Observation: Solomon has firmly been established as king of Israel, and as the wisest man in history thanks to the Lord's blessing. However, beyond just declaring that Solomon is "the wisest man in the world", the author makes a very specific and meaningful declaration ... that Solomon is wiser than "all the people of the East."
Nowhere in the bible is China mentioned. It is barely even understood by Christian tradition that some of the apostles traveled east as far as India. While the "east" is likely known of in Israel, to invoke it as a potential comparison for wisdom is very out of place. However, much later in history - a thousand years later and even still up to today - much of the world considers ancient China to be one of the sources of great wisdom, with the names of Chinese philosophers like Confucius and Laozi and Sun Tsu still known and their wisdom studied.
The author of 1 Kings, in circa 1100 BC, would have had no way of knowing that the "east" would be thought of as a source of wisdom throughout history, yet for some reason he makes it clear that Solomon's wisdom is greater than any of those great thinkers. This statement wasn't made because the author wanted to identify a benchmark of wisdom and then assert Solomon was greater. Rather, this statement was made because God knew mankind would someday adopt the east as a benchmark of wisdom, and preemptively is making it clear centuries in advance that the east is the wrong source of wisdom ... God is the source of the greatest wisdom, as made evident by Solomon.
And yet, here we stand, 3,200 years later, with SO many people thinking that - when they want to find a source of wisdom to use to model their life - they should adopt some eastern form of meditation, ritual, practice, religion, and/or philosophy. They were already told those are all inferior to this one truth ... fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, a statement made TWICE by the human who was wiser than all the people of the East ... but they reject the greatest wisdom to pursue the inferior wisdom.
Application: I know many people who have done this; Realigned their lives to embrace some "far east" practice or philosophy, in the hopes it will put them on the right path mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Most of those people know of Jesus and have outright rejected God, now considering themselves some kind of agnostic or atheist. In addition, I know of many, many more 'famous' people who have done this same thing.
Even at my lowest point, when I was on the brink of rejecting God forever, I never had an idea that something else was better. While I now know better, I can at least understand the idea some people have that there is no supreme ruler and order to life, and thus all is mostly pointless. However, the idea that people actively seek a model for how to live their lives, and then choose some eastern 'discipline' over Christian faith is something I cannot comprehend.
To actively pursue that which is known to be inferior must be an indication of a broken life. I know from experience that the rejection of God's wisdom was an indication of my lost and empty and broken life, how much more so to seek that wisdom, but to select the inferior path instead.
Prayer: Lord, one truth I know is that your wisdom is, in fact, the best and greatest, and that a life pursuing your wisdom is a worthy model for life on earth. I also know I fail to fully embrace your ways, and thank you for Jesus and the grace of your love when I do fail. May my daily life reflect your wisdom more and more. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment