Many scholars believe that Solomon was about 20 years old when his life completely changed forever.
His father, David, was old and dying, but before King David died, he crowned his son Solomon as the new king of Israel. Now, don't get me wrong, becoming the king of an entire nation is pretty life-changing, but it doesn't even come close to what happened to Solomon next. The Bible says that Solomon sacrificed 1,000 animals as offerings of worship to God when suddenly God appeared to Solomon in a dream and like a genie told Solomon, "Ask, what shall I give you?
" Could you imagine God appearing to you and offering to grant you the wish of your dreams? But Solomon doesn't ask for a new palace or even for more wishes, which is what I would have done. Instead, he asks God for wisdom to lead this new kingdom he's in charge of.
It's a very selfless request, and God is pleased with it. So, overnight, God gives Solomon superhuman wisdom, and the entire ancient world starts to hear about it. The Bible says that he was so wise, he spoke over 3,000 proverbs, and some of them are even recorded in a book of the Bible called Proverbs.
Let me know if you want a full video on that book of the Bible, by the way. But here's the crazy part. Right before Solomon died, he reflected on what he had gained from all of his wisdom.
And his conclusion is pretty shocking. So shocking that when I read it for the first time 14 years ago, it sent me into a deep depression for about 3 months. He said that he had become more wise than anyone who had lived before him, even his own father, the great King David.
But he says that for all the wisdom and power he had, it was still impossible to make the crooked things of life straight or to count the number of dark voids in this world. Now just think about that for a sec. For all the new technology and wisdom our world has today, there are still millions of people starving, millions of crimes committed every year.
And for all the innovation and medicine, there are still millions who die every day of disease. He's saying that even though he had all the wisdom in the world, he still couldn't make any meaningful changes to the world. Trying to do that is like reaching out your hand to try to grab on to the wind blowing by.
It's impossible. Now, how does that make you feel knowing that the wisest man in the entire world felt that he couldn't even make a dent of change in the world? And yet, so many people set out in life thinking that they're going to change the world.
Which is why I got so depressed when I read this for the first time. But so did Solomon. The Bible says that every time his wisdom increased, so did his sadness and grief.
This is Solomon's first secret to not wasting your life. If this makes you a bit sad, too, stick around because you need to hear the other six secrets to truly understand your purpose on this earth. But not only did God increase Solomon's wisdom, he also gave him all of the riches he could possibly dream of.
He built all kinds of palaces for himself, constructed by the greatest talent in the ancient world at the time. If Solomon could dream it, he could command his kingdom to build it, including one building in particular that would change the nation forever. He was also honored and respected by everyone.
People traveled from as far as Assyria and Egypt to bring Solomon gifts so they could stay on his good side. And because of this great power, he could literally get anything he wanted and get anyone to do whatever he wanted. Anything.
Well, I should say he could get any material thing that he wanted. But even though he had all of this stuff, the Bible says that he still hated life. He said that all the buildings he had built and servants he had collected would one day be left to another man.
Because now that he was an old man, the reality of death was more real. He had spent his entire life working and strategizing on how to grow his bank account. And now all that wealth was about to be passed down to someone who might be wise or might be a complete fool.
You'll meet Solomon's son and heir to the throne later in the story. And I'll let you decide if you think that his son was wise or foolish. It's like he worked so hard for a bunch of stuff he was about to have no control over or even access to because he was slowly dying.
And remember all that respect and honor he had. This is the kind of status that most people will never achieve in their lifetime. And there are people in your own life that you know, whether it be a boss, a celebrity, or just a really charismatic friend, that makes you think, "If I could just have a fraction of the respect that people give that person, then I would be happy.
" But here's a guy who the entire world kissed up to. And he said that even that was meaningless to him because no one would remember him anyways. Both he and the idiot next door would die and be forgotten in history.
Now, obviously, we're still talking about Solomon, even thousands of years later. But think about it. Most of you watching this video probably knew a few things about the life of Solomon.
But if you're being honest, how often do you actually think about him? Once a week, a month, a year? And yet, this is a guy whose story is written in the best-selling book of all time, the Bible.
I mean, how many US presidents can you even name? And yet we spend so much of our lives chasing status, whether it be a promotion at work or a certain number of followers on our Instagram account. This is why Solomon at the end of his days said that all the money and power in the world is nothing more than vanity.
