The only great sermon I heard that covered an entire book of the Bible was one that Haddon Robinson preached in Vancouver three years ago. Robinson, the dean of expository preachers in America, went from Ecclesiastes 1 to 12 in about thirty-five minutes. I shall not forget his bottom-line message: "God will not give us explanations, he will give us himself. This is why you can trust what you cannot test; you can step where you cannot see; and you can undergo what you cannot understand."1

Robinson reflected well the resigned mood of an old man who had once been recognized as the greatest man on earth. Though Solomon had begun well, very well indeed (see 1 Kings 4:21–25, 29–34), sometime during middle age he squandered faithful years of obedience to Jehovah for adolescent-like lust and love of ease, making his elder years nothing but "vanity." He wrote Proverbs when a vigorous and discerning follower of God. The Book of Ecclesiastes was a sort of last will and testament of a man who had done it all and regretted much in later life, but who came full circle to live his last days in committed surrender to the One responsible for any good that happened to him.

What happened to Solomon? How could a man of extraordinary intelligence, God-like wisdom, and uncanny ability to govern his people fall so low as to allow shrines to be built to the demon god Chemosh yards across from God’s temple (1 Kings 11:7–8)? How could the man known worldwide for restoring a helpless baby to his despairing mother (1 Kings 3:16–28) now tacitly endorse the burning of children to the demon god Molech?

The chapters from Prophets and Kings that Ellen White wrote on the fall of the house of Solomon are as sad as they are revealing. We could easily see seven deadly, downward steps:

1. Goodwill Alliances. Originally, Solomon’s political alliances were not for the purpose of commercial gain but in order to "bring these nations to a knowledge of the true God" (54). This was an honorable objective, indeed, which worked with his first foreign wife, who, in time, "was converted and united with him in the worship of the true God" (53). Nevertheless, God had forbidden Israel to do this (Deut .7:1–6).
2. Increased Wealth. These alliances brought Solomon "renown, honor, and the riches of this world" (53). Again, God had promised honor and riches at the time of Solomon’s early request for wisdom (1 Kings 3:6–13), and Solomon could have reasoned that God was fulfilling his promise. But Solomon was not careful. Wealth brings its own set of temptations, including pride and the feeling of power. Others respond differently to people with recognized riches and power. It gives the wealthy a flattering status, leaving them vulnerable to self-sufficiency.
3. Appeasement for Selfishness. At the time of the building of the temple, Solomon hired Huram, a heathen, for his astounding skill, forgetting that Moses had hired Israelites, to whom God had given skill to work on the tabernacle. He paid Huram what he asked, appeasing his selfishness. It would be hard to say No to others when he hadn’t done so. This largesse created covetousness among those closest to the king, and it spread. His personal mistakes then multiplied throughout the nation.
4. Acceptance of Flattery. So opulent became his kingdom that even God’s temple became known as "Solomon’s temple," and not as the temple of Jehovah. "He finally permitted men to speak of him as the one most worthy of praise" (68), forgetting that all of his greatness was due to the God of heaven.
5. Unholy Ambition. Eventually, a big head called for a big frame to sustain it. Since he was already seen as the greatest, why not best other nations in everything? He developed "an overmastering desire to surpass other nations in outward display.…[Glorifying] himself before the world, he sold his honor and integrity" (55).
6. Tyrannical Cruelty. Riches, a sense of omnipotence, and habits of selfishness finally led Solomon to establish a system of exacting taxes for projects that were not needed but that mirrored the values of the mighty among the heathen. "He degenerated into a tyrant. Once the compassionate, God-fearing guardian of the people, he became oppressive and despotic" (56).
7. Lust and Idolatry. This became inevitable in view of the preceding steps. Lust is simply an immoral way to control people, of the opposite sex in this case. Solomon "loved many foreign women...seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away…after other gods" (1 Kings 11:1–4).

At what point in the list above did Solomon go from courting sin to sliding headlong into it? At the first one. Good intentions don’t make up for disobedience. Evil is unforgiving, even if God is not. Consequences always result from choices made. Always.

C. S. Lewis articulated well the near imperceptive road to perdition when he said: "It does not matter how small the sins are provided that the cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards, if cards can do the trick. The safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."2 The problem is not outright evil. The problem is accepting a mixture of good and evil. Only a little at first, this cancer develops a life of its own and becomes an octopus that eventually overwhelms every good intention. People are left with the questions: How did I get to this? Whatever happened to me?

Ecclesiastes is a thoughtful yet urgent attempt, at a time of renewed spiritual lucidity, to help the young recognize that they had better remember their Creator then, and not wait until "the evil days come," when so many among those older than they live with regret (Eccles. 12:1). Furthermore, it is a sermon from the heart of one old man who has done it all—good and ill—to grown-ups of all ages to stick to one thing: "fear God and keep His commandments,…for God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil" (Eccles. 12:13–14).

So hang on to God for dear life. He is all you have. Anything else will ruin you.

Notes

1. Preached on Oct. 17, 2003, as the keynote address of the Evangelical Homiletics Society, near Vancouver, Canada.
2. The Screwtape Letters (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 61, 62.

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