Wisdom That Builds God’s Kingdom | 1Kings 3-5

Settle back into a seat and take out our copy of God’s Word. If you weren’t able to be here last week, we have begun a series in the book of Kings. First Kings chapter 3 is where we will begin our time together. First Kings chapter 3. Let’s pray.

Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments. How inscrutable his ways. Father, will you give us your Holy Spirit and enable us to taste these riches, to understand this knowledge, and oh Lord, may we peer into the depths of your judgments, of your statutes, of your ways. Give us faith to believe. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of our Lord remains forever. Amen.

During the 11th and 12th centuries, the Republic of Pisa was rich and dominant. They wanted to display the great wealth that they had, their great piety, and their geopolitical dominance, and so decided to construct a magnificent religious complex. They commissioned four monuments to their greatness: a grand cathedral, a massive baptistry, a huge cemetery, and a freestanding bell tower. Work began in the year 1173. The cathedral and the baptismal were magnificent, but it was the bell tower that would become most famous. It was to be a hollow cylinder stretching 200 feet into the air, covered completely in white marble.

Five years into the construction of this tower, the architects noticed a problem. The south side of the tower was sinking. Little did they know they had built the tower on a shallow foundation of weak and compressible clay beneath the subsoil, and the massive weight of the tower caused it to lean. Unable to fix it because of war and regional conflict, construction came to a halt. But the people of Pisa were committed, and after peace was brought to the region, they worked on the tower again. And in 1372, almost 200 years after they started, the tower was finished.

Over the centuries, though, the lean worsened. By the 20th century, it was in danger of falling. In the 1990s, engineers removed the bells from the top of the tower and removed soil from the north side, reducing the lean of the tower by 16 inches, but left it still leaning. It remains stable to this day as the leaning tower of Pisa.

Last summer, my family and I had the privilege of visiting the leaning tower of Pisa, and it really is a beautiful square that the Pisans had built. The tower is truly magnificent. The only bothersome thing about going to Pisa is all of the tourists taking very strange pictures, using perspective from their cameras to try and prop up this leaning tower. I have a video on my phone of all these people looking like mimes, doing this. It might have been funny the first ten times it was done. Now it’s just a little annoying. That’s not to say that we didn’t do it — of course we did — but it’s annoying.

We’re continuing on in our series through Kings, and last Lord’s Day we saw God’s word being fulfilled as the kingdom of Israel passes from David to the son of David, King Solomon. We saw God establish his king on the throne, and all that set themselves against the Lord and his anointed fall. We saw that Solomon is like a new Adam — that Solomon did what the first man, Adam, was supposed to do but failed to do — that when the offspring of the serpent, the enemy of God, came seeking to usurp God’s plan through a woman, Solomon had the offspring of the serpent, the seed of the serpent, killed.

This morning, the author of Kings is going to show us again that Solomon is like Adam. He’s continuing to carry out the mandate that God gave to Adam. He seeks God’s wisdom to rule, to take dominion, to extend the kingdom of God beyond the borders. And Yahweh gives his king great wisdom and establishes his kingdom. So under King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel is big and beautiful and magnificent, and it stretches far and wide. But as we will see, like the tower of Pisa, she has a lean.

Here’s the central claim of these three chapters that we’ll be considering this morning: Look to God’s wise king and seek his wisdom, because through him the kingdom of God is established.

Let’s pick up our series in chapter 3, verse 1.

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. The people were sacrificing in high places, however, because there was no house had not yet been built for the name of the Lord. Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. 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.

At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you, and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, that you’ve given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David, my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this, your great people?”

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, now I do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall rise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days. And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

At Gibeon, Yahweh appears to young King Solomon in a dream, and God says to the king, “Ask what I shall give you and it shall be done for you.” Whatever you want, just ask. And Solomon’s response to the Lord’s statement is wonderful. Now, Solomon was probably twenty years old or so when he was anointed king, but we see from Solomon’s response — this young man knows his Bible.

Now, last week I suggested that you read 2 Samuel chapter 7, and I hope you did that, because the covenant that God makes with David in 2 Samuel 7 is really foundational for much of what happens in the book of Kings. And Solomon’s response to the Lord’s promise shows that this boy knows God’s word — especially knows the covenant that God made with David. In his prayer, Solomon quotes God’s word back to him, which is a rather instructive thing. If you want to enrich your own prayer life, if you want answers to prayers, just pray the Bible.

Mind you, though, this is a dream. I don’t dream much, but when I do dream, my words are usually mushy, my speech is slow, sometimes my fingers are hot dogs — it’s a mess. But Solomon is quoting Scripture in a dream. This boy’s different.

He says to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love.” Now, if you were here on Wednesday night and were blessed, as I was, to sit under Jay Herod’s teaching, then you learned that the phrase steadfast love in the Old Testament means God’s loving kindness — his Old Testament version of the word grace. Which, by the way, I don’t know if you know this or not, but sometimes we come to this room on Wednesday nights and we talk to God and we delight in the glories of Christ. I’m not sure if you knew that or not, but now you know that I know that you know.

Solomon gives praise to God for keeping his word, showing loving kindness to David by placing his son on the throne, the son of David. And he praises God for keeping his word — not just to David, not just keeping the covenant with David, but keeping the covenant with Abraham. Did you catch him quoting the covenant that God made with Abraham? That God had promised to make his descendants a great people, too many to be numbered. Twenty years old — this boy ain’t even old enough to buy cigarettes, and he’s quoting covenants in a dream. Like I said — different.

Solomon admits with great humility that the task before him is too great. “I am,” he says, “just a little child. I don’t know how to go out and come in.” Going out and coming in is a Hebrew idiom for leading by example — it’s all saying, “How am I to be an example to these, your great people? I’m twenty years old.” This young king acknowledges his own incompetency, reminding us of the apostle Paul, who said, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Solomon is saying, “I don’t have the ability to do what you’ve asked me to do. I need you.”

Verse 9: “Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this, your great people?” Solomon knows what he needs, and he knows his need. “I need an understanding mind.” Now, ancient Hebrew did not have a word for mind. Literally, this Hebrew phrase means a listening heart. Solomon is saying, “Give me a heart to hear your word and to obey your word, so that by knowing your word and obeying your word, I might keep your word and discern right from wrong and lead your people.” And in this, Solomon is exemplary.

What if God came to you in a dream and said to you, “Ask whatever you wish and it will be granted to you”? What would you ask for? Financial freedom? Would you ask for a godly wife or a godly husband? Would you ask for good health? Would you ask for a mind to remember where you put the tool that you just had in your hand?

Well, it may surprise you to learn that God has come to you — not in a dream, but in the pages of Holy Scripture — and said to you… well, I’ll just read it. The second half of John 15:7, the Lord Jesus says this, and I quote: “Ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.” Close quote. So God has come to you in the same way he came to King Solomon and said to you, “Ask whatever you want and it will be done.”

So does that mean that I can ask the Lord for a ’71 GTO, or to draw a tag to hunt elk in Arizona? Some preachers preach that way. Well, it may help you to know what Jesus said in the first half of John 15:7, and I quote: “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.” If you abide in me, if my word abides in you, then ask. It’s like when the psalmist said, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” When your heart — when you are delighting in the Lord — what is the desire of your heart? The Lord. That’s what you’re delighting in. And so if you are abiding in Christ and God’s word is abiding in you, what are you going to ask the Lord for? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

And that’s what we see in King Solomon. He says, “God, you’ve made this promise to my dad, and I know I’m somehow a part of that promise, but I can’t do what you’ve asked me to do. The work is too great. Your people are too great. I need you to equip me to serve your purpose. Give me a listening heart. Give me an understanding mind. I need wisdom to lead your great people.”

Exemplary, brother pastors — and those men here who will one day be pastors — heed King Solomon’s example. God has called us to lead this, his great people, to discern good and evil, right and wrong. And like Solomon, we need a discerning mind. We need wisdom. We need a listening ear. We need to abide in God’s word to lead God’s people.

