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THIS IS HOW LIFE WAS IN SOLOMON_S TEMPLE_ How Solomon Managed 1_000 Wives · truthunedited

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How did one man manage a city of gold and
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: a thousand women without fighting a single war? Solomon built
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the most expensive structure in human history, every wall covered
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: in gold. He commanded more wealth than any billionaire could imagine,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: and he held the loyalty of one thousand women, each
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: one a treaty with a foreign kingdom. God himself called
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: him the wisest man who ever lived. But that wisdom
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: became the very weapon that destroyed him. What was the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: turning point that shattered the greatest kingdom Israel would ever know?
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: And what is the dark legend of the ring that
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: supposedly gave Solomon power over the unseen realm? This is
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the story of the man who had everything and lost
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the only thing that mattered. BEFORE THE GOLD before the temple,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: before the thousand women. There was a night in Gibeon
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: that decided everything. Solomon had just become king. He was
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: young and untested. He traveled to Gibeon to offer sacrifices,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: and that night God appeared to him in a dream.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 3, verse 5. Ask for whatever you want
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: me to give you. God Almighty handed a young king
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: a blank check and told him to fill in the amount.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Solomon could have asked for wealth, long life, or the
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: death of his enemies. He did not. He said, Give
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: to distinguish between right and wrong. He asked for wisdom,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: not for himself, for the people he was supposed to lead.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: God was so pleased that he gave Solomon everything he
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: did not ask for as well, wisdom unlike anyone before
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: or after him. wealth with no equal honor above every
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: king on earth all because he asked for the right
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: thing remember this moment because this is the man who
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: will later bow before idols of stone and that is
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: what makes this story unbearable the wisdom was not abstract
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: it showed up immediately two women came before solomon both
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: claiming the same living baby There were no witnesses, no evidence,
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  Speaker 1: just two desperate women and one child. Solomon said, Bring
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: me a sword, cut the living child in two, and
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: give half to one and half to the other. The
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: real mother screamed, Give her the baby, do not kill him.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: The other woman said, Neither of us shall have him,
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  Speaker 1: cut him in two. Solomon pointed to the first woman.
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  Speaker 1: Give the living baby to her. She is his mother.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Kings 3, verse 28 says, When Israel heard this verdict,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: they held the king in awe because they saw that
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: he had wisdom from God. This was Solomon at his
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  Speaker 1: absolute peak, a mind so sharp it could see through
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: deception in seconds. This was the man God had built.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: And this is the man who will lose everything. not
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: to an enemy, to himself. Imagine yourself standing on the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: hills east of Jerusalem in the year 957 before Christ.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: The morning sun is rising behind you, and as its
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: light crests the ridge, it strikes something on Mount Moriah
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  Speaker 1: that makes you shield your eyes. A colossal structure sits
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: on the summit, its walls and roof reflecting the dawn
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: like a second sun, gold. everywhere, pure, hammered, polished gold,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: catching the first light of day and throwing it back
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: across the entire city. This was Solomon's Temple. It was
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: not merely a place of worship. It was the single
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  Speaker 1: most ambitious construction project the ancient world had ever attempted,
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  Speaker 1: and it consumed resources that would equal billions of dollars
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: in modern value. The numbers alone defy comprehension. More than 180,000
