Memory Text: Luke 12:48 KJV (in part) “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”

Sunday, December 31 The Wisdom of Solomon
1 Kings 3:28 KJ21 “And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment.”
1 Kings 4:29-34 KJ21 “29 ¶ And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. 30 And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman and Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all nations round about. 32 And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. 33 And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34 And there came from all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.”
1 Kings 4:30 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The wisdom of Egypt was famous throughout the East. It included such fields as astronomy, medicine, architecture, mathematics, music, painting, embalming, and mystic philosophy. A wealth of the so-called wisdom literature of Egypt has survived.
1 Kings 10:23 KJ21 “So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.”
1 Kings 10:23 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY At the time of Solomon such empires as Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt were in low estate, and it was thus literally true that Solomon’s kingdom ranked first in wisdom, wealth, and splendor.
Matthew 12:42 KJ21 “The queen of the south shall rise up in the Judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”

Monday, January 1 Solomon’s Walk With the Lord
1 Kings 3:16-28 MKJV “16 ¶ Then there came two women, harlots, to the king, and stood before him. 17 And the one woman said, O my lord, this woman and I live in one house. And I was bore a child with her in the house. 18 And it happened the third day after I gave birth, this woman bore a child also. And we [were] together; there was no stranger with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19 And this woman’s child died in the night, because she laid on it. 20 And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant was sleeping, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 When I arose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, [it was] dead. And when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore. 22 And the other woman said, No, but the living [is] my son, and the dead [is] your son. And this one said, No, but the dead is your son, and the living is my son. So they spoke before the king. 23 And the king said, The one says, This [is] my son who lives, and your son [is] the dead. And the other says, No, but your son [is] the dead, and my son [is] the living. 24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other. 26 And the woman whose son [was] the living child said to the king, for her womb yearned over her son. And she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor yours; divide [it]! 27 And the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no way kill it. She [is] the mother of it. 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged. And they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God [was] in him to do judgment.”
1 Kings 3:3-14 MKJV “3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father. Only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there. For that [was] the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 ¶ In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, Ask what I shall give you! 6 And Solomon said, You have shown to Your servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before You in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with You. And You have kept this great kindness for him, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as [it is] today. 7 And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father. And I [am] a little child; I do not know to go out or come in! 8 And Your servant [is] in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a numerous people who cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9 And give to Your servant an understanding heart, to judge Your people, to discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this, Your great people? 10 And the word was good in the eyes of the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And God said to him, Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, and have not asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to judge justly, 12 behold, I have done according to your words. Lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like you before you, and after you none shall arise like you. 13 And I also have given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you all your days. 14 And if you will walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

Tuesday, January 2 Solomon in God’s Temple
2 Chronicles 6:13-42 NRSV “13 Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven. 14 He said, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant in steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart— 15 you who have kept for your servant, my father David, what you promised to him. Indeed, you promised with your mouth and this day have fulfilled with your hand. 16 Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant, my father David, that which you promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children keep to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ 17 Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant David. 18 "But will God indeed reside with mortals on earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! 19 Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you. 20 May your eyes be open day and night toward this house, the place where you promised to set your name, and may you heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. 21 And hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; may you hear from heaven your dwelling place; hear and forgive. 22 "If someone sins against another and is required to take an oath and comes and swears before your altar in this house, 23 may you hear from heaven, and act, and judge your servants, repaying the guilty by bringing their conduct on their own head, and vindicating those who are in the right by rewarding them in accordance with their righteousness. 24 "When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this house, 25 may you hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their ancestors. 26 "When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this place, confess your name, and turn from their sin, because you punish them, 27 may you hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send down rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. 28 "If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in any of the settlements of the lands; whatever suffering, whatever sickness there is; 29 whatever prayer, whatever plea from any individual or from all your people Israel, all knowing their own suffering and their own sorrows so that they stretch out their hands toward this house; 30 may you hear from heaven, your dwelling place, forgive, and render to all whose heart you know, according to all their ways, for only you know the human heart. 31 Thus may they fear you and walk in your ways all the days that they live in the land that you gave to our ancestors. 32 "Likewise when foreigners, who are not of your people Israel, come from a distant land because of your great name, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house, 33 may you hear from heaven your dwelling place, and do whatever the foreigners ask of you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built. 34 "If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 35 then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause. 36 "If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near; 37 then if they come to their senses in the land to which they have been taken captive, and repent, and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done wrong; we have acted wickedly’; 38 if they repent with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity, to which they were taken captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, 39 then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to prayer from this place. 41 "Now rise up, O LORD God, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your faithful rejoice in your goodness. 42 O LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember your steadfast love for your servant David."”

