The wisdom of Solomon

1 Kings 3:7-12

7 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 

I have always incorrectly understood that the Young Solomon, has received supernatural wisdom and information from God, and since the incident, his mind just miraculously changed, and instead of having an average IQ, since God has blessed him, went on to have Steroid IQ from that day forth.

However, when studying upon the word of God, We find that it was actually not so. If you look in Chapter 2, when David was passing on the kingdom to him. David said twice (vs 6 and 8) in the short 8 verses that was recorded, that Solomon you are a wise man, and do it according to your wisdom. So Solomon has demonstrated that he was wise prior to God’s promise.

So what did Solomon ask for exactly? give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.

discerning, in the Hebrew is “Shama H8085”, it was to “hear, consider, discern, give ear, understand” and the particular focus was to govern the people, knowing what is right and wrong in God’s eyes. And the Lord responded by giving him that HEART. not mind. It was the HEART, it was a wise heart and an understanding heart, it was a mindset to seek the perspectives of God, and be observant of all the things around him.

29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. 

What God gave Solomon was NOT exceedingly great knowledge, or supernatural knowledge into things, but it was an observant heart, and a heart that is able to see in context those information and be able to apply to the situation, actions from which God would do. So in contrary to what I used to belief. Solomon’s wisdom was not a sudden access to knowledge, or a download of things that he would not have known in the natural, but was an observant heart to hear and apply the ways of God. Solomon acquired knowledge like anyone today acquires knowledge. He studied and learned them, and made knowledge available to him. Check out 1 Kings 4:33.

33 Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.

Solomon was a zealous learner. He even studied the hyssop that grew out of the wall. Looked at the way ants lived, observed birds can fly even thought they are heavier than air.

So how does Solomon’s wisdom applies to us today? We need to know “wisdom” spoken of was NOT a supernatural download of “information”, but it is an ability to be observant, one that seeks God on how he would do things?

So Godly Wisdom is the ability given to process the information in God’s perspective. HOWEVER we need to be seeking Knowledge in order to have information for the wisdom of God inside us to process them to make good judgement.

Proverbs: 18:15 the heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.

Proverbs 15:14 The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

As children of God, we must be avid learners. Because the discerning heart is limited by the knowledge that he has to discern. Now learning is not just about reading a book or gathering information (it does include that), but it is about being observant.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly and it will be given to him.

The wisdom of Solomon, the discerning heart is available to all of us, who are in Christ. We have the mind of Christ, and knows all things, we have this in our spirit, and for us to manifest this, it is expressed through the building blocks of our knowledge. Without those building blocks. The discerning heart is ineffective.