Alrighty, well this third lesson on our Bible study of wisdom is entitled seek wisdom. So last lesson was seek immortality. Now we're going to see a lot of amazing content on wisdom itself. This is chapter six through nine.
So four chapters, but there are some really meaty stuff in here, especially chapter seven. I can't wait to talk about that chapter that section because it's some of the greatest language prefigurements, typology, revelation of the Old Testament on the Trinity itself. The three persons of the Trinity is fantastic. So I'm looking forward to that, but we're going to start with chapter six first.
So here we are chapter six verse one, picking up right where we left off and we'll just read a few verses here. It begins chapter six verse one. Therefore, O kings and understand, learn, O judges of the ends of the earth, give ear, you that rule multitudes and boast of many nations. Alright, we'll stop really quickly right there.
So we have really an echo of what we saw in chapter one verse one here in chapter six verse one. This is really an inclusio. Honestly, a lot of commentators point this out that you can see this whole section of the wisdom of Solomon chapter one verse one all the way through chapter six really verse 21 depending on which commentary you look at. But this is definitely an echo of those first verses where here in chapter six one, you've got this threefold verb, right?
We're listening to listen. That's very much an echo by the way of the great Shema and Deuteronomy chapter six here. Listen, obey. The Lord has one Lord, love him by heart, soul, strength, right?
So there's kind of an echo right there. But in any case, listen and learn judges of the earth and give ear, you that rule over multitudes. So you better pay attention basically to what I'm about to tell you. That certainly if you go back to chapter one verse one, same thing where he says, love, righteousness, you rule of the earth, think of the Lord of the brightness, seek him with sincerity of heart because he is found by those who do not put him to the test, etc.
So we're going to have the same kind of themes taking place here in chapter six. Another threefold verb, calling all rulers, monarchs, judges to pay attention, to listen to the words of this author here in order to find wisdom because wisdom wants to be found. We're going to see that very, very important line here coming up here in just a second. So listen, give ear, etc.
Verse three, let's keep reading, for your dominion was given to you from the Lord and your sovereignty from the most high who will search out your works and acquire into your plans because as servants of his kingdom, you did not rule rightly nor keep the law nor walk according to the purpose of God and he will come upon you terribly and swiftly because of your judgment of all those in high places. For the loneliest man may be pardoned and mercy, but mighty men will be mightily tested. All right. So what we're going to see here, this is really incredible.
The first and foremost, all authority comes from God. It's a really important point here in verse three, all dominion was given to you from the Lord, your sovereignty from the most high. So no one has authority on their own by their own right, their own merits. All authority comes from God and authority comes from God.
This is the theme you find pretty much everywhere in the Old Testament in New Testament. I got a few verses here listed in your notes, Jeremiah 27, Daniel 2, very famously in John chapter 19, Jesus says to Pontius Pilate, right? You have no authority to you unless it's given to you from on high. In Romans chapter 13, he says it's kind of the same thing, but pray for all those in authority, for authority comes from God.
So this is really important. Everything comes from God. Ultimately, all that is good comes from God. A lot of the same on that, the natural philosophy or the rule of analogy.
We're going to talk about that in the next lesson. I'm getting ahead of myself. So all authority comes from God. And if you fail to apply God's given authority for the sake of his kingdom, you're going to result in judgment, right?
This is a really interesting point here. All authority is given not for your own sake, but for the sake of the common good and for the sake of upholding God's law. That's a lot of political philosophers really think about this verse very deeply here. All authority has been given to individuals from God for the sake of his kingdom.
That's at verse four right there. As servants of his kingdom, you did not rule rightly. So they have an authority there, an awesome responsibility to rule rightly, but they didn't. So as Luke 1248 famously says to whom it's given much is required, much was given to these kings and judges and rulers over multitudes, and they botched it.
They botched it big time. So this first principle here, I think it's really important to nail down here because everything the wisdom of Solomon is talking about from chapter one, now chapter six and elsewhere, is that everything comes from God and God's wisdom. So here's a little verse to outline this a little bit more here. Comes from your kept it study Bible.
God's kingship over the world is a prominent theme of the Old Testament where several references are made to his everlasting kingdom. And that quotes first chronicles, number of places there, Tobit, St. Chronicle, Psalms, Daniel, et cetera. It goes on, political rulers participate in God's government of the world as servants charged with wise administration of society, which includes praising and pursuing the good as well as punishing evil doing.
