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THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON (2)

WJH It is instructive to take account of these two chapters following what we had this morning, as also preparatory to the construction of the house of God. In 1 Kings 5, Solomon definitely begins the great work of his life, but the Spirit of God has brought forward these other matters prior to the erection of God’s house, and I think they afford us help to approach the realisation of the thought of the house of God. Not only that what is in the way morally in all our hearts should be judged, but we should be prepared to face the question of the word of God, the discerner of what is within. The idea in Christendom of the house of God is what is external, and is of very little value. What is merely external, formal and dead yields nothing; but the word of God brings to light what is living and we need to allow its scrutiny to come into our souls as we approach the subject of the house of God locally and generally.

JDU The enemy would destroy everything that is living, would he not?

WJH There is never any conflict in a cemetery. If things are dead, the enemy can leave us, but the true Solomon by His judgment, by His word, brings forward what is within in a living way outside externals.

AHS Are you referring to the sword in connection with the word?

WJH Yes. Solomon says, “Bring me a sword”. The apostle makes clear what that is; the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it pierces what is inside, and as we approach the thought of having a part in the house of God, we must be prepared for His word to search us and bring out what is within.

RHVA Is there a moral connection in what you are now bringing before us with what we had this morning? Does the judgment of Joab, Shimei and the others prepare the way for the operations of the work of God?

WJH Quite so. For the house of the living God is in view. What is merely formal and external but dead is worthless in the house of God. So we need to face the word of God to bring out what there is within, that is, where there is life and living affections. However much under reproach, because of our past history, what Solomon is looking for is what is living. “For a living dog is better than a dead lion,” Ecclesiastes 9: 4. These women might be regarded as dogs, but one of them is a living dog with living affections and she is better than a dead lion; Solomon discloses by his word that she has living affections in her soul and as such she is serviceable to the house of God.

JDU So it goes back to the scripture quoted this morning “If any one love me”, John 14: 23.

WJH And love would always seek to preserve life. The other woman does not care because she does not love; she is quite willing for the other child to be cut in two; but where there are living affections they find expression in suffering.

JDU Prepared for any sacrifice?

WJH Yes, even to giving up her own child to another if life could be saved.

RHVA Does the child represent Christ as held in the incorruptible affections of the soul?

WJH Well, I would rather say that, in the setting it is in, it represents living material for the living house. What Solomon really has in view typically is the house of the living God and one of these women will sacrifice anything to have living material preserved.

GAvS Does the matter then represent the exercises in a locality for the preservation of life, even though it might involve the sacrifice of ease and comfort, and perhaps the object of its affections might be lost to it?

WJH Quite so. The position is remarkable coming in at this juncture, the past of the woman is not ignored and brings before us what marked us in the past, like the Lord being in the house of Simon the leper; the Spirit of God does not hide it, yet becoming serviceable by the activity of living affections sacrificing to preserve life.

CD And it is the word of the king that brings it to light.

WJH There is power in the word of the king; like the word of God which pierces to dividing between soul and spirit, and joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So that as we approach the subject of the house of God, we have to face the word of God, for in His house is the oracle where God speaks.

WG Would what we speak of as care enter into this in relation to God, the way in which care is carried out, readiness to sacrifice? She cared for the living child.

WJH I think so. We often have to have our affections stirred for the preservation of what is living.

EBMcC In adjudicating would you say the spirit of a little child enters into it, that would be the proper attitude?

WJH Yes. The potentialities in a little child who can tell? For a little child is going to lead the various features of the work of God in a coming day — “A little child shall lead them”, Isaiah 11: 6, referring to the various animals that Solomon speaks of.

EBMcC So that having the spirit of a little child you would naturally care for life.

WJH The Lord took a little child and said, “and whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receives me,” Matthew 18: 5. There is a correspondence between Christ and a little child.

ABJ Is it not essential to see that in no other way and in no other place could this matter have been settled? Is not every matter to be solved in the presence of the king?

