Seeking Wisdom

What does the Bible tell us about seeking wisdom? How is the account of the queen of Sheba’s visit to Israel instructive in this regard?

1 Kings 10:1-9

1 Kings 10:1–9 CSB

The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame connected with the name of the Lord and came to test him with difficult questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind. So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built, the food at his table, his servants’ residence, his attendants’ service and their attire, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at the Lord’s temple, it took her breath away. She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true. But I didn’t believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard. How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

Jesus says of the queen of Sheba that:

Matthew 12:42 CSB

The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look—something greater than Solomon is here.

More on this later. The point for now is the extent to which this woman sought after wisdom. She was not content to kick back in her palace down south in Sheba, being fed grapes by her servants, surrounded by her vast quantities riches and enjoying every luxury an ancient Near East queen could dream of. No, she was prompted to undertake this road trip because she had to have come to some sort of realization that life was more than the stuff she possessed, the status she enjoyed, the esteem of the people, the glittery-ness of the crown on her head. I dare say that nothing short of a work of God’s Spirit can stir the human heart in this way.

Let her quest for wisdom be instructive to us. Are we content to dwell in Sheba, with all of our luxuries and amusements? Is wisdom something valuable enough to us to put the smartphone down for a little while to seek after it? Are we willing to journey to the ends of the earth to discover treasure of immeasureable worth? How about a journey to the bookshelf at the other end of the room? Solomon himself writes in Proverbs:

Proverbs 4:5–9 CSB

Get wisdom, get understanding; don’t forget or turn away from the words from my mouth. Don’t abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you; love her, and she will guard you. Wisdom is supreme—so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you. She will place a garland of favor on your head; she will give you a crown of beauty.”

As a parent, I can relate to the degree to which Solomon pleads with his son in the book of Proverbs to seek after wisdom. Can’t you hear the urgency in his voice as he instructs the youth? “Son, get wisdom! It’s more valuable than anything else out there. Listen to my words! I’m trying to show you something important. Take those Airpods out of your ears and listen closely. Take your eyes off that screen and put them on the pages of this Book.” He’ll understand one day, I pray. She’ll make the faith her own, even if it doesn’t look like it right now. So we cannot stop imparting wisdom. But note this: not all fatherly advice qualifies as wisdom. And mother doesn’t know best unless her knowledge is based on the word of God. So let this encourage you to seek wisdom all the more. As Charles Spurgeon once said playing off Proverbs 22:6:

“Train up a child in the way he should go, but be sure you go that way yourself.”

With that said, we return to our passage:

1 Kings 10:1

1 Kings 10:1 (CSB)

The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame connected with the name of the Lord and came to test him with difficult questions.

Solomon had become quite famous for his superlative wisdom and wealth. The nations must have been abuzz with talk of this king of Israel, David’s son: “Have you heard about Solomon? They say his wisdom is quite impressive. Did you hear about that case brought before him? Two women were arguing over a baby, and he said ‘Cut the baby in half!’ Can you believe that? Cut the baby in half!? Well, the one lady says, ‘Go ahead and cut him’. The other one tells him, ‘Let her have the baby; just don’t kill him!’ So Solomon gives the baby to the one that said not to kill the baby. Pretty clever, huh?”

But also what must have been of interest to people is the all fancy stuff he had. The size of his palace. The number of servants in his employ. All the silver and gold he had, Scrooge McDuck doggy-paddling through an ocean of money. We get some of the details on that in the second half of 1 Kings 10:

1 Kings 10:14–29 CSB

The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was twenty-five tons, besides what came from merchants, traders’ merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land. King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds of gold went into each shield. He made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; nearly four pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold. The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests. Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom. All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver, since it was considered as nothing in Solomon’s time, for the king had ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom. The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart. Every man would bring his annual tribute: items of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, and horses and mules. Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen and stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills. Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king’s traders bought them from Kue at the going price. A chariot was imported from Egypt for fifteen pounds of silver, and a horse for four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents.