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: men labored for seven years to raise this structure. Solomon
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: negotiated directly with Hiram, the king of Tyre, to secure
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  Speaker 1: the cedar of Lebanon, the noblest and most expensive wood
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: in the known world. Endless caravans descended from the mountains
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: carrying timber so fragrant it perfumed the air for miles.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Phoenician craftsmen, the most skilled artisans on earth, carved every
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  Speaker 1: detail with a precision that modern architects still study. Stone
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: blocks the size of small houses were quarried, shaped, and
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: transported with such ingenuity that no hammer or chisel was
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: heard at the building site itself. The stones arrived finished.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Silent construction, as though the temple were being assembled by
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: invisible hands. The main sanctuary measured 30 meters in length,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: 10 meters in width, and 15 meters in height. But
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: what made visitors lose their breath was not the size.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: It was the interior. The walls were completely lined with
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  Speaker 1: gold from the floor to the ceiling. There was not
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  Speaker 1: a single surface where the eye could rest without meeting
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  Speaker 1: the gleam of precious metal. Giant cherubim carved from olive
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  Speaker 1: wood and overlaid in gold, stood in the innermost chamber,
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  Speaker 1: their wings outstretched until they touched the walls on either side,
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  Speaker 1: guarding the most sacred object in Israel's history. Two monumental
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: bronze columns named Jachin and Boaz flanked the entrance, their
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  Speaker 1: capitals decorated with pomegranates and interlocking chains, symbols of strength
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  Speaker 1: and permanence. And silver... 1 Kings chapter 10 verse 27
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: says it plainly. The king made silver as common in
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem as stones. Silver had no value. It was everywhere,
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  Speaker 1: like gravel. But this was not just a monument to
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  Speaker 1: human ambition. This was something far more staggering. This was
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  Speaker 1: God choosing to make his dwelling place among men. The
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  Speaker 1: creator of the heavens and the earth looked at this
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  Speaker 1: structure and said, I will live here. That is what
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  Speaker 1: separated Solomon's temple from every palace and pyramid on earth.
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  Speaker 1: It was not built for a king. It was built
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  Speaker 1: for God. To keep this immense structure functioning, Solomon established
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  Speaker 1: a system of administration that rivaled anything in the ancient world.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: 24 divisions of priests rotated in weekly shifts, ensuring that
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  Speaker 1: the sacred service never stopped. Day and night, incense burned
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  Speaker 1: on the golden altar. Day and night, the golden lampstand
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  Speaker 1: was trimmed and filled with the purest olive oil. Bakers
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  Speaker 1: worked in dedicated chambers, preparing the showbread. Twelve fresh loaves
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  Speaker 1: arranged on a golden table every Sabbath, following a recipe
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  Speaker 1: so sacred it was never written down for public eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Perfumers mixed the holy incense according to a formula given
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  Speaker 1: by God Himself. a blend so restricted that anyone who
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  Speaker 1: replicated it for personal use would be cut off from Israel.
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  Speaker 1: Behind the visible splendor, the temple operated like a living organism,
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  Speaker 1: every part moving in rhythm, every role assigned with divine precision.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: The day the temple was dedicated, Solomon gathered the entire
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  Speaker 1: nation of Israel, the elders, the tribal leaders, the priests,
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  Speaker 1: the people, The Ark of the Covenant was carried from
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  Speaker 1: the city of David and placed inside the Holy of Holies,
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  Speaker 1: the innermost chamber, a perfect cube measuring 10 meters on
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  Speaker 1: each side. This space was so sacred that only the
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  Speaker 1: high priest could enter it, and only once a year
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  Speaker 1: on the Day of Atonement. Then came the sacrifice, 22,000 cattle, 120,000 sheep.
