Wise Fools

Introduction

Wise Fools

I don’t have many memories of when I was a little kid, but I do remember as a seven year old walking with my Dad, having just watched what was then just “Star Wars” in the movie theater.

There was swooshing, a pow pow pow of the blasters, and the wise old man Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke, Leia, the whole bunch.

Mostly what I remember was just the good time I had with my Dad and big brother. It wasn’t our first movie together - that would be Jaws as an even younger kid - but I remember thinking of how cool and magical that movie was. To this day, I think I’ve seen it in a theater more than any other - at least 12 times.

I think I was a bit older, and at least one Star Wars movie later - I asked my Dad “what job uses the Force?” He said a physicist - and from that time on, that’s what I wanted to be. I think I was in Junior High School when I figured out scientists didn’t use lightsabers.

So naturally, I was one of the excited ones after the 16 year hiatus after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi to see Episode I: The Phantom Menace. But to be honest, I had mixed feelings about it.

See - the main antagonist of the original trilogy was Darth Vader. Shiny, imposing, wearing an all-black costume, he was scary. In Star Wars, they revealed that Darth Vader had killed Luke Skywalker’s (the main protagonist) father. But in a twist, it was later revealed that Darth Vader was Luke’s father. But in the end, Darth Vader saved Luke, killed the emperor, himself dying because of his wounds. Good vs. Evil, with Darth Vader redeeming himself in the end.

But the later trilogy were prequels. And that was the source of the mixed feelings - it was the story of how Anakin Skywalker became evil. And in the end, it was the story of a little boy with a lot of fear, who fell in love, and his fear of loss led him to think that following an evil man was the only way to save the one he loved, and he ended up losing her anyway.

No, this sermon is not about Star Wars. But in the same way, last week, we read about the great prophet Elijah, who prophesied against King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. So called, because God, as a judgment against King Solomon divided his kingdom in two following his death. This was because Solomon turned away from God to worship the gods of his foreign wives.

Today, our Old Testament passage is the prequel. Instead of the destructive end of Solomon’s reign, we get to see the beginning.

Solomon

The story of how Solomon came to power itself is pretty interesting. Monarchies typically have a line of succession of the oldest, right? The United Kingdom, for example, we know when Queen Elizabeth passes, Prince Charles will ascend. In the Bible, it’s a bit more complicated and often had bloodshed involved.

David had a bunch of kids. With eight+ wives, he had a total of 19 kids mentioned by name. David originally ruled in the southern city of Hebron, where he had his older children, and then later in Jerusalem where he had more. Solomon was one of these younger children. Of particular note, he was the son of Bathsheba (yes, that Bathsheba!). Although she is most notable as the former wife of Uriah, she also bore the most children of any of David’s wives - five. She clearly had a favored status among them. The Bible doesn’t record the exact circumstances, but he promised her that her oldest (surviving) son would be king after him.

And that is where things got complicated… Reader’s Digest version:

#1 Amnon, was killed by #3 Absalom, because he raped Absalom’s sister. Absalom was essentially killed by Joab when he rebelled against David.

Not much is known about #2 (Chileab/Daniel)

David was old and not doing too well, so #4 Adonijah, perhaps next in line at the beginning of 1 Kings, decided to just declare himself king without bothering to check with David first.

Needless to say, life expectancy wasn’t very high for other sons of David, and Bathsheba with her status was at risk as well, so when Adonijah claimed the throne, with a bit of subterfuge, she and Nathan the prophet got David to declare Solomon king with all the associated pomp and circumstance. And David passed away.

Initially, there was some chaos in establishing Solomon’s kingdom. David instructed him to right some wrongs he was unable to during his reign, and Adonijah, after initially being spared, tried to do a power play which Solomon saw through and had him executed, but eventually he was able to consolidate power.

But… this is where we hit today’s lectionary reading. Young guy, SERIOUSLY dysfunctional family, suddenly thrust into ruling Israel, pretty clueless how to do it. And the shoes he had to fill - how do replace King David?

I think you can do a lot worse than asking God for wisdom.

The Prayer

So, the account of Solomon asking God for wisdom. I’m going to frame the story a bit differently, as the Lectionary skips the first two verses:

English Standard Version (Chapter 3)

3 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD.3 Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

Hopefully your spider-sense is tingling a little bit after hearing this part - one of the first things Solomon did as king - was to marry Pharaoh’s daughter. AND he sacrificed at Gibeon.

