King Shlomo-- "I told you so"

"When you come into the land tht the Lord your God gives you and you inherit it and dwell in it, and say 'I will place a king over me like all the nations around me.'  You shall place a king over you that the Lord your God chooses. . . Only that he should not have many horses . . . and he shall not have many wives in order that his heart not be turned aside, and silver and gold he shall not have much of."   Devarim 17:14-17

The Torah says that a Jewish king:
1. shouldn't have many horses
2. shouldn't have many wives so they don't lead him astray
and
3. shouldn't have much silver and gold.

Shlomo Hamelech is a cautionary tale.   He asked God only for understanding, and God richly rewarded him not just with understanding, but with a long life and wealth as well.  He builds the Beit HaMikdash, he makes Israel into a marvel of the ancient world--- a big kiddush Hashem.

But then, the Queen of Sheva comes and visits and is awed by Shlomo's wisdom and wealth.
We learn:
1. That he has 1,400 chariots (Melachim I 10:26) (chariots are pulled by horses--see above)
2. All of his drinking utensils were gold; silver was considered worthless in the days of Shlomo (because of its abundance)  (Melachim I 10: 21)

And finally:

3. Shlomo loved foreign women and took many of them as wives, and they led him into idolatry. (See chapter 11).

The plain meaning of the book of Melachim I is a cautionary tale-- Shlomo Hamelech may have thought the Torah's proscriptions (and prescriptions) were not for someone as wise as he was.   He may have thought he could avoid the pitfalls.   But he was wrong.


*****
Side point:  There is an issue as to whether Shlomo actually engaged in idolatry, or just didn't prevent his wives from doing so.   This ties into a bigger question of how the Torah and the prophets describe the sins of our forefathers, and whether those descriptions are exaggerated.  I meant to post on this with regard to David and Batsheva.

 Side point:  God seems so displeased with Shlomo, especially contrasted with David.  But David clearly sinned (specifically with Batsheva and Uriah).    Why is David the model king, with all his imperfections?  I think it is because he is a ba'al teshuvah.  When he does wrong, he admits it.  He confesses.  He repents.  As opposed to Shaul who preceded him, who had difficulty admitting his sin, and also opposed to Shlomo his son, who started off righteous, and then went downhill.
The message is simultaneously scary and inspiring:  No matter how great, anyone can crash and burn like Shlomo;  no matter how low one has fallen, anyone can redeem himself with teshuvah like David.