1 Kings 10:14-29 is a similar passage.
Solomon was given by the Lord great riches and splendor beyond what his father had even dreamed of when he wandered in the desert trying to keep one step ahead of Saul’s spear. David longed for a glass of water from Bethlehem while his son’s annual intake of gold was man’s number, 666 talents (that’s about 25 tons). What makes one person wealthy and another with few possessions or even no possessions and hungry?
Could it merely be a person that works hard, saves, and invests will be wealthy, healthy, and wise? This may have been true for some as it was for Solomon, but it is not a universal truth. What about children who are born in privilege, do little, and remain wealthy because their ancestors became so wealthy? This may have been true for some as it was for Solomon, but it is not a universal truth.
The truth is each person’s life is different. We cannot predict what will happen next; pandemics, war, natural disasters, and health problems have depleted many a fortune in hours and minutes. While others suddenly find themselves is comfort and easy with little work of their own.
“Everyone wants more” is a universal truth. The person who says they do not want more stays that until they desire and then acquire something new.
Two more universal truths are common to all societies in history. An abundance of opulence does not guarantee happiness and contentment. Just as counter-culture is that poverty is not merely made of those in misery and depression.
Another truth is that wealth is usually defined as someone having more than peers in their family, friends, and neighbors.
One final thought, just because I want someone else’s wealth does not justify me taking from them, lusting after their possessions, and institutionalizing a distribution of others’ hard-earned and/or God-given gifts to myself and others. The opposite is true. Just because I have wealth does not justify me keeping it to myself, lusting after more, and institutionalizing keeping others from earning properly in proportion to what they work for.
Jesus and the apostles did not even have a place to sleep and ate poverty grain from the fields. Solomon made silver common to the point of being worthless (20). Be grateful for either.
