LIFE LESSONS
SOLOMON
DR. JIM DIXON
1 KINGS 3:3-15
AUGUST 3, 2003
Who was the Queen of Sheba? Was she, as tradition tells us, the ruler of an African nation? Was she the “kandake,” the Queen of Ethiopia, the queen of that Eastern African nation? Did she fall in love, as tradition tells us, with King Solomon? Did they have a son? Was his name Menelik I, the first king of Ethiopia, as the Royal House of Ethiopia claimed for hundreds of years? Or was the Queen of Sheba, as modern scholars say, the ruler of an Arabian nation? Was the word “sheba” simply the Hebrew form of the Arabian word Seba” Was she the ruler of the great nation of Seba in the Southern Arabian area where Yemen is today? Were all the ships of Seba the Sebian vessels that journeyed to Africa and to Asia bringing the wealth of the world her ships? Did she rule Seba when it was at its zenith and when the boundaries of the nation spread across the Red Sea into the African continent, covering the area of modern-day Ethiopia and the Sudan? Was the Queen of Sheba so great that she ruled parts of Arabia and parts of Africa?
These are questions modern-day scholarship continues to debate, but this we know: In the 10th century before Christ, the Queen of Sheba came to Israel. She came to see the king of Israel, King Solomon, because of two things. She had heard of his great wealth, and she had heard of his great wisdom. She heard his was the greatest wealth in the world and the greatest wisdom in the world. These are our two subjects this morning—wealth and wisdom—as we look at Solomon. Our two life lessons have to do with wealth and wisdom.
First we look at wealth. A man named Martin Schleizman was and is a researcher in animal research. He has conducted a study recently on dogs. I doubt that his studies were approved by animal rights advocates. What he’s done is he’s put dogs into electric cages. The floor of the cage is an electrical grid, and it emits an electrical charge so that the dogs in those cages experience pain. It is not enough to injure them. Certainly it is not enough to kill them, but it is real pain. The dogs begin to whimper and they begin to kind of whine. When he opens the doors to the cages, the dogs just run out, bolting to freedom. What he’s discovered is that if he leaves the doors closed long enough, the dogs cease their whimpering. They cease their whining. They begin to accept their pain. He can prove physiologically that the pain remains, but they just cease to whimper and begin to accept their pain. In fact, he’s discovered in his laboratories that if you leave the doors closed long enough, when you finally open them, the dogs just stay in the cage. Even though the electricity is still on, even though the pain is there, the dogs just stay in the cage. He has reported that this phenomenon is called “conditioned hopelessness.” The dogs are simply conditioned in hopelessness and they begin to think the pain will never leave. When they have a chance to escape, they do not take it.
Sociologists tell us that many poor people feel like this in the urban corridors of America. In the urban communities across this nation, many poor people—some of them Hispanic, some African-American, some Anglo, but all poor—they experience conditioned hopelessness. They just begin to accept their pain, and it seems as though the door is forever locked. When finally the door of opportunity opens, they just remain in their condition of hopelessness. They don’t bolt for their opportunity. They don’t bolt for freedom. They live in conditioned hopelessness.
But it would be a grave mistake to think that the poor have cornered the market on hopelessness. Hopelessness knows no socioeconomic boundaries. In every stratum of life there are men and women struggling with hopelessness. Maybe you’re one of them. Maybe you feel like life is kind of hopeless.
In the year 1923 at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, there was a famous gathering of famous men. Perhaps you’ve heard of that gathering. Seven men, some of the richest men in the world, gathered. There was Charles Schwab, the head of the largest independent steel company in the world. He had been the President of Bethlehem Steel. He had been the President of U.S. Steel. He’d been the President of Carnegie Steel. He was there at that meeting.
Arthur Cutten, the agricultural giant, the greatest wheat speculator in the world, was there amongst the seven. Albert Fall, the mega millionaire who was a member of the corrupt cabinet of President Warren Harding, was there. Richard Whitney, President of the New York Stock Exchange, was there. Jesse Livermore, who was called “the great bear of Wall Street,” was there. Leon Frasier, who was the President of the Bank of International Settlement, was there. Ivar Kreuger, who was the CEO of the largest monopoly in the world, was there.
These seven in the aggregate had more wealth, more money, than the entire United States Treasury. The people of Chicago wanted to know, what’s going on? The newspapers wanted to know, what’s going on? Why are these seven wealthy guys meeting at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago? Well, that’s another story. What I want us to focus on is what happened to those seven men just 23 years later. In 1946, in the aftermath of World War II, what had happened to those seven men?
Charles Schwab had become bankrupt, and he was living in poverty, living on borrowed money. Arthur Cutten was also penniless, and he had fled America to escape his debt. Albert Fall had been in prison. In fact, he was still in prison in 1946. The cabinet of President Warren Harding was indeed corrupt. Albert Fall was eventually released from prison. He was dying of cancer, so he was allowed to die in his home. Richard Whitney, the President of the New York Stock Exchange, was in Sing Sing Penitentiary. Jesse Livermore committed suicide. He still had his mega millions, but life wasn’t worth living anymore and he just committed suicide. Leon Frasier did the same. He was still a wealthy man, still a mega millionaire, but life just seemed like it was without value. He took his own life. Ivar Kreuger did the same. He committed suicide. Though he retained his wealth, life was not worth living. He took his own life.
What an amazing outcome of those seven lives. Of course, wealth is no guarantee of happiness. Hopelessness and despair can come to any person. Wealth, in fact, can bankrupt the soul and can be more dangerous than anything.
Now we come to the wealth of King Solomon. His wealth is legendary. Years ago, an author named H. Rider Haggard wrote a story about King Solomon’s wealth and the search for it. The hero of all of his stories was Allan Quartermain. The motion picture industry has made a number of movies based on H. Rider Haggard’s story. The first movie was made in 1937, and it was called “King Solomon’s Mines.” Some of you probably saw that, though not in 1937. It starred Cedric Hardwick and Paul Robeson.
The next movie was also called “King Solomon’s Mines.” It was made in 1950 and starred Stewart Grainger and Deborah Kerr. It was a great motion picture. The next movie was made in 1977 by the British. It starred Brett Ecklin and it starred Patrick McNee and David McCullum. It was called “King Solomon’s Treasure,” and it was really a bad movie. The next movie was made in 1985 and it too was called “King Solomon’s Mines” and starred Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone. It was really a dumb movie.
So, the motion picture industry has made these four movies based on the work of H. Rider Haggard. Of course, they would have made none of them except for the legend surrounding the wealth of King Solomon. But the Bible tells us it’s not legend. He was really wealthy. Historians agree that King Solomon was truly one of the wealthiest men in the world. Of course, he built the Temple on Mt. Moriah where the Dome of the Rock stands today. That temple was the equal of any temple in the world in that time. He built his royal palace, and it was the equal of any palace on the earth. He built chariot cities to accommodate his vast military forces. He entered into international agreements with nations in Africa and nations in Asia. He brought the wealth of the world to his throne. He was incredibly wealthy, and it was all God’s gift.
Solomon had not asked for wealth. It was God’s gift. God was pleased that Solomon had not asked for wealth; that he had not requested it. God just decided in His generosity and in His grace to provide it. But, of course, wealth is a dangerous gift. It is a dangerous, dangerous gift. “To whom much is given, much is required.” I think it’s safe to say that wealth corrupts. Certainly, wealth corrupts.
The Bible tells us even if we seek wealth, it’s dangerous. The Bible says, “There’s great gain in godliness with contentment. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” The Bible says, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” The Bible says, “The love of money is the root of all evil. It’s through this craving that many depart from the faith and purge their hearts or afflict their hearts with many pains.”
Money is dangerous. Of course, if you trust in money, it will bankrupt your soul. If you make money the source of your confidence and trust, it will bankrupt your soul. The Bible says you are very complex. The Bible says you are so complex that you are trichotomous. You are body, soul and spirit—”soma, psyche, pneuma.” Your soul was created to trust in God. It was made to trust in God. When you trust in wealth and when you trust in money, it bankrupts the soul.
On our currency, it says, “In God We Trust.” But it’s a lie. In money we trust. In money we trust, and it just eats at the soul. It’s one of the diseases of this nation. Of course, it bankrupts the soul when we live for money. When we live for money and the pursuit of wealth as so many people do in our culture and in our nation and in our time, it just leads ultimately to despair because your soul was meant to seek and to live for the things of God. Your soul was meant to seek the things of God, His kingdom, and its righteousness. That’s what your soul is designed for. If you give your body and soul into a quest for money and wealth, it bankrupts the soul.
If you revel in wealth, it produces great spiritual damage. If you use your money to sate your desires, your need for pleasure and your need for stuff… if you revel in wealth, it bankrupts the soul because your soul was made to revel in God and in the things of God. If you hoard your wealth, it bankrupts the soul because your soul was made for generosity and to give things away. You actually lose happiness and lose joy and lose meaning in life when you hoard your wealth. Wealth is a very, very dangerous thing, and it was dangerous in the life of Solomon and is dangerous in our lives. When the Bible speaks of the wealthy, it’s speaking of us. When God looks down on the nations of the world and He sees that in 50% of the world the people do not eat as well as our garbage disposals, God knows who the wealthy are. We’re the wealthy, and it’s dangerous.
