Solomon's Wisdom

Great. Thanks, John.

We've been looking forward to this series for a little while.

Solomon's a fascinating figure,

and we're hoping that the next four sermons spread over five Sundays,

because there's a break in the middle,

will be a real help to us all.

And we thought it would be a good plan to spend just a few minutes

then setting up not just this evening's sermon,

but the series as a whole.

As John said, who's Solomon, where does he fit into things,

and why construct a series with John's wonderful alliteration

called Solomon's Slide.

So it's not just the W's, it's also the S's.

So just a few minutes then about Solomon and where he fits

and why Solomon's Slide.

Well, kingship came late to Israel.

I mean, I think we'll all be.

If you're familiar with the story of the Old Testament,

you'll be familiar with the fact that all the nations seem to have kings,

but Israel doesn't have a king.

And in fact, historically, that seems to be the case.

Lots of the surrounding nations for hundreds, if not thousands of years,

had had kings, and Israel wanted a king too.

They didn't have a king because the Lord was their king.

But it's anticipated in the law of Moses that there would be one day a king,

and it's an unusual law in all of ancient literature.

There is no other constitutional monarchy,

no other law relating to the king outside of the Bible.

And it comes in Deuteronomy 17.

So we'll just read it briefly now.

There's a block of legislation in Deuteronomy that governs...

Where are all our civil servants tonight?

That governs a sort of civil society and how the law courts should work

and administration and so forth.

And as part of this, in chapter Deuteronomy 17,

we have this law, and it begins at verse 14.

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you

and have taken possession of it and settled in it,

and you say,

Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us.

Then be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses.

He must be from among your fellow Israelites.

Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself

or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them.

For the Lord has told you, you are not to go back that way again.

He must not take many wives or his heart will be led astray.

He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom,

he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law,

taken from that of the Levitical priests.

It is to be with him,

and he is to read it all the days of his life,

so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God

and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees,

and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites,

and turn from the law to the right or to the left.

Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

So there we have it, quite a special law concerning the rise of kingship

and its role in Israelite society.

And Israel took hesitant steps towards having a king.

If you know your book of Judges quite well,

you'll notice there's some hesitant steps towards kingship there.

And certainly the way the book of Judges ends anticipates the coming of a king as a good thing.

Israel is falling apart morally.

And it finishes with the words,

Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

There was no king in Israel.

And when kingship finally arrives, it is with God's choice, with Saul,

around the year, what, 1020 B.C.

And Saul, if you're taking a sort of X-factor, people's choice king,

Saul might well have won.

You know, a great strapping guy, head and shoulders over everyone else.

So maybe the kind of people's ideal king, they got what they wanted,

but they didn't quite get what God finally wanted.

And that came in the person of David.

So Saul's successor.

Saul didn't place his son on the throne.

David was anointed king, a king to be after God's own heart,

as the book of Samuel has it and is repeated in the sermons of Acts.

And it's David then who sort of consolidates kingship in Israel

and has a son follow him onto the throne.

So there is with Solomon, David's successor, a hereditary kingship.

And that's the way that we tend to think about kingship.

David comes to the throne around 1000 B.C.

I think that's an easy name to remember for me, David.

Easy year to remember, 1000.

works pretty well.

And that's a nice sort of chronological peg to hang the stories of the Old Testament on.

Around 960 then is when Solomon comes to the throne

as the sort of culmination establishing kingship in Israel.

Well, Solomon in many ways was a great king.

Solomon had great achievements, monumental building projects.

He built cities, fortified them.

He built a palace.

He built famously the temple in Jerusalem.

With Solomon, we have the rise of arts and literature in Israel.

Many scholars think that the first court historians

that wrote up the history of David's reign

were the court historians of Solomon's court.

His administration was wonderful.

Again, civil servants tonight.

David left a great kingdom in extent,

but he didn't pass on a civil service, taxation, and so on.

But Solomon implemented all these wonderful things.

Exploration and trade.

Ships sending out explorers and traders.

And with all of this activity in Solomon's reign,

there's also, we speculate, we don't have direct evidence,

but where were the scribal schools for the accountants,

the diplomats, the architects that were at work

doing all this activity in David's kingdom?

