The Gift of Wisdom (1 Kings 3:4-9, 16-28; Pentecost 20a; October 26, 2014)

The Gift of Wisdom

1 Kings 3:4-9, 16-28
Pentecost 20a
October 26, 2014

Rev. John M. Caldwell, PhD
First United Methodist Church
Decorah, IA

My children’s bible was relatively well-censored, but somehow this story got in.  And it came with an illustration, too.  There were two women in the royal court with their long hair unpinned and disordered.  One was on her knees, pleading with tears.  The other was standing with her arms crossed, looking like she’d just eaten some cream of mushroom soup that was past its “use by” date.  Solomon sat on his throne, looking stern.  A soldier was holding a crying baby by its ankle in his left hand and holding a sword in his right hand ready to strike.  The picture froze the story in the terrible moment of decision.

Reading the story, I learned that Solomon had to decide—without the benefit of DNA testing—which of the two women was the mother of the child.  He hit on this strategy for testing them.  Sure enough the women revealed who they were and so Solomon had his answer.  It was a bluff.  All is well that ends well, I suppose.

And yet I kept coming back to the picture, the story frozen in the moment of its greatest horror.  The people’s “respect for the king grew,” the lesson says.  “Respect” here translates the word for fear which, granted, has a wide range of meanings, including awe.  The word of Solomon’s judgment spread and the people respected the king, were in awe of the king, or maybe they were just afraid.  I know I was afraid nearly three thousand years later just from looking at the picture!

Solomon was a wise man, so our tradition tells us.  They used to say that someone who could see past the surface into the heart of a matter had “the wisdom of Solomon.”  This, however, is the only example of Solomon’s wisdom that has come down to us.  What sort of wisdom is this?  It was useful, certainly.  It let Solomon dispose of legal cases that would have taken up a lot more of his time otherwise.  It enhanced his reputation.

I would call the Solomon of this story clever, rather than wise, but the ancients made no such distinction.  In Luke, for example, when Jesus promises his disciples wisdom, the purpose of that wisdom is so that will be able to give testimony that their opponents won’t be able to contradict.  Jesus in Matthew tells us to be “wise as serpents.”

There was a wisdom tradition in ancient Israel that continued for centuries.  Wisdom writers wrote a good deal of the Bible.  Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job and many of the psalms are a part of what scholars call wisdom literature.  Scribes who were part of the civil service probably produced much of it.  They were bureaucrats even before there were bureaus.  When we look closely at what is in these books, we find that wisdom is often little more than practical advice for knowledge workers who were trying to get along in the competitive and political environment of the royal court. 

As an apprentice curmudgeon, one of the things that I like to complain about is the lack of wisdom in the world today: we have all sorts of knowledge, but very little wisdom.  I bristle when college majors are rated by how much you can expect to earn with a particular degree.  I achieve a state of high dudgeon when education is defined as preparing people for the job market.  We have developed great ability to advance in technology without learning how to ask—let alone answer—such basic questions as Why? and Should we?

For Solomon and the wisdom tradition that followed, wisdom was mostly a technique for governing.  Some of that technique was exercised through clay tablets and papyrus documents.  Some was exercised in architecture.  Solomon’s Temple, an ancient marvel, was propaganda in stone.  It proclaimed the eternal protective presence of Israel’s covenant God who would never let Israel suffer defeat and who would uphold David’s dynasty for all time.  In Solomon’s court the scribes kept track of the taxes owed, the labor drafted, and the goods given for God’s greater glory and the increase of Solomon’s power.  All of this was a part of the wisdom that Solomon prayed for.

And all of this, says the text, was so that Solomon could “execute justice.”  Well, that’s almost what it says.  What it says could be translated as “render judgment.” This gift of wisdom that Solomon as asked for could simply be the gift of being able to dispose of legal cases swiftly and in a way that impressed his subjects.  This would certainly make governing easier. 

But wisdom here is more than that.  It is “God’s wisdom…in him.”  This is not just a cleverness that lets Solomon govern with ease and efficiency for whatever ends he chooses.  This is God’s Hôkhmah, God’s Sophia, God’s Wisdom that has taken up residence “in him”, in the inner part of his body, his “innards.”  God’s Wisdom is as close to him as heartburn.  It is a part of him.  In this way, Solomon’s judgments will be a reflection of God’s judgments.  And, since God is passionately committed to justice, in this way, Solomon’s judgments will be just.  And that justice is not just for the rich and well-connected.  It’s for everyone, even for women counted among the lowest of the low.  Whatever it was that Solomon thought he was praying for, this is what his prayer meant.

From where I stand, it looks like we could use more of this kind of wisdom.  We could use more judgments aligned with the wisdom of God in the governing of our community, our nation and our world.  In a democracy, we say, the people rule.  We rule.  I’m one of the rulers of this country, speaking to other rulers of this country.  Like Solomon, we are called on once a year or so to render a judgment.  Sometimes the choices seem clear; other times not so much.  Sometimes the candidates sound like the women in our story, each claiming to be the victim of the other’s dirty tricks, each making a claim on the baby.  When we render our judgment by casting our vote, we need the same wisdom Solomon prayed for, not just to make our own lives easier, but so God’s wisdom might guide our judgment and justice might be done.

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