Wisdom to the Hebrew people wasn’t just learning, but was expressed in proverbs, teachings that could be memorized and shared. The more wisdom you had memorized, the wiser you were.

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the pursuit of wisdom, spirituality today
Proper 15B  |   1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 & John  6:51-58

What is wisdom?

Before we talk about Solomon’s legendary wisdom, let’s talk about what wisdom is. If I were to ask you to define wisdom for one another, you might talk about experience and understanding. This is somewhat different from raw intelligence. Those of us who’ve played Dungeons and Dragons know that Intelligence and Wisdom are different attributes. Like “street smarts” is a type of wisdom. When we call someone “street smart” we aren’t deriding them for not memorizing Shakespeare or doing Calculus in their heads; we are actually saying that they are wise to the goings on “in the streets,” with other people and therefore get how to act there.

Wise people get it. And they usually get it through experience, more than something they’ve read.

So we have Solomon asking for wisdom and GOD saying: Wow! What a great response! Here you go! And we have this tradition that the Wisdom of Solomon was so great, and that he wrote these three books of wisdom literature in our Bible. But of course, it isn’t long before Solomon screws up, and screws up big and all of Israel and Judah are punished for it. How can this guy be Mr. King Wisdom?

'GOD is interested in our relationship together.' Share on X

Well, because wisdom in Hebrew scripture is a little different. James Kugel writes:

The word “wisdom” is generally used in the Bible in a somewhat different sense from the one it has in English. In English it is used for the most part to describe a quality of mind–good judgment, discernment, sagacity, and the like. It sometimes had this meaning in Hebrew too, but for the most part “wisdom” referred to things known, knowledge. So…the assertion that Solomon was the wisest of men is immediately followed by the “proof” thereof: he knew a huge number of proverbs and could “speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he could speak about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish” (1 Kings 4:33). -Kugel, p. 506

So, it sounds to me like Solomon’s wisdom makes him an academic, not an experienced, or salt-of-the-earth type.

This story in Kings is great for our discussion of wisdom because its context is really important. It says that Solomon was following the Law like David, save one thing: he sacrificed at the high places. That doesn’t sound so bad until we realize that the high places were altars to other gods, like Asherah, Baal, or Molech. So Solomon is doing something really, really wrong here.

And we have to keep in mind one of the ways Yahweh GOD is different from Asherah, Baal, or Molech, or later, the Greek and Roman gods, was that unlike every other god, Yahweh GOD wasn’t into a transactional relationship. For the other gods, you’d bring your sacrifice so that you could ask something of your god and she might do something for you; if she felt like it. If you persuaded her with a really good gift.

Yahweh GOD said time and again that our relationship is different. Sacrifice because it is good, because that is what is asked for, not because GOD will give us anything. GOD is interested in our relationship together.

So Solomon is praying and sacrificing to Yahweh, our god, at another god’s altar. And Yahweh, our GOD, shows up there and says

“Ask what I should give you.”

A transaction.

And Solomon says wisdom, book knowledge, so that he can know everything about everything to be a better leader of the people. And GOD says that’s a pretty good move. Smart call, Solomon.

But notice that GOD came to Solomon, even there, even when Solomon was screwing up, sacrificing at a high altar. Then what does Solomon do with that wisdom, but build a temple and shove GOD into a box to stay there forever. It doesn’t sound wise in our sense. It seems as if Solomon is missing something really important.

Missing the point

A similar case of missing the point is this ongoing discussion of bread in the gospel. Chapter 6, we recall begins with the feeding of the multitudes and then Jesus teaches them about the bread from heaven, like the manna, like the bread they feasted on a short while ago, bread given to them by GOD. And Jesus has been saying that he is that bread.

He’s saying this to these Judeans in a synagogue. So, he’s preaching to these people on the Sabbath and remember last week how they missed the metaphor and totally got Jesus was speaking metaphorically when he called himself bread, but when he said that he was like bread that came from heaven, suddenly they’re all literalists, saying Woah now, Jesus! You have a Mom and Dad. You didn’t just show up one day, fully formed. Apparently that was too much for them.

Jesus ignores their foolishness and keeps going with this metaphor through this morning’s reading. This bread from heaven is me, so eat from me, consume me, and you’ll have eternal life, this vibrant living GOD has promised you. This is what he’s saying to them. Follow, get with him and we’ll all be good.

