Of Agur, Lemuel and Shlomo

Pro 31:1 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. 2 What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows? 3 Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.

Don't be confused, these are all names for Solomon.

Though he was taught well, and though he ended well, his great wisdom took a hike in the intervening years. And these verses give us the reason. He didn’t listen to his mama.

Rather taking solace in the Lord, he decided to look everywhere else. Women were his chief downfall. After having 1000 women, many of them heathen or pagan, after trying everything the world had to offer looking for fulfillment and satisfaction: horses, chariots, money, music, etc., he finally realized that all the world had to offer was vain emptiness.

Had he only listened to Bathsheba, he wouldn't have experienced so many wasted years.

“Give not thy strength unto women,” she instructed him. Oh, if only he'd have paid heed to mama's wise words. She knew what destroys kings. She'd committed adultery with his daddy and watched him wallow in the muck of being backslidden for one whole year. It wasn't pretty.

But, sometimes kids gotta learn for themselves, and Solomon did so. The book Ecclesiastes is the result.

Perhaps we will be wiser than the wisest man to ever live (?) by reading these wise words and paying heed.