This word vanity or meaninglessness in some of your Bible translations is actually the Hebrew word he which literally means smoke or vapor. Unlike wind, smoke is something that looks so real and tangible. And yet, when you are finally able to touch it, it leaves you completely empty.
Okay, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but when this YouTube channel first began to grow a couple of years ago, I remember becoming obsessed with the number of views and subscribers that the channel was getting. I think I just felt validated like I had finally done something that people were respecting me for. And yet in 100 years there won't be a single person who remembers my name.
So then if wisdom, money, and status will always leave us empty, then what should we live for? Let's take a look at the third secret Solomon learned about life. Even though Solomon had the greatest wisdom and riches of any man to ever live in Israel, these are not the main things that Israel would remember him for.
Rather, the name of Solomon would forever be associated with one specific building he built while he was king of Israel, the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem. Solomon was the one who ordered the construction of this magnificent building. And after 7 years of building, it was finally complete.
The Bible says that a thick cloud filled the temple and the terrifying presence of God came to rest inside. Solomon and the people couldn't believe their eyes. The God who created the billions of stars they stared up at every night had agreed to move into the home they had built for him.
Solomon celebrated by declaring that he had made this temple for God to live inside forever. But God appeared a second time to Solomon and told him that he would only live there as long as Israel was obedient and faithful to him. if they started worshiping other gods and doing evil stuff, he would just leave and the temple would become nothing more than an empty building.
I wonder what Solomon was thinking at that exact moment that God was speaking to him. You see, Solomon had a dark secret that was beginning to grow bigger and bigger. But still, after Solomon built this great temple, he declared that this building would last forever.
But at the end of his life, he made a very different declaration. I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken away from it.
Not even Solomon's precious temple. He even goes so far as to say that humans are a lot like animals. One day, a new chick is born and is happy, chirping away with the others.
And the next day, that same happy chick is whisked away by a hungry hawk. And that chick had no control over any of it. Only God can control the different seasons of our lives.
I guess that might be comforting in some way to somebody. But when I read that, it's just kind of depressing to think about. But I think it was this sort of nihilistic thinking that actually drove Solomon to do what he did next.
He took the foreigners in the land and made them his property, his slaves. What's interesting is that the last time the Bible describes a powerful king doing this was when Pharaoh, king of Egypt, made Solomon's ancestors his slaves. But Solomon didn't stop there.
The Bible says that he organized a massive navy of ships to collect as much silver and gold as they could and bring them back to his kingdom. So much was brought back that the Bible says that Solomon made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones. The Bible even says that the weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was 666 talants of gold.
666. And if you've read the book of Revelation, you know that this is not the best number to be associated with. But again, he didn't stop there.
He amassed a gigantic army of 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. But here's the problem with all of this. Before there was ever a king over Israel, God gave clear commands for exactly how a king should rule.
A king shall not multiply horses for himself. Well, Solomon definitely broke that rule. Nor caused the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses.
Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention where Solomon went to get all of these horses from Egypt. Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
At this point, I don't think it was humanly possible for Solomon to break this command more than he did. He had more gold and silver than anybody. So far, Solomon had broken two of the three main commands God had given to future kings of Israel.
The third command we haven't discussed yet, but it's related to the dark secret Solomon has been keeping since he first started to rule over Israel. But before we get to that, I want to thank today's sponsor, NordVPN. Now, I always thought that VPNs were just something that people used to get access to movies that Netflix was only releasing in Italy, which is cool, by the way, but I never knew how important a VPN was to my safety.
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When he looked back on all the work that he had done to get all of this stuff, I can only imagine that as he looked back at all the poor people he had enslaved, he spoke these words. Look, the tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter. On the side of their oppressors, there is power, but they have no comforter.
This is interesting because it's Solomon who was the oppressor in the story. But then he uses an interesting phrase that is crucial to understanding how to not waste your life. He says that people who haven't even been born yet are actually more fortunate than those who have because they haven't seen all the evil that is done under the sun.
This phrase here is one that is used 29 times in the book of Ecclesiastes to describe multiple observations Solomon makes about the world. It's a way for Solomon to say that we as human beings have a very limited view of the world. We can't understand the purposes of God because we can only see what happens under the sun.
