PROVERBS 1:1 How can we accept the majority of Proverbs by Solomon when 1 Kings 11:6 says, “So Solomon did what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah and did not fully follow Jehovah, as David his father had done”?

Indeed, Solomon began his reign far better than most kings of Israel or Judah, “Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father.” (1 Kings 3:3) However, Solomon began to disregard God’s law and do what was evil in the eyes of God. Solomon would marry hundreds of pagan women and even had built high places for false worship to these false gods. How can God use a wicked person’s sayings or writings as Scripture?

1 Kings 11:4 says, “For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully true to Jehovah his God, as was the heart of David his father.” Obviously, his proverbs were spoken and penned, and the books of Ecclesiastes and The Song of Solomon, as well as at least one of the Psalms (Psa. 127), during his period of faithful service to God.

Solomon was very young when he took the throne, and his reign only lasted forty years, so we need not try and blame senility for his falling away from true worship. (1 Chron. 29:1; 2 Chron. 9:30) Certainly, Solomon’s actions were very bad indeed. However, nothing in the account says that he completely abandoned the worship at the temple and the offering of sacrifices there. It seems that Solomon attempted to practice some sort of interfaith in order to please his many foreign wives.

1 Kings 11:9-13 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

⁹ And Jehovah was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what Jehovah commanded. ¹¹ So Jehovah said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. ¹² However, I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ Yet, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David, my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”

Again, his portion of Proverbs was uttered and penned during his period of faithful service to God. Once Solomon fell away, Jehovah warned him of the consequences. The kingdom was going to be ripped from his hands. However, out of respect for his father, King David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, it would be taken in the days of his sons.

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