Note especially verse 24. “The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.” Sandwiched within the descriptions of wealth and prosperity is the real jewel: the wisdom in his heart, which was wisdom that came from his God. Going back to the queen of Sheba, she was interested in Solomon’s fame as it pertained to the name of the LORD. The thing about fame is that the attention usually goes to the famous person: the Oscar-winning actor, the viral Youtuber, the Super Bowl MVP. Sure, the acceptance speech might include a vague reference to God or ‘the man upstairs’ (whatever that means), or the touchdown dance might be followed up with a solemn point skyward (as we anoint a new Christian sports hero). But when it comes down to it, the people are buying the jerseys and not Bibles. That’s what’s different about Solomon’s fame: it pointed people to God. Who was this God who has made the king so ridiculously wealthy and wise? The queen of Sheba wanted to find out about that God.

Now, Christian, your platform may never be as large as Solomon’s was. I doubt I’ll have foreign royalty knocking on my door anytime soon. However, God has given each one of us a sphere of influence. For some, that sphere is a marble; for others, maybe it’s beachball-sized. Regardless, the goal is to point these people to Christ. The number of likes or follows or subscribers is tremendously less important than whether God receives the glory:

Matthew 5:16 (CSB)

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

So the queen of Sheba made the trek to Israel to hear from Solomon. And she came equipped with ‘difficult questions’ aimed to test the wisdom of a wise king who has this obvious connection with a wise God. Can he really be as wise as everyone is saying he is? Is there really a God who is able to give such great wisdom to man? It isn’t clear what type of questions were posed to Solomon. Perhaps she had prepared a series of riddles designed to stump him. Maybe she wanted answers regarding political or economical situations she dealt with, information which would no doubt be practical for a ruler such as she was. Or could it be that she, knowing of his relationship with the LORD, had questions of the philosophical or theological nature? You know, the big life questions. The kind children ask… and adults avoid. Because when you ponder this life ‘under the sun’ and have no concept of our God in heaven, you start to sound a little bit like, well, Solomon ironically:

Ecclesiastes 1:1–11 (CSB)

The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.

“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher.

“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”

What does a person gain for all his efforts

that he labors at under the sun?

A generation goes and a generation comes,

but the earth remains forever.

The sun rises and the sun sets;

panting, it hurries back to the place

where it rises.

Gusting to the south,

turning to the north,

turning, turning, goes the wind,

and the wind returns in its cycles.

All the streams flow to the sea,

yet the sea is never full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again.

All things are wearisome,

more than anyone can say.

The eye is not satisfied by seeing

or the ear filled with hearing.

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done;

there is nothing new under the sun.

Can one say about anything,

“Look, this is new”?

It has already existed in the ages before us.

There is no remembrance of those who came before;

and of those who will come after

there will also be no remembrance

by those who follow them.

When you take a step back from all the busyness and contemplate life on this planet, when you have that free moment between activities and obligations, you might notice the cyclical nature of it all, the endless pattern of birth and death with seeming meaningless in between. Yes, we have fancier gadgets these days, but the truth remains: Nothing significantly new has appeared on this tiny spinning ball. So our little blue globe continues to fly through black space around a yellow star in a universe that is incomprehensively large, the same way it always did.

There is a philosophy called ‘nihilism’, which says that in the grand scheme of things, everything is indeed meaningless. Eventually the earth stops spinning for one reason or another (maybe climate change finally becomes a real thing and kills the planet). The entire universe itself will one day explode or implode or whatever it is that universes do when they at last run out of juice. And we’re left with nothing. So what is the whole point of it all to begin with? Logically speaking, there is no point. That’s what the nihilists say. That’s what the atheists ought to say. The honest ones do. But you also have the Disney version of atheism that insists that life is meaningful because we make it meaningful by the impact we have on others; your life can be remembered and respected amd maybe even admired by whoever’s left after you’re gone. But we all know that’s just sugar-coating the harsh reality: Nothing matters if indeed nothing will exist.

