My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
Words of Solomon the son David, King of Israel as recorded in the the Holy Writ
Proverbs 1:10
As if to parallel the famous Biblical oxymoron, Lord I believe, help my unbelief ( Mark 9;24), these words of Solomon quoted above seems so strike a chord with a typical preacher of virtue but a practitioner of vice. Come on, this guy had 700 wives. Assuming he spent a night with one at a time, that will be close to two years before he completes the first cycle. And to think that he had 300 concubines in addition!!!. Sometimes, i wonder why this dude didnt look like a feeble, frail and emaciated Somali kid plagued with kwashiorkor and marasmus.But hey, that was not to be.
Solomon is no doubt the wisest King the world has had and will ever have, according to the Biblical account. Sulayman, as the Qu'ran calls him was also a revered prophet. A leader par excellence, author of wisdom literature, Solomon was revered the world over.
The great achievements of King Solomon needs no mention. Under his leadership, Israel, a nation that had hitherto fought invasions and surrendered to the Philistines and other tribes for centuries now controlled all the territories west of the Euphrates river. His army of a thousand four hundred chariots and a twelve thousand horse soldiers was the envy of many nations. Israel saw massive infrastructural development under his tenure. Israel became the most prosperous nation under his rule and people from far and near traveled to learn at his feet and to hear his words of wisdom.
The wisest man in the world shared insighs into life. He was a botanist, a mathematician, a physicist, Zoologist, Ornithologist, Herpetologist and Ichthyologist, and a song writer of 1 005 songs…..who also wrote 3000 proverbs”. And I asked if there ever has been a man with a better resume, and somebody said Leonardo Da Vinci’s resume was as impressive if not better. But as to the comparison of Solomon to Da Vinci, lets leave that debate for another day. King Solomon appears to be a subject of keen interest to me. As an ardent believer in leadership as the cause and solution to the major problems the world faces, i see in him all that a leader should and should not be. In this blog, i share two keen areas all men should pay attention to in our social lives; Wine and women.
Imagine walking over to the table where your friends are seated in that party, with some cool jazz music treating your ears to a delight, bottles and bottles all over and glasses full with red and colourful wine. The sight of ''cold tears'' dripping down the beer and that white foamy atop the straw-coloured piece of liquid?? Hard to resist, innit? Solomon says: “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things”
1. BETRAYAL OF WINE
What are the deceptive traits of wine? Solomon shares with us how the alcoholic "
drink" can mislead the drinker.
He stated "wine" was a mocker, (Proverbs 20:1) probably referring to the way wine can take advantage of the drinker, "strong drink" is raging, (Proverbs 20:1) probably referring to
the unrest or commotion caused by wine.
"Wine" looks harmless, but it bites like a serpent, (Proverbs 23:32).
"Wine" looks harmless, but it stings like an adder, (Proverbs 23:32).
You may not be sick when you start drinking, but you may end up stricken,
(Proverbs 23:35).
2. BRUTALITY OF WINE
What will happen to the drinker? Solomon warns that those who drink will experience at
least six harmful results.
Woe,Sorrow, .Contentions, .Babbling, Wounds without cause, Redness of eyes,
3. BEHAVIOR WITH WINE
What is the effect of wine on the drinker? Solomon reveals at least six harmful effects of drinking alcohol.
Drinking causes changes in your views of right and wrong, (Proverbs 23:33), causes you to speak perverse things, (Proverbs 23:33), causes your balance to be upset, (Proverbs 23:34) and causes you to forget God's Word, (Proverbs 31:5).
4. BONDAGE OF WINE
How do people become in bondage to wine? Solomon makes known how bondage to the
drink happens. These are the areas that will need to be addressed in breaking the "bondage"
to drinking.
Bondage will occur when one develops a desire or love for the drink, (Proverbs 21:17), joins company with other drinkers, (Proverbs 23:20), drinks too much or drinks too often, (Proverbs 23:30).
5. BANKRUPTCY FROM WINE
Where will the drink lead the drinker? Solomon states the end result of the drinker's
life. Wine will bring financial poverty, (Proverbs 23:21; 21:17), compromise your morals and bring spiritual poverty, (Proverbs 23:33), bring physical suffering, (Proverbs 20:1; 23:32
Here is the issue with women. The last born of creation. It is said that besides every succesful man, there is a woman. The same way, for every great man that fell or will fall, there is a woman as the cause. If a thousand women didn't end Solomon well, then it profits no man to be a womaniser.
" 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 Molek 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"
1 Kings 11:4-6
There is no denying the fact that women have caused the downfall of every great man. What at all is it about these daughters of Eve ? Well, maybe it can be summarized into a status i once stumbled upon on facebook, the other day. "Man slept through the woman's creation and has since been trying to understand her ways but to no avail''. See, dear reader, you and i know we cannot do without women. I mean, they spice up our lives. What would men be without women?
Solomon says,
''May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer, may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love'' Proverbs 5:18-19
While we should delight in the WIFE of our youth, it is to the detriment of every great man to chase after women and to lust after adulterous ones. “Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?” It saps you of your useful time, energy and wealth. In the days of our youth when the world is open to us, full of opportunities, we should not waste resources on vanity.
This is the truth about women. Their influence in the lives of their husbands get stronger as they age. Under no circumstance s should you underestimate the power of a woman and her ability to make you follow her wishes.,...........................
Wine and women never made any wise man.
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter," he wrote: "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." Ecclesiates 12: 13-14.
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