In the sixteenth verse they came to the king and stood before him.

WJH You cannot judge by externals. There are no means to judge by externals, one person’s word against another’s, but bring the matter into the presence of Christ and His word looks beyond externals.

CD It brings to light the inwards.

WJH So if we are going to reach this great thought we must be prepared to have the Lord look inside; God’s house and God’s presence, is a very searching matter. Not a question now of our acts as in Joab’s and Shimei’s cases, but the searching eye of Christ taking account as to how far we have living affections for His interests.

JSB In contrast to what we were speaking about this morning as to what was hard and envious, the motive for the preservation of what is living is seen here to be love; the inward affections of this woman were moved to preserve life, “Love never fails”, 1 Corinthians 13: 8.

WJH “Bears all things,” 1 Corinthians 13: 7. This woman was prepared to bear a most terrible situation that her own child should pass into the care of another rather than the child should die; indicating that what is living will bear sacrifice to preserve life.

WG Solomon’s wisdom is excellent in the way he brings out the affections in the mother and discloses the true relationship.

WJH The word of the king — it brought out where life is. In a case of judgment when the Lord speaks He will bring out where life is, where there is anything to be preserved.

GAvS Do we cultivate interest and affection in every manifestation of spiritual life in the Christian circle?

WJH That is it exactly. Take the children and young people growing up amongst us; we should be prepared to make great sacrifices that they should not be engulfed or destroyed by the callousness of the present day. The next chapter we read develops that further in what Solomon opens up, he speaks of trees from the cedar to the hyssop, and he speaks of cattle and of birds and creeping things and fishes, disclosing his valuation of the work of God in its various forms. All that precedes the building of the house.

Ques The maternal element amongst us is of great importance in that respect, is it not? I was thinking of the maternal affection being brought to light; there is the maternal side of care.

WJH A very great side and we want the Lord to search us as to whether we have got it or whether we are going on formally as to our care meetings and assembly meetings, or whether there is the mother heart behind it all.

CD Prepared to sacrifice would be the test of that as with Moses’ mother.

WJH Quite so. It must have broken her heart to take Moses and put him in the ark in the river by the bank, but her object was to preserve him for God.

CD That is the test of reality instead of formality.

WJH I feel we want to take that to heart in facing difficult matters, whether there are these feelings of living affections or whether it is just a matter of bringing the sword and cutting the child in two, and there is an end to the matter.

Ques Or even conforming to what is outwardly right.

WJH Quite so. That is the point for us to see — the word of God — a sword such as that is. I believe if we would face the fact that God is speaking and let Him search us; it would promote the living condition, whether in prayer or praise or thanksgiving, for He is the living God.

JSB You spoke of what is potential in a child. Moses as a child was beautiful, we need spiritual sight to see beauty in the children of God.

WJH I am sure that is right, but by the action of some parents you would wonder whether they value the child at all for God; Moses’ parents hid him as long as they could, but when they could not hide him they prepared an ark and put it in the sedge by the bank of the river; they did not put their child right out in the stream as some parents do, but they put him into the minimum of it, not the maximum, for they wanted him for God.

JDU Is that not where the passover comes in, a lamb for an house, we shelter our households?

WJH Quite so. The firstborn child in that house would have particular attachment for that lamb.

JDU The protection in that way of what is for God as seen in the firstborn.

WJH We have had some heart-breaking experiences of parents pushing their children into the stream as if they did not value them potentially for God, so that they have been swept away in the great current of Egypt’s river. Moses’ parents put him among the sedge in the border of the stream.

EBMcC Timothy was brought up in a right way; as a child he knew the scriptures, able to make him wise unto salvation.

WJH Very good. What is instilled into Moses from his birth is the acceptance of being hidden. For three months while he is entirely under his parents’ care they hid him. He is hidden from his birth and all the way through. If we could instil into our children that they are not for this world, they are hidden here, in the first three months of their spiritual history, they would never depart from this.