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  Speaker 1: The blood ran so thick it stained the courtyards. The
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  Speaker 1: smoke rose in columns so dense it could be seen
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  Speaker 1: from the surrounding hills. The bronze altar was not large
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: enough to hold all the offerings, so Solomon consecrated the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the courtyard to receive the burnt offerings, the
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  Speaker 1: grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. The
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: entire city smelled of smoke and sacrifice. This was not
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: a ceremony. It was an act of total surrender, a
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  Speaker 1: nation pouring out everything it had before its God. The
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: celebration lasted 14 days. People had come from every corner
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  Speaker 1: of the kingdom, from Labo Hamath in the north to
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: the Brook of Egypt in the south. When Solomon finally
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  Speaker 1: sent them home, they went with joyful and glad hearts
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: for all the good the Lord had done. Solomon stood
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  Speaker 1: before the altar, and prayed one of the most extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: prayers recorded in Scripture. He acknowledged that the heavens themselves
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  Speaker 1: could not contain God, much less a temple built by
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: human hands. He asked God to hear the prayers of
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: His people, to forgive, to heal, to restore. And then
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  Speaker 1: it happened. 1 Kings 8.10 The glory of the lord
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: filled the temple a cloud so dense and so heavy
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  Speaker 1: with the presence of god that the priests could not
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  Speaker 1: stand to perform their duties they collapsed not from fear
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  Speaker 1: alone But from the sheer weight of the divine presence
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  Speaker 1: entering the room, God had accepted the offering. God had
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  Speaker 1: moved in. But God also gave Solomon a condition. And
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  Speaker 1: it was terrifying. If you turn away from me, God said,
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  Speaker 1: if you do not keep my commandments, then I will
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  Speaker 1: cut Israel off from this land. And this temple, which
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  Speaker 1: I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out
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  Speaker 1: of my sight. and it will become a heap of ruins.
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  Speaker 1: Every nation that passes by will be appalled and will
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  Speaker 1: hiss and say, Why has the Lord done this to
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  Speaker 1: this land and to this temple? The most beautiful building
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  Speaker 1: on earth came with a warning, and Solomon heard it
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  Speaker 1: clearly the day God's glory fell. To understand what Solomon built,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: you must first understand what Solomon had. The numbers recorded
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: in 1 Kings chapter 10 read like fantasy, but they
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: are presented in scripture as plain fact. Every year, 666
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: talents of gold arrived in Solomon's treasury, converted to modern
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  Speaker 1: value that is roughly $ 1. 3 billion annually, and that was
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  Speaker 1: only the baseline. On top of that, came the revenue
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  Speaker 1: from merchants, traders, and the tribute of every vassal king
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  Speaker 1: and governor in the region. Gold flowed into Jerusalem the
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  Speaker 1: way water flows downhill, relentlessly. His throne was made of ivory,
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  Speaker 1: overlaid with pure gold. Six steps led up to it,
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  Speaker 1: and on each side of every step stood a golden lion.
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  Speaker 1: Twelve lions in total. Nothing like it had ever existed
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  Speaker 1: in any kingdom. Every drinking vessel in the palace was gold.
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  Speaker 1: Not one was silver. Silver was beneath him. The daily
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  Speaker 1: food provision for his court alone was staggering. Thirty measures
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  Speaker 1: of fine flour, sixty measures of meal, ten fattened cattle,
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  Speaker 1: twenty pasture-fed cattle, one hundred sheep, plus deer, gazelles, roebucks,
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  Speaker 1: and fattened fowl, every single day. This was not a feast.
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  Speaker 1: This was breakfast, lunch and dinner for a royal household
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  Speaker 1: so vast it operated like a small nation. Then came
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  Speaker 1: the Queen of Sheba. She traveled 1,400 miles from the
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  Speaker 1: southern tip of Arabia because she had heard the reports
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  Speaker 1: and refused to believe them. She came loaded with spices,
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  Speaker 1: gold and precious stones to test Solomon with hard questions.
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  Speaker 1: He answered everyone. But it was not his answers that
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  Speaker 1: broke her. It was the sight of his court, the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: food on his table, the arrangement of his officials, the
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  Speaker 1: clothing of his servants, the way they moved with precision,
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  Speaker 1: the burnt offerings he presented at the temple. 1 Kings 10.5 says,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: She had no more breath in her. She was physically overwhelmed.
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  Speaker 1: She told Solomon, The half was not told me. Your
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: wisdom and prosperity exceed the report I heard. The richest
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  Speaker 1: queen in the ancient world admitted she had underestimated him.
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  Speaker 1: But here is what almost nobody notices. Long before Solomon
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  Speaker 1: was born, God gave Israel a law for its future kings.