The way I see it, you have three options:

1) Be depressed about it. This is what we see with Solomon in Ecclesiastes. This is nihilism (see above). And do we not see the outworking of this philosophy? Lockdowns and lock-ins and the like have forced people to take a hard look at things. The topic of mortality has come to the forefront. If it all ends soon any way, why not end it now? This is the sad conclusion too many people have come to.

2) There is another philosophy known as hedonism, which can be summarized by the following statement from Paul:

1 Corinthians 15:32 (CSB)

If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

Lacking a meaning, life is all about maximizing the enjoyment. It’s nonstop eating ice cream and playing on the playground. It’s party all the time. It’s score as many points as you can before the buzzer sounds. It’s YOLO and ‘Your Best Life Now’ and ‘whoever dies with the most toys is the winner’ (that last would be quite the long hashtag). Perhaps it sounds more fun than nihilism, but the end is the same. Back to Solomon:

Ecclesiastes 2:1–3 (CSB)

I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile. I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?” I explored with my mind the pull of wine on my body—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to grasp folly, until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

3) The third option is to acknowledge and respond to that stirring in the heart we all have, that longing that God Himself has implanted in each of us. Human beings throughout history and across cultures have some concept of an afterlife; there’s an agreement among peoples that there is something more than this life ‘under the sun’. Solomon again:

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (CSB)

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.

You can chase after treasures on earth, but the moths and thieves are out to ruin your stash. Even if you manage to avoid such ruination (purchase some bug spray and an uncrackable safe perhaps), nothing quite fills the void in the heart. If a longing for eternity is in the heart of man, then things that are not everlasting won’t solve the problem. To quote Voddie Baucham:

“no matter how good things get in this world, it's all Egypt! There will never be enough gold chains, fine linen, praise, adoration, or anything else to satisfy the yearning that God has placed in us. Only his presence in the Land of Promise will satisfy his people.”

Regardless of her mindset, the queen of Sheba needed answers to her question and believed a king who lived over a thousand miles away from her had those answers:

1 Kings 10:3

1 Kings 10:3 (CSB)

So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her.

The queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth, and she was not disappointed. She came for wisdom, and she got wisdom. She wanted answers, and she got answers.

So where are you going to get your wisdom? Where are you going to get your answers?

I believe this yearning, this longing, God has placed in our hearts compels us to search for meaning. Our souls crave wisdom and knowledge. The problem is that sin gets in the way. It makes us lazy and makes us want to take the easy route. Instead of following the footsteps of the queen of Sheba and taking that proverbial crucial first step of a thousand-mile journey, (because that’s too hard, too much work) we turn on CNN and let them tell us what we need to know. Let the fact-checkers do the job for us. Ask Alexa for help. Perhaps this is the reason people esteem and unquestioningly trust these men with DR in front of their names and MD or some other impressive string of letters on the end. The experts have to have things right, right? All of their education and experience, they are the ones who tell us we should follow the science. Science has become the wisdom people seek. Scientism has become the religion people follow. The scientists have become the prophets whose message we must heed, lest we die. Lest Mother Nature unleash her wrath upon us mere mortals to judge us for our many sins (for example: using fossil fuels, not recycling, not wearing double masks while walking the dog at the park, etc.).

Then we have squish Christianity:

2 Timothy 4:3–4 (CSB)

For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.

False teachers talk about Jesus, maybe mention something about a cross and resurrection. But Jesus is something of a genie or toothfairy for them. He went to the cross so that I can have the ‘abundant life’. And by ‘abundant life’ they mean that I get to have my house and garage and storage unit full of all those moth- and thief-vulnerable treasures (and also have loads of cash I can hand over to the ‘church’). Jesus resurrected as an example of the Rocky Balboa comeback story I can personally experience whenever life knocks me to the ground. In fact, the Bible is full of stories and pithy one-liners to put on t-shirts and coffee mugs to make me feel good about me (‘I can do all things through Christ...’). And sin? Forget about sin; that’s just something Judas and Hitler did. This is what makes fake Christianity so popular. Wisdom is replaced with feels. Sin is replaced with terms like ‘brokeness’ or ‘messiness’. Church is replaced with >5 minute YouTube video clips of your favorite false teacher. The Bible is replaced with ‘Purpose-Driven’/‘You’re Best Life Now’ self-help on audiobook nonsense.

