WHEREVER the Bible is known, Solomon is famous for his exceptional wisdom. Alas, that one so profoundly wise should have degenerated into a great fool! As the writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes, he expressed the fear that his son might be a fool (as indeed he was), but he did not appear to have been apprehensive for himself (Eccl. 2:10). Well does the Apostle say, “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
Job in his ninth and last discourse, which occupies six chapters, speaks of the excellency of wisdom (Job 28:12:28). Having spoken of men’s skill in mining and engineering (at that early date!), and their diligent search for the treasures of the earth, he exclaimed, “But where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?” The bowels of the earth will not reveal it, and its value far exceeds that of gold and rubies. God alone can declare its true nature and value, “and unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” Solomon added to this later: “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Prov. 9:10). Therefore until God gets His rightful place in a man’s mind and heart he is incapable of viewing anything wisely. His thoughts are out of center. His beginning is all wrong.
Since the days of Job and Solomon the eternal Wisdom has come into the world in the person of the Son of God. Everything must now be considered in relation to Him. “Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24). What can man show in the way of power in comparison with the “exceeding greatness” of the power of God “which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places”? (Eph. 1:20). What wisdom can man show, with all his research, that will compare with what God revealed when He turned Calvary’s disgraceful gibbet into the means of salvation and blessing for countless myriads? Men denied His beloved Son the petty dignity of kingship over the Jews, and God has given Him the headship of the universe; and all that has come to Christ, and will yet come to Him, was settled in the counsels of infinite love ages before men imbrued their hands in the blood of the Holy One His enemies will yet be confounded at their own folly and be constrained to acknowledge the surpassing wisdom of God. “The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Cor. 3:18-29). The man who leaves God and Christ out of his life’s scheme is as hopelessly adrift as a vessel in a storm without chart and rudder.
Solomon was probably the most versatile monarch that has ever lived. Many of the kings who ruled England and Scotland centuries after his time could neither read nor write. Their ignorance may explain their subservience to papal delusions, to the injury of their people as well as of themselves. But no subject seemed outside the range of Solomon’s knowledge. “He spoke three thousand proverbs”; good would it be for us all if we read through at least once every year those which the Holy Spirit has preserved for us. “His songs were a thousand and five”; but only one remains. Its theme is Christ, and thus it could not be allowed to lapse. It is indeed “the Song of Songs”; no other metrical composition will compare with it. The believer in Jesus, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, must be in a pitiful condition if unable to read it with sacred joy. The “song” has been the delight of the pious through the ages. What was it to Samuel Rutherford in his afflictions?
Solomon spoke also of trees, from the stately cedar of Lebanon to the humble “hyssop that springeth out of the wall.” Beasts, birds, creeping things, and fishes came likewise into his discourses. He surrounded himself with all the wise men he could hear of. Several outstanding ones are named in (1 Kings 4:31), some now unknown, and some still known to us. But God’s unique servant surpassed them all―expressive type of Him with whom none in heaven or earth will compare! “Never man spake like this Man,” was said of Him even in the days of His humiliation! (John 7:46).
At this point let us listen to Solomon’s own testimony. “I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom, get understanding; forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee” (Prov. 4:3-9). To this we must add the young king’s comment, “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” (Prov. 3:23).
David’s earnest counsel will account, at least in measure, for Solomon’s answer to Jehovah in Gibeon. How remarkably He met his desire! Solomon pleaded that Israel was “so great”: how could he carry the responsibility of guiding such a nation? Now compare verses 20 and 29 of 1 Kings 4, “Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude”; “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart even as the sand which is on the seashore.” Wisdom according to the need!
A great lesson is here! The greater the responsibility and need, the greater the divine provision to meet it. Let us take courage! Solomon’s God is ours, and He may be trusted to stand by us in all the sufficiency of His wisdom and grace in any position in which He is pleased to set us, however difficult it may be. Faith can say, “I have strength for all things in Him that gives me power” (Phil. 4:13 J.N.D.).
“In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” So we read, Solomon being the writer, in Ecclesiastes 1:18. There is truth in his words. The thinking man necessarily suffers more than the frivolous multitude. His studies give him an understanding of the evils that operate around him which others lack! Men sometimes say, “Ignorance is bliss.” The man who increases his knowledge increases his capacity for suffering. But is this true where GOD is concerned? A thousand times No. The better we know our God the more we enhance our joy; and the better we understand His purposes for this poor devastated world, the more fit we are to live and testify therein.
The story of the two harlots and the living babe is recorded at length as a sample of Solomon’s wise administration. The suggestion to divide the babe with the sword was novel and bold, and probably without precedent in the world’s history, but it brought out with such a gush the feelings of the true mother that it became perfectly clear to whom the child belonged. The king’s action produced a profound impression upon the people in general. “All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment” (1 Kings 3:17-28). But the incident reminds us that perfection was not reached in Solomon’s glorious reign. It is inconceivable that such a sordid case could be submitted to the arbitrament of Solomon’s greater Son, God’s “Holy One” (Psa. 89:19).