The Wisdom of... (2 Kings 2-3)

Funny what you get remembered for. Solomon, for instance. Had 700 wives and 300 concubines. As he got old he turned to other gods - mostly it is said due to one of this wives, the princess from Egypt. And yet what's he remembered for? His wisdom.

Solomon in his early days is the high point of the Israelite and Judean monarchy. A young king, in command of his kingdom, in close co-operation with his high priest and prophet. He's been left, somehow despite his dad's weakness, a united and quite prosperous nation.

And he goes to offer a massive sacrifice, like only a really prosperous king could - this isn't just about worship. It's about proving what a great king he is. 1,000 burnt offerings is a really impressive amount of livestock, just burnt. We might say, a massive waste. Judas might say, you could have fed 1,000 families for weeks. I'm not convinced I wouldn't agree with Judas. But Solomon is proving his dedication and his wealth, and he's doing it on a grand scale.

So God comes to this heroic figure, this mighty king. And says to him, what do you want?

Now it seems to me that the way the world goes is, the more someone has, the more they want. Not always, but that seems to be the way of things. Politicians with quite enough money will keep hustling for more, even when they could be retired in their shepherd's huts writing another load of useless memoirs. Businesspeople will keep asking for tax breaks, even when they've got quite enough.

So Solomon's reply to God is worth noting.

 

But first  up - the way he structures his answer is worth looking at. He says thanks for what God has done for David; encourages God to continue with looking after him; says that he is just nothing; then asks God what he wants. Beautifully structured prayer, with thanksgiving for past blessings flowing into a request for future ones, all based within an ongoing relationship.

Solomon says - I've got all this responsibility. And I don't know what I'm doing. So give me wisdom.

Couple of modern-day expressions that might be worth bringing in at this point. The first is the so-called "Peter Principle". The idea that people in organisations keep getting promoted until they reach the point where they can't do the job any more because they don't have the skills. So a brilliant computer programmer might end up as a terrible project manager. A brilliant salesperson could become a terrible Chief Executive.

And then, a controversial hypothesis often used for purposes of insulting other people.... the "Dunning-Kruger Effect" - the idea that people of low ability over-estimate how good they are at something. A bit like my guitar playing. Or all the experts on epidemiology and virology you meet in pubs or online. Unless you're very lucky.

But Solomon knows how good he isn't, and he knows he has been promoted beyond his abilities. So he shows wisdom first of all in asking for wisdom.

 

Very wise.

 

 Now, wisdom is something that people often look for. And in a variety of ways. St Simon Stylites sat on a pillar for 37 years so everyone assumed he was wise. In an episode of Last of the Summer Wine, Hywell Bennett attempts to become wise by dressing up in a potato sack and fake beard and living in the woods. 

Not that wise?

And it's easy to confuse wisdom with other things. Intelligence, for instance. But there's a difference. Intelligence is knowing that smoking is bad for you. Wisdom is not starting smoking.

Or "common sense". As the A Level results come out, you get the usual chorus of people saying "I didn't get the grades I needed but I still managed to become a hereditary peer in the House of Lords". Or others saying it's not the grades. It's your common sense. And I don't know. Common sense doesn't tell you how to manage an epidemic. If I'm building a nuclear reactor, I want some people with some knowledge of construction and/or nuclear physics involved. Not some bloke who managed to put his shed up OK and reckons he can give it a go. But for the question - should I build a nuclear power plant? - I need wisdom.

So Solomon has a lot ahead of him. He's got to keep his dad's kingdom united. Potentially fight off others of his family that would quite like the job. Build a temple to the King of Kings. And do all that with 1,000 fathers-in-law all coming round to tell him that they wouldn't have built the temple like that - they'd have had a bit more elevation on the architraves or the cherubim should be a bit wider or he's used the wrong type of sea-cow hides.

"You're gonna want to use Dutch Bond for yer Court of the Gentiles."

So Solomon asks for wisdom, judgement and discernment. Wisdom which can only come from God. Something to be sought in quiet, in giving time for consideration. Something which comes from prayer. Something that comes from insight into human nature and the world we live in. Something that is more sensible but less common than common sense. Which puts all learning and intelligence into perspective. Which looks to follow God's paths, using all the gifts that God puts in our way.

I like the idea that God is kind of a bit surprised at what Solomon asks for, and goes, "well in that case... you've won the jackpot! Honour and riches as well! You got the million-pound question right, and didn't have to ask the audience. 

 

And God in most modern translation gives Solomon something like a "discerning mind". But in the Hebrew, what Solomon receives is "a hearing heart". I like that - there's something important there. The Hebrew concept tied the will up to the heart rather to your head. So - let your heart hear before you make decisions.

 

And God then ties just one thing – Solomon’s lifespan - into one condition - walk in the ways of God's commandments and statutes. The irony that God then says "as your father did" - when we know that father's an adulterous murderer - we'll skip over. David has already become a meme. The perfect idealistic king. An image of what a king should be. Just not the one David managed to be in real life.

But that ties it up. Walk in the way of God's commandments and statutes - so read the Bible, understand what God is saying through it - this is not an easy job. Wrestle with God to get to the heart of what God wants. You don't need to wear a fake beard to be wise. You do need to put your back into it.

Solomon didn't live up to it in the end. We never do. Only one person ever did. For the rest of us, there's forgiveness. Wisdom in the end is knowing God's heart. And when we find wisdom, we find ourselves looking into the face of Jesus. 

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"Last of the Summer Wine" episodes: "It all began with a Volvo Headlamp" and "Wheelies". (c) BBC - fair use of low-resolution images.