And of course, as John mentioned,

he himself was world-renowned for wisdom,

the first theme that we tackle this evening.

So a lot of Solomon's reign gets a nice summary

in 1 Kings chapter 4.

1 Kings 4 · chapter mention

We'll just read those verses briefly now.

So it's the end of the chapter, 1 Kings 4, 29 to 34.

God gave Solomon wisdom and great insight

and breadth of understanding as measureless

as the sand on the seashore.

Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom

of all the people of the East

and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

He was wiser than anyone else,

including Atha and the Ezraite,

wiser than Haman, Calcol, and Darda,

the sons of Mahol.

And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.

He spoke 3,000 proverbs,

and his songs numbered 1,005.

Gotta love that number.

He spoke about plant life,

from the cedar of Lebanon

to the hyssop that grows out of walls.

He also spoke about animals and birds

and reptiles and fish,

kind of proto-natural scientists.

And from all the nations,

people came to listen to Solomon's wisdom,

sent by all the kings of the world

who had heard of his wisdom.

Fantastic!

Fantastic!

You can tell there's a buck coming,

but there were problems.

Perhaps, as a foreshadow of things to come,

there were complications already at David's birth,

at Solomon's birth.

Now, David had an affair with Bathsheba

and had her husband killed.

Now, the child of that union died.

But in that period, David and Bathsheba married,

and Solomon was their son.

Well, in 2 Samuel 12,

we read the birth notice of Solomon.

So 2 Samuel 12, verses 24 and 25.

2 Samuel 12:24

Then, so this is after the death of their first child,

David comforted his wife, Bathsheba,

and he went to her and made love to her,

lay with her.

She gave birth to a son,

and they named him Solomon.

Solomon.

The Lord loved him.

And because the Lord loved him,

he sent word through Nathan the prophet

to name him Jedidiah.

Just pause for a moment on this.

So this child gets a name from father and mother, Solomon.

Now, to this day, scholars argue about

the meaning of the name of Solomon,

where it comes from.

It is, in fact, the name of one of the Assyrian deities.

It was the name of a Syrian king.

It might mean his substitute.

That is the substitute for the dead child.

Or it might have something to do with peace.

You'll know the word shalom.

And maybe that word is in Solomon's name.

Well, whatever Solomon's name means,

the Lord's love for him

led to the Lord sending the prophet Nathan

with another name.

And that name was Jedidiah.

Now, the did in Jedidiah

is actually David's name.

And it means beloved.

And when you put it in that form, Jedidiah,

it means beloved of the Lord.

But he doesn't bear that name.

He bears the name Solomon.

He comes to the throne eventually amidst conflict

and a bit of real politique,

knives not in the night but in the day,

knocking off rivals and political enemies.

He amasses fabulous wealth,

a vast array of wives and concubines.

And having had most of his reign,

long reign, in peace,

towards the end of his reign,

he develops both personal and political enemies.

And the temple that he built for the living God

is joined by a number of shrines in Jerusalem

to the gods of the surrounding nations

who now had their daughters

as his wives and concubines in Jerusalem.

At the end of his reign,

we hear the voice of a prophet.

For the first time,

he faces prophetic opposition.

Now, this is interesting.

This is the first time in Solomon's reign

we've heard a prophet's voice.

There had been prophetic voices

all through his father's reign.

Samuel spoke prophetically.

Nathan spoke prophetically.

God spoke prophetically.

No prophetic word in Solomon's reign

until the very end,

when the end of Solomon's kingship was announced.

After his death,

the kingdom falls apart.

And so we really need a new summary now

to think about what's happened

at the end of Solomon's reign.

This comes in 1 Kings 11, verses 9 and 10.

1 Kings 11:9

1 Kings 11, 9 and 10.

The Lord became angry with Solomon

because his heart had turned away from the Lord,

the God of Israel,

who had appeared to him twice.

Although he had forbidden Solomon

to follow other gods,

Solomon did not keep the Lord's command.

So the one that at birth the Lord loved,

at the end became one

with whom the Lord became angry.