The kingdom of God is a theme that is deepened and expanded in the New Testament, which announces that God rules over the world through Jesus, the risen Lord and Messiah. So this is a really interesting theme. I would be really, really fun to spend a number of lessons just talking about the theme of the kingdom in the Bible here, but authority first is given by God to Adam. Adam is the first king of oral creation.
And then of course, throughout all the time, all of history, everybody who has authority is participating in God's authority for the sake of this kingdom, which means they must follow God's law and they must institute and implement and force God's law in their society. Really important point that too many members of politics, they forget this really, really easy. So because these individuals did not rule rightly, they didn't keep the law, we're not talking about the individual law of the Babylonian, the Greeks or Romans or whatever. We're talking about God's law, really a lot of commentaries will say that it's natural law, which is instilled in the human heart at creation, but it's divinely revealed as well in the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.
So they don't follow the natural law. They don't follow God's purposes in rule rightly. So they're going to be judged. And this is a great warning to everyone.
You're going to be judged. Now, the lowly will be pardoned. The humble will be pardoned in God's mercy, but the mighty are going to fall. They're going to be mightily tested here in verse six.
There's a lot of echoes as well in the rest of the Bible going back to first name of chapter two, a huge theme that was called the theme of reversals in Hannah's, I call it Hannah's magnific up in his hand as a canticle, where she says, you know, the lowly will be raised up, the mighty will be taken down. Mary echoes that exact same idea in her magnific up in Luke chapter one, the mighty will be taken down, but the lowly, the humble will be raised up because God can't work with you if you're not humble. Right? Again, this could require a whole lesson in the humility, it's a whole hour on that very topic, but I think you get it right.
God can't work with someone who's not humble, who doesn't submit themselves to God. If someone raises themselves up in their own estimation and they kind of divinize themselves in one way, shape or another, then God can't work with that. If you're not humble yourself, then you'll certainly be pardoned in his mercy. So everybody is held to the standard here.
God really shows no partiality. Let's go on in verse seven. Let's see, yeah, verse six is the lowly will be pardoned and mercy, the mighty will be mightily tested, for the Lord of all will not stand in awe of anyone, nor show deference to greatness, because he himself made both small and great, and he takes thought for all alike. But a strict inquiry is in store for the mighty.
To you then, O monarchs, my words are directed that you may learn wisdom and not transgress, for they will be made holy who observe holy things in holiness, and those who have been taught them will find a defense. Therefore set your desire on my words long for them and you will be instructed. So this chapter six, verses one through eleven is very much echoing what we saw at the beginning of the book in chapter one, but it's really laying it on thick, don't you think? Because it's a huge warning to all those who have God's authority to rule rightly and to focus on learning wisdom, being instructed, and observing holy things, and desiring his instruction.
All rulers must do this. I kind of want to start with some students. I kind of want to send a book of wisdom to all elected representatives. I think that would be really, really important to do because they should really remember that authority is not given to them, even by the people through a democratic election or whatever it may be, whatever the country is.
God authority comes from God and they must uphold his kingdom. They must uphold his law and not try to line their own pockets out of greed or corruption or anything like that. So I think it would be very wise if all persons and authority read and meditated over this book. So that's kind of an opening here in chapter six, verses one through eleven, but he's going to continue on.
So he says, set your desire on my words long for them and you'll be instructed. And then now in verse 12, and following, he begins to describe wisdom. He's going to describe wisdom in even more beautiful terms in the next chapter, chapter seven, but this is really lovely here. So wisdom wants to be found, right?
Very much as we saw again in chapter one about how God is found by those who don't put him to the test, God manifests himself to those who don't distress him. The same thing is said of wisdom because wisdom is one of the perfections of God. More to say that next chapter. Let me read verses 12 and following here.
This is super lovely. Read 12 to 16 and then we'll stop and talk about it a little bit. So chapter six verse 12, wisdom is radiant and unfeiting. She is easily discerned by those who love her and found by those who seek her.
That's why we read chapter one verses one through two because it's the same idea. She is easily discerned by those who love her and she's found by those who seek her. Like Jesus says, right? Asking you'll be given to seeking to find.
She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. He who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for he will find her sitting at his gates. The fixed one saw on her as perfect understanding and he who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care or anxiety because she goes about seeking those worthy of her. She graciously appears to them in their paths and meets them in every thought.