Ques Would you attach some importance to taking account of spiritual life and interest in any person who comes under the power of the word of God?

WJH That is the point here, that this mother would save the life, that is her objective at all costs.

GAvS Is that the care and solicitude of those in whose care the child is?

WJH The apostle speaks of Jerusalem above being “our mother,” Galatians 4: 26.

Ques You spoke of being hidden for three months by the parents. Does what you refer to come out in relation to the preaching of the gospel also. God saving souls to hide them?

WJH The hidden position is the position for all of us, but if it is not brought into our souls when we are young it seldom gets in at all. When the Lord found what He valued He hid it.

GAvS We see that in active exercises in the government of a country, how most of the laws of that country are directed towards making provision for the preservation of those who are young and unable yet to guard themselves against the great dangers which surround them, and I suppose that is just as true in the commonwealth of God as in the commonwealth of a nation.

WJH This mother would look at her child like that — the possibilities in view of Solomon’s kingdom and Solomon’s work — Solomon is on the throne and he is going to build a house that is exceeding magnifical.

Ques To be an element in it?

WJH That is what she rightly would look for.

ABJ This child would take a right account of himself later on, he would owe his life and existence to this word that came from Solomon.

WJH Indeed, we are born again by the word of God says Peter, and we live by every word of God; and as this child grew up and understood that he owed his life to the word of Solomon, every word of Solomon would have weight with him. This brings us to the next chapter.

GAvS Is Paul’s solicitude for Timothy of a similar character?

WJH And found more clearly still in Onesimus, how anxious Paul was; so much so that he wrote a special epistle to Philemon that the child begotten in his bonds should not be injured.

EBMcC The maternal side comes to light, and the Lord places the child where it gets proper care.

JDU I suppose here we would be encouraged to sacrifice the natural whatever that may cost us?

WJH That is how life is preserved. She is prepared to sacrifice what she would naturally claim, for the preservation of life.

EBMcC The Lord sees she gets the living child. The young man in Luke is given to his mother.

WJH Yes ... What I had in mind more than the child itself — was that we should have to do with the Lord who searches our innermost hearts, and thoughts and feelings, and thus we are on the way to the house of God.

GAvS In regard to wisdom in the passage at the end of the fourth chapter, is this wisdom of such a character that it covers everything in earth, air and water?

WJH “In wisdom hast thou made them all,” Psalm 104: 24, it says. Wisdom is in every sphere of God’s activities. God gave Solomon wisdom and largeness of heart — that is a great matter. Largeness of heart — immense affection — complete with the wisdom so that he has a heart that can think of every feature of the work of God. Having got that, he speaks three thousand proverbs, which I think means that there is a word of wisdom from Solomon for every matter that ever arises. The three thousand will cover every matter. There is far more than the actual Book of Proverbs, there is the living word as well as the literal scripture.

JDU The application by the Spirit of the written word perhaps?

WJH Never outside the boundary of scripture; yet you have to get to Solomon to find these three thousand proverbs and with such a range of them you do not know what He will use.

GAvS With Christ there is power to deal with every possible situation that could arise.

WJH Judgment is to begin at the house of God, that is what Solomon has in view,

the house of God being there, judgment is there, these three thousand proverbs are for judgment, to know what ought to be done in every circumstance.

Ques So that He may apply a scripture which has never been used before?

WJH Which is very testing.

JWH Do you suggest that the three thousand proverbs are for the working out of judgment in detail?

WJH Quite. The general position is that the Lord will recognise living affections, but then in the question of judgment He has a word of wisdom for every matter; the range of wisdom under His hand is expressed in the three thousand proverbs, and He has a word of wisdom for every situation.

ABJ In the thirtieth and thirty-first verses, all human wisdom disappears before the true Solomon’s wisdom?

WJH That is interesting. Various characters of wisdom are referred to. The sons of the east, but Solomon is wiser than they are! There are persons that go back to the religious traditions of men. There is the wisdom of Egypt, of this world. There are brethren who have helped us in the past, grandsons of Jacob may be. We might look up their writings to get a proverb for the situation, but that is not the way at all.

