“The greatest good is wisdom.” St. Augustine
Wisdom. In her presence only the foolish are confident. And the wise admit we are fools.
In our Alphabet Adagio, we’ve reached the book of Proverbs. A voice calls,
“Happy are those who find wisdom and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue more than gold. She is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire can compare with her” (Prov 3: 13-15).
Do you thirst for wisdom above all?
Solomon’s Wish
King Solomon breathed one prayer as he began his reign in Israel. God, pleased, and perhaps pleasantly surprised, responded,
“I give you a wise and discerning mind, no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you.” 1 Kings 3:12-13.
From that moment, Solomon, as ordinary and dysfunctional as any of us, was transformed. Words poured from his mouth with such exquisite precision, we quote them still today. He solved the unsolvable, constructed the un-constructible, and ushered in the golden age of Israel’s history. The temple Solomon built for God was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Politics, engineering, law, science, literature–there seemed to be no arena where this king did not excel.
Except the arena off-stage, lights off, crowd dispersed, when no one else was looking.
Solomon consumed wives like potato chips, exchanging their gods for his own. His son, and successor, Rehoboam, openly rejected wisdom and stupidly played the fool. (1 Kings 12) The briefly glorious nation slid into civil war.
Yet, Solomon’s name is attached to three stanzas of wisdom’s song found in Old Testament pages:
- Song of Solomon: A poetic ideal of relationship.
- Proverbs: A practical roadmap for beautiful living–the small choices that make all the difference.
- Ecclesiastes: A cry of despair for a system, badly broken–when you obey every proverb and your world crashes anyway.
A tension filled triad, and the Bible doesn’t deny it. It’s a dance I know all too well. Like Solomon, I dream of what should be, strive for what’s hoped for, and stagger in bitterness at sometimes-earned pain. And get up to try again. More often than not, wisdom dissolves in a muddle, until I remember to lean on the One who gave wisdom her name.
[Colossians 2:2-3]
Is wisdom the gift you would ask for first?
In our series, An Alphabet Adagio, we are savoring the story of the Bible, our story, alphabetically. You can subscribe to e-mail above so you won’t miss a letter.
Dear Readers,
Please excuse my long pauses in our adagio–I am studying Hebrew this year toward completing my Masters in Theology and the language is tricky, time-consuming…and the print tiny! Thank you for your patience as I soak in this ancient wisdom.
Photograph of owls by Melanie Hunt