The first four of the Ten Commandments all have to do with how God has chosen to be worshiped by his people. How God has chosen to be worshiped by his people is regulated by Scripture. So what we do in this place is regulated by Scripture, and we need wisdom to lead God’s people to worship him rightly. Church, will you pray that the Lord gives your pastors listening ears? Will you pray that the Lord would give us humble hearts to submit to God’s word and to lead by faithful example — to be men who abide in Christ, whose word abides in us, that we might discern right and wrong?

It pleased the Lord that Solomon asked for this, and the Lord granted the king’s request. And God gave Solomon a wise and discerning mind like no one before or since. And in addition to wisdom, Yahweh gave Solomon great riches and great honor. And as we keep reading through the text, verse 16 of chapter 3 all the way down to verse 19 of chapter 4 is basically a showcase of the king’s wisdom.

Verses 16–28 should be rather familiar to a lot of you. The author gives us a story to showcase Solomon’s divine wisdom. It’s a memorable story. Two women appear before the king — prostitutes — and they live together in the same home, a brothel or something, and the author makes no comment on that whatsoever. He just tells it like it is, expecting that the readers will recognize there are many layers of problems here.

They’re in front of the king because both women gave birth to little boys around the same time. And tragically, one woman, nursing her baby at night, lay on top of him and suffocated him, and he died. And when she realized this, she gets up and sneaks into the other woman’s room and swaps out the living baby with her dead baby. And when that woman wakes up and realizes, “This is not my baby,” she accuses the other woman of stealing her baby. And that woman denies the accusation. It’s about as horrible a situation as can be imagined. You have two women — one a troubled and distressed mother, and the other a lying baby thief — and they go before the king.

And this is years before DNA testing, years before any kind of security monitor. There was no one else in the house. There is one woman’s word against another woman’s word, and no one to witness one or the other. So what is the king to do? It’s impossible to know which of them is the distressed mother and which is the lying baby thief. No one can know the heart but God. And so the king needs divine wisdom.

The first demonstration of the king showing divine wisdom is the fact that the king listens to these women — that’s evident from the way the story is told. The king just lets them argue in front of him. Proverbs 18:17 says, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” The king listens. He gets all the data that he can. But how is he going to know who’s lying and who’s telling the truth?

So Solomon devises a test to expose the motivation of each woman’s heart — a stress test, if you will. He calls for a sword, and he says, “Divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other.” Solomon knows that a mother’s instinct to protect her child from harm is as strong as any force in the universe, and she would rather suffer the greatest pain to herself than allow her child to come to any harm.

And Solomon’s test reveals the heart of the true mother. For the one says, “Oh my Lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other, driven by jealousy and bitterness — and probably grief over her own dead son — said this: “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.” The true mother reveals herself through her self-sacrificial love for her child and is restored to her child. And God’s people see that the wisdom of God was in Solomon to do justice. That’s showcase one.

Showcase two: the author goes on to show how King Solomon structured his kingdom. He appoints officials and officers to management positions in his kingdom. He’s the wisest man who has ever lived, and yet he recognizes that he has his own limitations and delegates leadership responsibilities to others. He’s like Moses, who went before him and appointed others to do the work. He delegates authority because Proverbs 11:14 says that in the abundance of counselors there is safety. The author wants us to see: Solomon has the wisdom of God to do justice.

Now, none of us are ancient Near Eastern kings, but all of us need God’s wisdom. Wisdom is the God-given skill to act according to God’s will. The Puritan Richard Baxter put it like this: it is that holy skill by which the soul is enabled to choose the best end and the best means to that end. And so wisdom is simply applying God’s truth to real-life situations. And so all of us need that.

If you’re here and not a Christian, you need wisdom — not just to get through life, but to make the wisest choice of all. The Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. And so, sinner, fear God. This afternoon, take one of those Bibles on that table back there home, and read the Gospel of Mark, and see the glory of this God — magnificent and glorious and just. He is your king, whether you recognize him or not. And if your life ends before you surrender your life to this king, you will spend eternity under his judgment. And friend, because we love you, we would spare you of that. Repent of your sin. Turn to Jesus Christ today and receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. If you have more questions about that, I’ll be by those double doors — I’d love to talk to you.

We all need wisdom. Young men here need wisdom to know how to live as a Christian in the world, how to prioritize their lives according to kingdom priorities, how to prepare themselves to lead a family, should the Lord will. Young women need the same. Husbands need wisdom to know how to lead in their family. Wives need wisdom to know how to love their children and their husbands and to manage their household. And so all of us must pray for wisdom.

Pastors find themselves in situations not too dissimilar to the one Solomon found himself in — less dramatic, mercifully, but difficult nonetheless. One person says this, another person says this — how do you know which it is? One person says we should do this, another person says we should do that — which is it? One person says this is the right application of Scripture, another person says this is the right application of Scripture — which way is it? One person says we should spend our money here, another says we should spend our money there — which is it? We need wisdom.

Counselors meet with couples, and he says it was like this and she says it was like this, and the facts aren’t clear. How do you know which is right? How do you know if either of them are right? I’ve done enough counseling to know it is a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game. There’s no donkey. So we must pray for wisdom.

You need wisdom in your jobs. You need wisdom to care for aging parents. You need wisdom to counsel adult children. You need wisdom to be a member of the church. You need wisdom to know how to rid this country of the sin of abortion. You need wisdom to know how to remain steadfast under trials. You need wisdom to know how to live as a citizen of the kingdom. We all need wisdom.

The great news is that Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive.” James 1:5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. So, PBC, let us pray for wisdom, because when we, the people of God, receive the wisdom of God and apply the wisdom of God, the kingdom of God and the justice of God is established and advanced in the world.

And that brings us down to chapter 4, verse 20, where we see the wisdom of Solomon and its effects.

Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and they drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of meal, ten fat oxen and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates, and he had peace on all sides around him. And Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon.

Solomon also had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and 12,000 horsemen. And those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, each one in his month; they let nothing be lacking. Barley also, and straw for the horses and swift steeds, they brought to the place where it was required, each according to his duty.

And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men — wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Now, remember something I said last week: the author of Kings assumes that his readers know their Bibles. And in the section I’ve just read, the author is grabbing texts from all across Scripture and applying them to Solomon and his kingdom.

Look again at verse 20 — “as many as the sand by the sea.” Sound familiar? It’s a reference to the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 13, and again in Genesis 22, that his descendants would be like the sand of the sea. So there’s God’s promise fulfilled in Solomon. Solomon ruling over all the kingdoms of the Euphrates to the border of Egypt — same thing. It’s the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 15, the same promise God reiterated in the covenant with Israel in Exodus 23 and again in Deuteronomy 11. That’s God’s promise fulfilled in Solomon.

Now, surely the phrase in verse 24 sounds familiar to you — “Solomon had dominion.” Where do we get that from? Genesis 1 and 2. It’s the same word God used when he told Adam his role: take dominion, rule, bring my peace, my beauty, my order, my extension of my kingdom to the earth. That’s God’s promise fulfilled through Solomon.

Judah and Israel are living in safety from Dan to Beersheba, which is from the top to the bottom. Verse 25, every man under his vine and every man under his fig tree — that’s a fulfillment of God’s promise through Micah, in Micah chapter 4. The author assumes that we read this and hear those texts: this is God fulfilling his promise through Solomon.

There’s more. Look at verse 33 — Solomon spoke of trees, of beasts, of birds, of reptiles, of fish. So he’s good at botany and zoology — who cares? What the author is telling us is that Solomon is a new Adam. Again, the phrase is taken from Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, when Adam is naming the animals, taking dominion over the animals, showing his authority over creation.

And don’t miss verse 34 — the people of all the nations are coming to hear of the wisdom of the son of David. That is a fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 2, that the nations would come and see and hear and learn of God and have peace with one another.

The author of Kings wants us to know that God is establishing his kingdom on earth — that this, the son of David, is a new Adam, a new Abraham, a new Moses, a new Israel. He’s the one in whom and through whom all the promises of God find their yes and amen.

And remember, last week, if you read 2 Samuel 7 — and I hope you did — remember what God said he would do through the son of David. 2 Samuel 7:13: “He will build a house for my name.” We don’t have time to read the whole chapter, but turn to chapter 5 and look at verse 5. King Solomon, the son of David, says, “I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God.” This young king understands himself to be the fulfillment of the promises of God. He is the son of David who will build the house for the Lord. And next week, Lord willing, we will see that house built.