But then he shares an interesting riddle about three types of people that after I heard it seriously made me re-evaluate my entire life. Person number one folds his hands and forces himself to eat his own flesh. Pretty nasty, I know.
Person number two works so hard to fill both of his hands, but is like a man trying to grasp the wind. But person number three works hard to fill only one of his hands, but is at peace. He's saying, "Don't be lazy like person number one, or you'll end up destroying yourself, but don't be a workaholic like person number two, because sooner or later, you're going to realize that all the work you spent your life doing was for nothing more than for the fleeting moment of a few people looking at what you've accomplished and saying, "Cool.
" But person number three didn't get greedy like person number two did. Instead, he worked hard enough to fill one hand and was at peace. But which of these three people do you think Solomon was?
He just had to reach out to fill that second hand. And he said that the result was many lonely nights, sadness, sickness, and anger. So what is he saying here?
Is he saying we should just try to live a mediocre life? No. He's saying to treat your work like it's a gift from God.
Imagine one of your friends goes through the trouble to get you a gift and after taking one glance at it, you toss it aside and say to the person, "Okay, what's next? " This is what we do to God when we don't simply rejoice and enjoy where God has us now. He's not saying to never shoot for that promotion or to start that new business.
He's saying that you can either be constantly distracted with what you don't have or you can let God keep you busy with the joy of your heart. This is secret number four. Solomon had achieved so much, but now he was about to face the greatest test of his entire life, the Queen of Sheba.
This wasn't just some wealthy woman. She was the woman of her time. Some say she came from the area we call Yemen today, while others argue she was Ethiopian.
She was super wealthy and very wise like Solomon and had heard of Solomon's wisdom. But she wanted to see if he really measured up to what she had heard. So she asked him her most difficult questions and his answers did not disappoint.
He was even more wise and prosperous than she was told. Solomon had really reached the highest peak of honor and greatness a man could possibly achieve. But even still, there was a dark secret Solomon carried that you'll hear about in just a moment.
At this point in the story, Solomon was living in a very dark place inside his own soul. So far, he's taught us that wisdom and wealth can't satisfy a person, that only God is in control, and we should allow God to give us joy and contentment in everything we do in life. But then, just when you think you figured out how to not waste your life, he drops a bomb.
Listen very carefully. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men. A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires.
Yet God does not give him power to eat of it. But a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity and is an evil affliction.
Apparently there are some people who God doesn't even give the ability to enjoy the fruit of their labor. So, you could work your whole life, try to enjoy what God has given you, and still have absolutely no joy in your heart. That's dark.
You might be starting to feel depressed at this point in the video, like I did when I read this for the first time. I remember just asking myself, "Well, then what's the point of all of this? Why even try to pursue anything?
" Believe it or not, there is an answer. But the answer will only make sense when we put all seven of Solomon's life secrets together. But secret number six comes from the most painful part of Solomon's story.
There was actually a part of his story that I left out. There's something that he does at the very beginning of this entire timeline that most people miss. Solomon's first act as king of Israel after his dad died was to make a treaty with the king of Egypt and marry Pharaoh's daughter, which doesn't seem like that big of a deal at the time.
Oh, sure, God had told Israel not to marry foreign women with their foreign gods, but this was just what kings did. They married into royal families in order to solidify peace treaties with them. No big deal, right?
Well, in Solomon's case, it was a big deal because the Bible says that Solomon loved many foreign women as well as the daughter of Pharaoh. 1,000 women to be exact. Solomon had a total of 700 women he married as wives and 300 women who he basically owned as property for his own pleasure and enjoyment.
Solomon was an addict, but an addict who pretty much had unlimited power and wealth to feed his neverending appetite for women. And remember earlier how I said that there was a third command that God gave to the future kings of Israel. Can you guess what it was?
Don't multiply wives for yourself or your heart will turn away. And unfortunately, Solomon's heart did turn away from God. Despite all the blessings God had showered upon Solomon's life, he allowed the lust that he had for these 1,000 women to turn his heart away from God.
And he began to worship four strange gods. Most of us just read over the names of these gods in the story, but the worship of these false gods involved extremely dark activity. Parents be advised.
The first god Solomon worshiped was a female goddess called Ashtareth. This one should come at no surprise. Solomon's weakness was women.
And this god glorified the indulgence of using women for pleasure. In fact, wooden poles were set up on various hills in Israel. And degrading acts would be done around these poles in worship to this false god.