So this is Solomon's puzzle then.

How did one of the greatest kings of Israel,

who started so well,

and as we'll see in a few moments

with such a generous gift

of divinely given wisdom,

how did this king who started so well

end so badly?

Solomon's slide.

And so we examine Solomon's slide

in four parts.

As John said,

wisdom tonight,

worship next week,

and after a break,

Solomon's wealth

and Solomon's women.

It won't be

the same sermon four times.

But a certain pattern

may emerge.

And just before we consider this passage

and a couple others,

let's just pray once more.

Our Heavenly Father,

we thank you for your word.

We thank you for your living word.

And we thank you

that the word came

and dwelt among us.

So we pray that you would open

our hearts and minds tonight,

that you would direct us

in your ways,

in your will,

and for your glory.

And we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, on to Solomon then.

And although Solomon

is one of the marquee kings of Israel,

I mean,

if we were going to name off

all the names of the kings of Israel,

well, actually,

this group might know

all the names of the kings of Israel,

but Solomon would be near

the top of the list

of the ones we would get.

And his wisdom is proverbial

to this day

in the research

I did for this evening's sermon.

I checked the Guardian website.

And as you do,

it seems that

something to do

with the wisdom of Solomon,

about once a month,

if the search was correct,

appears in the pages

of the Guardian.

It's a fairly current notion,

even in today's society.

But for all of his fame

to this day,

he's only named

a handful of times,

I mean,

five or six

in the New Testament.

And his wisdom

only appears once.

And that is

in the Gospels.

In Matthew chapter 12,

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

and it's parallel passage

in Luke 11,

so we maybe count those as one,

some scribes and Pharisees

come to Jesus

asking for a sign.

And Jesus says,

I'm not going to give you the sign.

The only sign I'm going to give you

is the sign of Jonah.

But to the sign of Jonah,

Jesus adds this one,

and it's Matthew 12,

Matthew 12:42

verse 42.

The queen of the south

will rise at the judgment

with this generation

and condemn it.

For she came from the ends

of the earth

to listen to Solomon's wisdom.

And now,

something greater

than Solomon is here.

So Solomon's wisdom,

and this particular instance

with the queen of the south,

who we know

as the queen of Sheba,

we'll be looking at this story

in just a moment,

she comes as a sign of condemnation

to those who don't recognize

God's servant and king

in Jesus Christ.

The queen's seeking,

finding,

affirming,

and confessing

the Lord's wisdom

as she sees it in Solomon

condemns

the sign-seeking generation.

Solomon was not

the end of the story.

But Solomon is deeply,

wisdom is deeply associated

with Solomon.

The words for wise or wisdom

appear 21 times

in the books of Kings,

1 and 2 Kings,

that cover the whole history

of Israel and Judah.

21 times.

All 21 of those

appear in Solomon's reign

between 1 Kings 2 and 11.

Solomon was the wise king.

So,

in looking at Solomon's wisdom

in relationship

to his slide,

we're going to look at

three stories this evening.

Solomon's dream,

Solomon's judgment,

and the queen,

as we've just mentioned.

And in each of these stories,

we'll look at them

in terms of what's right there

and what's wrong there.

because in each of these stories,

we see something good

to affirm

some right thing.

And in each of these stories,

if we read them carefully,

listen carefully,

we'll hear things

that should set

alarm bells ringing,

things that are somehow

wrong.

And as we look through

these three stories,

we'll see that God blessed Solomon

with a good gift,

a good gift of wisdom

to rule his people.

Now,

his,

you can have with a little H

or a big H,

a good gift of wisdom

to reign his,

that is God's people.

But as we just read

a moment ago

in the story

of Solomon's dream,

a good gift of wisdom

to rule Solomon's people.

But it was faithfully distorted

by Solomon's disobedience

with destructive results

for king and people alike.

So,

the first of these three stories

is the story of the dream,

and it's the one that Solomon,

that John read for us

just a moment ago

in 1 Kings chapter 3.

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

And here,

our pair of right and wrong

is the right picture,

but in the wrong frame.

So,

what's right

about this picture?

Well,

not to belabor the obvious,

but Solomon

asks for the right thing.

In the dream,

God appears to him,

ask me anything.

And what he asks for

is a discerning heart.

You see in verse 9,

so give your servant

a discerning heart

to govern your people,

to distinguish between

right and wrong.

And right away,

this tells us something

about biblical wisdom.

Because biblical wisdom

isn't just about being smart

or being able to

answer riddles

very cleverly.

It's about

skillful living.

It's about living

one's life

in accordance

with the way

God has structured

the world.

Skillful living.

And for a king,

skillful living

is that capacity

to make

right judgments.

To have

this capacity

for discerning

right and wrong

that Solomon

mentions here.

It's what he needs

as a king

to rule.

That's right

in this picture.

And just to confirm this,

verse 10 follows,

the Lord was

pleased

that Solomon

had asked for this.

This is a good

request

on Solomon's part.

And not only that,

but the Lord

adds more besides.

And perhaps you

noticed this.

Because you haven't

asked for

long life

or wealth,

nor have you

asked for the

death of your enemies.

I'm not looking

at the negative

side yet,

but the skeptical

person might say,

that's because

he's killed them

already.

I will do

what you have

asked.

I will give you

a wise

and discerning

heart.

So this is

good.

That's the picture.

And as we

generally do

with the picture,

we see the

picture first.

And if we

notice the frame,

we'll stand

back and see

the frame

around it.

And in this

case,

as we look

at the frame

around it,

we start

to see that

maybe the

picture is

a little bit

tilted.

So look

back at

verse 1.

I should say

you should

have your

Bibles open

in front of

you to

1 Kings

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

We'll be

spending a

little bit

of time

in it.

And it

begins,

as you'll

have noticed,

Solomon made

an alliance

with Pharaoh

king of

Egypt and

married his

daughter.

So as

the story

begins,

the frame

around the

dream,

Solomon's

just got

married.

In fact,

the Hebrew

here is

quite compressed.

It's Solomon

became son-in-law

to Pharaoh

king of

Egypt.

That implies

two things.

It implies

marrying an

Egyptian

princess,

but it

also implies,

as the

NIV has

it here,

forging a

political

alliance with

Egypt.

And this

is not

good.

Maybe you'll

remember in

the law we

read just a

moment ago

from Deuteronomy,

the king must

not acquire

great numbers

of horses

for himself

or make the

people return

to Egypt

to get more

of them.

for the

Lord has

told you

you are

not to

go back

that way

again.

Yet as our

story begins,

Solomon's

forged a

political

alliance

by marriage

with Egypt.

Now,

Solomon's

impulse and

intention here

is the

right one.

He's asking

for a

listening heart,

but the

last time

we'll hear

of Solomon's

heart,

it's a

heart that's

been led

astray.

In the

frame again,

we see

something good.

Solomon's

gone to

worship.

Verse 3,

Solomon showed

his love

for the

Lord by

walking

according to

the instructions

given him

by his

father David.

So that's

a good

thing.

Except,

the text

goes on,

except that

he offered

sacrifices

and burned

incense on

the high

places.

So,

in fact,

he's being

obedient except

for this

distorted

worship that

he's offering

the living

God.

Now,

we're going

to say more

about worship

next week,

so I won't

pause on this

here,

but clearly

as we start

on the

dream then,

things are

not all

well in

Solomon's

life.

Right at

the other

end of the

story,

so this is

verse 15,

Solomon awoke

and he

realized it

had been

a dream.

So we're

at the

other part

of the

frame now.

He returned

to Jerusalem,

stood before

the Ark of

the Lord's

Covenant,

and sacrificed

burnt offerings

and fellowship

offerings.

He's worshipping

again now in

Jerusalem,

seems good.

As it

finishes,

then he

gave a

feast for

all his

court.

We'll see

a bit more

about Solomon's

feasting in

just a few

moments,

but there

is something

a little

bit

incommensurate,

I think,

with the

way the

storyteller

tells us

that he's

sacrificing

one moment

and having

a great

banquet

the next.