But there is simply no substitute for true wisdom that comes from the word of God:

2 Timothy 3:14–17 (CSB)

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

So I ask again: So where are you going to get your wisdom? Where are you going to get your answers? If it’s not the word of God, you’ve taken a wrong turn at Albequerque. The queen of Sheba made no such navigational error on her journey and ended up in Israel to receive true wisdom. Let that be true of us as well.

Going back to our passage in 1 Kings:

1 Kings 10:8-9

1 Kings 10:8–9 (CSB)

How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

Solomon as king was a tremendous blessing to the people under his rule. The queen of Sheba recognized this truth. Solomon knew wisdom was necessary to rule well, even as the baton was being passed to him. Here is the origin story of Solomon’s great wisdom:

1 Kings 3:5–14 CSB

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask. What should I give you?” And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and faithful love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. “Lord my God, you have now made your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. Your servant is among your people you have chosen, a people too many to be numbered or counted. So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?” Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this. So God said to him, “Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to administer justice, I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again. In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no king will be your equal during your entire life. If you walk in my ways and keep my statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”

Imagine: The God of the universe, all power Creator of everything, asks ‘What do you want and I’ll give it to you?’ This is the only occurrence in the Bible that I’m aware of of God making such an offer. What would you do with this blank check? As the passage indicates, most people would have asked for things like: long life, riches, or the death of enemies. But not Solomon; he desires wisdom that he might rule Israel well. He recognizes that he has no experience being the man in charge; he also realizes the task set before him: He must be king over the chosen people of God. Not a thing to take lightly. He understands that God is the one who put him on the throne in the first place, and rather than being puffed up with power, he feels the weight of the crown and humbly acknowledges his inadequacy. Gauging himself in this way is accurate. Truly, any person who is tasked by God for some work, great or seemingly small, is indeed inadequate. Either we ignore our feebleness and attempt to accomplish the task in our own strength (not a good move), or else we approach the LORD in humility and make a request similar to Solomon’s. LORD, give me wisdom!

James 1:5 (CSB)

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.

I think this is an amazing promise. However, obtaining wisdom from God requires that I set aside my pride (sometimes not an easy thing to do) and ask God. It’s an implicit admission that I am lacking, that I am weak, that I don’t have what it takes. The verse tells us that God, who is abundantly generous, will in fact give wisdom to him who asks for it. We don’t have to jump through flaming hoops or perform any crazy rituals or even show proof of vaccination. We just need to ask. But that pride in the heart can often get in the way. Instead I think, “I’ve got this. I know what I’m doing. I don’t need help.” Etc. How foolish it is to turn down such an offer! It would be like if God told Solomon, “Ask. What should I give you?” and Solomon replied, “No, thanks. I’m good. I don’t really need anything at the moment. I can do this; I can be king of Your people. I think I can do a good job on my own. But I appreciate the offer though.” We all need wisdom! Let us not be afraid to admit that we need it.

Remember what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:

2 Corinthians 12:10 (CSB)

So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The apparent contradiction ‘when I am weak, then I am strong’ defies the mindset of this world. When I know I’m weak, I know I need to rely on an Outside Source for the strength I need. That Source (you guessed it) is God Almighty. When God is your source of strength, you couldn’t be any stronger. The converse is also true: When I am strong, then I am weak. In other words, when I think I’m strong (with a double bicep flex), like the world keeps telling me I need to keep telling myself, I trust in myself as the source of strength. Which can often turn disastrous very quickly. “You are stronger than you think”? No, I’m not; that’s a favorite and familiar line quoted by the unwise. But I do have a God who is immeasurably stronger than I can even comprehend.