This morning we have a second life lesson that deals with the subject of wisdom. Of course, Solomon was known for his wisdom. It was at Gibeon when Solomon had gone to worship. Gibeon was one of the high places, one of the worship places not too far from Jerusalem. There at Gibeon, when Solomon was seeking the Lord in worship, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a visionary dream. God appeared to him. Incredibly, God virtually said to him, “Make a wish.” Isn’t that incredible? Would you like God to come to you and say that? “Make a wish. Ask what I shall give you.”
Solomon did not ask for wealth. He did not ask for long life or longevity. He did not ask for vengeance upon his enemies. This pleased God. What is wealth compared to the treasures of heaven? What is longevity when compared to eternal life? What is vengeance when God has said, “Vengeance is mine, and all must stand before the Judgement Seat of the Lord.” So, Solomon asked for wisdom and God was pleased. That’s what God wants from me and that’s what God wants from you. He wants us to seek wisdom. In fact, I would say God wants you to seek wisdom supremely. More than anything else, God wants you to seek wisdom, particularly when we understand what the Bible means by wisdom.
The Bible speaks of three different types of wisdom. First of all, the Bible speaks of human wisdom. Of course, there is not enough of that in the world. I remember hearing a joke when I was very young, and I saw it again just a few weeks ago. It’s as dumb now as it was then, but I’m going to tell it anyway. It’s about two guys that were digging a ditch. They were in the hot sun. They looked and saw their boss sitting under the shade of a tree. The one ditch digger said to the other, “Why do we have to work here and labor in this hot sun while our boss gets to sit in the shade of a tree?” The other guy says, “Well, I’ll go ask him.” He went over to his boss and said, “Why is it that we have to work so hard in the sun and you get to sit here in the shade?” His boss said, “intelligence.” The man said, “I don’t understand.” The boss put his hand on the tree. He said, “Take your fist and hit my hand.” The ditch digger tried to do that and, of course, at the last second the boss took his hand away and the ditch digger hit the tree. The boss said, “See, that’s what I mean. Intelligence.”
The ditch digger went back to the ditch. His friend said, “Well, what did he say?” “He said we’re down here working in the ditch and laboring in the sun because of intelligence.” His friend said, “Well, what does that mean?” The guy put his hand on his face and said, “Take your shovel and hit my hand!” Of course, with apologies to all ditch diggers in the world, that’s a dumb joke. But we live in a dumb world. Yet even in this dumb world there is some earthly wisdom, a little bit of earthly wisdom.
In Acts, chapter 7, the Bible tells us that Moses was educated in all the wisdom of Egypt. That’s a reference to earthly wisdom. In Daniel, chapter 1, the Bible tells us that Daniel the Prophet was educated in all the wisdom of the Chaldeans and the Babylonians. The reference is to earthly wisdom. In 1 Corinthians, chapters 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul distinguishes between human wisdom and divine wisdom. He does not condemn human wisdom. If he were to condemn human wisdom, he would condemn Moses for seeking the wisdom of Egypt. Or he would condemn Daniel for seeking the wisdom of the Chaldeans. There is nothing wrong with human wisdom. We are created in the image of God, the imago Dei. It’s at least residual in us. There’s some benefit to human wisdom.
Paul says that human wisdom is inadequate because it cannot comprehend ultimate truth. It cannot lead us to ultimate truth. Human wisdom cannot reveal the truths of heaven or even guide us adequately on earth. The whole study of human wisdom is called philosophy, from two Greek words: “philos” and “sofia.” Philos means “love,” and sofia means “wisdom.” Philosophy is the love of wisdom. Of course, world history has seen many philosophers.
In the year 551 B.C., a man was born in the Shangdong Province of China. His name was Kung. He was a great philosopher. In fact, he was called Kong Fuzi, which means, “Great Master Kong.” His name and the title were eventually Latinized and became Confucius. Confucius was a philosopher. He was a religious man, but he had no desire to start a religion. Of course, today Confucianism is a religion, and the teachings of Confucius have gone through what they call “seven transitions.” And the teachings of Confucius have been combined with Buddhism, Taoism, and tribal animism. And certainly Confucianism is a religious system, but Confucius just wanted to be a philosopher.
