The wisdom, work and worship of Solomon made him a wealthy man. He ‘exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom’, v. 23. Solomon’s great wealth was the result of his deep interest and concern for God’s people. Unlike the ‘horseleach’ whose two daughters cry ‘Give, give’, Prov. 30. 15, Solomon asked God for an ‘understanding heart to judge thy people’, and received ‘riches and honour’ as well, 3. 9-13. God is ‘no man’s debtor’: He will amply reward those that put His interests first in their lives. We must not think, however, that sacrificial service for God must be rewarded with material prosperity. This was most appropriate for an earthly people, but people whose ‘citizenship is in heaven’ find prosperity elsewhere. They ‘lay up … treasures in heaven’.
Solomon’s material wealth reminds us of our spiritual wealth. (i) It was abundant, ‘Now the weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold, beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country’, vv. 14-15. There was gold everywhere, vv. 16-21. We must remember the abundance of our spiritual wealth. (ii) It was superior. Not just ‘gold’, but 'best gold’, v. 18, and 'pure gold’, v. 21. There were no silver vessels in the ‘house of the forest of Lebanon’, for silver was ‘nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon’, v. 21. God does not bestow sub-standard blessings. Like His beloved Son, they are ‘unspeakable’, 2 Cor. 9. 15. (iii) It was varied. When the joint navies of Solomon and Hiram docked, the vessels discharged ‘gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks’, v. 22. But ‘all the earth sought to Solomon’ and ‘brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year’. We read Ephesians 1 to discover that our wealth is no less varied. We have been ‘chosen … predestinated … accepted.’ In Christ we ‘have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace’. The ‘greater than Solomon’ has enriched us beyond measure; cf. 2 Cor. 8. 9.
