Incentives

This week in Megillot we opened the book of Melachim and started learning about Shlomo's downfall. The first thing we learned about was when Shlomo asked Hashem for something. He didn't ask Hashem for wealth or power, he asked Hashem for the ability to judge fairly between good and evil. When I first learned about this I really admired Shlomo for what he asked for because I thought this showed that he wasn't focused on the materialism and power but was focused on being a good model for his kingdom. But, I started to change my mind as soon as Hashem responded.

After Shlomo asked Hashem for the ability to judge fairly, I think Hashem saw that as I did. He saw it as Shlomo not being selfish and trying to be a role model for his kingdom. So, in response Hashem gave him the ability to judge fairly and a lot more. Along with that he gave him wealth and power, but there was a catch/incentive. When Hashem decided to give him this wealth and power he told Shlomo that he had to model after his father and also use that wealth and power to be a role model for his kingdom; and if he did so his life would be prolonged. I bet Shlomo thought to himself, "YIPEE, I am getting what I asked for and more!" But, he didn't think of the incentive. Once he got the wealth and power he did indeed use it for good, like building the Beit HaMikdash and a palace for himself but he also violated the basic rule that Hashem gave to all of the kings.

The rules: One, you may not have too many horses and to acquire any horse you may not go down to Egypt to get them. Two, you may not have too many wives, and third, you may not have too much gold and silver. Although Shlomo used a lot of this wealth for good, he also used it to violate these rules. He did acquire many horses from Egypt and that gave him too much power. Because of his wisdom that Hashem blessed him with, royalty from all over the world started to visit Shlomo and he started to take a lot of them as wives for economical purposes. This led Shlomo astray from Hashem because he started to worship his wives' gods and build them Bamot in his house. As for the gold and silver, he accepted many gifts from his wives that led him to be more haughty.

In the end he disregarded the incentive that he was given to prolong his life which is sad because, in my opinion, Shlomo was one of the greatest Kings in history and he would have remained that way if he listened to Hashem.