WG The scripture says he “spoke” of them, not “wrote” of them, would that bring in the presence of Christ?

WJH That is so. We are approaching the house of the living God, there are living expressions and living wisdom from the mouth of Solomon.

HS Ethan and Heman wrote psalms.

WJH Ethan the Ezrahite thought very highly of David. Solomon is wiser than he, however much we may value Ethan. The other three may be grandsons of Jacob and belong to the past. What is the proverb that Solomon will say now, is in view in an assembly meeting and it is very testing as to whether we are with Solomon. What we did in an apparently similar case weeks before or years before is not to guide now.

Ques These men would speak from their experience: Solomon has the word from God to meet every situation, it is not a matter of past experience.

WJH The apostle in the Corinthians says, “Thus there is not a wise person among you,” 1 Corinthians 6: 5. We do not despise these serviceable brethren, whether living or gone, but what we want in a difficult situation is a proverb that Solomon speaks.

CB Is there any wisdom apart from Solomon?

WJH Well there is the wisdom of the world which comes to nought and there is the wisdom from beneath too.

CB With all this available wisdom, how is it that we so often miss the point?

WJH It is a question as to whether things are living with us, we never miss the proverb if we are livingly in touch with Solomon, in living affection.

GAvS Would the wisdom come out in the application of the proverb? In any given situation the wisdom that brings the word of Christ to bear upon it would be the proverb for the occasion?

WJH I suppose that three thousand would cover all the moral questions that would ever arise, there is a proverb for each one.

CD It is a matter of what he spoke, not a question of what others say, but rather the true Solomon, it is what He says that counts and what we wait for and listen for.

WJH That is what you get in the house of God. The time has come for judgment to begin from the house of God.

HC We often quote what valued brethren say believing Christ is speaking through such.

WJH The Spirit of God conveys what Christ says through vessels. Christ is not actually here physically, but He is Son over God’s house and He does speak and we are to discern His voice.

EBMcC He credits the assembly with having those proverbs.

WJH How testing as to whether we are near enough to Him to get the proverb for the occasion, or whether we look up to see what Mahol said.

Ques Then there is the testing as to whether we have discernment to accept it.

WJH That is what is so searching.

HS In connection with the morning meeting, there is nothing mystical about getting the song from the mouth of Solomon.

WJH If indeed we should be near enough to get it and dependent enough ... Solomon has the house of God in view in all this, first his proverbs to order and adjust things according to divine wisdom and then these thousand and five songs.

CD The proverbs would put us in tune for the song.

ABJ The right use of these proverbs in solving matters would mean unity?

WJH Quite so. It would adjust us in every moral question so that things are right according to divine wisdom; but what is next in view is the praise of God; there is a great range in that, a thousand and five.

EBMcC Why a thousand and five?

WJH I do not know. The only thing I would say is that there is a vast range of living praise to be maintained by the true Solomon, not one note or one song, but a thousand and five songs.

EBMcC Do you think it begins at the weakest and increases one hundredfold?

WJH Quite so. But we come together under the Son over God’s house. What song will He sing? He has a thousand and five to select from.

CB Only one song is recorded.

WJH Quite so. Who knows when the saints come together what song the true Solomon will take up? We used to see brothers come with their hymnbooks turned down.

JDU I was thinking of young brothers that we long to see taking part in these songs. What is necessary with them is life, if they were living they would be available.

WJH The Lord might choose any of them to introduce one of these songs — the songs of Zion they may be called.

GAvS Are the songs only in the hymn book?

WJH “Singing and chanting with your heart to the Lord,” Ephesians 5: 19 — not with your hymn book. The Lord might use the hymn book, but it is a question of what is in the heart.

JDU The thing with us is to see that we are living and then we are ready for any one of the thousand and five.