Wednesday, January 3 The Fall of Solomon
1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
1 Kings 11:1-4 NKJV “1 ¶ But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, [and] Hittites— 2 from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as [was] the heart of his father David.”
1 Kings 11:1 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN Polygamy was tolerated among the ancient Hebrews; and, although in most countries of the East, the generality of men, from convenience and economy, confine themselves to one woman, yet a number of wives is reckoned as an indication of wealth and importance, just as a numerous stud of horses and a grand equipage are among us. The sovereign, of course, wishes to have a more numerous harem than any of his subjects; and the female establishments of many Oriental princes have, both in ancient and modern times, equalled or exceeded that of Solomon's.
Deuteronomy 17:17 KJ21 “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.”
1 Kings 11:4-9 NIV “4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. 9 ¶ The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.”
1 Kings 11:4-6 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY (SUMMARY OF NOTES) Ashtoreth was the goddess of love and fertility. Molech was the chief god of the Amorites - Molech’s place of human sacrifice was in the Valley of Hinnom.

Thursday, January 4 Solomon’s Last Days
1 Kings 11:11-13 NIV “11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."”
1 Kings 11:14-43 NLT “14 ¶ Then the LORD raised up Hadad the Edomite, a member of Edom’s royal family, to be an enemy against Solomon. 15 Years before, David had gone to Edom with Joab, his army commander, to bury some Israelites who had died in battle. While there, the Israelite army had killed nearly every male in Edom. 16 Joab and the army had stayed there for six months, killing them. 17 But Hadad and a few of his father’s royal officials had fled. (Hadad was a very small child at the time.) 18 They escaped from Midian and went to Paran, where others joined them. Then they traveled to Egypt and went to Pharaoh, who gave them a home, food, and some land. 19 Pharaoh grew very fond of Hadad, and he gave him a wife—the sister of Queen Tahpenes. 20 She bore him a son, Genubath, who was brought up in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s own sons. 21 When the news reached Hadad in Egypt that David and his commander Joab were both dead, he said to Pharaoh, "Let me return to my own country." 22 "Why?" Pharaoh asked him. "What do you lack here? How have we disappointed you that you want to go home?" "Nothing is wrong," he replied. "But even so, I must return home." 23 God also raised up Rezon son of Eliada to be an enemy against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah, 24 and had become the leader of a gang of rebels. After David conquered Hadadezer, Rezon and his men fled to Damascus, where he became king. 25 Rezon was Israel’s bitter enemy for the rest of Solomon’s reign, and he made trouble, just as Hadad did. Rezon hated Israel intensely and continued to reign in Aram. 26 ¶ Another rebel leader was Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s own officials. He came from the city of Zeredah in Ephraim, and his mother was Zeruah, a widow. 27 This is the story behind his rebellion. Solomon was rebuilding the Millo and repairing the walls of the city of his father, David. 28 Jeroboam was a very capable young man, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of the labor force from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. 29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him on the road, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a field, 30 and Ahijah took the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you! 32 But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33 For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed my laws and regulations as his father, David, did. 34 "‘But I will not take the entire kingdom from Solomon at this time. For the sake of my servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and laws, I will let Solomon reign for the rest of his life. 35 But I will take the kingdom away from his son and give ten of the tribes to you. 36 His son will have one tribe so that the descendants of David my servant will continue to reign in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name. 37 And I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart desires. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my laws and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you. 39 But I will punish the descendants of David because of Solomon’s sin—though not forever.’" 40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died. 41 ¶ The rest of the events in Solomon’s reign, including his wisdom, are recorded in [The Book of the Acts of Solomon.] 42 Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. 43 When Solomon died, he was buried in the city of his father, David. Then his son Rehoboam became the next king.”
Ecclesiastes 1:1 NKJV “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.”
Ecclesiastes 1:1 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Jewish writers have explained Qoheleth as meaning “one who assembles a congregation and expounds teaching.” Others render it “Preacher” because, it is said, Solomon delivered these discourses before a congregation. It is similar to an Arabic root variously translated as “great collector,” “deep investigator”.
Ecclesiastes 1:16 NKJV “I communed with my heart, saying, "Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge."”
Ecclesiastes 2:4-10 NKJV “4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all [kinds] of fruit trees in them. 6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. 7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, [and] musical instruments of all kinds. 9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.”
Ecclesiastes 2:1 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Enjoy pleasure. Literally, “look at good,” that is, “have your fill of the good things of life.” A modern idiomatic equivalent would be, “have a good time.” Solomon proposed to quaff the pleasures the world has to offer to the point of satiety, in the endeavor to find lasting satisfaction in them.
Ecclesiastes 2:8 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY Peculiar treasure. Literally, “possessions.” This is probably a reference to the tribute and taxes of various kinds that Solomon levied. The word translated “peculiar treasure” is also applied by God to His people.