A great man of God and a great prophet, no passed, one taught a lesson in which he compared the two main trees in the Garden of Eden.  One tree was the tree of knowledge.  From it would come eternal life.  The other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  That tree brought death, sin, and the fall, which in turn brought about a need for a savior.  Like contrasting light and dark, one good, one evil, the two trees were both real trees and representations of the choices we make in life.  If we choose the tree of life, and ultimately God, we gain everlasting life; a life that once was dead but now is alive.

But if we choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is representative not just of death and sin, but this world and our rejection of God.  With one we gain life and all things, but the other we only gain knowledge, yet lose so many things.  In a sense you can also apply this, or see it in application in the stories of David and Solomon in the old testament.  Just read all of the story of David's life in 1st and 2nd Samuel.  While he was clearly not a perfect man, and he failed often (Bathsheba anyone?), yet he loved God mightily, and while he did fail often, he was a man after God's own heart, always living for and loving the Lord in all things.

Yet look at Solomon, a son that was conceived, not directly as a result of his sin with Bathsheba, but as the second son of that relationship.  What did he choose to ask God for shortly before he was made king?

1 Kings 3:5-14 (KJV) - "In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.  And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?  And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.  And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;  Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.  And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.  And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days."

So what did Solomon ask for?  Wisdom.  Think about that.  Tree of knowledge.  So instead of seeking God and desiring Him alone as David his father did, Solomon wanted wisdom.  Admittedly it sounds like an innocent request.  But in our sinful natures nothing is an "innocent" request.  His heart was already craving sinful things, and this was just further icing on the cake as they say.  So what happens?  Solomon gets his wisdom and his riches.  And boy did he ever.  There's just one problem with that.

2 Chronicles 1:15 (KJV) - "And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the vale for abundance."

Read that over several times and tell me what's wrong with that picture.  Some look at it and say, "WOW!  They were really well to do!"  Um, no.  Read again.  As plenteous as stones?  Anyone who knows anything about economics knows that when something becomes bountiful its value goes down.  If it's really, really plentiful it's value sinks to nothing.  Plenteous as stones tells me they had a really bad problem with inflation, since gold coins were one of the forms of currency in that day.  So let's break this down a bit and do it in terms you can understand.

Let's say you have 500 people in a town and there's only $1000 of total currency to exchange between them.  If each person only has $2 to spend, and there's only $1000 period to go between the entire group, how are prices going to move.  Downward.  WAY, WAY downward.  As a form of comparison the average person makes about $4k a month.  Out of that they will spend about $400 on gas.  At $4 a gallon, using older prices for easier comparison, that's 100 gallon a month.  So for 500 people at $4000 a month that's $2mil between everyone to spend.  So $4 a gallon gas is not out of the picture when you consider percentages.

Now, reduce that by a staggering two thousand percent and you now have gas selling at just 2c a gallon.  Why?  Well, because, since there's less money available prices by nature have to adjust downward since the value of the money goes up as supply goes down.  Now, think about what I mentioned above with Solomon and the gold like stones in quantity.  If gold was rare before Solomon came in, one gold coin had the power to buy, oh let's say 30 sheep.  But now, because the quantity of available gold has gone up, thus causing massive inflation, that same coin will buy you, if you're lucky, a loaf of bread.

Quite the striking difference, eh?  That same coin that once bought you a flock of sheep now only buys you a loaf of bread.  Now all of a sudden Solomon isn't looking so good, is he?  Or let's not forget the rampant idolatry his sin caused, or his own fall, or that of his kids.  In fact, the next king in line was Rehoboam who single handedly shattered Israel into two kingdoms.  And even before he came on the scene Solomon's kingdom was beginning to shatter.  Lands that Israel once held firmly under David fractured off and became independent, not to mention all the other important people and lands his kingdom began calving off left and right before his death.  Plus, a simple look at the book of Lamentations will give you a good idea how badly things actually went for Solomon.  The world only praises Solomon for his riches and his wisdom.  In reality Solomon was a massive failure.

David on the other hand was promised some amazing things as outlined in 2 Samuel 7 and summarized in 1 Chronicles 17:11–14 and 2 Chronicles 6:16.  He promises David an eternal house, as well as his line being the source of the as yet future Messiah (Jesus) and many more things.  Yet what legacy does Solomon have?  Lots of rebellious kings and other even worse things.  Eventually his descendants are cursed forever because of their sin and rebellion.  But David?  Nope, nothing but blessings throughout his life and even long afterwards, some of which have yet to be fulfilled in their entirety.

So again, bringing this all back around to the beginning again, who are you?  Are you a God loving David who seeks the tree of life and salvation, or are you a Solomon who chose the world and the tree of knowledge, and suffered great loss, missery, and heartache because of it?  I pray you're a David.