Source: Proverbs , 3.1-5

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1 Solomon in All His Glory Rev. Dr. Martha ter Kuile Minister of Worship, Congregational Care and Faith Development The Story 13: The King Who Had it All January 25, 2015 Source: Proverbs , My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments within you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding; if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk blamelessly, guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; prudence will watch over you; and understanding will guard you. My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; for length of days and years of life and abundant welfare they will give you. Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you; bind them round your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 1

2 So you will find favour and good repute in the sight of God and of people. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. Ecclesiastes For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever. The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hurries to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; 2

3 round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow. All things are wearisome; more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, See, this is new? It has already been, in the ages before us. The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them. I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. I said to myself, I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow. May God bless to our understanding these words from Holy Scripture. 3

4 A love song by a king or maybe not. It is useful to remember as we are reading these accounts of kings and nations in The Story that they were written down long after the events they describe. Tradition says that Solomon wrote the Song of Songs and the Proverbs and the book of Ecclesiastes, but scholars more or less agree that all three are from a much later period, when memories of a great and powerful kingdom had bitten the bitter dust of reality and so what we have here is not only some information about Saul and David and Solomon themselves, but even more, insight into what those later writers thought a great king might be. The stories of Solomon were brought together in the same era that people began to imagine a Messiah. With this in mind, we listen now to what they thought Solomon might have reflected as he grew older. [read Ec ] The contrast between King Solomon and his father David could hardly be more pronounced. David began as the youngest son of an obscure shepherd family from Bethlehem. No prospects to speak of except a buoyant spirit and a lifelong sense of God s presence. A scrappy kid with a dreamy side, eager to go up and visit his older brothers at the battleground, recklessly throwing himself forward as a giant-killer. In his quiet moments he played a gentle harp and wrote psalms of praise, but for the most part it was a rough life he lived. A royal favourite for a time, then on the lam as a rebel, serving as a Philistine mercenary, David fought his way to the throne and then held onto it with great difficulty. Along the way he added wives and children, rebuilt a city and named it after himself, murdered a man he had cuckolded, quelled one revolt after another, and mourned the death of sons. Dancing, he brought back the Ark of the Covenant and planned a temple. David fought and danced and lived and prayed hard and with all his faults, he was called a man after God s heart. In contrast to his father, Solomon was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His mother Bathsheba was the King s favourite wife, David s most beloved. Solomon grew up in the royal palace, surrounded with servants and teachers and every luxury. He inherited immense wealth and added to it throughout his life. After a little wobble 4

5 at the beginning to establish his monarchy, he ruled over a vast and prosperous and united kingdom. Solomon in all his glory was a splendid sight to behold. It is said that Solomon was a polymath, interested in everything there was to know. And at the very beginning of his reign he prayed to God for wisdom. Despite his privilege, he prayed humbly, and in First Kings we read that God said to him, 'Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked...'" (1 Kings 3:11 12) God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a 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 and his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 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, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom. (1 Kings ) The only critique we hear of Solomon, and almost as a postscript and link to the next chapter in the story of the Israelites, is that as he grew older, his wives influenced him to turn to other gods as well as his own. Perhaps not surprising, for he had seven hundred wives who were foreign princesses and three hundred concubines. And apparently he really loved at least some of them, because they say that as a young man, he wrote the wonderful love poems of the Song of Songs that we are hearing from the choir today. In the middle of his life, focused on running an empire, Solomon had lots of practical advice about how to live. Love wisdom, he said in Proverbs, as Arty read to us, and he meant a very practical wisdom. He advised young courtiers on the nittygritty of life in the palace teaching them to know when to speak and when to shut up. In Proverbs we hear that if you figure out the rules and follow them, you will prosper. Don t gossip, use true weights in the marketplace, do not be lazy, or greedy, or 5

6 boastful. Northrop Frye notes that this is pragmatic counsel, tending to promote continuity and conformity and life in community. At best, the wise person is not just the one who knows those maxims, but the kind of person who knows potential situations, who knows the way to deal with the kind of thing that may happen. (Biblical and Classical Myths, p171). This is the kind of wisdom that our society finds in self-help books and advertising if you follow these ten steps to develop these seven habits, or eat these foods and avoid those ones, or use these beauty products and wear these clothes and do these exercises then you will be healthy and happy. And probably wealthy. You will live the good life. So Solomon certainly had that kind of wisdom the kind that says here s what experience and insight teach us about what works. Frye says that this sort of advice will help you keep your balance and that it later becomes the basis of the more contemplative and disinterested attitude we think of as more typical of the wise [person]. (Biblical and Classical Myths, p169). Sure enough, the longer Solomon lived and the more he saw, the more he came to the conclusion that the wisdom of Proverbs isn t the whole story. In his later years he became a sage, digging deeper into the quandaries of life and wondering about the meaning of it all. The one who loved wisdom looked back on all the years of activity and success and mastery, and found new insight. The Book of Ecclesiastes poses the question what is reality, and answers: a breath of wind, an illusion, ephemeral, or even, as some translate it, futile. Vanity of vanities in the older versions meaning empty. As we heard him reflect, In much wisdom, is much sorrow; the more you know, the greater your grief. And who could dispute that? Yet Solomon the sage finds an odd consolation there. His response is not despair but humility. In the book we read before Christmas, Learning to Walk in the Dark, Barbara Brown Taylor writes about going outside on a sleepless night to contemplate the vastness of the night sky, and finding the smallness of her own life reassuring. Solomon says, embrace your little life your friends and family, your work, your pleasures, even your griefs embrace your life, knowing that our time is in God s hands, our lives are lived in God s extraordinary universe. We can imagine Solomon 6

7 agreeing, when a thousand years later, his many-great grandson says, Consider the lilies even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. Embrace your life, knowing that it is fleeting, and precious, but do not mistake your chasing after achievements and acquisitions for the ultimate goal. Do not mistake all your glory for God s truth. The wisdom of Solomon ranged from young love to practical tips for success, to the deepest acceptance of the limitations of life. As we move into the next weeks and follow the adventures and misadventures of the Israelites, we carry his wisdom along with us. A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever, Solomon said. And for this we give God thanks. Amen. 7

Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 ESV

Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 ESV 1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 What does man gain by all the toil