There's

something a

little bit

incommensurate

about

attending to

God and

then immediately

indulging

self.

Perhaps

is that

overreading?

Well,

I think as

the story

unfolds,

we'll see

that this

is part

of a

pattern.

But this

is about

as good

as it

gets,

I think,

for Solomon

in wisdom.

This is

already a

high point.

It's a

positive

picture,

although as

we put the

frame around

it,

we see

there are

some hints

that suggest

there's just

something about

this picture

that's a

little bit

out of

kilter.

So that's

the dream.

The second

of the famous

stories that

displays Solomon's

wisdom is the

one that

follows in

1 Kings

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

The story

of a wise

ruling,

a judgment

that he

makes.

And we'll

read that

together and

then a few

comments.

So this is

1 Kings 3

beginning at

verse 16.

2 Kings 3

Now two

prostitutes came

to the king

and stood

before him.

One of them

said,

Pardon me,

my lord.

This woman

and I live

in the same

house,

and I had a

baby while she

was there with

me.

The third

day after my

child was born,

this woman

also had a

baby.

We were

alone.

There was no

one in the

house but the

two of us.

During the

night,

this woman's

son died

because she

lay on him.

So she got

up in the

middle of the

night and

took my

son from

my side

while I,

your servant,

was asleep.

She put him

by her breast

and put her

dead son by

my breast.

The next

morning I got

up to nurse

my son and

he was dead.

But when I

looked at him

closely in the

morning light,

I saw that it

wasn't the

son I had

born.

The other

woman said,

No, the

living one is

my son, the

dead one is

yours.

But the

first one

insisted, No,

the dead one

is yours, the

living one is

mine.

And so they

argued before

the king.

The king

said, This

one says my

son is alive

and your son

is dead, while

that one says

no, your son

is dead and

mine is alive.

Then the

king said,

bring me a

sword.

So they

brought a

sword for

the king.

He then

gave an

order, cut

the living

child in

two, give

half to one

and half to

the other.

The woman

whose son was

alive was

deeply moved

out of love

for her son

and said to

the king,

Please my

lord, give

her the

living baby,

don't kill

him.

But the

other said,

Neither I

nor you

shall have

him, cut

him in

two.

Then the

king gave

his ruling,

give the

living baby

to the

first woman,

do not

kill him,

she is

his mother.

When all

Israel heard

the verdict

the king

had given,

they held

the king

in awe,

because they

saw that he

had wisdom

from God

to administer

justice.

Well, it's

a famous

story, but

it's also a

complex story,

and it's a

more complex

story than

our translations

let on.

Every English

translation makes

adjustments to

try to clarify

who's speaking

when, and

I'd encourage

you all to

take a Hebrew

course, but

were we to

read it in

Hebrew, we'd

find out that

the identity

of the woman

speaking as

the argument

unfolds is

not always

clear.

And in

fact, when

we have in

our text in

verse 23,

this one says

my son is

alive, that

one says

no, your

son is

dead.

In fact,

Solomon's

language doesn't

even distinguish.

It's literally

this one says

and this one

says, without

referring to

them differently

at all.

So, it's,

and in

fact, if you

are going to

look on the

many, read

through the

ink that's

been spilled

on this

story, you

will find

arguments for

either one of

these women,

however you

identify them

being the

right mother.

So, it's a

complicated story,

which is perhaps

fitting as the

first event

following the

divine giving

of wisdom to

Solomon, the

most wise

king ever.

one of the

things that

is right and

wrong in

this story

then.

Well, here we

see some

right judgments,

but some

wrong morals.

So, let's

look at the

right thing.

What goes

right in

this story?

And we

won't be

attending to

all the

complexities.

For all

those complexities,

it's pretty

clear what

happens.

Solomon gets

it right,

doesn't he?

Yes, he

does.

And these

are some of

the good

things that

emerge in

this story.

I mean, it

begins, now

two prostitutes

came to the

king and

stood before

him.

Now, is

that a

surprise?

I think

it's a

surprise.

I think

it's a

surprise that

two prostitutes

have access

to the

royal court

for adjudicating

their dispute.

