1 Kings 11:1-13; Luke 11:29-36
September 19, 2021
- Solomon’s demise does not have to be ours
This week in the life of Solomon has taught me something. I know I look like some old man, but you may be surprised to hear that my wife is actually older. One of you continues to wonder if she is one of my daughters (which she genuinely appreciates), but in fact, my wife is a little bit older than I. Now, what I learned this week is that she might even be older than that – quite a bit. I am thinking now she may have been around in the days of Solomon. It certainly seems like she taught him a thing or two.
Anne likes to share that one of the big lessons she teaches her students is that if and when they are married one day, the most important thing that they can say is “Yes, dear.” She has come to realize that it is critical for spouses to be able to respond to the needs of their partner with these simple, crucial words: Yes, dear.
Of course, she is a bit tongue in cheek with this, but this is exactly where Solomon ends up in his life and rule, and sadly, it is where he loses his wisdom and where he fails God. The Kingdom of Israel is ripped apart because Solomon can’t stop saying, “yes, dear.”
For the record, there is some wisdom in my wife’s lesson, but that is because we only have one spouse at a time.
Can you imagine having 700 spouses at once? We don’t know whether Solomon went overboard making political marriages or whether he just went wife crazy or maybe both. What we do know is that he ended up with far more wives than he could ever responsibly relate to, so when he said, “yes, dear.” He got into trouble. You heard in the passage how he had built shrines or altars in the high places for his wives as they had needs in their religious traditions, but what was even worse was that he apparently joined them in their worship of other gods. If there is one absolute “no-no” for the people of God, it is this. You might remember Commandment #1: You shall have no other gods before me.
In a stunning reversal for the wisest man to ever exist, Solomon makes one of the biggest mistakes. It does not matter whether he writes several wisdom books or amazes people with his answers to their situations or can riddle people to their heart’s content, if he cannot follow his own God-given wisdom, he is in trouble. Of course, it was not one mistake but a culmination of choices that turned his heart away from God. Yes, he turned his back on the God of his father David who claims to be a jealous God, in that God wants to have our whole attention.
You might recall that one of the bedrock wisdom passages, that we can reasonably imagine Solomon wrote himself, is that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.”
Now, that might kind of a strange thing to say, if you are not familiar with it. I am not going to unpack all of that here, but the snapshot is that if you have a very healthy reverence for God, then you will do what you should be doing because you really care what God thinks about you. While I reject that God wants us terrified of the Almighty, like the Great and Terrible Oz (we should not be quaking in our boots before our Holy and Heavenly Father), we should be very conscious of how we live into God’s expectations. That is the wise thing to do – take what God has to say most seriously and intentionally live by God’s truth. Same thing largely applies to listening to your parents. Children who really want to follow what their parents say are probably going to do well and be successful and not cause a good bit of trouble. They will appear wise.
Of course, we know how that usually turns out. Did anyone here follow your parents or God’s instructions perfectly? None of us was as good as we should have been in listening and respecting and following the law of God or our parents.
Well, maybe you can take some consolation in the fact that you are in good company. Even the wisest person in history did the same thing. You would think that if anyone could stick with God’s wisdom, it would have been Solomon, but it turned out very badly for him. It looks like he gave up wisdom nearly altogether.
One problem is that it is so very easy to swap out one wisdom for another. As we go through life and learn how the world works and how we can get along and get ahead, we develop our own sense of wisdom that seems to be helpful. It is not a wisdom learned easily and will be earned through our failures. Some of us even pride ourselves for learning the hard way through the school of hard-knocks. We develop ways to navigate the world with all of its challenges. We figure out what works for us and does not. There is nothing wrong with becoming smarter and wiser through life and the experiences we have with others. What we CANNOT do, however, is to forget the beginning of wisdom, or we, like Solomon, will find ourselves at the end of wisdom.
If only we could figure out what the fear of the Lord does mean. Remember that first dream conversation that Solomon had with God when he asked for wisdom? Remember why he wanted wisdom over power or wealth or life or anything else he might ask? He wanted to be a good king and take care of the people of God. He wanted to rule for them with a godly heart and take care of them like his father, David, had done. Yes. Yes. Yes.
I think we have just hit on what the fear of the Lord is supposed to lead us to. Absolutely, we are supposed to listen to God with serious attention and deep reverence – holy awe with the power of God’s magnificence. We should be riveted by God’s overwhelming presence, but if we listen to the kinds of things that God wants us to do, we end up with taking care of others, respecting their life, honoring our relationships, guarding the welfare of those around us who are in need, being good participants in community, all kinds of ways God has given us to be the people God is calling us to be. Solomon understood this. He was supposed to care for the people, but his eyes got too big for him with his dreams of building and expanding and making himself the envy of the world; that is when he enslaved thousands and thousands of his own people. His heart got too big for him when he could take wife after wife and concubine after concubine; that is when he began building religious shrines for them and joining in their worship. He could no longer care for his people as a man after God’s own heart. He was caring for them as someone who loved himself first.
In a much simpler and more beautiful way, Jesus points us to God’s greater wisdom when he was asked what the greatest commandment was. You recall what he said: love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength – with your entire self (sounds like fear of the Lord, doesn’t it); and love your neighbor as yourself. They go hand in hand. Jesus does not separate either as being lesser. Our love of God, our reverence of God, our fear of the Lord, means that we will earnestly care the people of God.
As it turns out, the beginning of wisdom and the end of wisdom are really the same. It is about honoring God with all that we have to the best of our ability throughout our lives. If you begin in wisdom, you also need to end in wisdom. This is our wisdom goal. Solomon’s wisdom actually ended, but we are looking to finish our lives in greater wisdom.
That is what Jesus is calling us to in that passage from Luke 11. Both the Jonah reference and the Queen reference are the power of God reaching across the world, beyond the borders of the nation. It was obvious in their days how amazing God was. They did not need signs to see God. Jesus is the powerful presence of God calling us to greater life today.
It would not be a very good sermon on wisdom if I did not leave you with a little bit of wisdom, too. We are all at different stages of our lives, and we have all had different paths and learned different lessons through life. Our school of hard-knocks has worked us, and we are still trying to graduate but not too quickly.
There is always time, though, get ourselves back into a wiser disposition. It is always a good day to be wiser and to seek better wisdom. The wisdom of this world will not cut it. We might achieve more and earn more and do more, but it will not be for God’s glory. It is up to us to make what we have and what we do count. It is up to us to turn back to the only good fear – the fear of the Lord – and God’s demand that we care for the people of God.
Author Richard Bach once said Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you’re alive, it isn’t. Wisdom is here for us to share. We have been given the beginning of wisdom, and we are charged with carrying it through to the end. This is our mission. And to end, may God have the glory. Amen.