WJH The Lord would help us and is helping us to recognise that if these living affections are with us, and if there is matter of discernment and judgment, there is a word — a proverb from the mouth of Solomon. He would select one for the occasion. If it is a question of the service of God in praise, there is a living song which He will lead the saints to sing.

WG Would the proverb be limited to judgment?

WJH A proverb is a word of wisdom when it is needed for any matter.

WG Would you help us as to the giving out of hymns?

WJH It is only in wisdom they can be used. Take such a proverb as “God is in the heavens and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words be few,” Ecclesiastes 5: 2. That is a word that needs to be listened to from the mouth of Solomon, specially in the prayer meetings. We cannot help one another except as things are living. You cannot draw up anything for the service of God, there is no schedule, there are a thousand and five songs, and you never know what one Solomon will select. It is really how far we are in touch with Christ.

WH Do you think if we apprehended the Lord in connection with the three thousand proverbs, we would be drawing from the Head in such a way as to be intelligent as to what is given expression to?

WJH Yes, I do.

CB Tell us why that one song is recorded.

WJH It is called the Song of Songs. I suppose it is the greatest of all of them, whether applied to Israel or to the assembly. There are many other notes that Solomon may strike at times, and we are dependent upon Him for that.

GAvS Are they included in what Paul says “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”? Ephesians 5: 19.

WJH Quite so. The Songs of Zion are referred to in Scripture — they are all in that book.

JNG Why Songs with Solomon, and Psalms largely with David?

WJH He is the sweet Psalmist of Israel, and a psalm has to do with experience with God, but a song has to do with joy in the heart God-ward, and God delights in such songs. I do not know that I can say much about the difference.

JSB In the preservation of that which is living you have touched upon the meetings for prayer, and reference to our words being few. If we are given to prayer at very great length, can that make for preservation of what is living if there is that which is wearying to the saints? We speak practically.

WJH If we turn to the Lord about that, we will find He has a proverb to put us right, and there is a proverb that tells us what is suitable if we will only listen. Solomon’s prayer that follows is the longest prayer in scripture, and can be read deliberately and reverently in seven minutes. It covers the greatest range that our minds can take in.

WG The prayer that is livingly in connection with the house of God usually holds the saints.

WJH Well, if we have as much real exercise as Solomon’s we might sustain public prayer for seven minutes. There is no prayer other than the Lord’s equal to it! ... We might pass on to this next point in the same connection. Solomon spoke of trees “from the cedar tree that is on Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall”. Then he spoke of cattle, and he spoke of fowls and he spoke of creeping things, and of fishes. I believe all this would help us to value the work of God in view of the house of God, for in God’s house there is a place for every feature of divine workmanship.

EAK Would you connect this scripture with the sheet that comes down from heaven in the Acts, where similar things were spoken of?

WJH Yes, only this is much wider. Solomon spoke of trees. There were no trees in that sheet, there were no fishes. I think the meaning of it is that approaching the subject of the house of God. Solomon would teach us to value any feature of the work of God in one another.

RHVA Every whit utters His praise.

WJH Every whit — quite so.

JDU Is that the thought of the hyssop — no matter how small?

WJH Yes. What it must have been to hear Solomon speak about the feature of God’s work in a cedar, and in an oak, and in a palm, and in an olive tree, and in a vine, and he comes right down to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. So that everyone would value these plants as never before.

EM Does that apply to one seeking fellowship?

WJH Indeed it applies in our attitude towards the work of God in every way. That you do not despise God’s work — you value it. It may be small like the hyssop or great like the cedar, but whatever feature it bears, it is the work of God and Solomon has something to say about it, for he values it.

CD He has taken account of everything in God’s work, so that he speaks of them all. Every creature came under his notice and he has something to say about it.

WJH He spoke of these things ... All these things are living. They are trees that he spoke about, not timber simply.

GAvS Would the spiritual key be, “For thy will they were, and they have been created”? Revelation 4: 11.

