The Solomon of Wisdom...

 

I Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

¹⁰ Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹ The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ¹² So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.

³ Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. ⁴ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵ At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” ⁶ And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. ⁷ And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. ⁹ Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. ¹³ I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. ¹⁴ If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”

 

It’s been said that history is written by the winners. Does the phrase “the wisdom of Solomon” come to mind? David’s son is considered by history to be a great and wise king, despite a possibly exaggerated largess of “concubines” and egotistical behaviors more befitting a modern, power-drunk politician. 

 

If today’s text is an accurate rendering of Solomon’s original intent as king, he should be considered a great man, as we seek to understand the “ideals” of a narrative which we will explore in today’s message. But what we have here is probably more of an apocryphal story than an historical account. Solomon is TOO humble and subservient, and God is TOO easily persuaded to grant Solomon “the farm.” If I could have so easily convinced my dad of my noble intentions, I could have had the family car every weekend. But my attempts at persuading were nearly as juvenile as this narrative indicates Solomon was, and my dad was smarter than the Divine Presence, as related in this text.

 

So, what’s the skinny on what happened in that day, and what does it have to do with us today? Let’s look at a few things.

 

First of all, the narrative is a bit of a fantasy, as alluded to earlier. Richard Nelson, commenting on the text in the Interpretation series, calls this a “dream narrative,” likening it to Genesis 28, where Jacob “dreams” about the great ladder reaching to heaven, upon which angels were running up and down. Solomon is “given” a “classic petitionary prayer” to speak:

⁷ And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. ⁹ Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

Think of this as a panel in a comic book, one that captures a lot of action in one fell-swoop. In it the following landmark actions are described:

 

·      David is gone

·      Solomon is “only a little child” and pretty clueless, at that

·      Israel has become a “great people,” and there are a LOT of them

·      Solomon asks God for a “good brain,” lots of discernment of what is good and what is evil (wouldn’t it be nice if OUR leaders today would ask for this?)

·      And God’s direct help, for “who can govern this your great people?”

 

Then “God” responds:

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. ¹³ I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. ¹⁴ If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”

Well, we don’t really know if it pleased GOD, but it certainly pleased the author of this narrative, who seems to be putting words in God’s mouth in yet another comic book panel:

 

·      God is pleased (what does that really mean, anyway?)

·      In conditional language, an unconditional God says that because Solomon did not ask for a lot of stuff for himself, and to puff his ego, God is going to GIVE HIM ALL OF THAT STUFF as a reward(?)

·      The God of unconditional love makes the condition that Solomon must “walk in my ways…” like David (who had that little “thing” with Bathsheba that also led to murdering Uriah), and God will lengthen [his] life! Now THAT’S an incredible promise, actually. “Be good and you’ll live long”—pretty much what my doctor tells me every year when I have my physical.

·      God is going to do according to your [Solomon’s] word! Again, impressive. We modern Christian believers spend a lot of time trying to do according to GOD’S Word, and here, God takes his marching orders from Solomon, just because Solomon speaks a humble prayer (which was probably not even his own).

·      God promises to use Solomon to make Israel great again, and the king along with it.

 

If this all sounds like a Pollyanna-ish fantasy, it is, at least as we read in this narrative. So, back to the original question: what are we to see here? Let me try to suggest a few things:

 

·      Solomon had issues, like his dad, but Jewish history records that he was a pretty great king.

·      God fed his ego because he appeared willing to set it aside for the good of Israel. (To a degree, both Solomon and David were a little like the recently resigned Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York—he did a lot of good for his people, so many were willing to ignore his sexual harassment, and even defend him.)

·      Follow God’s laws and commandments, and you’ll live longer.

 

Let’s set aside the Jewish history of this, and look for the moral lessons we may learn from it.

 

First of all, if we adopt the actual posture of humility—let’s call that self-awareness—having a sober view of what our gifts are, and offering them to help the greater good (whether we view that as the Kingdom of God, or just our church and/or community), God may just “partner” with us to get the job done. 

 

The Holy Spirit was sent to give us wisdom and discernment—the two things Solomon asks for—and to empower us to use them, along with our own gifts, for the good of all. We grieve the Spirit if we try to use these “aids” to just feather our own beds, like many of the TV evangelists do. Why do you think so many of them blow up?

 

If we focus all of this, including our major life priorities, on fulfilling God’s commandments—especially those of Jesus, the “pioneer of our faith,” to love God and others as we love ourselves, God may darn well bless our efforts, our lives, and even give us more days to do good things. I have learned, by the way, that it is really refreshing to do good things, and to eschew selfishness. I think this lesson is central to this narrative from I Kings.

 

Nelson, again commenting in the interpretation series for I Kings, says, “The Christian is comforted by the unconditional and challenged by the conditional.” He may have stated the key to understanding the Solomon/God “fantasy” we study today. The “unconditional” is both the love of God, and what appears to be God’s unwavering believe that humanity can be redeemed—that Eden may be able to be re-gentrified in our midst. The “conditional” is our willingness to give up more of “self,” yielding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to love God, neighbor, and even ourselves at a healthy, self-aware, and self-actualized level (Notice how I just summarized the whole body/mind/spirit thing there? The “comic book” author of today’s narrative would be so proud.)

 

Let me try it another way: God likes people who respect themselves, but who realize that they are put here on Earth to do more than acquire stuff, power, and pleasure. God may use people like this to reclaim the original intent for Planet Earth, its creatures, and the “pursuit of happiness” of all. God’s joy in this, when it works, is not to be discounted! AND, God will use people with the “right heart,” even in spite of their missteps and occasional outbreaks of idiocy, which seems to be part of the human condition.

 

And what of all of this for the Christian, who is not “covered” by the text we read today? Most of this still applies (obeying commandments, humility, and an aim that includes all and not just “The Big ‘I’”). However, in Jesus, God offers us all a clean slate to begin the redemptive process, gives us lots of “crib notes” (i.e. the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, and the “object lessons” of the disciples) to guide us on our journey toward others-ness. In Jesus, God offers us hope, as well, as God sent the Son into the world because God “so loved the world,” and God wishes NONE of us to perish. That’s an even better mission statement than Solomon got! And finally, God sent the Holy Spirit as both a connection and a tool to provide as much of the Divine Presence as we need or can handle, in our task. Again, a pretty good deal.

 

So, you see why I entitled this message the “Solomon of Wisdom?” It’s really a process message, and not about King Solomon as some kind of “superhero” example. The best thing that Solomon did was model the humility, resignation to God’s “everyone” mission statement, and willingness to follow God’s commandments so as not to make a mess of things. He still made a mess of some stuff (what ABOUT those hundreds of concubines?), but God stuck with him.

 

Dear Ones, in Jesus, God offers to stick with us, and never leave us in the lurch. Can we set our overly-inflated egos (usually fed by the popular culture, and occasionally by our bank statement) on “low,” while cranking up the heat on fixing the world—what our Jewish friends call tikkun olam.

 

So, may the Solomon of Wisdom go with you on your journey today! Grace and peace…