Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof,¹ for correction, and for training in righteousness, Paul told a young preacher named Timothy.²  Solomon was rich, powerful and wise.  What’s useful about this information?  I’ll expand the context a bit.

Earlier, God had appeared to Solomon in a dream (1 Kings 3:4-15 NET).  God asked Solomon, Tell me what I should give you.³  Solomon recounted God’s faithfulness to his father David and confessed that he was young and inexperienced.  He asked for a discerning mind to distinguish right from wrong.  God promised to grant Solomon’s request along with riches and honor so that Solomon would be the greatest king of his generation.

Now I have something.  The laundry list titled Solomon’s Wealth isn’t really about Solomon.  It’s about God’s faithfulness and the reliability of his word.  He does what he says and makes it so.  This is right on target, then:  God said it.  I believe it.  That settles it.  God said it.  Solomon believed it.  That’s what happened.

Of course, now that trouble I wasn’t looking for is unavoidable.  The scholars who argued that the Pharaoh in Egypt was richer than Solomon are a force to be reckoned with.  When I thought the message of Solomon’s Wealth was that he was rich, powerful and wise, I didn’t need him to be absolutely the richest of his contemporaries.  His critics were easy to dismiss.  But now if I accept that Solomon’s wealth is the fulfillment of God’s promise to make him the richest of his contemporaries, detractors must be 1) proved false or 2) consciously disregarded.

Faith now is something more and something less than the rational response to, and direct deduction from, the premise—God said it.  Faith is my decision now to believe the Bible in the face of contradictory statements from historians.  And it prompts an honest question:  Do I believe because it is true, or do I believe that my faith makes it true?

If I could send accountants back to Solomon’s time, and they appraised the wealth of every contemporary king on earth, and then returned to me with their spreadsheets, do I believe the total at the bottom of each financial statement would be less than the list in 1 Kings?  Let me turn that around.  If the total at the bottom of the spreadsheets of several kings, or even one king, was greater than the list in 1 Kings would I conclude that God is a liar, let’s be done with this god business once and for all?

The answer is clearly, “No.”

If I had irrefutable proof that one of Solomon’s contemporaries was richer than he, I’d reinterpret the meaning of the passage.  After all, God promised riches and honor so that you will be the greatest king of your generation.⁴  I assumed that riches were greater than every other king and honor was greater than every other king.  I don’t know how to measure honor so I measured riches.  Maybe it is the sum of riches and honor that is greater than every other king.  In other words, what Solomon lacked in riches he made up for in honor.  Or, maybe it wasn’t God speaking to Solomon in a dream at all.  Maybe it was just a dream.

My point [See Addendum: March 30, 2020 below.] is I don’t believe God because Solomon was richer than all of his contemporaries.

Addendum: September 28, 2018
A table comparing 2 Timothy 3:16 in the NET and KJV follows.

Addendum: March 30, 2020
A table comparing English translations of 1 Kings (3 Kings, 3 Reigns) 3:13 from the Masoretic text and Septuagint follows.

It seems that the translators of the Elpenor Septuagint added so that to conform better to the Masoretic text.  I don’t see it in the Greek.  The NETS looks like the more accurate translation, which would lead me to believe that God had surveyed the men who reigned over the other kingdoms of the world and found none who had asked for an understanding heart (1 Kings 3:9-12 Tanakh):

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?  And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.

And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

It would have been better if I had made my point from 1 Kings (3 Kings, 3 Reigns) 10:23 where the Masoretic text and Septuagint are in better agreement:

Tables comparing 1 Kings 3:5; 3:13; 3:9; 3:10; 3:11 and 3:12 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing 1 Kings (3 Kings, 3 Reigns) 3:5; 3:13; 3:9; 3:10; 3:11 and 3:12 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.