Solomon is another story of missed opportunities. A month or two ago we learned about Samson who had great gifts of strength and wit, yet he used them for himself and for what he wanted. Today we learn about Solomon asking for wisdom, and yet with all that wisdom he still goes astray, it always makes me sad to teach this to my Sunday School class.
Last week we saw King David’s Folly.
My thoughts on Solomon
As I rather alluded at the start, Solomon is a life of might of beens, just like Samson. He started out strong, and had great wisdom, but we see his life finish and he has over 300 wives, several hundred more concubines, has built temples to other gods, and is worshiping them.
Solomon found other things to pursue and run after. If you read Ecclesiastes he says “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work and this was the reward for all my labor.” (Ecclesiastes 2:10). There is hope though, in the end of Ecclesiastes we are given the hope he turned back to God with these lines “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13. In the end Solomon asking for wisdom ended okay, but it could have been yet more.
Solomon asking God for wisdom activities
First we started off with a fun discussion question, what would you ask God for? Solomon asked God for wisdom. My kids struggled not to give “church answers,” you know “I’d ask God to know more about Him,” or some other such answer. Eventually they gave me answers I thought were more real, and it was fun to see what they said, not too surprisingly it was a lot of things related to their interests.
We leap-frogged off the idea of Solomon asking for wisdom, and how he kept learning more, so we decided to study some nature, just like Solomon. We opted for nature study because it was simple and fun, if you want some ideas go check out my nature study pinterest board.
Then we got home and looked at some of his Proverbs, and illustrated one of them to make a pretty poster. In a case of great minds thinking alike, over at Susan’s blog she wrote about illustrating Proverbs just after we did it, but she had a totally different take on it.
We all decorated the same Proverb. It was fun to see Superman and Princess work at it. Superman’s Proverb had lots of soldiers in it. Princess kept looking over at mine and adding similar details to mine, which just goes to show Moms that if you get involved your kids will get more involved too. But Batman…..
We used Derwent Watercolor Pencils
Batman on the other hand was in a silly mood. I’m sure if I kept a completely straight face and didn’t take a single picture of him, he MIGHT have stopped, but I sincerely doubt it. He started off giving himself a mustache with a watercolor pencil, and then it just deteriorated from there as he kept adding more and more “stuff” to his paper until it was mush, that he promptly put all over his face.
Sometimes you just need to embrace the chaos. It makes your life run smoother.
Get your own copy of the Solomon asking for wisdom activities
Either click on the picture up above or click on: Solomon asks for wisdom.
Learn how Solomon’s story ends in Solomon’s Temple activities.
It sounds like a lot of fun and a great way to learn proverbs. I still think that Solomon is one of the most positive characters from the Old Testament.
What is it with great men and their going after tons of women? I don’t understand.
This is great! Is there a way to get and print blank pages of the Solomon storybook illustrations so the kids can color them in? I would love to use these at church if you are willing to share. ?
I don’t have the black and white ones done, they take a lot more time to clean up the illustrations, so only the color versions are available.