According to my calculations, this is my 2,494th “Bible Speaks” column, and by the end of July I will have completed 48 years of writing it.

If 48 years ago the Division of Education of the National Council of Churches had asked me if I would be willing to write this piece for 48 years, I would have said “No, that’s a commitment I am not going to make.” But they didn’t ask, and I never thought I would be doing this for at least half of my life.

God willing, I would like to make it an even 50 years, but if I do not lose my vital faculties, I could perhaps go on beyond July 2014.

So, when I looked at the scripture text selected for today, I couldn’t help wondering how many times in the past 48 years I have written on this particular passage, 1 Kings 3:1-28 – quite a few, if memory serves me well. Fortunately, I can’t recall what I have previously written about Solomon’s wisdom – if I can’t remember, you are not likely to remember, either!

There is no connected history of Solomon. What we have in the Bible are bits and pieces, stories and anecdotes that tell us some things about the man who was third king of Israel, but there is little chronology. His birth name was Jedediah, or “beloved of the Lord.”

Presumably it was his father, King David, who gave him the name of Solomon, meaning “Peaceable.” The name “Solomon” appears nearly 300 times in the Old Testament and a dozen times in the New Testament and is probably a derivative of the Hebrew term Shalom – roughly, “peace.”

The golden years

We also know he was the second son of David and Bathsheba. Apparently, David preferred Solomon to succeed him instead of his firstborn, Adonijah. After David’s death, Solomon conspired to keep Adonijah from the throne. There was considerable bloodshed over this issue.

Solomon had a harem of many wives, some of them for purely diplomatic purposes. We know of two daughters, Taphath and Basemath.

He is remembered for his cosmopolitan kingdom, a vast and ambitious building program, expanding trade and commerce in the Near East and his rule of Israel at the very height of its territorial expansion. He was extolled for his wisdom and, as the Book of Psalms is credited to King David, the Book of Proverbs is tied to Solomon.

On the negative side, there is evidence he was ruthless and even barbaric in attacking those likely to get in his way. In fact, when he died and his son, Rehoboam, seized the throne, tribal leaders pleaded with him to cease his father’s practice of enslaving Israelites to do his building program.

Shortly after his death, the kingdom split in two, particularly because Rehoboam, instead of easing the tension, threatened to pursue the ruthless policies of Solomon.

So was Solomon really wise or was he foolish? That he had a capacity for wisdom is readily apparent in his adept handling of the conflict between two prostitute mothers (3:16-28). That he had been commended by the Lord for his wisdom in asking for a discerning mind is not in doubt (3:10-14).

But if he became too wrapped up in material success and brought about deep and abiding divisions among his people, was he really wise?

There are three possibilities: he really was very wise, even though he alienated half his kingdom; his reputation for wisdom was erroneous and he unwisely let his kingdom unravel; or, he did have a real gift of wisdom that faded as he aged and his ego swelled.

So, it may be that for much of his life he sometimes was wise in some things, but not continuously in all things. Is that not a description of what happens in the lives of many of us?

Get wisdom

It is important that we realize the distinctions between knowledge, wisdom and intelligence.

It is wonderful when we possess all three of these, but there are many intelligent people with high IQs who are not wise, and maybe not even knowledgeable. There are also people with normal intelligence who nevertheless excel in wisdom.

Roughly speaking, intelligence is our native mind ability and agility with which we are born. Knowledge represents what we have learned about the world in which we live. Wisdom is the practical facility for choosing the good rather than the bad, the positive rather than the negative. Wisdom is certainly No. 1 in desirability.

In Proverbs 4:7 we are told: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Wisdom is one of God’s greatest gifts.

I close with these words from Walt Whitman’s “Song of the Open Road:”

Wisdom is not finally tested in the schools,

Wisdom cannot be pass’d from one having it to another not having it,

Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof …

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.