Wisdom

Another stint of guest house ministry in North Wales draws near. I’ve been working on that most intriguing of Bible books, Ecclesiastes, as the subject.

To understand Ecclesiastes you need to know what the Bible thinks about wisdom. Although King Solomon is not named as the author of the book, he is usually linked with it. He is also connected with Proverbs and the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs). These, plus a few psalms and some books which never made it into the Hebrew Bible, constitute the Wisdom Literature. Yet the wisdom in them does not always chime in with what we today usually think of as “wise”. This word nowadays makes us think of the times when Sergeant Wilson in Dad’s Army discreetly advises Captain Mainwaring, who is about to embark on some madcap scheme, “Do you think that wise, sir?”

Solomon had a reputation for being “wise” that spread throughout the Middle East. The Queen of Sheba arrived at his sumptuous royal court, curious to find out what this reputation was based on, and was not disappointed. The story goes that two loose women turned up one day to ask Solomon for judgment regarding a baby. One came with a tale about them both having a baby within three days of each other. The second woman accidentally overlaid her baby one night and it suffocated to death. She surreptitiously swapped this baby for the other woman’s living one. The first woman saw the dead baby in the morning and knew that it was not hers. The other woman, of course, said this was a lie.

Solomon calmly ordered that the living child should be carved in two and shared out between the women. The true mother of the living child exclaimed,

“Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death” (1 Kings 3:26 ESV)

The other, though, was content for the gruesome solution to be put into effect. Solomon recognised that the genuine mother would yearn for her child come what may. He gave his judgment:

“Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”

However clever the story, we would normally think of Solomon’s strategy as hugely irresponsible and therefore unwise in our terms.

My researches turned up some other surprising facts about wisdom in the Bible.

• It is not always moral. It seems that a special class of wise men or women developed during the period of the kings. See Jeremiah 18:18. This verse seems to reveal that the “wisdom of the wise” can be manipulated and used against God’s true servants.
• It is sometimes shown in skills and gifts that we would normally think of simply as natural abilities. It is manifested in the skill of those who performed the art and craft work involved in the making of the priests’ robes and the construction of the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-11). Professions as diverse as mourning at funerals (Jeremiah 9:17) and work with ships (Ezekiel 27:8-9) required wisdom.
• Though an abstract quality, it takes on personality, Proverbs 8. This description could be pointing forward to Jesus or it may simply be the Hebrew trait of visualizing abstract ideas in a very physical way. Certainly wisdom’s pre-Creation existence makes us think of God’s infinitely wise plan, made before we ever came on the scene, to redeem us and give us eternal life in His Son.

At root, wisdom is down-to-earth. Somebody attempted a working definition of wisdom like this:

“Wisdom is intensely practical, not theoretical. Basically, wisdom is the art of being successful, of forming the correct plan to gain the desired results. Its seat is the heart, the centre of moral and intellectual decision.”

The NIV Thematic Study Bible defines human wisdom thus:

“The human quality which enables the planning and successful achievement of a desired goal. It may be expressed as technical skill, practical instruction and astuteness in political affairs. True wisdom includes spiritual discernment and, above all, the reverence and knowledge of God.”

The death of Jesus on the cross to save sinners is described as wisdom. Blasphemy as far as the Jews are concerned, sheer folly to the Greeks, to those who believe it is the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). In the 18^th century, Charles Wesley wrote a beautiful hymn about wisdom. The last verse goes like this:

Happy the man who wisdom gains,

Thrice happy who his guest retains;

He owns, and shall forever own,

Wisdom, and Christ, and heaven are one.

We Belong to the World

So the UK General Election is over, the result is what it is – a hung Parliament – and there are many people around feeling very jaded. “Why did we have to have this unnecessary and damaging election?” they demand to know. “Does Brexit now have to change, or even be abandoned altogether?”

My hope for the future has only limited connection with the arguments about whether Britain stays in the single market or in the customs union. Whatever we do about such things, I feel we need to move on and be open to the world.

Some 40% of the UK’s trade is currently done with the European Union. Yet, historically, we belong to the world. For four centuries our country had a truly global reach. Our ships sailed far and wide, opening up new trade routes and markets, putting us in touch with a huge variety of peoples and their cultures. Our missionaries, too, took the message of Jesus to the remote corners of the earth.

Our relations with Europe have, of course, been intense over many centuries. We have repeatedly been involved in European strifes and struggles. On the plus side, have benefited hugely and in many ways from contact with the Continent. It continues to be seen as a place of opportunity for many of our young people.

It is also true that we can’t be said to have turned our backs on the wider world since joining the EU. But the time comes when a certain amount of re-balancing is needed.

I feel that time is now. The world is stirring. In countries long neglected and under-developed, the peoples begin to lift up their heads. Enterprise and initiative at last come to the fore. It is an exciting time. True, many of these states are unstable and unpredictable trading partners. Their democratic status is often weak and tenuous. But trade and enterprise have always thrived on adventure and risk.

Have I forgotten that I am blogging as a Christian? Have I begun to write purely political entries? No, because this world we belong to is God’s world. King David declares in Psalm 24,

“The earth is the LORD'S and the fulness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
for he has founded it ...”

And He hasn’t just made the earth and walked away. He remains actively involved. In Genesis 18:25 the patriarch Abraham pleads with God,

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Many pagan nations thought that their gods specialised in one stretch of land (usually their own country). But the God of the Bible keeps breaking out of these barriers and showing His power throughout all the earth. In the Old Testament of our Bibles there are persistent indications that non-Jews, belonging to the nations outside the chosen people, would come to know this God and acknowledge His lordship. Jesus accepted this and prepared His followers to reach out beyond the boundaries of Israel. That is why, in His resurrected form, He announced to the disciples at the very beginning of the Book of Acts:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

In the 18th century, an age when no clergyman was normally expected to function outside his own parish, John Wesley famously announced,

“I look on all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.”

EU or no EU, may we in Britain once again become God’s people reaching out to God’s earth with the message of the Saviour whom He sent.