But what it

suggests right

away is

that even

the most

despised,

and the

lowest in

the society

have access

to royal

justice.

Now,

prostitution in

the Bible,

it's pretty

clear, is a

negative thing.

It's not a

good thing,

prostitution,

in the

scriptures.

It's not

quite forbidden

in biblical

law.

We'll look at

this a little

bit more in

just a moment.

But the

Bible's also

clear that

it arises

when something

goes wrong.

There seems

to be a

recognition

that

the poorest

and most

desperate

women

can be

driven to

sell access

to their

own bodies

if that's

the only

means they

have to

live.

And these

two women,

presumably the

lowest of the

low in

Israelite society,

come to the

king for

justice.

Now,

it's also

very hard to

tell these

two apart,

as I mentioned

just a moment

ago.

Solomon,

though,

is scrupulously

even-handed.

He doesn't

play favorites.

He doesn't

try to get

them apart.

He simply,

as I said a

moment ago,

says this

one and

this one.

He takes

both their

testimonies

at face

value,

scrupulously

even-handed.

And this is

just as well

because,

as many

note,

trying to

get at the

truth in

this story

by interrogating

the only

witnesses

is going

to be

hopeless.

Testimony,

in this

case,

is at

best an

ambiguous

route to

justice.

You'll have

noticed that

the first

woman who

speaks makes

it very

clear.

We were

alone.

There was

no one in

the house

but the

two of

us.

There's

no witness.

There's

only one

word against

the other.

So there's

only claims,

to deal

with no

witnesses.

But as

one of the

feminist

commentators

on this

passage points

out,

in ancient

texts,

prostitutes

are notorious

and habitual

liars.

And her

point is

that Solomon's

got little

chance of

getting the

truth by

interrogating

women such

as these

who in

that society

would be

regarded as

simply

habitual

liars.

And so

Solomon does

the right

thing.

He adopts

a ploy

which elicits

the truth

and the

right judgment

is given.

All Israel

hears.

This is a

famous judgment

and they held

the king in

awe.

So that

goes right.

The right

judgment is

given and

the poor

are given

justice.

justice.

So what's

wrong with

this picture?

Well, there's

something wrong

about the

morals in

this picture

for all of

that.

It's just

a curious

fact of the

way this

story is

told and I

think it

just puts

us on

alert.

How many

personal names

did you see

as we read

this story?

Did you see

Solomon's name

appear at

all?

In fact,

it doesn't.

The women

are not named.

Solomon is

not named.

He only

appears as

the king,

the king,

the king,

the king,

the king.

So it

underscores

here that

we're seeing

Solomon not

just in his

personal capacity

but as the

great judge

king,

administering

justice over

Israel.

And like

English,

Hebrew has a

variety of

words for

prostitution.

And the

particular word

used in

this story,

now two

prostitutes,

came to

the king,

is the

word that's

routinely used

in the

prophetic

texts for

spiritual

apostasy.

When Israel

is described

as a

prostitute,

it's one

who has

turned away

from the

Lord,

routinely

associated

with falling

away and

abandoning

the true

God.

I mentioned

a moment

ago in

biblical

law,

prostitution

has a,

perhaps not

an obvious

place because

there isn't a

law that says

there shall

not be

prostitution.

But it's

interesting what

there is.

Leviticus 19.29,

do not degrade

your daughter by

making her a

prostitute or

the land will

turn to

prostitution and

be filled with

wickedness.

So it's clear

that this is a

negative thing.

did you hear

who the law

is addressed

to?

It's not

addressed to

women.

Do not

degrade your

daughter.

It's addressed

to fathers.

And there's

other legislation

like that about

how priests

do not relate

to prostitutes

and so on.

Holiness and

prostitution do

not come

together.

They do not

work together.

And as one

commentator puts

it, when we

consider the

strictures found

elsewhere in the

text against

Solomon's own

interest in

women, the

reader may begin

to suspect that

it is not purely

accidental nor

entirely in

Solomon's favor

that he's given

such a setting in

which to exercise

his God-given

wisdom.

