2Chr.1:12 tells us where Solomon's wisdom came from. Less obvious is where verse 2 came from (try Ex.20). Rehoboam did not follow his father's teaching, and while David and Solomon both reigned forty years each, Rehoboam only reigned a total of 17 years, and then died. He did not "live long in the land." His reign was continuous battle with the Northern Ten Tribes, so it wasn't prosperity either. The Golden Rule builds wealth, but war tears it down. Later in this chapter we'll see verses that say so.
Verse 3 starts with a curious phrase 'khesed w'emmeth' which is Hebrew for "Grace and Truth." Or at least that's how noted Hebrew scholar Walter Kaiser saw it. He taught at Trinity Divinity School when I was there, but I didn't take any courses from him (I was too busy trying to learn Hebrew to be able to cope with his lectures from the Hebrew). Anyway, he pointed out that this phrase appears all over the Old Testament, numerous times in the Psalms, but his focus was on Ex.34:6, where Moses went back up into Mt.Sinai after breaking the Tablets of the Law on the ground in fury over the idolatry of his brother Aaron. And God made Moses do the cutting of the second set so maybe he would be more careful with them.
"Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in khesed w'emmeth, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."Then Dr.Kaiser turned to John 1:14, which had this same phrase, this same meaning, but in Greek. [read v.3-4]
[Discuss] I think the significance of this very common phrase in the Bible is that God is about both love and kindness -- which is emphasized in pretty much all Christian churches -- and also truth (which is often ignored in many of those same churches). It is curious in Rev.20:8, the list of all the people excluded from the New Jerusalem, liars are listed with the cowards and unbelievers and murderers and idolaters, but there's no mention of the unkind or hateful. I'm sure they won't be there either -- it wouldn't be Heaven for the rest of us if they were there -- but they weren't singled out as specifically not there like liars and murderers.
What is the result of making both Grace and Truth a part of your very
being? Other people -- and also God Himself -- will like you. I think that's
a pretty good consequence.
[read v.5-6]
These two verses are often quoted by Christians, and well they should be! Psalm 127:1 tells us that "When Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" or rather, if God isn't building, ain't nothin getting built. God is God, and nothing happens without His say-so. But God is also Good. These two verses are about us getting our own attitudes in line with that.
[read v.7-8]
Are you seeing a common thread in all these verses? Each pair is another way to say: Respect God, and Good Things Happen. [read v.9-10]
This is about honoring God with your finances, and God will give you
plenty to honor Him with. It really works. Not like the "Name-it, claim-it"
people teach, God is not a genie to do our bidding when we rub the
lamp, but when we do things His way, Good Stuff Happens.
Another way to see verses 11-12 is as another part of honoring God (the previous section), which makes the "My son" phrase less significant as a topic divider. How we divide up the verses is less important than what they have to tell us.
The point is that being a Christian is not always sunshine and roses, sometimes we get off-track and God gently (or not-so-gently, if we aren't paying attention) reminds us that His way is better. Most of you have your own children, you know how that works.
Now we get six verses telling us in several ways, why and how Wisdom is Good [read v.13-18]
The Hebrew text has only one paragraph break in the whole chapter, here before verse 19. [read v.19-20]
This tells us not why Wisdom is good for us individually, but that even
God benefitted (and continues to benefit) from Wisdom when He does His
God thing (creating the universe, keeping things running even now).
Then come three pairs of verses, where the poetic form spans both verses. The first two are similar in two ways: Neither of them offers a reason or consequence, they just say "Don't do it." They also are specific instances of what Jesus called The Second Great Commandment (the Golden Rule), doing for the people around you what you wish and hope they would do for you. [read v.27-32]
The third pair gives us a reason for avoiding violence, that God prefers peaceful people. "Blessed are the Peacemakers," Jesus said, "for they shall be called the sons of God." Solomon's own father, David, was denied the priviledge of building God's Temple because he was a warrior. Solomon -- whose name is derived from the Hebrew word for peace -- got that priviledge. There is a place for people who take down the Bad Guys, but peace is better.
Finally three quick 1-verse doublets contrasting Good and not-so-good
[read v.33-35]
Tom Pittman
2022 July 23