1 Kings 3:4-9, 16-28
(sermon note: 11-01 sermon note)
3:4 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. 5 That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
6 Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.
7 “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. 8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! 9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
3:16 Some time later two prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled. 17 “Please, my lord,” one of them began, “this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house. 18 Three days later this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there were only two of us in the house.
19 “But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it. 20 Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. 21 And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”
22 Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.”
“No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.
23 Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other. 24 All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king.
25 Then he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!”
26 Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child—please do not kill him!”
But the other woman said, “All right, he will be neither yours nor mine; divide him between us!”
27 Then the king said, “Do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for she is his mother!”
28 When all Israel heard the king’s decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice.
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a young adventurer who visited the Himalayas and heard of a long and beautiful hike at the end of which he could meet a wise master. The journey was as rewarding as it was a challenge, and at the end the adventurer found a little old man with a long beard and a handmade cane in a cave. The adventurer waved to the old man, and the old man beckoned the adventurer to come over. The old man said, “I am the wise master of whom you seek. If you ask me for my wisdom, I will hit you with this stick. If you do not ask me for my wisdom, I will hit you with this stick.” The adventurer thought about this for a moment. “Well, wise master. I hiked all this way, and either way you will hit me with the stick – so I might as well learn your wisdom.” The wise master smiled, took the stick, and gave the adventurer a hard whap on the head. “The answer is to take the stick away, idiot,” he said. “That is my wisdom. Now go away.”
And that is a fine illustration of both the necessity of wisdom and often how we receive it. If that adventurer would go back to that wise old man and was greeted with the same two-pronged threat of being hit with the stick, then he would simply take the stick away as the old man taught him. He hadn’t known that taking the stick away was even an option until the old man told him it was. Of course, common sense should have kicked in and helped the adventurer realize that he could have easily taken the stick away from the old man in the first place. But the adventurer needed to learn the hard way only after receiving a hard whap on the head. Which is often how we receive a lot of wisdom—the hard way! By suffering hard consequences for not having a particular bit of wisdom.
Yes, wisdom is important for living a long, full life in this world. So important that the great king Solomon requested it above all else as we heard in our reading for this morning. It is an interesting request considering who Solomon’s parents were: David and Bathsheba. We heard last week of their nefarious beginning, when David was tempted by Bathsheba’s bathing which led to him impregnating her and having her soldier husband killed in the front lines of battle. Clearly parents with little to no wisdom, acting on hormones and guilt alone! Though one could argue that Bathsheba wisely seduced David and elevated her position in life from a lowly soldier’s wife. But a powerful man like David should have known better than to be guided by hormones and guilt alone. No doubt Solomon knew of his parents’ past and was hesitant to repeat it. Hence, his choice of wisdom as God’s gift. Wisdom would certainly keep him from repeating his parents’ past.
Indeed, there are a few key benefits to having wisdom in this world. First and foremost, it keeps us from getting into harm’s way. There are plenty of things and forces that want to hurt us. The devil is all around us, all the time, just waiting to take over and annihilate us. Trust me, the devil wants nothing more than to hurt us! The devil is always lurking, always eager to disrupt and destroy. But guess what? The devil is powerless to wisdom! Wisdom and love are the two greatest weapons to fight the devil. So if we want to fight sin and the devil…if we want to actually live in this world instead of simply suffer and die…then we need wisdom.
Wisdom enables us to live long, full lives in this world. Just look at what it eventually gave Solomon: 700 wives, 300 concubines, 3, possibly 4, children, a 40-year reign, 3000 proverbs and over 1000 songs compiled in 3 books of the Bible, and a golden age of unprecedented peace, safety, and prosperity for the people of Israel. Not bad for a wise guy! Yes, wisdom produces longevity and fullness to life that can only be rivaled by what love produces.
As if long, full lives weren’t enough, there is another great benefit to having wisdom. Our God is a wise and loving God, and we are connected more to God through wisdom and love. We become more like God through wisdom and love. And who among us wouldn’t want to be more like God? We all want to be like God, and we can be through wisdom. Mind you, we aren’t God and won’t ever be God, but we can certainly be like God, wise and loving. The wisdom of God is far beyond anything we could ever receive, and we must always revere God for his vast wisdom. Even Solomon tells us in his Proverbs, “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (1:7)
Our God is full of wisdom and love and is eager to share it with us. The apostle James tells us, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” (1:5) In asking for wisdom, we open our hearts and minds to his vast wisdom. And God’s wisdom is a unique type of wisdom as James goes on to tell us: “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.” (3:17) Be prepared, God’s wisdom is a unique blend of knowledge and love. God’s wisdom satisfies the hunger of both the mind and spirit and heart.
Solomon wisely chose a gift that would give him a long, full life and bring him closer to God. Let us likewise seek wisdom, particularly God’s unique blend of knowledge and love. Our God is good and generous and eager to bestow it upon us. Sometimes it’ll come with a little suffering, but it’ll come, nonetheless. And remember that knowledge is different than wisdom. I like the simple illustration that says knowledge is knowing tomatoes are fruits. Wisdom is knowing not to put tomatoes in a fruit salad! Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