He had considerable wisdom. In all of his pithy sayings, his sage advice was put into a book called the Analects, which means “the compiling” or “the gathering up.” It’s a gathering up of all his sayings. You can look in the Analects and you can see some of the wisdom of Confucius, and some of it is pretty good. There’s stuff like, Confucius says, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” “He who aimeth at nothing verily hitteth it every time.” There’s a certain amount of sage wisdom in that. Of course, ultimately Confucius had two pillars to his philosophy. One was service and the other was respect. He taught that we should serve humanity, and we should respect authority. His three pillars were: serve humanity, respect the authority of your parents, and respect the authority of the government. It is not bad, as human philosophy and human wisdom go.
Of course, here in American history we’ve had our own philosophers. Even people like Benjamin Franklin and Will Rogers were philosophers, though they would never assume that title. You can look in Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac” and you can see a lot of wisdom there and it’s fine. The Bible doesn’t condemn philosophy. It’s fine to go and look at human wisdom and see what you can learn. That’s fine, but it’s inadequate because it will not lead to ultimate truth, and it will not adequately guide your life.
The Bible speaks of a second kind of wisdom, and the Bible speaks of this second wisdom as demonic wisdom (and you are to avoid this). In James, chapter 3, verse 15, the Bible speaks of that wisdom which is from below, that wisdom which James says is devilish.
In Isaiah, chapter 14, and in Ezekiel, chapter 28, you can see perhaps a glimpse of the devil at the dawn of time before his fall. The Bible says he “corrupted his wisdom for the sake of his splendor,” and he has brought his corrupt wisdom to earth. Because he has brought his corrupt wisdom to earth, sometimes demonic wisdom is simply, in the Bible, called “worldly wisdom.” The Bible tells us that the devil is the “kosmokrator,” the ruler of this world, the archon, the ruler, the prince of this world. This world is in his grip, and his wisdom permeates the cultures of the world. It’s for this reason the Bible says, “Do not love the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—are not of the Father but are of the world. But the world passes away and the desires of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
So, we see demonic wisdom as kind of summed up in the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh is hedonism, making pleasure the central pursuit of your life. The lust of the eyes is materialism, making money and stuff the central pursuit of your life and the pride of life itself—ascensionism, making yourself the central focus of your life. This is demonic wisdom, and it has sated our culture. Is there any doubt? People have bought the lie that if they can just experience enough pleasure or get enough stuff or have a large enough bank account or attain enough fame or popularity, that somehow they’ll find fulfillment, joy, and happiness. It’s a lie. It’s all demonic wisdom.
The Bible speaks of a third type of wisdom, and it is divine wisdom. James, chapter 3, verse 17, speaks of the wisdom that is from above. 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, speaks of godly wisdom, divine wisdom. This, of course, is the wisdom we are to seek.
When Solomon asked for wisdom, most Bible scholars believe that God gave him kind of a combination of the best of human wisdom and a significant dose of divine wisdom. Of course, many people throughout world history have sought divine wisdom. The Greek philosophers sought divine wisdom. Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates sought divine wisdom. Aristotle spoke of the first philosophy which he sometimes called theology and other times called metaphysics. The whole goal of Aristotle’s first philosophy was to know the mind of God. This was supremely what Plato and Socrates and Aristotle sought to know: The mind of God, the source and the essence of genuine true wisdom. They called the mind of God “the Logos,” from which we get the English word “logic.” They called the mind of God “the Logos.” But how do you know the mind of God?
How can we understand wisdom at its very source? How can we know the Logos? They thought maybe we could work our way back from the creation to the Creator. That’s what Aristotle thought. He thought, “Maybe we can, through sensory observation and the five senses combined with inductive and deductive reasoning, get a little bit of the glimpse of the mind of God, working our way back from the mind of man.” There’s some truth to that. Romans, chapter 1, says, “Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible nature and deity have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”
We can look at the creation and we can get a glimpse of something of the nature of the Creator, but it’s inadequate. We can’t get a full glimpse of “the Logos.” We can’t get a full glimpse of the mind of God. We can’t really understand divine wisdom. And so, we come to John, chapter 1, where the Bible tells us that “the Logos” came into the world. “In the beginning was the Logos and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. And the Logos was made flesh and was born amongst us and we beheld its glory, Jesus Christ.” Jesus is the Logos. He is the mind of God. He is the wisdom of God, and that is why when you look at passages like 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, and Colossians, chapter 2, and Revelation, chapter 5, Jesus is simply called “the wisdom of God.” He is the mind of God.
