The Wisdom of Solomon

In Solomon's story we have seen how he dealt with the political conspirators in his kingdom, how recognized that he was a child and needed God’s help and how he displayed his wisdom with the investigative judgment between the two harlots. We have also seen the little lapses of wisdom that were already displayed in his kingdom in the sense that he made affiliation with Egypt, married Pharaoh’s daughter, and started bringing in chariots and horses from Egypt – his wife’s homeland, and his "poor" dietary lifestyle.

In I Kings 4:24-34 we see how far God’s blessing of wisdom has taken Solomon. He has dominion over the regions of the river (Euphrates) to Tiphsah to Azzah and "he had peace on all sides round about him." I Kings 4:24 "And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon." I Kings 4:25 These were times of good news and peace.

In I Kings 4:29-34 there is a further delineation of the wisdom of Solomon. The wisdom that Jesus gave Solomon was greater than that of the east country – Babylon, Persia, and India; as well as all of the wisdom of the south country – Egypt. He was wiser than the famous men of his time were and "his fame was in all nations round about." I Kings 4:31 Solomon’s wisdom was not his own but a gift from Jesus that would bring fame to Jesus if used properly by Solomon.

Solomon spoke 3000 proverbs and his songs were 1005. And Solomon spoke to the issues of the natural things of life that reveal "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world (in the beginning) are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Romans 1:20 All of these things were made available to man through the wisdom that Jesus gave to Solomon.

"And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom." I Kings 4:34. God was calling all of His children by displaying His wisdom through Solomon. All people had the opportunity to hear of this wisdom and this wisdom was spread to all the kings of the earth. This is another example of how Jesus conducted evangelism in the Old Testament. As long as Solomon remained loyal to Jesus this wisdom kept going out.

As long as Solomon was surrendered to God the words of Jeremiah were applicable to Solomon. "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man (Solomon) glory in his wisdom, neither let he mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his richs: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I Am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord."

For a time Solomon practiced the wisdom that acknowledges and surrenders to God. For a time Solomon was true to his calling and was able to avoid the foolishness of the world’s wisdom. This worldly wisdom is described in I Corinthians 1-2 and basically consists of that wisdom which is apart from Christ and will not check it’s knowledge against the revealed will of God. We do know that Solomon eventually began to trust in his wisdom and began to do things that God had explicitly stated not to do. (See Deuteronomy 17:14-20. When Solomon came to that point he began to seriously get into trouble and eventually allowed the religious practices of the world to come into Israel and he practiced all of the evils of Baal, Molech, Ashtoreth, Milcom, and Chemosh. Thus the wisdom of Solomon was greatly polluted.

Praise God that even after all of that Solomon could see that all his wisdom and intellect was vanity apart from Christ. Eventually Solomon could see that the conclusion of the whole matter was "to fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.