Right Words

Text: 1 Kings 4:29-34

Besides building a temple, building his palace, and improving the infrastructure of his kingdom, Solomon had some private pursuits that the Bible is careful to mention. Perhaps if we want to emulate the wisest man next to Christ, we should consider his private pursuits mentioned in the context of his wisdom. I think that they fall into three categories.

1. Spirit realm. In 1 Kings 4:32-33 we’re given details of Solomon’s pursuits, and top of the list is a staggering number of proverbs, or condensed, often dark sayings (Prov. 1:6) that convey wisdom when understood. The book of Proverbs has 915 verses, and not all of it is attributed to Solomon (e.g., chapter 30), nor are the first nine chapters made up of aphorisms that 1 Kings 4:32 likely refers to. Hence, many of these proverbs were not divinely inspired: we have the ones that were, and we even have details of how they came to us (Prov. 25:1). So a primary emphasis of Solomon’s private pursuits was the spiritual realm, as exemplified by his prolific development of proverbs.
2. Soulish realm. Solomon was not a cold intellectual figure. To balance the raft of proverbs that he produced, he also wrote over 1000 songs which conveyed the feelings of his large heart (1 Kings 4:29). We only have one sample surviving, the “song of songs” (Song 1:1), God saving the best of the batch for our appreciation. And there is quite a range of emotions in the song of songs: love, joy, anger, fear, jealousy, etc.
3. Physical realm. Solomon studies and teaches on flora and fauna of all types and sizes. This is confirmed by Proverbs, where he mentions flora (e.g., thorns, hay, tender grass, and herbs of the mountains) and fauna (ant, ass, bear, bird, horse, lion, ox, and serpent). Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon also contain references to flora and fauna, some common, some exotic, confirming the scope of Solomon’s knowledge and wisdom, since he derives wisdom from everything he considers in the physical realm.

Solomon’s private pursuits not only give us hints as to what we should study (cf. Job 12:7-10), but also the right balance: (1) prioritize the spiritual, like he did with his proverbs; (2) be in touch with our emotions and express them through channels like music or poetry; and (3) be keen, comprehensive observers of the physical world and derive whatever wisdom we can from it, since it’s all made in wisdom (Ps. 104:24) and bears the stamp of “the only wise God” (Rom. 16:27, 1 Tim. 1:17, Jude 25).