Chapter XXXI: Solomon's Wisdom

AND SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

SOLOMON, the son of David, was anointed King, as the Lord had promised David.

Solomon loved the Lord; and when he was made king, the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and told him he might ask for anything he wanted.

And the Lord was very pleased with Solomon's choice; for he asked that God would give him an understanding heart, that he might have wisdom to rule the people over whom he reigned.

So God abundantly answered his prayer, as he was the wisest king who had ever reigned; but God gave him besides, riches and honour and everything that could make him happy. At the same time the Lord warned him to walk in His ways, and keep His commandments that it might be well with him all his days.

Then Solomon awoke from his dream; and he hastened to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord, Whom he loved and worshipped.

Very soon the young king had to use the wisdom which God had so freely given him.

As he sat with his servants and soldiers round him, ready to judge anything that was brought to him, there came two women before him to plead their cause.

"And the one woman said, 'O my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it.'"

"'And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while I slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I arose in the morning to feed my child, behold it was dead; but when I had considered it in the morning, behold it was not my son!'"

"And the other woman said, 'Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son.' And this said, 'No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son!' Thus they spoke before the king."

"Then said the king: 'The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is dead; and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.'"

"And the king said, 'Bring me a sword.' And they brought a sword before the king."

"And the king said, 'Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.'"

Then the woman, who was really the mother of the living baby, said to the king, for she was heart-broken to think that her child should be killed, "O my Lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it!"

"'But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.'"

Then the king turned to the first woman, and gave his verdict: "Give her the living child," he said, "and in nowise slay it: she is the mother thereof!"

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they saw that the wisdom of God was with him to do justice among them.

And it was not only in the affairs of the State that Solomon was so wise.

His fame spread to all the nations round about; and his wisdom exceeded all the wisdom of the East. He was the author of three thousand proverbs and many songs. He was learned in trees—from the great cedars of Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall.

He understood all about beasts and birds and insects and fishes. He knew what those words in the hundred and eleventh Psalm meant: "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."

By and by Hiram, King of Tyre, who had always loved David, on hearing that David's son was king, sent his servants to convey his greetings to Solomon.

Then Solomon sent back a message to Hiram, asking him to allow his servants to help him in hewing cedar trees from Lebanon, as he was purposing to build a beautiful Temple for the Lord.

He explained to Hiram that it had been in David's heart to build the Lord's House; but he had been a man of war; and though the Lord accepted the desire of David's heart, He told him that his son Solomon should be a man of peace, and should build Him a House.

But the Lord had allowed David before his death to collect a vast number of materials of all sorts, as we read in the 22nd chapter of the First Book of Chronicles.

David had employed clever masons to hew wrought and polished stones; he had prepared iron in abundance for the gates and hinges, and brass without weight.

Then Hiram sent abundance of cedar and fir trees, for as David had said, "The House that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical."

That is a long and a strange word, and it is only used that once in all the Bible! But it conveys this one lesson to us—that if we want God to dwell in our hearts, we must spare no pains to make them ready for His abode!

Jesus says: "If any man love Me, My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him!"

So Solomon began to build with all his heart, and such a Temple as he raised to the Lord was a glory and a joy to all beholders.