The King Solomon Paradox

[ericoh2]

One thing that I've always found intriguing in the Christian faith is this idea that Solomon, said to be the wisest man who ever lived, somehow fell out of favor with God. Wisdom, which is synonymous with good judgment, is supposed to be the trait that leads one to a "godly" life. How can it be that one with better judgment than anyone who ever lived was able go against God. If one is genuinely wise and following God is the apex of wisdom, in Christian belief, how do Christians reconcile this occurrence?

I would like to get some Christian views on this, but all input is welcome .

 

[no-body]

According to Kings 11:9 Solomon's wives turned his heart after other gods so he went against the ten commandments. My take is it's a parable not to get too big for your own britches and to remain humble. Pretty much it's a recycled Adam and Eve story.

 

[ericoh2]

That's one way of looking at it. I was a little more curious about those that take the story more literal and hold to the mainstream Christian belief about Solomon, that is that he was the wisest man and still managed to fall out of favor with God in the mainstream Christian sense.

 

[Draka]

According to Kings 11:9 Solomon's wives turned his heart after other gods so he went against the ten commandments. My take is it's a parable not to get too big for your own britches and to remain humble. Pretty much it's a recycled Adam and Eve story.

If he was so wise, he would have known better than to do such a thing. A wise man, if wisdom was knowing the truth and the truth was the Abrahamic god, would not turn away from that god. However, if Solomon really was wise beyond compare, and he knowingly turned away from the Abrahamic god, that should say something right there about that god. Ericoh has a point about it being a paradox within the Christian faith. Even if a parable, it's still a catch 22.

 

[imaginaryme]

Sure he was a wise man, but the important thing to remember is that with Christianity, God is the hero of the story. Same thing with Adam, Job... heck, same thing with Jesus whose last words were a form of sin. God is the hero, that's the moral, that's the tale.

 

[Draka]

Sure he was a wise man, but the important thing to remember is that with Christianity, God is the hero of the story. Same thing with Adam, Job... heck, same thing with Jesus whose last words were a form of sin. God is the hero, that's the moral, that's the tale.

Messed up "hero".

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Wisdom is a capacity, not a permanent condition.

The story is folk narrative, not biography.

 

[ericoh2]

Wisdom is a capacity, not a permanent condition.

The story is folk narrative, not biography.

It's true that people are going to have varying ideas of what wisdom is. As it pertains to Solomon in this story you may be correct, I'm not familiar enough with the hebrew term(s) used that were translated or in what sense the authors meant by wisdom. To me true wisdom requires a permanent change in the person, otherwise it's just insight. A wise person in my understanding of the word is one who has insight and has integrated it into his life to such a degree that he lives according to this "higher understanding."

But I understand that my definition really doesn't matter in interpreting the story :no:.

You also may be right about the story being folk narrative but I'd say the majority of Christians take it as biographical. I guess for those folks, it depends on how they define wisdom as to whether or not this story poses a problem for them or not.

 

[Student of X]

It's true that people are going to have varying ideas of what wisdom is.

Or who?

Sophia, Goddess of Wisdom - Crystalinks

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

To me true wisdom requires a permanent change in the person, otherwise it's just insight.

Let's just hope that you, like Humpty-Dumpty, pay the words extra.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

As it pertains to Solomon in this story you may be correct, I'm not familiar enough with the hebrew term(s) used that were translated or in what sense the authors meant by wisdom.

Skill ... acuity ...

Again: a capacity rather than a condition.

 

[ericoh2]

Let's just hope that you, like Humpty-Dumpty, pay the words extra.

Point taken. I did note that my opinion of wisdom doesn't have any place in interpreting the idea of wisdom used in the story of Solomon and that I'm rather uniformed when it comes Hebrew, or for that matter any foreign, grammar. I just wonder how many Christians who take this story as a literal biography have the same idea of wisdom that you've put forth.

 

[ericoh2]

Skill ... acuity ...

Again: a capacity rather than a condition.

Fair enough, thanks. Like I asked in my previous post, is this how those Christians define wisdom, as it pertains to Solomon, in their beliefs? If not and I suppose many Christians have varying opinions on this matter, they may still have a paradox within their own belief system, which is one of the topics I wanted to address in this thread.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Point taken. I did note that my opinion of wisdom doesn't have any place in interpreting the idea of wisdom used in the story of Solomon and that I'm rather uniformed when it comes Hebrew, or for that matter any foreign, grammar. I just wonder how many Christians who take this story as a literal biography have the same idea of wisdom that you've put forth.

I try to distinguish between

• what Christians think, and
• what Christian scholars think.

and I know far too little about the latter.

It's also useful to remember that we all tend to read these 'books' with 21st century eyes, failing to understand that they were not 'books' at all in the modern sense but, rather, props of an oral culture that heard rather than read. What was important was not the detail but the etiological/historical and or theological quanta woven into standard narrative devices.

 

[imaginaryme]

Messed up "hero".

God is not meant to be understood.

 

[ericoh2]

I try to distinguish between

• what Christians think, and
• what Christian scholars think.

and I know far too little about the latter.

It's also useful to remember that we all tend to read these 'books' with 21st century eyes, failing to understand that they were not 'books' at all in the modern sense but, rather, props of an oral culture that heard rather than read. What was important was not the detail but the etiological/historical and or theological quanta woven into standard narrative devices.

That's very true about people reading books with "21 century eyes." Not only that but we often read with "cultural eyes" as well. That's one of the problems that I think faces many of the prominent religions today. It's very hard to gain a proper understanding of, well anything, if it's context is not understood. Not to mention that, far too often two people can discuss a topic and have completely different ideas in mind due to our personal spin put on words and how they are defined.