Gibeon was a controversial place. It was located about 5.5 miles north of Jerusalem. As mentioned, the Jews were forbidden from sacrificing at the high places of the nations they dispossessed when they came to the promise land. The Gibeonites technically weren’t dispossessed. They lied, pretended they were from far off, and made a peace treaty with Israel. It was, however, the temporary location of the tabernacle - the portable temple of the Exodus, the absolutely right place to sacrifice to God in the absolutely wrong location. David, himself a wise fool, when he needed to atone for his sins was afraid to go to Gibeon for that reason, and set up an altar to the Lord in Hebron.

But Solomon goes to Gibeon…

If Solomon weren’t going to be the bad guy in the end, I could have almost called this sermon “the Gospel according to Solomon.” Why? Because there are SO many lessons that apply to our lives today.

Have you heard it said that God is so holy, He cannot hear your prayers because of sin in your life?

Here we have a young one, married to an Egyptian, making sacrifices to God at a pagan high place, and God hears him. How? Why?

Because like many things, it had to do with his heart. Scripture plainly tells us that Solomon even from the beginning wasn’t sinless. What really mattered was who Solomon was going to serve. He praised God for who He is - faithful to Israel and his father David - confessed the he knew he was young and weak - and prayerfully asked for wisdom, to lead God’s people in righteousness. And God gave him even more.

However, God — as He had done many times, to many people before — warned Solomon. Take a look at verse 14:

English Standard Version (Chapter 3)

14 And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

God freely gave Solomon the wisdom he asked for and riches in his time, but when it came to life, He ties it to obedience.

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Psalm 111

God is the same yesterday as today. Unlike us, He doesn’t change. Before going back to Solomon, let’s take a brief look at our Psalm. Psalm 11 is an acrostic, which means that each line (in this case the half-verse) starts with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. One of the main uses of this is to teach - the alphabet aids in memorization. So what is the lesson?

In the words of Rich Mullins, our God is an awesome God. There is no other. And when we look around us, at everything His hands have created, how can we come to any other conclusion? But you know what’s even greater than that? The love and care he gives us specifically. He intends for us to be different from the people around us, more like Him. He feeds us, redeems us, cares for us, is always faithful to His promises. He provides us His wisdom and instruction for that purpose. And when we stray from that, that is the reason for our suffering.

The Fall

And to be honest, that brings us back to Solomon.

Solomon led an amazingly blessed life. To say that he was immensely blessed in wisdom is an understatement. He built many amazing structures, including the first temple. And indeed, just like today’s passage, God spoke to him after the dedication:

English Standard Version (Chapter 9)

4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

As Solomon got older, though, he changed quite a bit. His “wisdom” started leading him in different ways. You can actually get a very good insight into this in one of his later books, Ecclesiastes:

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ultimately, this was the fall of Solomon. In seeking meaning for everything, he departed from the only means of getting it. He instead focused on his many wives, and clung to them in love, over God. The wise Solomon would have seen the evil practices of these so called “gods” (one of them required child sacrifice!). But the fool Solomon saw more in these than the one true God that blessed Him beyond measure… And the result:

English Standard Version (Chapter 11)

9 And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. 11 Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. 12 Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”

And unfortunately, this isn’t just him. it was the kings after him, and it even describes us today. In the gospel readings today and lately, the people saw the power of Jesus, who gave glory to God in all He did. Despite that, they didn’t believe. But Jesus is the only way.

Application

So what is the lesson to be learned from Solomon?

Well, the first is to understand that life in the church is unique and better than anything the world has to offer. God gives us His word as a guideline to the living the best life we can - in Him. Although I haven’t included the New Testament lectionary readings lately, today’s really ties in to this:

English Standard Version (Chapter 5)

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Paul mentions some good practical points:

Make the best use of our time - including reading God’s word and prayer.

Don’t try to substitute things of the world like getting drunk - like Solomon it simply leads to nothing

Associate with faithful believers - praising God, giving thanks

And in all things submit to one another in Christ

And may the grace and peace of Jesus, who whenever we are gathered, is here in our midst, be with us all, to the glory of God our Father. Amen.

Let us pray,

Lord, from the very beginning You alone are God. Thank you for your love and care for us, even in our sin, and doubt, and unfaithfulness. Please use us to reach the world with Your peace.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.