The serpent said, “God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). Eve was in the “Garden of God” and was surrounded by the evidence of His existence. She was naïve and learning so much as she lived in that garden. The opportunity to be like God was given to her. She looked at the tree that was “…good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise” (Gen. 3:6). She yielded to the temptation to be like God and have His wisdom. Tragically, this is the way sin entered into the world God created. The blessings of Eden were ruined, and Adam and Eve were separated from the God of all wisdom.
Three thousand years later there was a young man who became king of Israel. Solomon had just offered a thousand burnt offerings, and God offered to give the son of David whatever he asked. Solomon said, “I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in… therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart…that I may discern between good and evil” (1 Kgs. 3:5-9). God gave him this wisdom and said, “I have given you a wise and understanding heart so that there has not been anyone like you, nor shall any like you arise after you” (1 Kgs. 3:12). Truly Solomon became the wisest man who ever lived.
“God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding…Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all men…for he was wiser than all men” (1 Kgs. 4:29-31). It was not just wisdom about spiritual matters but about trees, animals, birds, creeping things and of fish. “He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs were one thousand and five…And men of all nations, for all the kings of the earth…came to hear the wisdom of Solomon” (1 Kgs. 4:32-34). He was the wisest man who ever lived.
That wisdom did not end with the death of Solomon, for he wrote three books of the Old Testament (Prov. 1:1; Ecc. 1:1; Song of Solomon 1:1). Solomon “…was wise…he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs…and what was written was upright—words of truth. The words are like well-driven nails…and further my son, be admonished by them” (Ecc. 12:10-12).
So let me urge you to spend time reading the words of this great man. However, do more than just read them. Write them on your heart and let his proverbs guide you in the choices you make in life. Do not be like Solomon who after writing them failed miserably in applying them to his life. Remember this proverb especially: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecc. 12:13). You can be wiser than Eve or Solomon!
-Dan Jenkins
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