And again these guys go literal in the middle of a metaphor: they act as if Jesus is asking them to be cannibals or vampires. But Jesus keeps going anyway.

These are the “wise” men, these Judeans in the temple. These people are educated. And they are making themselves the fools before Jesus.

This is even clearer when we take a closer work at the word the author uses. John frequently uses a word translated for us as “Jew” (These are the people having a hard time understanding Jesus). We read that these are “the Jews.” But a closer translation is actually Judean. These people are Judeans, perhaps from the big city. Jesus isn’t a Judean. He’s a Nazarene from the north. He’s being followed by villagers from the hill country.

I don’t think that these Judeans have trouble understanding Jesus. They just don’t want to follow some uneducated hick from the country, which is what they take Jesus for. Not a king. Not wise. How can he be? He doesn’t have their education!

Seeking wisdom, seeking GOD

Wisdom to the Hebrew people wasn’t just learning, but was expressed in proverbs, teachings that could be memorized and shared. The more wisdom you had memorized, the wiser you were.

This means that Solomon’s wisdom is curiously beyond the revealed work of GOD. Wisdom was found in worldly writings and in other cultures. It was found in exploring non-Jewish literature. Much of what we have in our book of Proverbs seems to have more in common with “worldly” truth rather than orthodox Hebrew truth.

It reminds me of the pursuit for spirituality, beyond the confines of our religion, or even beyond religion in general; spiritual but not religious.

Many of you may remember the popular rise of Buddhism in the 60’s which was fueled, not by anger at Christianity, but the broader search for wisdom. Many sought from another religious tradition a teaching they couldn’t find otherwise: about the inner self, spirituality for the personal soul, rather than teachings for the mind and our outward behavior. The kind of thing many have such trouble finding within Christianity.

Of course, many have found much compatibility between the study and practice of Zen Buddhism and being a devoted follower of Christ: these two are not much at odds. And still, many others have quite eagerly discovered ancient Christian practices which do deal with the internal stuff.

In all of these acts, we see a search for GOD, for a wisdom that will reveal GOD to us, with us, within us. A search for harmony and peace. A search for strength and courage. A search for healing and hope. And GOD is found, not only in the Temple, but in other places. But it is GOD we are to be seeking in those places, not selfishness or power.

Knowing Jesus, knowing GOD

This searching, this seeking wisdom: knowledge and experience of the world, of how things really are, is not some pipe dream. It is honest. It is powerful. It is part of who we are; who we are called to be.

And maybe it is why we hear a story about Jesus calling himself bread and we can just know it’s a metaphor. And yet we can hear him talk about coming down from heaven, or that we’re supposed to eat the bread as flesh, and we start to do the same thing as these Judeans, that we take these things too literally.

And maybe when we get there, we also recall that we eat bread each week and that Jesus speaks of daily bread, calling us to pray for daily bread, and we know that he is speaking sort of literally to us. That it isn’t only metaphor. He is speaking to eating and sharing and giving: that we gather with bread to break it and share it with each other and that nobody goes hungry in our real world. We indeed have enough food to feed everybody. Jesus isn’t only speaking to a metaphorical feeding.

And maybe as we get together to eat bread, we remember that we are given grace, that we were promised grace, that we are to be a means of grace for other people.

The worldly wisdom Solomon sought wasn’t supposed to be selfish. It wasn’t for material gain. It wasn’t to be smarter than others to trick them. It was to benefit GOD’s kingdom. To make him the best king possible for a confused and conflicted people. Because he had trouble finding GOD where he was supposed to be looking.

But GOD comes the way GOD comes. Even when we’re looking in the wrong place. Even if we’re reading the wrong books and hanging with the wrong crowd. And yes, even if we’re hanging out in a church. GOD is not confined to a temple, to a church, to a tradition we are absolutely certain is the smartest and the wisest; the most informed.

Jesus offers another way to find GOD, to search for GOD, to become the hope we seek. A way that is focused, not on worldly wisdom, but on the beauty and profound grace offered to us through Jesus Christ. Through a servant who gives, who feeds, who sacrifices himself for the world, while calling the whole world to him, to see him, see beyond him, into him, to see GOD. Not in the manna only, the blessings, the daily, but in the person, the eating, the sharing. To love each other and know, without books or proof, but in the certain assurance of Jesus’s words, that when we do this and we get together, all together, GOD is with us. GOD is always with us. That is our wisdom.