WJH That is what the elders know. They know that everything was made for the pleasure of God, to express something of Christ.

CB Was Paul valuing the hyssop? He says the weakest is necessary.

WJH Yes, the weak brother for whom Christ died. Christ values such, though he may be like hyssop that springs out from the wall.

RHVA Is not there a blessed sign that it was used to sprinkle the blood on the lintel?

WJH Yes, though small it was serviceable.

JDU “Less than the least of all saints,” Ephesians 3: 8.

WJH It means, I think, to get the gain of hyssop we must be small. Indeed hyssop is the means of cleansing. The Psalmist says “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean,” Psalm 51: 7. Coming down to the thought of hyssop is the divine way of cleansing. The fig tree or the cedar or the palm, all have features of God’s work, but if we want to be cleansed it is by way of the hyssop.

WG “The trees of the Lord are full of sap.”

WJH The word there is “The trees of Jehovah are satisfied,” Psalm 104: 16. Every tree of the Lord is satisfied to grow in his own place, and fill his own part. You have never heard of a cedar wanting to be a vine, his service is prescribed for him and he is satisfied. Solomon has something to say about every feature of the work of God and the necessity for it amongst His people.

GAvS The spiritual value of the work of God, so that they are spread abroad and appreciated.

WJH I have no doubt every item listed here is descriptive in some way of the work of Christ. If you want to see the true Cedar, go to Him; if you want to see the true Hyssop, you go to Bethlehem or Calvary. If you want to see any feature of the beasts that are clean you see it in Christ, the ox and the lamb and the goat and the lion, all these features of the work of God are seen in Christ; but Solomon would help us to value them as seen in one another.

CD All the way through it is an important matter to hear what the King has to say, whether in regard to the living child or the mother, or the proverbs or the songs, or as to the vast range of the work of God.

WJH That is important. That touches our readings and meetings for ministry. What will Solomon say, he has all this range before him and he has something to say, what will he say today?

JDU Does that apply when seeking to distinguish where the work of God is in one who comes to the meeting for the first time?

WJH Exactly. If you could see things as the Lord sees them you might speak to him about the lamb, or about the lion, it depends upon what is suitable for the moment, what he may need is preparedness to suffer, what he may need is courage to face an issue that God has brought to his door.

JDU There are the unclean elements — the creeping things?

WJH Well Solomon no doubt had something to say about these which would be very extensive, how he would bring home what man is in himself, his own nothingness — “thou worm Jacob,” Isaiah 41: 14. What Solomon could open up as to this line!

GAvS How do we speak of fishes?

WJH I think the fishes speak of the reserves that God has under His control. The sea contains living things innumerable. The reserves of divine resources are unlimited.

JDU Do you link these with what we have in Leviticus?

WJH Quite so. Solomon would help us to understand what is clean and what is not.

JDU One has been feeling the importance of that book, very greatly, in connection with things in the house of God.

WJH I have: no doubt in the wisdom that God gave Solomon he would open out the chapters in Leviticus in connection with the creeping things so that we might understand what God meant by these things.

The house of God is to be a house of prayer for all nations, and so you find a little later on the Queen of Sheba comes up to hear this wisdom; there is a place where matters come up to be solved and where the light can be reached.

ABJ So that if we are in the good of that it will radiate and others will come into blessing?

WJH That is what is in view.

C.B. Is that testimony?

WJH Yes, God “who desires that all men should be saved”, 1 Timothy 2: 4, as the apostle says in Timothy as to the house of God.

RHVA Is there any connection between this and the second of Colossians, the mystery, in which are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?

WJH I think that is very good in connection with what we have had, behind all these features in the physical creation there lie typically the treasures of the house. Solomon opens that out in all that he has to say. Ministry is largely to help us to locate features of Christ and value them and make use of them.

WH Are you suggesting that ministry allows for the true Solomon to speak today?

WJH That is it, to tell us about oaks and cedars and doves’ and eagles’ wings, indeed all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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