Because it's

worrying then that

if this is the

situation for

prostitution, both

sides of it, that

this is a sign of

the lowest of the

low in society,

women in extremis,

that in fact in

his judgment he

does nothing to

address the fact

that they're

prostitutes or

why they have

fallen into

prostitution.

And although it's

the thing that

elicits a true

judgment, it's

slightly worrying

that Solomon

says, bring me

a sword.

He has

previous.

As I mentioned

before, when he

comes to the

throne, it's

amidst conflict.

He has an

older brother who

wants to become

king.

And on a bit of

a pretext, he

has him killed.

Then David's

dying words to

Solomon are, make

sure you kill

Joab and you

kill Shimei.

And Solomon

duly obliges in

somewhat judicially

suspect circumstances.

So he comes to

the throne having

cleaned out his

political enemies.

And in his first

judgment after being

the gift of wisdom,

he says, bring me

a sword.

It's a little

ominous, especially

taken with that

other worry that we

have this sort of

moral problem of

why are two

prostitutes in

Solomon's court?

And why, if they're

there, does he not

deal with the root

problem?

Even the form of

the conclusion just

makes us pause.

When all Israel

heard the verdict

the king had

given, they held

the king in awe

because they saw he

had wisdom from

God to administer

justice.

Yes, he had wisdom

from God to

administer justice.

But the word for

awe here is the

word for fear.

They were afraid of

the king.

And it's not quite

like when it says

he administered

justice.

It's not like the

servant in Isaiah.

We read from Isaiah

to begin the

service.

The one who will

establish justice

but not break a

bruised reed or

quench a flickering

wick.

That's not the kind

of justice Solomon

does here.

So, even this

first expression of

divinely gifted

wisdom, Solomon's

techniques show a

lot of his old

man, if I can put

it that way.

And he fails to

grapple with the

deeper problems in

his kingdom.

So we've had a

dream, we've had a

judgment.

Thirdly, the third

place we see

Solomon's wisdom on

display is the

story of the

queen.

And that comes a

few pages over in

1 Kings chapter

1 Kings 10 · chapter mention

10.

Again, we'll just

take a moment to

read the story and

then a couple of

comments on it.

If you've got your

Bible in front of

you, you'll see

just glancing at the

page in chapter 9

that it's all about

Solomon's

administration, about

how he's organizing

the kingdom, and

so on.

I mention that for

a purpose you'll see

in a moment.

So chapter 10

begins,

When the queen of

Sheba heard about

the fame of Solomon

and his relationship

to the Lord, she

came to test Solomon

with hard questions.

Arriving at

Jerusalem with a

very great caravan,

with camels carrying

spices, large

quantities of gold

and precious stones,

she came to Solomon

and talked with him

about all that she

had on her mind.

Solomon answered all

her questions.

Nothing was too hard

for the king to

explain to her.

When the queen of

Sheba saw all the

wisdom of Solomon

and the palace he

had built, the food

on his table, the

seating of his

officials, the

attending servants

in their robes, his

cupbearers, and the

burnt offerings he

made at the temple

of the Lord, she was

overwhelmed.

Literally, it took her

breath away.

She said to the

king, the report I

heard in my own

country about your

achievements and your

wisdom is true, but I

didn't believe these

things until I came and

saw with my own eyes.

Indeed, not even half

was told me.

In wisdom and wealth,

you have far exceeded

the report I heard.

How happy your people

must be.

Interesting that the

ancient Greek

translation of this

has how happy your

wives must be.

How happy your

officials who

continually stand

before you and hear

your wisdom.

Praise be to the

Lord your God who

has delighted in you

and placed you on the

throne of Israel.

Because of the

Lord's eternal love

for Israel, he has

made you king to

maintain justice and

righteousness.

And she gave the

king 120 talents of

gold, large quantities

of spices and precious

stones.

Never again were so

many spices brought

in as those the

queen of Sheba gave

to King Solomon.

Brackets.

Hiram's ships brought

gold from Ophir, and

from there they brought

great cargos of

almugwood and precious

stones.

The king used the

almugwood to make

supports for the

temple of the Lord

and for the royal

palace, and to make

harps and lyres for

the musicians.

