Beloved of his God

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did strange women cause to sin.
Nehemiah 13:26

"Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity. And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth...Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Ecc. 12:8-10, 13-14).

The book of Ecclesiastes was written at the end of Solomon's life. Here we have a record of His repentance toward God and faith in God. Surely Solomon was beloved of his God.

All Glory be to God!

The account we have of Solomon's apostasy from God, in the latter end of his reign (1 Kings 11:1), is the tragical part of his story; we may suppose that he spoke his Proverbs in the prime of his time, while he kept his integrity, but delivered his Ecclesiastes when he had grown old (for of the burdens and decays of age he speaks feelingly Ecclesiastes 12:1-14), and was, by the grace of God, recovered from his backslidings. There he dictated his observations; here he wrote his own experiences; this is what days speak, and wisdom which the multitude of years teaches.

It is a penitential sermon, as some of David's psalms are penitential psalms; it is a recantation-sermon, in which the preacher sadly laments his own folly and mistake, in promising himself satisfaction in the things of this world, and even in the forbidden pleasures of sense, which now he finds more bitter than death. His fall is a proof of the weakness of man's nature: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor say, “I shall never be such a fool as to do so and so,” when Solomon himself, the wisest of men, played the fool so egregiously; nor let the rich man glory in his riches, since Solomon's wealth was so great a snare to him, and did him a great deal more hurt than Job's poverty did him. His recovery is a proof of the power of God's grace, in bringing one back to God that has gone so far from him; it is a proof too of the riches of God's mercy in accepting him notwithstanding the many aggravations of his sin, pursuant to the promise made to David, that if his children should commit iniquity they should be corrected, but not abandoned and disinherited, 2 Samuel 7:14, 2 Samuel 7:15. Let him therefore that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall; and let him that has fallen make haste to get up again, and not despair either of assistance or acceptance therein.

Solomon, being brought to repentance, resolves, like his father, to teach transgressors God's way (Psalm 51:13) and to give warning to all to take heed of splitting upon those rocks which had been fatal to him; and these were fruits meet for repentance. The fundamental error of the children of men, and that which is at the bottom of all their departures from God, is the same with that of our first parents, hoping to be as gods by entertaining themselves with that which seems good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. Now the scope of this book is to show that this is a great mistake, that our happiness consists not in being as gods to ourselves, to have what we will and do what we will, but in having him that made us to be a God to us. The moral philosophers disputed much about man's felicity, or chief good. Various opinions they had about it; but Solomon, in this book, determines the question, and assures us that to fear God and to keep his commandments is the whole of man. He tried what satisfaction might be found in the wealth of the world and the pleasures of sense, and at last pronounced all vanity and vexation; yet multitudes will not take his word, but will make the same dangerous experiment, and it proves fatal to them.

An Exposition,with Practical Observations,of The Book of Ecclesiastes -Introduction - Matthew Henry

King Solomon "the holy man of God."

2 Peter 1:21 for prophecy was not at any time borne by the will of man, but being borne along by the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke.

Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

Ecclesiastes 1:1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Song of Solomon 1:1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.

2 Samuel 7:14,15 I shall be a father to him, and he shall be a son to Me. When he sins, then I will chasten him with a rod of men, and with strokes of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not be taken from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.

Hebrews 12:5-8 And you have forgotten the exhortation which He speaks with you, as with sons, "My sons, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor faint while being corrected by Him. For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and whips every son whom He receives." [Prov. 3:11,12]

If you endure discipline, God is dealing with you as with sons; for who is the son whom a father does not discipline?
But if you are without discipline, of which all have become sharers, then you are bastards, and not sons.

1 Kings 11:43

"And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead."

John Wesley's Notes on 1 Kings 11:43

Slept - This expression is promiscuously used concerning good and bad; and signifies only, that they died as their fathers did. But did he repent before he died? This seems to be put out of dispute by the book of Ecclesiastes; written after his fall; as is evident, not only from the unanimous testimony of the Hebrew writers, but also, from the whole strain of that book, which was written long after he had finished all his works, and after he had liberally drunk of all sorts of sensual pleasures, and sadly experienced the bitter effects of his love of women, Ecclesiastes 7:17, and which makes it more than probable, that as David wrote Psalm 51:1 - 19. So Solomon wrote this book as a publick testimony and profession of his repentance.

Nehemiah 13:26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin.

To all the beloved of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.