Imagine God grants you more wisdom than anybody else on the face of the earth and, by the end of your incredibly successful career as third king of Israel, you wind up a marrying a bunch of heathen women and adopting their pagan-occultist ways and—in the process—become a type of the Antichrist in the Bible!

This is the sorted story of Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, who began his 40-year reign in 967 BC while David was still alive and enjoyed an unparalleled era of security, prosperity, and international political and economic importance in a domain that stretched from Tipshah on the Euphrates to Gaza on the border of Egypt.

It’s absolutely fascinating how Solomon’s life—the good and the bad—

is laid out in such explicit, unusual detail in the Old Testament. Through his own writings in the book of Ecclesiastes, which is more of a personal diary, we are made privy to Solomon’s deepest insights at the time of his downward spiral.

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From I Kings 3, we know God first came to Solomon in a nighttime dream and asked him what he wanted as king. When Solomon humbly answered, “I’d like wisdom to rule over this people,” God was so pleased by the reply He made Solomon the smartest man alive, granting him untold riches and honor in the process.

I Kings 4:29 reports, “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
[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 spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
[33] And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
[34] And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.”

Jordan explains, “He was wiser than all men; I mean, he was the wisest man on the planet. He spake three thousand proverbs. He codified his wisdom. He took that wisdom and put it into codes and instructions that people could learn by . . .

“Now, you go down into the basement of the Chicago Field Museum to the Egyptian display and see the mummies from thousands of years ago. At least 4-5,000 years ago and there they still are. They don’t look real good but they’re there. We don’t have the technology to do something they could do 5,000 years ago. They had wisdom. They had understanding. They had capacities and skills. Solomon next to them was a bright star and they were a little candle.”

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As I wrote about recently, Islamic tradition has perverted this biblical notion of Solomon “speaking” to animals, making it literal and attaching to him a power over “jinns,” or the demons popularly written about in the Koran who were said to inhabit trees, stones, rivers and mountains and be influenced by Muhammad.

In a huge encyclopedia I have on mythology, it says that according to Islamic tradition, “Solomon ruled over all the Jinns, as well as humans, animals and birds . . . He could speak all the languages, including those of the animals and birds, many of which submitted to his judgment. He is believed to have built the first temple in Jerusalem with the help of the angels and demons.”

Obviously, it’s a real slam on God to say Solomon built the Temple with the aid of demons! As for Solomon literally talking to trees and animals and such, this represents a complete misreading of Scripture.

“The Bible’s not talking about some hokey thing where he’s over there talking to the trees!” explains my preacher, Richard Jordan. “No, that isn’t what he’s doing. It’s talking about how he became an expert in horticulture. He became somebody who knew about the plant life. He worked in sciences. It says ‘he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.’ He became an expert in animal husbandry. He was a biologist.”

Jordan continues, “Solomon had a tremendous curiosity of the world about him. The verse says, ‘There came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.’

“But it wasn’t just that he was wise; it wasn’t just that they were coming to say, ‘Wow, man, he’s smart!’ They came to hear what he had to say. They came to learn those 3,000 proverbs and take them home. Horticulture, animal husbandry, the sciences—they wanted that wisdom and information to bring home with them and put to use.”

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A classic passage detailing the vast wealth, not just the wisdom, of Solomon, comes in I Kings 10 when the queen of Sheba, having heard of the fame of God’s chosen man, pays a visit to “prove him with hard questions.”

The passage reports, “She came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
[3] And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.
[4] And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,
[5] And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
[6] And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
[7] Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.”

Jordan explains, “When it says ‘the half was not told me,’ I mean, the newspapers and

CNN, and the reporters from ABC, NBC, CBS, they didn’t tell half of what was going on there it was just so great.”

(Editor’s Note: To be continued . . .)