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  Speaker 1: Deuteronomy chapter 17 lays out three specific prohibitions. The king
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  Speaker 1: must not multiply horses. The king must not multiply wives,
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  Speaker 1: the king must not multiply gold and silver, three commandments
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  Speaker 1: for kings. Solomon broke all three. The horses came from Egypt,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the gold came from everywhere, and the wives numbered 1,000.
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  Speaker 1: 1 Kings chapter 11 verse 3 records the number with
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  Speaker 1: surgical precision. 700 wives of royal birth, 300 concubines, 1,000
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  Speaker 1: women in total. And the text does not present this
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: as romance. It presents it as politics. Every royal wife
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: was a treaty. When Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh,
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  Speaker 1: he did not gain a bride. He gained a guarantee
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: that Egypt, the most powerful military force in the ancient world,
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  Speaker 1: would never invade Israel. When he married Moabite princesses, Moab
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  Speaker 1: became an ally. Sidonian women secured the Phoenician coast. Ammonite
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  Speaker 1: women neutralized the eastern frontier. Hittite women closed the northern border.
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  Speaker 1: Solomon conquered the entire Middle East without drawing a sword.
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  Speaker 1: He used wedding rings instead of war chariots. Every marriage
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: was a signed peace agreement wrapped in silk and perfumed
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  Speaker 1: with myrrh. The harem itself functioned as a city within
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  Speaker 1: a city. The royal wives lived in luxurious pavilions in
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  Speaker 1: the upper levels, overlooking gardens planted with pomegranate trees, vines,
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  Speaker 1: and flowering shrubs watered by channels of running water. The
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  Speaker 1: concubines occupied the lower quarters, still opulent by any standard,
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  Speaker 1: but positioned according to rank. Each woman had her own servants,
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  Speaker 1: her own apartments, and her own royal seal that allowed
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  Speaker 1: her to conduct business and correspond with her homeland. An
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: army of staff administered this miniature empire. Stewards managed provisions,
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  Speaker 1: guards patrolled the corridors day and night, physicians and midwives
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  Speaker 1: were on constant call, perfumers prepared specialized oils and fragrances,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: scribes maintained meticulous records of every wife and concubine. documenting
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: her origin, the dowry exchanged, gifts received, children born, and
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  Speaker 1: her standing in the hierarchy. The preparation rituals for a
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  Speaker 1: night with the king were elaborate and consuming. The chosen
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  Speaker 1: woman would be announced at dawn by a senior messenger,
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  Speaker 1: and the process of preparation would take the entire day.
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  Speaker 1: She would be bathed in pools scented with myrrh, aloe,
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  Speaker 1: and cinnamon. Her skin would be treated with mixtures of
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: honey and oils. Her garments would be selected with extreme care,
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  Speaker 1: fabrics dyed in rare colors, jewels chosen not only for beauty,
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  Speaker 1: but for symbolic meaning. The royal chamber would be prepared
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  Speaker 1: with burning censers, flower petals, and musicians playing melodies inspired
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  Speaker 1: by the Song of Songs. No wife could visit another
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  Speaker 1: section without authorization. Communication between the different cultural groups was
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: regulated by senior women who served as intermediaries. Every precaution
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: was taken to prevent conspiracy, rumors, or the formation of
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: factions that could threaten the king's control. The rivalries within
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: these walls were subtle but relentless. Each woman developed her
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: own strategies to capture the king's favor. Some distinguished themselves
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: through intelligence, engaging Solomon in discussions about governance and philosophy.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Others cultivated unique artistic talents, composing poetry, creating exclusive perfumes,
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  Speaker 1: or mastering dances that drew on the traditions of their homelands.