Going back to the words of the queen of Sheba:

1 Kings 10:8–9 CSB

How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”

Note well the outcomes of having a wise leader: happiness, justice, and righteousness. A nation with godly leadership is surely a blessed nation. The queen states plainly that Israel has Solomon as king because God loves Israel. God has expressed His love for His people by giving them a supremely wise leader. What can we say then of a nation whose leadership does not exhibit wisdom? Leadership that lacks understanding and operates in opposition to the word of God. I believe we can say of such a nation is under the judgment of God. I think everyone understands where I’m going with this. Take a look at our nation. In a ‘chicken or the egg’ scenario, it is obvious that we get the leaders we deserve. Leadership seems to be a reflection of the ones being led. At the same time, poor and unwise leadership promotes immorality and ungodliness among the people. A corrupt and immoral people choose corrupt and immoral people to lead, which breeds more corruption and immorality. This truly is a downward spiral. This is why we as God’s people pray for our nation and pray for wisdom for our leaders. We may strongly disagree with the views of our nation’s leaders, and we may not have wanted so-and-so to be in office in this first place. But imagine if God got a hold of the hearts of our leaders. Imagine the change in direction we’d witness. So we pray and we stand for God’s truth.

Matthew 12:42

Matthew 12:42 CSB

The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and look—something greater than Solomon is here.

The scribes and Pharisees demanded a sign from Jesus. “Prove who You are! Show us something amazing! Then we’ll take you seriously.” Jesus condemns the request in no uncertain terms:

Matthew 12:39 (CSB)

He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

What wickedness to demand a sign when the heaven-sent Son of God, the Word made flesh, is standing right in front of you! Rather than take the bait (for Jesus could very easily have satisfied every demand for a sign if He had chosen to do so), He points them to Scripture: Jonah first, then the queen of Sheba. Jonah preached to Nineveh, and the men of Nineveh repented. No sign was given (and none was asked for), just the strong words of a prophet of God. Because of their repentance, because they heeded the word of God, Nineveh avoided destruction. The point: The men of Nineveh took Jonah seriously, and the scribes and Pharisees rejected the words of Someone even greater. Fools!

The sad truth is, people today (even professing Christians) do the same thing. Shooting stars blazing across the night sky are taken as messages from God. Sudden changes in weather are interpreted to have some sort of special meaning. Dreams are analyzed and analyzed again to discover a hidden truth. The fact of the matter is we don’t need signs to guide us because we have a Book that tells us what God wants us to know. In it contains wisdom and life.

To further condemn the ridiculous request for a sign, Jesus mentions the ‘queen of the South’. As we have seen, she went to great lengths to receive wisdom from Solomon, yet Someone far greater, Someone whose wisdom far exceeded even Solomon was there. Imagine if the queen of Sheba could have somehow time-traveled to Jesus’ day. She might have had a word or two for the Pharisees: “Listen to Him! Receive the wisdom He is willing to give! I traveled over a thousand miles to hear from a wise king, but this King, this Jesus, is even greater than Solomon was.” As long as we’re imagining, suppose this queen could have somehow time-traveled to our day. What would she say when she saw the feel-good, self-help flavor of modern American Christianity? What would she say of people looking to government to rescue them? Of the blind allegiance to science?

Church, let us seek wisdom. Pray the Lord gives us a desire for it. That we are able to recognize true wisdom. That we make every effort to locate wisdom in the pages of His Word. That we would enjoy the blessings true wisdom brings. And that we would choose the wisdom God gives over everything and anything else.

I conclude with a passage written by Solomon in Proverbs:

Proverbs 2:6–15 CSB

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of his faithful followers. Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight you. Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you. It will rescue you from the way of evil— from anyone who says perverse things, from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness, from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion, whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious.