Apparently wisdom only lasts a generation.
Didn't Solomon include such a warning in many of his writings? About how is the wise man to know who will follow him in life? It looks like Solomon (and Israel) were unfortunate in that the next king to follow him was foolish.
Early in his reign, Rehoboam, Solomon's son, was given an opportunity to solidify his grip on power by giving the people a soft answer. They had come asking him to rule them more gently than Solomon had. Solomon's advisors counseled Rehoboam to promise to do precisely that, arguing that they would then be inclined to follow him for the rest of his reign. Sadly, Rehoboam turned instead to listen to the advice of his peers, who told him to man up, act like a king, and put the people in their place. When Rehoboam tried to do that, however, the people rose up and threw off his yoke. They turned instead to Jeroboam, one of Solomon's enemies, who united the northern tribes as the new nation of Israel, leaving Judah in the south to be alone governed by the descendants of David (vs. 20).
Of course, Rehoboam wasn't the only one who acted foolish in this chapter. Jeroboam, reasoning that the people would continue making pilgrimages to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and worship the Lord at Solomon's majestic Temple, was concerned that he would lose his grip on power. The kingdom, he feared, would revert to Judah because of their "spiritual home court advantage."
To solve the problem, Jeroboam opted to give the people something else to worship. He had not one but TWO golden calves made. He installed one at Bethel and the other at Dan. Apparently forgetting how miserably the golden calf had worked out for Aaron and the Israelites at Sinai, Jeroboam figured that his problem was solved. As planned, Jeroboam's golden calves attracted the people, but "this thing became a sin" (vs. 30).
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