A painted happiness, a gilded misery!

(Thomas Watson)

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun!" Ecclesiastes 2:11

King Solomon had more than any man!

For his parentage, he came from the royal line.

For the situation of his palace, it was in Jerusalem, the paragon of the earth, "The city of God, the praise of the whole earth."

For wealth, his crown was hung full of jewels. He had vast treasures of gold and pearls: "The king made silver to be as common as stones in Jerusalem."

For wisdom, he was the oracle of his time. The Queen of Sheba was astonished at his knowledge!

Never had the world cast its smile on one so favored as Solomon — yet, when he had given an impartial verdict on the whole, he said of it, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!"

All the golden delights with which he was surrounded were a painted happiness, a gilded misery!