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  Speaker 1: Alliances formed between women of different origins, creating networks of
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: influence that extended beyond the palace into the political affairs
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  Speaker 1: of distant kingdoms. A well-placed word from a favored wife
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: during an intimate conversation was, could redirect trade routes, elevate
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  Speaker 1: an ambassador, or alter the terms of a treaty. This
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: was not a household. This was an empire of influence
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: contained behind perfumed walls. And for a time, it worked perfectly.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: But each of those 1,000 women brought something into the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: palace that Solomon did not see coming. Their gods. The
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh's daughter maintained devotion to the gods of Egypt, The
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Sidonian women burned incense to Ashtoreth, the goddess of fertility.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: The Moabite women worshipped Chemosh, a deity whose rituals involved
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: practices that would horrify any follower of Yahweh. The Ammonite
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: women served Molech, whose worship in the ancient world was
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: associated with the most unspeakable sacrifices. At first, Solomon tolerated
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: these customs as diplomatic gestures. A small shrine here, a
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: private altar there, each one a concession made to keep
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: peace in his house. But small concessions have a way
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  Speaker 1: of growing. The shrines became larger, the altars became more prominent.
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  Speaker 1: What began as quiet private rituals slowly became public displays
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  Speaker 1: of pagan worship within sight of the temple of the
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  Speaker 1: living God. 1 Kings chapter 11 verse 4 delivers the
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: verdict with devastating simplicity. As Solomon grew old, his wives
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  Speaker 1: turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: not fully devoted to the Lord his God as the
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: heart of David his father had been. The wisest man
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  Speaker 1: who ever lived was led astray, not by an army,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: not by a conspiracy, by love. He built a high
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  Speaker 1: place for Chemosh on the hill east of Jerusalem. Consider
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the geography of that sentence. The temple of Yahweh, covered
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: in gold and filled with the glory of God, sat
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  Speaker 1: on one hill. And directly across from it, in full view,
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  Speaker 1: Solomon erected an altar to a pagan god. The man
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: who built the house of God built a house for
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: God's rival and placed it where everyone could see both.
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  Speaker 1: And here is the detail that elevates this tragedy from
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: failure to devastation. Solomon did not fall in ignorance. He
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: fell in full knowledge. He himself had written the warnings.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Proverbs 7.25, a verse attributed to Solomon's own pen, reads,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Do not let your heart turn to her ways or
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: stray into her paths. He described the danger with precision.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: He catalogued the seduction. He named the consequences. And then
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: he walked directly into the trap he had spent chapters describing.
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  Speaker 1: The man who authored Wisdom became Wisdom's greatest cautionary tale.
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  Speaker 1: There is another layer to Solomon's legacy that exists outside
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  Speaker 1: the pages of Scripture, and it must be addressed honestly.
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  Speaker 1: Ancient texts written centuries after Solomon's death tell a story
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: so extraordinary that it has shaped how entire civilizations remember him.
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  Speaker 1: This is not the Bible. This is legend, and the
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: legend itself is a warning. The Testament of Solomon, an
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: ancient text dating to roughly the first through fifth centuries
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: after Christ, describes a ring given to Solomon by the
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: archangel Michael. The ring was said to be engraved with
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the sacred name of God, and with it Solomon could
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: summon and command demons. According to the legend, he interrogated
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: these spirits, learning their names, their powers, and their weaknesses.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: He forced them to labor on the construction of the
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: temple and moving stones no human crew could lift, carving
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: details no human hand could achieve. The story claims that
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Solomon maintained dominion over an entire hierarchy of spiritual beings,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: using them as builders, messengers, and sources of hidden knowledge
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: about the natural world. But here is the question worth asking.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Why did later generations invent this legend? Why did Solomon,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: the man chosen by God, become associated with sorcery and
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the command of dark forces. Because his life made it plausible,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: by the end of his reign, Solomon had immersed himself
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: so deeply in foreign religions, occult practices, and the spiritual
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: traditions of his pagan wives, that the boundary between holy
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: wisdom and dark knowledge had become invisible. Later generations looked
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: at the scale of what he built, the supernatural nature
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: of his wisdom. and the darkness of his final years,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: and they could not tell whether he had been a
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: prophet of God or a sorcerer who had crossed a line.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: The legend of the ring is not scripture, but it
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: is a mirror. It reflects how far a man can
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  Speaker 1: fall when he begins to believe that his gifts belong
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  Speaker 1: to him rather than to the God who gave them.
