The Wisdom of Solomon

1 Kings 3-4

            Young Solomon famously asks for wisdom, “So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong” (1 Kings 3:9). In chapter 4, we find out that Solomon was intelligent, too, cataloguing all sorts of plant and animal life. Wisdom and intelligence are two different things. Yes, they are both related to the life of the mind, but they are two different facilities. Intelligence is about logic, categories, synthesizing information. Wisdom has a more practical bent. It asks, “What is this knowledge for? How is it appropriately used?” There’s a great line in the movie Jurassic Park that illustrates the difference. A character named Malcolm observes about cloning dinosaurs, “You were so concerned with whether you could that you never asked if you should.” Wisdom is about discerning the right path forward.

            In the Scriptures, wisdom is related to the Lord. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). If one is going to know how to apply knowledge, then one must have a spiritual and moral compass that understands the ways of the Lord.

            I’ve known plenty of intelligent people over the years, and some of them didn’t have any wisdom. I’ve known plenty of people over the years that the world would not describe as intelligent, but their wisdom was extraordinary. There was a man at the church I grew up in like that. He wasn’t well-educated; you could even dismiss him as simple. But he loved the Lord and he loved the Lord’s word and when he opened his mouth people listened—because he was wise.

            Young Solomon asks for wisdom. He asks to discern right and wrong and so to rule with justice. One could wish more of the world’s leaders made a similar prayer! Certainly to ask for a discerning heart, one rooted in the fear of the Lord, is still a good thing.