Haydenville Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian August 19, Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

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1 Haydenville Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian August 19, Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 The Wisdom of Solomon? May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen. King Solomon. He s one of the great stars of the Hebrew Scriptures. Solomon is a towering figure powerful, shrewd, successful, influential, important, and wise. And it is that last adjective, wise, that Solomon is most famous for. The Wisdom of Solomon. Say the word Solomon, and the word wisdom immediately comes to mind. Even those who are not familiar with the Bible know that Solomon is known for his wisdom those two words are always linked. But who, in fact, was Solomon? How did he receive this wisdom, and was he really all that wise? Solomon was the son of King David, the greatest of Israel s kings, and of Bathsheba, one of David s many wives. When David was an old man and the scramble for his successor heated up, Solomon was not in line to become king. David s son Absalom, the product of another marriage, essentially declared himself king and rose up to claim the throne. Absalom raised an army of disaffected people who were prepared to overthrow David. But David still possessed some strength, skill, and an army of his own, and Absalom was defeated and killed. Adonijah, David s eldest son by his wife Haggith, became the next in line for the throne he was perceived as the rightful heir. However, Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan intervened. Together they plotted, schemed and convinced David to name Solomon his heir as king. (Solomon later ordered that his half-brother Adonijah be executed.) And so, Solomon was named king when he was very young. David s last words to Solomon were meant to establish high expectations for all future kings: 1

2 obey God s law and you will prosper. David urged his son to be the obedient and devout king envisioned in Deuteronomy 17: As King, Solomon enjoyed a long reign, serving from 962 to 922 BCE. His reign is presented in the Bible as a golden age of wisdom, wealth, and prosperity. Solomon is reported to have had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He was a political reformer, and a major figure on the international stage. He oversaw the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem and filled it with silver, gold, silk, and fine woods. Solomon is also famous for entertaining the Queen of Sheba, who came from southwest Arabia with great pomp and ceremony to meet this international figure known for his wisdom and his abundance. The Queen of Sheba was, apparently, overcome by the splendor of Solomon s court and the depth of his intelligence. The wise and discerning Solomon is attributed with being the patron of wisdom literature. He is credited with writing the Book of Proverbs, the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and the Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha. Our reading for today from 1Kings tells the important story of how this charismatic figure obtained his wisdom. Let us review the details found in 1Kings: 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. 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 towards 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 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 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? 2

3 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. Note what is happening here. God appears to the young Solomon in a dream and asks what God can grant Solomon, now that he is king. Solomon refers to his father David and speaks of David s righteousness (which is a bit disingenuous given David s serious and nearly fatal flaws) and Solomon refers to himself as an innocent child. I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. That is a frank and vulnerable thing to say. And then Solomon does what is both shocking and moving although he is young and innocent, he has the WISDOM to ask God for wisdom. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil God is deeply touched it is tender-hearted and WISE for Solomon to ask for wisdom. It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. So God gives Solomon a wise and discerning mind AS WELL AS the things Solomon did NOT ask for riches, honor and long life. Solomon gets it all because God is so pleased with him. But also note, God tells Solomon to walk in God s ways and keep God s statutes and commandments. And so there it is. The story of how the wise Solomon got his wisdom. But when we read further, we discover that the wise Solomon proceeded to reign with great stupidity. So what happened? I believe that Solomon was actually at the height of his wisdom when, as a child, he asked God for wisdom. I think with his innocence, vulnerability and close connection with God, Solomon was already channeling God s wisdom, and therefore had the insight and clarity to ask for wisdom the ONE THING that would ensure him a mighty reign as an effective, benevolent, and charitable king. 3

4 But what Solomon received in addition to wisdom was power and wealth. And those corrupted him. Solomon was not, if you read the Bible carefully, a wise king. He was a powerful king, he was a famous king, he was a prosperous king but he was also a foolish king. Why he is known for his wisdom amazes me. He was such a foolish king that when he died God was so furious that God punished Solomon s successor his son Rehoboam by dividing Israel into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah provoking harsh conflict among the Israelites. Solomon is such a misguided ruler that, according to 1 Kings 11:9, the Lord punished Solomon by tearing the kingdom in two What happened? What went wrong? I think that to be a strong, moral and compassionate leader, one must hold in delicate balance three essential gifts: power, wisdom, and a covenant with God. Like the three legs of a stool, these three gifts were necessary for Solomon to reign as a king with goodness, justice and peace. But Solomon mortal like the rest of us lost one of the three legs and the whole thing collapsed. As his power and wealth grew, he lost sight of his covenant with God and his wisdom decreased. Essentially, Solomon lost the wisdom he had as a boy. As he became more and more influential, he became addicted to the good life drunk with power, absorbed with lust, enamored with wealth, and enthralled with hedonism. In the process, he neglected his obligations and promises to God. As Solomon drifted further and further away from his covenant with God, he lost his way, he lost his self-control, and he lost his wisdom. Years earlier in the history of the Hebrew people, when Solomon s ancestors, the Israelites, were wandering through the wilderness and came upon Mount Sinai, God spoke to them and reminded them that God had brought them out of the land of Egypt, liberated them from slavery, and proclaimed that they were God s people. God made a covenant with them that he would be their God and they would be his people and that they would be a blessing to the nations. That covenant was made with Solomon s ancestors sacred promises between God and the Hebrew people. But as Solomon became drunk with power, he broke that covenant. Inspired to create a temple to the Lord, Solomon went overboard and made a too-large, too-lavish, too-expensive temple that required slave labor. Solomon enslaved his own people to build the temple the temple to a God that liberated Solomon s people from slavery, the God that promised them freedom. Solomon used Israelite slaves to build God s temple. 4

5 Not only that, but as his power grew, Solomon felt the need to establish military bases surrounding his kingdom. He built Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer as military outposts, bases to protect his massive resources and wealth. And he became an arms dealer. The Bible says Solomon accumulated fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses. Not only did he accumulate horses and chariots the tanks and fighter planes of his day Scripture tells us that Solomon sold them to the kings of the Hittites and the Arameans. Solomon was an arms dealer. He made money from violence. He discovered that war was profitable. And what about the 700 wives of royal birth and the 300 concubines? What about his insatiable sexual appetite? It seems to me that Solomon, known throughout history for his wisdom, was wisest as a child when he asked God for wisdom. After that, the human qualities of greed, lust, and hunger for power took over and clouded his thinking. Solomon is remembered as a wise ruler, but by the end of his reign there was chaos and God s wrath was ignited. Solomon lost his connection to God and therefore his wisdom was subsumed under his hubris and hedonism. In 1 Kings 11:9-12 we hear of God s disappointment with Solomon; this is how Solomon s reign ends 9 the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this matter but Solomon did not observe what the Lord commanded. 11 the Lord said to Solomon, Since you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. 12 Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hands of your son. Following Solomon s reign, Israel once united and prosperous is divided in two. And so we are left asking, where is the wisdom of Solomon? Can a person be both wise and powerful? Is that possible? Do power and wealth inevitably corrupt? Is Solomon just one of many examples of that reality? I believe the lesson is that there is a delicate triad that must be maintained if power is to be tempered, measured and used for the common good. The triad, or the three legs of the stool, are power, wisdom, and a closeness with God. 5

6 Unless one walks in the light of God, maintains a deep connection with God, and honors one s covenant with God, the overwhelming seduction of power will win, burying the gift of wisdom. Wisdom is a gentle force, a tender stalk. Power is a bulldozer ready to crush the fragile stalk. Solomon could not hold on to the wisdom granted to him as child as his power grew and his appetites were given full rein. Solomon was wise when as a boy he asked for wisdom. But he died a bloated old man who had satisfied his own needs and failed his own people. Can power and wisdom flourish together? I believe they can IF one stays deeply connected to God through prayer and worship. If a person is in nearly constant conversation with God, power cannot overwhelm and lure that person to wallow in human vices. The wisdom of Solomon? Is that real? I think Solomon was wise once and lost his wisdom during his lifetime. Maybe his legacy should more rightly be called the folly of Solomon. You decide. Amen. 6

Promise Kept 1

Promise Kept 1 Promise Kept Westminster Presbyterian Church 1 Kings 3:4-9, 16-28 Pastor Douglas Browne Matthew 6:9-10 October 28, 2018 1 Kings 3:4-9, 16-28 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the