JERUSALEM — History repeats itself mostly because people fail to learn from the terrible consequences that occurred following the foolish acts of the past. The Bible tells us about the supposed wisdom of King Solomon. In my book The Authentic King Solomon, I show that actually, scripture is demonstrating that the king was not as smart as he and we think he was. In every chapter where Solomon is shown to have performed an act, it also shows, without exception, that he also acted foolishly.
An example is his marrying and taking concubines, totaling 1,000, from different nations to solidify a connection with the foreigners and peace. Yet the wives led Solomon to build temples for idols where he apparently worshiped as well. The Talmud recognizes that Solomon’s “wise” decision, which of two prostitutes was the mother of a child was not a sensible and effective way to make such a judgment. The Talmud claims Solomon was able to recognize the true mother only because God told him.
Another of his mistakes was to tax the people very highly to improve his country. The Israelites suffered under this taxing during his lifetime, but after his death, they demanded of his son who became king to reduce the tax. His son refused. As a result, ten of the twelve tribes of Israel rebelled, this was civil war, and Solomon’s son was left with a reduced kingdom because he refused to reduce taxes.
The very same situation caused the English Civil Wars and the murder Kings Charles I. It also began because of over taxation and the insistence of the kings that God gave them the absolute power to do with their citizens as they choose.
King James I assumed the crown in 1603 and united England, Ireland, and Scotland for the first time despite each being very different and each having as a principle religion a different religion than the other two. James was dictatorial and wanted more power than Parliament gave him and more taxes.
His son Charles I became king in 1625 with the same attitude and had severe problems with Parliament. The first civil war, his war with Parliament, was in 1642-1646. The second war was in 1648 when Charles I was executed by Parliament. His son Charles II became king in 1649 and there was a third war from 1649 to 1651. In 1651, England established a Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell and changed the English constitution and the role of monarchy and Parliament. Charles II then resumed the role of king. All told over 800,000 people died in these wars because the English kings did not learn from history.
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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and the author of more than 50 books.