Creaton 6[th] November 2011: WISDOM Ch. 6 vv 12-16
"Wisdom is glorious and never fadeth away" 

One of my favourite readings from the Old Testament is that story from the first Book of Kings about Solomon's dream, and his reply when God asks him what he wants :   "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart" i.e. wisdom   God likes that idea, and gives him as a reward  what the King James Version calls  "a  wise and understanding heart" .
I thought of that when, as a young Civil Servant my first boss told me that good judgement was more important than good morals. I tried nonetheless to cultivate both attributes, without, I'm afraid,  ever quite achieving either. 
To-day's reading from the Apocrypha, however, led me a read some more of the Wisdom of Solomon and find out something about its background.
Besides being blessed with good judgement, Solomon got plenty of wives, concubines and riches as well.   So following  his pleasing reply to God's question, Solomon could have his cake and eat it
Call me a cynic, but despite Solomon's example, I rather doubt that many of us,  given the opportunity, would make the same choice today.  People who end up in the courts often explain their conduct by saying that they made "bad choices".  It was bad choices I suppose that caused all those no premeditated balls in the Lords Test Match.  Bad choices that explain why MPs claimed expenses to which they were not entitled or made me drive past the camera at 35 mph.    
Wisdom, then, is out of fashion.  The very word has joined a number of others that are frequent in works of literature but are seldom used in everyday life.   How many of us can recall ever having heard a philosopher, politician or indeed anyone described as "wise".    The most common terms of approval of our leaders, or other so called celebrities,  are  -  `clever', influentials  ` astute' `shrewd, `high powered'.  The skills of our leaders lie in reading the opinion polls or hearing what focus groups have to say and spinning their views to the media . And the image they want to project is of someone vigorous, forceful, youthful, dynamic, but not necessarily wise which is perhaps in some people's eyes are rather boring attribute.   Professors get their chairs for their specialist knowledge, university chancellors ( and certainly the heads of Oxbridge Colleges)  are appointed for their abilities as administrators and fundraisers, rather than as the elders of the people imparting wisdom.   
Sadly, even philosophers, who from the etymology of the word ( love of wisdom) might be expected to give some meaning to the word, are no longer particularly wise. .  Some are accused of incoherent gibberish whilst others have narrowed their focus to a point where the ordinary man or woman cannot understand  still less appreciate what they are on about, for example,a question such as  does this lectern exist?  
As for morals, well Bertrand Russell and A J Ayer were undoubtedly highly intelligent, but judging from their private life could not be called wise by any standards.
So what can we learn from the Wisdom of Solomon?   Certainly not how to have one's cake and eat it.  It wasn't written by Solomon in any case. His authorship, scholars now agree, was apparently a commonly used literary convention.  It is addressed to the Jews in the first century before Christ and is a critique  -  or that is how I read it  -  of a sceptical hedonistic society in Alexandria, like many that we find in the developed world to-day.  
It is in fact, I've learned,  a link between the Old and New Testaments.  The description it gives of Wisdom  could be that of the Holy Spirit  "For she (note the feminine gender) is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty......the unspotted mirror of the power of God......entering into holy souls she maketh them friends of God and the prophets." 
The author, interestingly,  has a good word to say for virginity and praises eunuchs and pushes childlessness  This is a pretty radical change from the accepted wisdom in much of the Bible which is that fertility is a sign of God's blessing and sterility a sign of disapproval. 
The Wisdom of Solomon's attack on the permissive society of its time does explain in part why in our own, often agnostic, age, wisdom has gone out of fashion.  For to the author,  God is the source of wisdom and it is vain to  believe that we on our own can reach a true understanding of who we are and what we are doing here on earth without being aware of the mystery of God.   " For what man is he that can know the counsel of God? Or who can think what the will of the Lord is?  For the thoughts of mortal men are miserable and our devices are but uncertain. For the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things."   So to be wise you have to be virtuous.  
The good news is that even if you don't prosper materially in this life, you can -  given you get wisdom -  find your reward in the next,  a very Christian sentiment.  Interestingly the writer also warns against wanting those traditional signs, as the Jews believed, of divine approval, namely,  wealth and longevity i.e. what God gave to Solomon.
To the modern ear, then, a lot of the Wisdom of Solomon is pretty bleak stuff,sounding rather like  the outpourings of a disgruntled old man, a Biblical Victor Meldrew  
But what he wants to do is to persuade his readers that they will benefit from wisdom because it fosters temperance and prudence, justice and strength of will. These are the four cardinal virtues  Temperance : self control, moderation restraint;    Justice: proper moderation between self interest and the rights and needs of others;   Prudence: the ability to judge between courses of action and find what is the appropriate at a given moment;   Fortitude:  forebearance, endurance and ability to confront fear, uncertainty  or intimidation   
These virtues, incidentally, are symbolised by the four points of the Maltese cross, used by the Order of St. John and on the uniforms of St. John volunteers. 
Wisdom, based on these virtues, in short,  is its own reward and makes us fit for the Heavenly Kingdom. 
150 years of so after the Wisdom of Solomon was written the teachings of Jesus pointed the way:  avoiding materialism, seeking virtue, justice etc and,  through virtue, he showed how  we receive wisdom;   and through prayer and Bible reading draw closer to God and discern his purpose for each of us.   
We as Christians are by no means alone, of course, wanting to find a direction and meaning in our lives beyond our own wills.  So do a lot of other people who are not Christians;  and that, lack of direction lack of a compass, is probably the biggest problem that our society faces to-day.   For as G K Chesterton once wrote when we cease to believe in God, we do not believe in nothing, we believe in anything,  fame wealth, power, drugs, alcohol, sex. 
I recommend then, a look at the Wisdom of Solomon.  " For Wisdom is glorious and never fadeth away; yea, she is easily seen of them that love her and found of such as seek her. " 
And  remember as some sage also said ( but not in the Book of Wisdom)  "Some drink deeply from the river of knowledge, others only gargle. " 

Amen