But there’s more the author wants us to see. God has established his king. God has established his kingdom in Israel. And the borders of the kingdom are expanding far and wide. But if you have been listening, if you’ve been paying close attention, then you’ll have noticed — how did we put it last week? Not all is as it should be. This beautiful tower has started to lean. There have been signs, breadcrumbs.

So let’s go back. Chapter 3, verse 1: Solomon made a marriage alliance with whom? Pharaoh, king of Egypt. In God’s law, does it not forbid God’s people marrying foreign women? Look at verse 2 — the people were sacrificing where? At the high places. Look at verse 3 — the king is sacrificing at the high places. But doesn’t God’s word forbid God’s people sacrificing on high places?

In Deuteronomy chapter 17, God said of Israel’s kings, and I quote, “The king must not acquire many horses for himself” — no big army. Skip down to chapter 4, verse 26, which we just read a minute ago: Solomon had 40,000 stalls and 12,000 men to ride his horses. Now, I don’t know how many horses “many horses” is, but it seems to me 40,000 stalls represents many horses.

Furthermore, Leviticus 25 says that no Israelite is allowed to force another Israelite to serve as a slave. Now go to chapter 5 and look at verse 13 — King Solomon drafted, what’s your Bible say? Forced labor. You know another word for that? Slave labor, out of all of Israel — 30,000 men. And just so you know, one day when we get to chapter 12, you’re going to see that decision split the nation.

So all that to say — this beautiful tower, covered in God-given wisdom and white marble, with its bell towers calling the nations to come and see, has begun sinking on one side, and no amount of mimming or perspective is going to put it right. Eventually the leaning tower of Israel will fall.

All the blessings given to Solomon, all the blessings of Solomon’s kingdom, are but a foretaste. They’re the hors d’oeuvres for the feast to come. Solomon is a sapling of the oak tree that is the true son of David, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who will establish God’s kingdom that cannot be shaken. It is Jesus who will build God’s temple on the earth that cannot be destroyed. Solomon may have been the wisest man who has ever lived, but Jesus Christ is wisdom personified. We learned that, didn’t we, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, some months ago — the apostle Paul said that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Paul wrote to the Colossians, telling them that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

So it is Jesus Christ who will do what Solomon failed to do — that in Christ, God will finally and fully establish his kingdom. Jesus will build God’s temple, the church of the living God. Jesus is himself the temple of the living God. And through the church, united to him by faith, shaped into his likeness, the bells of God’s divine wisdom ring out to the nations. Ephesians 3:10 says, “Through the church, the manifold wisdom of God may now be known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” That’s a massive reality.

That means, brothers and sisters, that when we gather on the Lord’s Day in this place — receiving and releasing members, when we strengthen and encourage one another, when we exhort and discipline one another — we are making God’s wisdom known. We are establishing God’s justice on earth. This is the house built for the name of the Lord our God, and no other. This is the place where his banner flies, and no other.

So Christian, when you apply God’s wisdom, when you establish God’s justice in your life, at your work, you are making God’s wisdom known. When you raise your family in the fear of the Lord, you are establishing God’s kingdom. That is what God-given wisdom is for.

God’s people go from the church out to the nations, to the places where Christ has not been named, to do what? To establish churches — God’s kingdom within the kingdom of man, separate from the world — to show and tell the world what the justice of God is like, what peace with God is like. That is our role. Solomon couldn’t get it done. Jesus came and did it, and united you to himself, and filled you with his Spirit, the Spirit of wisdom. And through you, the church, the manifold wisdom of God is made known among the nations.

And so let us pray that God would give us wisdom to do that here in Piqua, in Miami County, and out to the nations. And let us pray that by God’s grace, as we apply God’s truth to real-life situations, he would establish his kingdom, and to Christ is the delight of all.

Let’s pray. Father, please receive our thanks for allowing us to become a part of this, the magnificent story that you’re telling about the glory of your magnificent Son. In whose name we pray, amen.