THE ESSENTIAL WISDOM

 

Sending Forth the Bride by Danny Hahlbohm

Proverbs 2:6: For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 4:7: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom: and with all the getting get understanding.

I must admit reading Proverbs sometimes makes me feel like I am just reading nice words…because of Solomon and his humanity which rejected the most important component of wisdom, that of moral conduct. Wisdom is a conglomeration of pretty, useless words if there is no moral conduct to support them. The conduct is the fruits of wisdom.

Because the word ‘wisdom’ is feminine in gender, it is allegorized as a woman in the book of Proverbs. The adulterous woman in Proverbs is a metaphor for foolishness as foolishness is opposite of wisdom. It is fascinating to me that Solomon’s moral conduct was consumed by the ‘strange’ women he married out of the covenant who turned his heart to idolatry (1 Kings 11:1-8)

The scriptures use the metaphor of marriage to describe the Lord’s covenant with His people. They portray the House of Israel as the bride and the Saviour as the bridegroom. Among many references are these:

Isaiah 54:5-6: “Thy Maker is thine husband…the Lord hath called thee as a wife of youth…”; Hosea 2:19-20: “I will betroth thee unto me for ever; Matthew 25:1,10: the parable of the ten virgins going to meet the bridegroom; Revelation 19:7,9, 21:2,9: the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready…..prepared as a bride adorned for her husband…the bride, the Lamb’s wife; D&C 109:73-74: that thy Church shine forth…and be adorned as a bride for the day of the Lord’s coming.

In Proverbs Chapter 7, Solomon admonishes his son to keep the commandments and cling to wisdom as his ‘sister’ (v 4) that he may be protected against ‘the strange woman’ (v 5) which would lead him into ‘whoredom’ or ‘adultery’ . The mind boggles that he could not apply this to himself.

The idolatry born out of foolishness as opposed to the moral conduct of wisdom, is considered as adultery in the case of the marriage covenant between the Lamb and Israel, His bride:

Exodus 34:14-15: the Lord warns Israel not to worship other gods, “lest they go a whoring after their gods”; Jeremiah 3:8-9: Israel ‘committed adultery with stones and with stocks’ meaning idols made of stone and wood; Hosea 2:2,5: Israel is portrayed as an unfaithful spouse – “put away her whoredoms…and her adulteries” as she says “I will go after my lovers” referring to false gods; Ezekiel 16:32: compares covenant unfaithfulness to a wife committing adultery ‘taking strangers instead of her husband’.

My hair stood on end when I read this about immorality in heathen worship:

“Among the ancient nations of the East, with the exception of the Jews, prostitution appears to have been connected with religious worship, and to have been not merely tolerated but encouraged…in Egypt, Phoenicia, Assyria, Chaldea, Canaan and Persia, the worship of Isis, Moloch, Baal, Astarte, Mylitta and other deities consisted of the most extravagant sensual orgies and the temples were merely centers of vice. In Babylon some degree of prostitution appeared to have been even compulsory and imposed upon all women in honour of the goddess Mylitta. In India the ancient connection between religion and prostitution still survives.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, (1952 Edition) Volume 18, p 596)

Maybe the God of Israel knew what He was doing when He gave Solomon all that wisdom he desired…..because he knew that one day he would become a symbol of foolishness…..oh the irony!

As Israel, we have trodden worldly paths

That have left us battered, scarred,

And parched in search of love.

Our lovers were many but

Our hearts were empty.

At long last

We embrace the love that lasts,

We prepare for the wedding feast

And abandon our treacherous past.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

TRAGIC SOLOMON

 

Art: King Solomon engraving by Gustave Dore [1832-1883]

David’s concluding psalm of Book 2 is titled “A Psalm for Solomon” which could be understood as David’s wishes and hopes for his son but knowing of David’s prophetic streak Psalm 72 presents Solomon as a type of Christ. Consider the following verses to this end:

·         He shall judge thy people with righteousness…(v 2)

·         He shall judge the poor of the people and break in pieces the oppressor (v 4)

·         In his days shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth (v 7)

·         He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth (v 8)

·         Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him (v 11)

·         His name shall endure for ever…men shall be blessed in him and all nations shall call him blessed (v 17)

·         Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things (v 18)

 

I was surprised when I read this psalm. I would have never made Solomon a type of Christ. Whereas his father was a disappointment in the case of adultery and murder, Solomon, in my mind, was worse because he abandoned the worship of the God who gave him so much wealth and stature in the world. Solomon reigned over Israel in extravagance and grandeur which lasted for 40 years. This is all it took to destroy Israel's course forever.

 

David went to his grave worshipping the God of Israel with full contrition, a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Solomon, on the other hand turned his back on Jehovah by turning his heart to idolatry. His foolishness exceeded all his wisdom. Whereas he might have started as a type of Christ judging by the abovementioned scriptures, he went against all that typified him in such a light and concluded his life as a failure…..and this despite the warning.

 

Following the dedication of Solomon's temple, the Lord appeared to Solomon for the second time and acknowledging the dedicatory prayer, accepted the temple which Solomon dedicated to Him. At the same time, however, he issued a grave and serious warning to the king of Israel. He warned Solomon that if he and his children do not keep his commandments and if they go and serve other gods and worship them, that He will cut off Israel out of the land which He had given them, that He will destroy the temple which was built, and 'Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people' (1 Kings 9:6,7). It’s beyond my understanding how he could ignore this warning.

 

It is interesting to me that the Lord appeared to Solomon for the first time following Solomon's marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. This alliance was the greatest act of Solomon's foolishness and the beginning of his downfall. It was then, nevertheless, that the Lord was willing to give him the gift of wisdom (1 Kings 3:5,9-13). I don’t know if Solomon came to believe at this point that God gave him licence to do whatever he wanted because he proceeded to marry many idolatrous women out of the covenant. That, in itself, was problematic, but the many political alliances signalled that he had more faith in them than in God who was willing to fight and win Israel's battles.

 

One cannot but think that Solomon used his wisdom to judge other people in righteousness but not himself…..it’s like he had no common sense. You might say he was beginning to lose the plot.

 

God who knows all things from beginning to the end knew that Solomon was heading in the direction he should not want to go. So why make the promise of wisdom and wealth and honour if it was going to be all wasted in the end? I suspect it was more of a punishment than a blessing for Solomon's fall was proportionate to his greatness. Marrying foreign women who led him and all Israel into idolatry aborted his ability to endure to the end and changed the course of Israel's history. From that point on, the history of Israel was a losing battle fought by prophets against the forces of disloyalty to God.

 

If we can see the foolishness of people of old but not our own, we should not get too comfortable. President Spencer W. Kimball gave a warning to modern Israel regarding idolatry:

 

“ As I study ancient scripture, I am more and more convinced that there is significance in the fact that the commandment “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” is the first of the Ten Commandments. Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to material things.

 

“Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the “arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know (Daniel 5:23) – that is, in idols. This I find to be a dominant theme in the Old Testament. Whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn’t also happen to be the true and living God of Israel; that man is labouring in idolatry.”  (“The False Gods We Worship”, p 4)

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

WISDOM OF THE UNWISE PART 1

 

King Solomon by Pam Wenger

Solomon, the king who continued the golden age of Israel begun by his father David, was the third king who proved Jehovah right when he warned the people through Samuel that they should not be governed by kings. Solomon reigned over Israel in extravagance and grandeur which lasted for 40 years. This is all it took to destroy Israel's course forever.

 

Solomon, like his predecessors, loved the God of Israel and at the beginning of his reign covenanted with Him that he would walk in obedience throughout his administration but like his father, he lacked the tenacity that could enable him to endure to the end. Blessed with incredible wisdom that exceeded that of any man, he ended up being a man of foolishness. A man blessed with riches that far exceeded the riches of any man or king, sent Israel into temporal and spiritual bankruptcy. Within a year of his death, the land was divided into two kingdoms and the course of Israel's history was altered permanently (Old Testament Student Manual, Vol 2, p. 1)

 

Solomon excelled in two things: wisdom and riches. He ascended the throne at 20 years of age, reigning with his father as co-regent until David's death (1 Kings 1). His young age, inexperience and inherited responsibility weighed heavily on his mind as is evidenced in his conversation with the Lord at Gibeon where he went to offer sacrifices. The sacrifices which he offered to the God of Israel were excessive in number and are indicative of the great love he had for the Lord (1 Kings 3:3,4).

 

Even in the beginning Solomon did things in a big way, offering 1,000 burnt offerings upon Gibeon's sacrificial altar. It was in this place of his great devotion that the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him that whatever he wanted, the Lord would give it to him. This, more than anything, shows how much Jehovah was willing to help the kings of Israel succeed. Solomon remembering the great responsibility that rested on his shoulders asked for wisdom that he might judge Israel in righteousness (1 Kings 3:9).

 

He acknowledged the true King of Israel and lowered himself down to be nothing more than His servant by saying: "And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude" (1 Kings 3:8). He never referred to Israel as his people or his subjects. In one fell swoop he showed humility and acknowledged the God of Israel as his sovereign. This was a great beginning indeed.

 

Following such a demonstration of humility, God granted Solomon his wish making him the wisest man that has ever lived and also promised him riches and honour which would make him a king with no equal (1 Kings 3:12,13). All God's promises to Solomon were realised. He became a man unrivalled by any upon the face of the earth and for many years Solomon blessed the lives of his people. He successfully arbitrated difficult issues (1 Kings 3), built up peaceful relations with surrounding nations (1 Kings 5), attended to the thronging guests from every quarter of the earth who sought out his wisdom (1 Kings 4:10) and oversaw the establishment of Israel's first permanent temple (1 Kings 5:8). Not only was Israel great in the eyes of other nations during Solomon's reign, it stood as a monument to the power of the true and living God as was expressed by the Queen of Sheba who came to witness its' fame and the fame of its' king (1 Kings 10:9).

 

Solomon judged Israel in righteousness and with exceeding wisdom. He is credited with 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32). The fame of his wisdom reached so far and wide that 'there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth....' (1Kings 4:34)

 

Of all Solomon's achievements, the greatest was the building of the temple which the Lord promised David would be built by his son after him and to whom He gave explicit instructions, through revelation, for its' construction. Solomon built a splendid temple with the finest materials and dedicated it himself through an amazing dedicatory prayer once again affirming his devotion to the God of Israel (1 Kings 8:23-53).

 

The temple was indeed magnificent, adorned with fine materials such as gold which was worth 108,000 talents, estimated to be millions of dollars in today’s currency but in reality it was about the same size as the modern mini-temples of our day (1 Kings 6). It took 7 years to build but Solomon’s house took 13 years (1 Kings 6:38; 7:1)…..and so the cracks began to appear…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN