Defining legacy

Lessons and legacies. What do people think of these days when the idea of a legacy is mentioned? The answers to that question probably vary as much as there are people who answer it. For some that answer probably leans heavier toward material things: money, property, possessions.

For others perhaps it is less tangible but with concrete results, like a business or interest in a corporation. For still others the answer might be in the realm of ideas or wisdom. There is one man in the Bible whose legacy could be considered all three.

That man is Solomon. He was one of the sons of King David. He inherited the kingdom in the midst of some controversy with one of his half-brothers. But after that somewhat rocky start he settled in and did wonders for the kingdom. Probably most of us know the core of his story. To summarize, God was so pleased with Solomon that He spoke to him. God asked him what he wanted most and Solomon replied that above all he wanted wisdom. So God granted that and added in everything else.

What happened after that exchange is where Solomon proves, despite his best intentions and remarkable wisdom, that he is still human. The kingdom flourished under his reign. He became wealthy, secured good relations with the neighboring kingdoms and was known for his wise judgments. He penned what we now call the book of Proverbs in an effort to teach his own sons wisdom. But the weight of governing and his wealth proved to be a problem. He accumulated not only great wealth but also great numbers of wives and mistresses. In that last he took what he had learned from his father, David, and took it to extremes.

That’s where the legacy aspect comes into the discussion. When

Solomon died his son Rehoboam took over. During his reign Solomon had begun taxing his people at higher and higher levels. It got so bad that when he died the people came to Rehoboam and said give us a break, please. Rehoboam consulted his father’s advisers who told him he really should lighten up.

Then Rehoboam went to his buddies who told him to follow his selfish desires and squeeze the people for even more taxes. He wanted that ever more lavish lifestyle, so guess to whom he listened? The result of that decision was a split into two kingdoms, with the less numerous one following Rehoboam.

Solomon left his family everything, wealth, power, wise guidance, attitude and outlook. Rehoboam got all of that, with attitude and outlook being the uppermost. He had seen how his father had lived over the span of his life, saw how his attitude toward his own people had changed, saw how his outlook had become so different from the words he had written earlier. Rehoboam rejected his father’s wisdom because it did not jive with how he saw his father living.

In the end, it was not the things Solomon left that became his son’s legacy. It was not the kingdom that became the legacy, for

Rehoboam squandered it. It was not the wise words, because Rehoboam refused to listen. No, the legacy was a love of self so powerful it split a kingdom. As a different wise man said recently, legacy is not what you leave to people; it’s what you leave in people.

(Philip Severi, a former Bishop resident, previously wrote a weekly column for The Inyo Register.)