1 Kings 4:29-34

C. SOLOMON'S PROFOUND WISDOM AND FAME 4:29-34

TRANSLATION

(29) And God gave wisdom to Solomon and understanding exceedingly much and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is upon the seashore. (30) The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the sons of the east and greater than the wisdom of Egypt. (31) And he was wiser than all menthan Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman and Calcol, Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations round about. (32) And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. (33) And he spoke concerning trees, from the cedar which is in Lebanon to the hyssop which springs out in the wall; and he spoke concerning beasts, birds, creeping things, and fish. (34) And some from all peoples came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

COMMENTS

In fulfillment of the promise made in 1 Kings 3:12, God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding and largeness of heart. These three terms are interesting. Wisdom (Heb., chokmah) signifies practical wisdom, the ability to decide what is the best course of action; understanding (Heb., tebunah) is the ability to arrive at the solution to difficult problems; and largeness of heart indicates the power and breadth of the mind, comprehensive knowledge.

In order to impress the reader with the magnitude of Solomon's wisdom, the author makes four comparisons. (1) Solomon's wisdom was like the sand by the seashore (1 Kings 4:29), a proverbial expression for an innumerable multitude or great abundance. (2) His wisdom exceeded that of the children of the east[151]the various Arab tribes dwelling east of Canaan including the Edomites who were famous for their wisdom.[152] (3) Greater too was his wisdom than that of Egypt (1 Kings 4:30) which was famous for the knowledge of geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and medicine.[153] (4) Finally, Solomon was wiser than the wisest men of his own nation, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Darda. These four persons may be the same as the sons of Zerah mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:6. Heman and Ethan apparently were the authors of Psalms 88-89, two of the wisdom or teaching psalms. The term Ezrahite which is applied to Ethan in Kings and to both Ethan and Heman in the psalm titles is probably a variation of the family name of Zerah.[154] Solomon's reputation as a polymath spread throughout all the surrounding nations (1 Kings 4:31).

[151] Gray (OTL p. 140) has pointed out that the Hebrew term translated east sometimes denotes ancient time. The thought would then be that Solomon's wisdom exceeded the proverbial wisdom of the ancients,

[152] Jeremiah 49:7; Obadiah 1:8.

[153] Biblical references to the wisdom of Egypt: Isaiah 19:11; Isaiah 31:2; Acts 7:22. Josephus (Ant. VIII, 2.5) and the Greek historian Herodotus (II, 160) and Diodorus Siculus (I, 73 and 81) refer to the wisdom of Egypt.

[154] 1 Chronicles 6:33; 1 Chronicles 6:44 mentions two Levites, Ethan and Heman, who were singers appointed by David. Are they the same Ethan and Heman mentioned in the present passage? At first appearance the epithet Ezrahite (descendant of Zerah of the tribe of Judah) would seem to preclude this identification. Keil, however, thinks that Ethan and Heman were Levites who by virtue of their place of residence were incorporated into the Judahite family of Zerah.

Only a comparatively small portion of the literary fruits of Solomon's wisdom have been incorporated into the Bible. During his reign he spoke three thousand proverbs of which less than one third are preserved in the Book of Proverbs. The Hebrew word for proverb (mashal) denotes comparison, simile, parable. Of his thousand and five songs (1 Kings 4:32), only three have survived: the beautiful Song of Songs, and two of the psalms (72 and 127).[155] Solomon's wisdom was not limited to the philosophical and poetical, he possessed scientific knowledge as well. He discoursed on treesfrom the greatest ones, the cedars of Lebanon, to the smallest, the moss-like hyssop, which might be found growing on a wall.[156] Solomon was also knowledgeable concerning the entire animal kingdomthe beasts (larger animals), fowl, creeping things (small animals and reptiles) and fish (1 Kings 4:33).

[155] Among the Dead Sea Scrolls a document was found containing a similar catalogue of the literary productions of David. He is credited with 3,600 psalms and 450 songs for specific occasions. Sanders, PEQ, pp. 91-93.
[156] A moss grows in Palestine the leaves of which resemble the hyssop tree. This is probably what the author has in mind rather than the common hyssop which often attains a height of two feet.

Some disagreement exists as to the exact nature of these discourses on the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Some think that the verses refer only to Solomon's ability to draw moral lessons from what he observed in nature, an ability which he certainly demonstrates in some of his proverbs (e.g., Proverbs 30:25 f); others think that the verse refers to parables or animal fables similar to the fable attributed to Jotham in Judges 9; still others have seen a parallel in the classified lists of natural phenomena found in Mesopotamia dating back to the third millennium B.C. It would seem, however, that this verse is affirming that Solomon made observations and research in natural science, or botanical and zoological studies. Hearing of this great wisdom, kings from all over the earth sent ambassadors and messengers to the court of Solomon to hear his learning (1 Kings 4:34).