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  Speaker 1: First Kings chapter 11 verse 9 says it plainly, The
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Lord became angry with Solomon and because his heart had
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: had appeared to him twice. Twice. God had personally appeared
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: to Solomon on two separate occasions. He had given him wisdom.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: He had given him wealth. He had given him the temple.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: And Solomon turned away. God's response was absolute. Since this
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: is your attitude, and you have not kept my covenant
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: to one of your subordinates. But even in judgment, God
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: showed mercy. He would not do it in Solomon's lifetime
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: for the sake of David, and he would leave one
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: tribe with Solomon's son for the sake of Jerusalem. The
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: consequences arrived immediately. Enemies that had been silent for decades
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: suddenly rose. Hadad the Edomite said, who had been hiding
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: in Egypt since the days of David, returned to harass
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Israel's southern border. Rezon of Damascus seized power in Syria
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: and became a persistent antagonist to the north. And most
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: devastating of all, Jeroboam, one of Solomon's own officials, was
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: told by the prophet Ahijah that God would give him
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: ten of the twelve tribes. The financial weight of Solomon's
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: lifestyle began to crush the nation. One thousand royal households
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: required constant funding. The exotic foods, the imported fabrics, the
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: armies of servants, the maintenance of palaces and shrines and gardens,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: the treasury that had once overflowed, now strained under the burden.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Taxes increased. Forced labor was imposed on the people. The
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: tribes that had once celebrated Solomon's wisdom now murmured about
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: his greed. Solomon died. The text records no repentance, no
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: final prayer, no reconciliation with God, just silence and a
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: kingdom on the brink. The man who began his reign
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: on his knees, asking God for wisdom, ended it, surrounded
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: by the altars of foreign gods and the whispers of
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: a thousand competing loyalties. His son Rehoboam inherited the throne
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and immediately faced a crisis. The people sent Jeroboam as
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: their spokesman to plead for relief from the crushing burden
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of taxation and forced labor. The elders who had served
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Solomon for decades counseled mercy. Lighten the load, they said,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and the people will serve you forever. But Rehoboam rejected
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: their advice. He turned instead to the young men who
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: had grown up with him in the palace, men who
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: had never known anything but gold floors and perfumed corridors.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Their counsel was arrogance, and Rehoboam delivered it word for word.'
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: My father laid on you a heavy yoke. I will
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I will scourge you with scorpions.' The kingdom split. Ten
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: tribes followed Jeroboam to the north. Only Judah and Benjamin
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: remained with Rehoboam in the south. The unified kingdom of Israel,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: the crown jewel of Solomon's reign, the empire that had
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: made the queen of Sheba lose her breath, was torn
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: in two. Permanently, it would never be whole again. Everything
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Solomon built shattered. The gold remained on the walls of
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the temple, but the glory had already departed from the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: man who built it. Within five years, Pharaoh Shishak of
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Egypt invaded Jerusalem and stripped the temple of its treasures.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: The gold shields Solomon had made were carried off to Egypt.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Rehoboam replaced them with bronze, bronze where there had been gold.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: That single detail tells you everything about what Solomon's fall
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: cost his children. Of his life. Writing with the kind
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: of of his life. Writing with the kind of honesty
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: that only comes when there is nothing left to protect.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: That book is Ecclesiastes. And tradition holds that Solomon wrote
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: it after everything had fallen apart. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verses
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: 10 and 11. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: in all my labor, and this was the reward for
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: hands had done, and what I had toiled to achieve,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Nothing was
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: gained under the sun. Sit with those words. This is
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: not a monk who gave up the world and called
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: it empty from a distance. This is a man who
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: consumed the world. Every pleasure, every treasure, every woman, every
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: achievement the human experience has to offer, he took it,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: he held it, and it turned to smoke in his hands.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Solomon is the only man in history who can say
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: this with authority, because he is the only man who
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: truly had it all. When a poor man says money
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: does not buy happiness, you can dismiss him. He has
