Israel's King Solomon was wise. In fact, the Bible tells us that Solomon was so wise that kings and nobles from around the world came to hear Solomon's wisdom for themselves. And, they wanted to see the power and wealth that Solomon's wisdom had brought him.

Yet, despite all Solomon's great wisdom, he died making a tragic mistake. You see, as a result of Solomon's one mistake, all Israel would pay the price (You can read about it in 1 Kings chapters 10 and 11 and 2 Chronicles chapter 9).

Before we zero in on Solomon's big mistake, let's fast forward to another time when the Jewish leadership made a tragic error that once again would change history. In the New Testament book of Matthew we find Jesus having something to say about Solomon. Jesus said:

The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here (Matthew 12: 42 New America Standard Bible).

Do you realize what Jesus said? That "something greater than Solomon" was standing before them. Jesus, of course, was speaking about Himself. In the Gospel of John we find Jesus saying much the same. Here we read:

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life" (John 8: 12).

The Apostle John understood exactly what Jesus meant. In fact, John began his Gospel account by having this to say about Jesus:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1: 1-5).

Before you think this was just an uneducated Apostle's guess about Jesus, the intellectually sophisticated Paul understood the implications to Jesus' words also. Paul wrote:

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:1-3).

Paul was a very smart guy. If you don't think so -- well, let's put it this way -- if I were you I wouldn't admit it. I'd first study the Jewish Law and history, read the four Gospel accounts and Paul's letters, and then make my judgment. 

Speaking of Jewish history, let's now take a look at Solomon's big mistake. It seems Solomon's fall was due to his love for his many foreign wives. It was just as God warned. The Bible tells us, because Solomon's foreign wives worshipped pagan gods, Solomon's heart was turned away from his own devotion to the God of Israel. In other words Solomon, the wisest man to have lived before Christ, ended up an idolater. And, like I said before, all Israel ended up paying the price.

This brings us to Jesus -- the Person who claimed that He was wiser than Solomon. In fact, let's take a look at what Jesus said to the leaders of Israel immediately after making this claim. Jesus said: 

Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. "Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. "Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation" (Matthew 12: 43-45).

This reminds me of something that Paul once said to the Corinthian Christians. Paul told them that what pagans sacrifice to their idols, they sacrifice to demons (1 Corinthians 10: 20 ). And, he told them not to make Israel's mistake -- in other words, not to make Solomon's mistake.

Friends, something's here wiser than Solomon.

His name is Jesus.