The second god was called Milkum. People would sacrifice their animals and crops to this god in hopes that he would protect the land. Instead of sacrificing to the one true god, they would waste their resources on false hope.
But the third god took sacrifice to a whole another level. The god Kosh was worshiped by spilling as much blood as you possibly could. The mass slaughter of animals and sometimes even humans would be done to please this god of war and hopefully give the nation victory over their enemies.
But nothing compared to the evil that was done in order to appease this fourth god. This false god demanded the ritual sacrifice of some of your own children, your own kids. And since the Bible says that Solomon and many of his wives worshiped this disgusting god, it's likely that they participated in this evil ritual.
So God told Solomon that he would tear the kingdom from him and give it to somebody else. But before you see how Solomon's story ends, you got to hear what Solomon had to say about all this. He argues that it's actually better for someone to surround themsself with the sad, painful things of life than with entertainment.
He also says that it's better to surround yourself with people who aren't afraid to point out your flaws than with those who just sing your praises. But then he says something that has honestly made many people doubt God's goodness and even his existence. There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.
In other words, sometimes the hero dies young and the villain gets to live a lifetime of evil. But what's crazy is that in this story, Solomon is the wicked villain, but a villain who is now a prisoner of the evil life he had chosen for himself. He then describes a woman whose heart is a trap like the kind that is set to capture a roaming animal.
And her hands are made of chains like the ones used to keep a prisoner captive from enjoying the outside world. He who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner shall be trapped by her. And being trapped by a woman like this is like drinking poison that hurts so bad death starts to sound better than life.
Solomon knew because he lived it. And so have many of you watching this video. Whatever your secret addiction is, it's making you feel like a prisoner of your own mind and is slowly decaying your soul.
And 14 years ago, that's exactly what was happening to me. I felt so paralyzed and at one point wanted to just go to sleep and never wake up again. I remember literally reading the book of Ecclesiastes during that time of my life and just hoping that the end of the book offered some hope and it did.
But unfortunately for Solomon, his addiction had gotten so out of hand that it was affecting the entire kingdom. Enemies began to come after Israel. And guess who the number one supporter of each of Solomon's enemies was?
Egypt. The same exact nation Solomon had made a treaty with as his first act as king is the same exact nation who betrayed him by providing support to Solomon's enemies. Eventually Solomon died and his son Rayoboam reigned in his place.
But his son took bad advice and did evil in the eyes of God, ultimately leading to the collapse of Solomon's once mighty kingdom. Solomon's final words in the book of Ecclesiastes are very simple. Everyone is going to die and everything is he smoke or vapor.
But even though these are Solomon's final words, these are not the final words of the book. Many don't realize this, but Solomon actually wasn't the one who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Someone else did.
Someone who isn't named. Up until this point, this unnamed author had been quoting the words of Solomon. But now, the author himself begins to speak up.
He says that Solomon's words are like goats, pointy sticks used to poke cattle. They're extremely painful, but sometimes necessary to push them in the right direction. But what direction are these painful words supposed to push us in?
The author tells us in the final two verses of the entire book. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments.
For this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Every secret thing.
This would have been mindblowing for the ancient readers at the time because the only way to judge secret things is for the person who did these secret things to continue living after they die. Many of the surrounding nations believe that when you died, your soul went into a meaningless void, whether you were good or bad. If that version of the afterlife was true, then you might as well live it up and do whatever you feel like.
But if the Bible is true, then justice will come to all. This is why Jesus had to come and save us from our sins. When we put our faith in Christ, we are no longer judged for our evil actions, but we are still judged for our righteous actions.
In fact, the Bible says that we will be given rewards in heaven based on the good works we do on this earth. Everything that Solomon shared and really his entire life is a testimony that everything in life is meaningless apart from eternity. And when we focus our lives on following God's eternal commands, it's like Jesus once said, we get to store up treasures in heaven that will last forever.
This is the same hope that pulled me out of my depression years ago and will ultimately help you stop wasting your life on garbage that doesn't last and start living for eternity. But in order to truly live a meaningful life, it's helpful to not only have an example of someone who didn't live for eternity like Solomon, but to also study someone who did. Which is why you should click this video here to learn about a man who was also incredibly wise and wealthy, but gave it all up to follow Jesus.
