Today, we’ve got a little list – we’re reading 1 Kings 11, 2 Chronicles 9:29-31, and Ecclesiastes 1:1-11.

“Solomon openly defied God; he did not follow in his father David’s footsteps. He went on to build a sacred shrine to Chemosh, the horrible god of Moab, and to Molech, the horrible god of the Ammonites, on a hill just east of Jerusalem. He built similar shrines for all his foreign wives, who then polluted the countryside with the smoke and stench of their sacrifices. God was furious with Solomon for abandoning the God of Israel, the God who had twice appeared to him and had so clearly commanded him not to fool around with other gods. Solomon faithlessly disobeyed God’s orders” (1 Kings 11:6-10 MSG)

It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? It’s so hard to believe that someone as wise as Solomon would make the choice to rebel against God.  In the context of Solomon’s rebellion, Ecclesiastes seems even more mournful and hopeless than it had before.

“Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.
    And the things that will happen tomorrow?
Nobody’ll remember them either.
    Don’t count on being remembered” (Ecclesiastes 1:11 MSG)

What a sad end.  Let’s appreciate the good things we learned from Solomon and respectfully disagree with him here: what you do is valuable, what you do will create some kind of legacy.  Solomon writes “don’t count on being remembered” and here we are, thousands of years later.  Heartbreaking, huh?