The Bible says, “Have this mind in you which is yours in Christ Jesus.” Seek His mind. Of course, it’s interesting that in the Bible, other than Jesus Christ, only two other things are called “Logos.” One is the gospel. It is called “the Logos, the word,” because it reveals Christ. The beginning of wisdom is to respond to the gospel which Christ has sent over the face of the earth, inviting people to receive Him as Savior, to embrace the cross, and to commit to Him as Lord. This is the gospel and it is the beginning of wisdom. It is the Logos. It leads us to the mind of God. It leads us to Christ.
The other thing in the Bible that is called the Logos is the Bible itself—Holy Scripture, the Word of God. It is so called because it reveals Christ. It reveals the mind of Christ. It reveals divine wisdom. If you seek wisdom with all of your heart and with all of your soul, you must respond to the Gospel and then you must devote yourself to the Word day-by-day. Through Christ, you experience divine wisdom.
I want to close with a little story. It’s a story that I included in my book “Vice and Virtue” on the deadly sins and the cardinal virtues. This is a story that began 3,400 years ago. The Egyptian Pharaoh, Thutmose III built two giant obelisks. He raised them to the heavens in the Temple of the Sun in the City of Heliopolis. He decreed that his name Thutmose III be inscribed on those two giant obelisks. Two hundred years later, Ramses II also had his name inscribed on the two giant obelisks because he sought all glory for himself. In the year 10 BC, those two giant obelisks were moved from the Temple of the Sun in the city of Heliopolis. They were actually moved all the way to Alexandria, Egypt, because a Ptolemaic pharaoh had decreed that those two giant obelisks would adorn his grand palace at Alexandria. At that point in time, those two giant obelisks began to be called Cleopatra’s Needles, although they had nothing to do with Cleopatra.
Today you can see one of those two obelisks standing along the banks of the Thames River in the city of London. You can see the other standing in Central Park in New York City. Those two giant obelisks were given by Egypt to England and America. The giant obelisk Cleopatra’s Needle that stands in Central Park in New York City is 69 feet tall and weighs more than two hundred tons. Whenever you go to New York City and Central Park and you look up at that giant obelisk, you should be reminded of a story told by Pliny the Elder.
Pliny the Elder was a great historian who died in Pompeii in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. According to the writings of Pliny the Elder, when Cleopatra’s Needles were lifted to the heavens in the city of Alexandria in 10 BC. The ruler of Egypt was concerned that one of the obelisks or perhaps both might fall and be ruined. The ruler of Egypt decreed that the two sons of the supervising engineer be tied to the top of Cleopatra’s Needles. The two sons of the supervising engineer were tied to the top of the obelisks, one boy tied to one and the other tied to the top of the second obelisk, so that the supervising engineer would be careful. If an obelisk fell, the supervising engineer would lose his son. And so, every day, according to the historian Pliny the Elder, this supervising engineer was filled with fear that in elevating these giant obelisks to the heavens, he might lose his sons. Moving those giant obelisks took many, many days, but eventually those two obelisks were successfully lifted into the heavens and they were erected. He was extremely careful, and his two sons were safely brought down.
It’s kind of an amazing story. I was thinking, “Wouldn’t that be scary? How would you feel? We’re in Highlands Ranch, and this is kind of a kid-dense area. There are a lot of families here. I know there are a lot of moms and dads here. How would you feel if your children were somehow… If their life or death was somehow tied to your performance? Would that be a scary thing? And yet the Bible tells us there’s a sense in which it’s true. There’s a sense in which your children’s lives are tied to your performance. There is grace and there is mercy, and we can all thank God for that, but there’s still this sense in which our performance affects the outcome of our children’s lives. It’s scary, but I tell you this: If you give your life to the pursuit of human wisdom, it’s just inadequate. You will perhaps encourage your children to read the philosophies, but it’s inadequate. They will never lead to ultimate truth. Nor will they be an adequate guide for life on this earth.
If you give your life to demonic wisdom, what a tragedy. If your kids grow up and they see you centering your life on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life… If they see you giving your life supremely to the pursuit of comfort and pleasure or the pursuit of money and stuff or all the things of ego and self… If that’s what your kids see, it’s going to destroy them. That’s the likelihood, that it will just destroy them and lead them astray. But if you give your life to divine wisdom and you seek the Logos, you seek the mind of God who is Christ and you come to the gospel and you receive Christ at the foot of the cross and you devote your life daily to His Word that you might grow in wisdom and the mind of Christ might begin to infuse with your mind, what a blessing that is going to be—not only for you, but for your children.
These are the life lessons from Solomon. Wealth is a gift, but it is dangerous. Don’t seek it. Solomon didn’t. Don’t you seek it. It’s dangerous. Seek wisdom and understand. The only kind of wisdom that has supreme importance is divine wisdom, and it centers on the Logos, the mind of Jesus Christ. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.