So much almugwood has

never been imported or

seen since that day.

King Solomon gave the

queen of Sheba all she

desired and asked for,

besides what he had

given her out of his

royal bounty.

Then she left and

returned with her

retinue to her own

country.

So again, there's a

rightness and a

wrongness in this story.

And I think we see the

queen of Sheba drawing

the right conclusion,

but we wonder if she's

actually got the wrong

evidence.

So it's important to

see for the right

conclusion that she

draws, what's primary

for the queen of Sheba.

What has she heard?

She's heard of the fame

of Solomon and his

relationship to the

Lord.

I think that's quite

significant in verse 1.

And she comes to test

and see for herself.

And the implication that

she's deeply interested,

she came to test

Solomon with hard

questions at the end

of verse 1.

And in verse 3,

Solomon answered all

her questions.

Nothing was too hard

for the king.

And the implication

here isn't just that

these are difficult.

It's harder than 2

plus 2.

It's like the square

root of 2 to so many

decimal places.

It's that they were

deep.

They were perhaps

hidden.

And that's the kind

of, it's that depth

of hardness that's

what's in mind in

this probing that the

queen of Sheba brings

in her questions to

Solomon.

And he responds to

her.

And again, we remind

ourselves that biblical

wisdom is more than

simply being clever.

It's not even about

being clever, but it's

about skillful living.

And so for Solomon,

as we noted before,

this includes royal

administration.

And so she not only

hears Solomon's wisdom,

but as you'll have

noticed a few times,

it says she sees it.

Verse 4, when she saw

the wisdom of Solomon,

his palace, the food,

the seating arrangements,

the waiters, the waiters'

outfits, his cupbearers,

and the burnt offerings he

made at the Lord's

temple.

That's what took her

breath away.

Well, this is those

state dinners that I

mentioned just a few

minutes ago.

His banqueting is on a

completely different,

this puts, you know,

MasterChef just to shame.

We're on a different

plane here.

And she's utterly amazed.

The queen of Sheba

finds it so.

But her conclusion

is an affirmation that

doesn't find its end

point on Solomon,

but on Solomon's God.

In verse 9,

praise be to the Lord your

God who's delighted in you

and placed you on the throne

of Israel.

In a sense,

she discerns in Solomon

and the Lord's gifts to

Solomon,

the very relationship that

Nathan saw at Solomon's

birth,

that this was a child of

favor and that God had

gifted this king in a

remarkable way.

And so rather than praising

Solomon,

she praises the Lord.

She comes questioning.

She comes interested.

She comes curious.

And it seems she leaves a

believer.

She knows who the true and

living God is.

So what's negative in this

story then?

What's gone wrong?

Well, it's not so much what is

said is what is not said.

Solomon answered all her

questions and so on.

But the balance of the story is

about Solomon's court and

Solomon's wealth rather than

about Solomon's wisdom per se.

And we noted already the fact

finding comes to its culmination

in verse 5 with the palace,

the food,

the seating,

the servers,

their robes,

the cupbearers,

and so on.

So we have here something much more

about his wealth and about Solomon's

grandeur than about God.

Much like the queen of,

much like the dream at Gibeon,

the story is placed in an awkward

frame as we read the brackets at

verse 11.

Hiram's ship's,

where does that come from?

Well, it comes from just before

chapter 10.

Chapter 9 finishes,

King Solomon also built ships and

Hiram sent his men,

sailors who knew the sea to serve

and the fleet.

So the narrator is inviting us to

join the dots that there's

something about the story of

Solomon with the queen of Sheba that

fits into Solomon's wealth

generating schemes.

And there's something awkward about that

in terms of Solomon's own character.

And there's a final thing to notice

about the queen of Sheba.

We're going to hear in the fourth part

of this series about Solomon's wives.

He has many, many foreign wives who

turn his heart away from the Lord.

And this queen comes,

she inquires and recognizes the Lord,

praises the Lord,

and she leaves.

Is she the one that got away?

How wise was Solomon?

Well, our three stories then.

Solomon's dream,

Solomon's judgment,