2 Chronicles 1:1-6; 1 Kings 3:3-28
The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to
depart from evil is understanding. Job 28:28.
ALMOST the first thing that Solomon did, when he was made king, was to offer sacrifices to God. Was not that right?
He did not offer these sacrifices on Mount Zion, where the ark was, but he went to the place where the old tabernacle was, that Moses had made, and where the great brass altar was, and there he offered a great many sacrifices to God. Why did he offer these sacrifices? To show that he loved God and wished to serve him.
The night after Solomon had offered the sacrifices, God spoke to Solomon while he was asleep; and said, 'Ask what I shall give thee.' You see God allowed Solomon to choose what he would like God to give him. What would you have asked for?
Now though Solomon had only just been made king, he saw what a hard thing it was to be a good king: for Solomon would judge the people. People who quarreled with each other would come to Solomon; and it is very hard, when people quarrel, to find out who is in fault, and who ought to be punished.
Solomon wished very much to judge the people well: and so he asked God to make him very wise.
Solomon said to God that night, 'Thou hast made me king over a great many people, and I am very young; and I do not know what I ought to do. O make me very wise, that I may judge the people well.'
Did Solomon make a wise choice? O yes, it was right in Solomon to wish to judge the people well. God was very much pleased with Solomon, and said, 'You did not ask Me to make you very rich, or make you live a long while, or make you conquer your enemies; but you asked for wisdom: therefore I will make you wiser than any man that ever lived: and I will make you very rich too; so that no other king shall be as rich or as great as you: and if you love Me, and serve Me as David did, I will make you live a long while.'
Then Solomon woke. How pleased he must have been to think of the promises that God had made him! He went back to Jerusalem, and offered up more sacrifices near the ark on Mount Zion.
Now I will tell you of something that happened, which showed that God had made Solomon as wise as He said He would.
One day there came two women to Solomon. They had quarreled with each other. Solomon was the judge, and the women stood before him.
One of these women held a dead baby in her arms, and the other held a living baby in her arms. Both the babies were very little creatures, only a few days old, so that the living baby was not old enough to sit up and to look about, or to smile.
The woman who held the dead baby seemed very unhappy, and she said to the king, 'This dead baby is not my own baby, the other baby is mine. I lived in the same house with that woman, and no one lived in the house beside we two; and one night that woman lay upon her baby in bed, and killed it, and so she got up, and put her dead baby into my bed while I was asleep, and took my living baby into hers: and when I woke in the morning I was going to feed my baby, but I found only this dead baby; but when I had looked at it, I saw it was not my own baby.'
Then the other woman said, 'You do not speak truth: the living baby is mine, and the dead one is yours.' Then the other woman said again, `No, the living baby is mine, and the dead one is yours.'
Which of these women spoke the truth? and which of them told lies? How could Solomon find out? How could he tell which ought to have the living baby?
But God made Solomon very wise, and he thought of a way to find out who spoke the truth.
Solomon called out, 'Bring me a sword.' And the servants brought a sword to the king. Then Solomon said, 'Cut the living baby in two, and give half to one woman, and half to the other; because both the women say the child is theirs, so let them each have half.'
Then one of the women cried out, 'O do not cut the child in half! but let that woman have it; only do not kill it.'
But the other woman said, 'O let the child be cut in half, and let us each have half.'
Now which do you think was the mother of the living baby? Oh! I see that you know. Was it not the one who said, `Do not let it be killed'?
How do you know that she was the mother? Because she loved the baby so much. Mothers would rather that any one should have their babies, than that the babies should be killed.
Solomon knew which was the mother, and he said to his servant, 'Give her the living child, and do not kill it: she is the mother of it.'
Why had Solomon desired the man at first to cut the baby in half? Had he intended to kill it? O no! He only wanted to see what the women would say, that he might find out which was the mother. Was not that a wise plan of Solomon's? God had really made him as wise as He had promised He would.
All the Israelites heard of what the king had said to the women, and they were surprised at his wisdom, and they were afraid of him, for they saw God had put wisdom into his heart.
Should you like to be wise, my dear children? You come to school to learn to be wise, that you may know what is right and what is wrong; but you will never be as wise as Solomon, for God has said that no one shall be as wise as he was.
But there is one thing still better than Solomon's kind of wisdom, and you may have it if you ask God for it. What is that? The Holy Spirit. If the Spirit is in your heart, you will know God, and you will love Him. God has promised to give Him to you, if you believe in the Lord Jesus. He has said, 'Ask, and ye shall have.' I am glad when you are wise enough to answer questions right, or to behave well: but I wish most that you should love God in your heart, and try to please Him. That is a better kind of wisdom than Solomon's.
Now if the Lord should say to me,
'What gift shall I bestow on thee?'
Should I, like Solomon, reply,
'Oh, give me wisdom from on high?'
Yet wisdom is the only thing
That real happiness can bring;
And restless must my heart remain
Until this wisdom I obtain.
It would not make me truly wise
To know the stars that fill the skies,
Or all the fishes in the seas,
Or beasts and birds, or flowers and trees.
Wisdom to love the thing that's right
O this would give my heart delight.
This wisdom, Lord, O grant to me,
That I may ever live with Thee.
Questions on Lesson 19
What did God say to Solomon when He first spoke to him?
What did Solomon choose?
Why did Solomon wish for wisdom?
Was God pleased with Solomon's choice?
What did God promise him besides wisdom?
What kind of wisdom is better than Solomon's?
How can you get that best wisdom?
How did Solomon find out which was the mother of the living baby?
What did the mother of the living baby say, when Solomon desired that it should be cut in half?
How did saying that show that she was its mother?
Did Solomon intend that the baby should be cut in half?
Why then did he desire the man to cut it in half?