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: never had the chance to test it. When a lonely
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: man says relationships are not the answer, you can ignore him.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: He has never been loved by a thousand women. But
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: when the richest, wisest, most powerful man who ever breathed
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: says that all of it is meaningless, you cannot argue
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: with him. He ran the experiment, and the result was devastating.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Here is what Solomon discovered that most people will spend
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: their entire lives refusing to accept. The human soul was
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: not designed to be filled by things, not by money,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: not by success, not by another person, not by fame,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: not by pleasure, not by knowledge. The soul has a shape,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: and nothing on earth fits it. You can pour gold
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: into it. You can pour love into it. You can
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: pour achievement and recognition and power into it. And it
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: will still echo with emptiness. because the shape of the
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: soul is the shape of God, and only God fits.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: That is not a religious cliché. That is the conclusion
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: of the most thorough experiment ever conducted on human desire.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Solomon did not read about life in a book. He
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: lived every version of it. He tried wisdom, and it
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: left him restless. He tried laughter and pleasure, and they
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: evaporated by mornings. He tried great projects, palaces, vineyards, gardens, pools,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: built to perfection. They gave him pride for a season
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: and dust forever after. He tried accumulating servants and herds
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: and silver and gold and women beyond counting. And after
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: exhausting every possibility that life under the sun could offer,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: his verdict was unanimous. Vanity. All of it. And this
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: is the part that should terrify every person watching this video.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Solomon did not lose his way because he was weak.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: He lost his way because he was strong. His gifts
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: became his prison. His wealth became his distraction. His wisdom
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: gave him the ability to justify every compromise. The smarter
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: you are, the better you are at convincing yourself that
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: the wrong path is actually reasonable. Solomon could out-argue anyone,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: including his own conscience. The temple was covered in gold,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: but Solomon's heart was covered in compromise. The throne had
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: twelve golden lions, but the king who sat on it
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: had surrendered his devotion to gods made of stone. He
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: had the presence of God in his temple and the
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: absence of God in his soul. He could solve any
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: problem in the kingdom except the one inside his own chest.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: And at the very end, after all the gold and
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: all the women and all the power and all the
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: wisdom had proved themselves hollow, Solomon wrote one final sentence.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 13 Now all has been heard.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Here is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: That is it, after everything, after the temple and the
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: throne and the thousand women and the rivers of gold.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: The wisest man who ever lived reduced all of human
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: existence into a single line. Fear God, keep his commandments.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: That is the whole duty of man. Not part of it,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: not most of it, the whole of it. Everything else
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: is wind. Solomon had the temple, but he lost his heart.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: And in losing his heart, he proved something that every
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: generation needs to hear again. You were not made for more.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: You were made for God. And until you understand that,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: nothing you build, nothing you earn, nothing you conquer, and
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: no one you hold will ever be enough. We are
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: all running Solomon's experiment on a smaller scale. We tell
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: ourselves the same lie he believed. If I just get
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: that promotion, if I just close that deal, if I
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: just find that person... If I just reach that number
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: in my account, then I will be satisfied. Then I
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: will rest. Then I will be happy. Solomon reached every number.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: He closed every deal. He held every person. And he
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: sat in the richest palace on earth and wrote the
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: word meaningless. So let me ask you something, and I
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: want you to be honest. Not with me. With yourself.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: What is the thing you are chasing right now that
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: you have convinced yourself will finally make you happy? And
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: what if you are wrong? Tell me in the comments below.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: I read every single one. If this video opened your
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: eyes to something you had never seen before, share it
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: with someone who needs to hear it. Like this video,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: subscribe to this channel, and I will see you in
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: the next one.