I will stop right there. Isn't that incredibly lovely? Right? So verses one through 11 is be where you have authority from God.
You got to rule rightly. Otherwise you're going to be judged. So listen to my words. Wisdom wants to be found by you because she's amazing.
So if you eagerly seek her, it's guaranteed that you'll find her because she wants to find you as a matter of fact. So there's a beautiful description not of just her being radiant and unfeiting, but her desire in this beautiful poetic way. Her desire is to give herself to you rulers and judges of the earth. So in this line here, many commentators will point out I'm just going to read a little section from the Catholic study Bible again.
It says that she wisdom is personified as an attractive woman. And who doesn't love an attractive woman, right? Especially these rulers. All these rulers like an attractive woman.
So wisdom is the most attractive of all women, right? So she's personified as an attractive woman, accessible to those who desire her and pursuing those who are worthy of her gifts. Ultimately, she is a sure guide to the kingdom of God. We'll talk about that in a second.
Her depiction as a woman is based on the biblical terms for wisdom, which in Greek as well as Hebrew are grammatically feminine. And let me just tell you. So in Hebrew that is Hocha and in Greek that is Sophia. Easily remember Sophia because everyone knows some girl, some woman in their lives named Sophia and needs wisdom.
So Hocha and Sophia, they're both grammatically feminine. The quote goes on and says, the imagery here in chapter six, chapter six through nine draws and develops from Proverbs one through nine where wisdom appears as a woman who calls out as a city gates and offers peace and understanding to all who will accept her counsel and go back and check out Proverbs one, Proverbs eight, et cetera. So that's the end of the quote. And that's actually really beautiful because if you go back to the Bible study we did on Proverbs, that was a huge thing.
Seek, pursue, love, lady wisdom as opposed to lady folly. Very, very unique to the book of Proverbs. But here the wisdom of Solomon picks up on that theme. You know, and it's actually important because the voice of Solomon here is speaking as I'm going to explain a little bit.
The voice of Solomon is speaking so you're going to find consistency with what he said in Proverbs with what he is saying here in the wisdom of Solomon. So seek this most beautiful, this most attractive of women, she wants to be found by you. She's not going to play hard to get. She won't play hard to get.
She's not going to play games. She wants to be with all of you rulers and leaders and all who have authority, right? Now ultimately if you seek her you're going to get the kingdom, the true kingdom of God. Let me read on here.
Verses 17 through 20, actually first let me tell you, verses 17 through 20 is a literary device called a sorite or sorites or some people call them sorites but what are sorites? It comes from the Greek by the way, soros which means a heap or a pile like you kind of pile on a little by little by little by little by little what does that mean here in this literary device? So it's a chain really more little by little you're leading towards something. So the idea is A is B and B starts using A then B then C then if C then D and so on and so forth you see, right?
So it's a chain right there where one thing leads to another and that's what's being said here in verse 17 and following. So let me read it. So the beginning of wisdom says is the most sincere desire for instruction and concern for instruction is love of her and love of her is keeping of her laws and giving heed to her laws is the assurance of immortality and immortality brings one near to God. So conclusion the desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom which ultimately if you follow this logic train here, the kingdom is the kingdom of God because immortality brings you near to God which is the kingdom.
That's really really important here. This whole build up in chapter 6 and really the whole chapters 1 through 6 as a matter of fact is you need to seek immortality. In order to get immortality you got to first seek wisdom. Wisdom will bring you and concern for wisdom's instruction and if you love wisdom if you keep wisdom the laws then it will bring you immortality and that will bring you close to God which is a kingdom.
That's the idea here. If you really want a kingdom and you have to pursue righteousness and wisdom and love her and seek her and acquire her. So another quote here from this time from the Catholic and the Catholic and archangel testament says thus following this logic train here, this writes, that's wisdom and righteousness and immortality and kingdomly rule are all related in such a way that the acquisition of wisdom results in an eternal reign. That's really important.
All kings want to reign forever. They can't because they're human. But if you want an eternal reign then you got to go after wisdom. That's the point.
And we'll see that in the next lesson chapter 10. The first extent referenced in the Old Testament to the expression that will stand at the very center of the teaching of Jesus Christ and Nazareth. So the kingdom here, that's the end of the quote, the kingdom here is the focus. So he's addressing rulers and judges and leaders because they want to reign and he's saying if you reign properly following, accepting authority from God, following his laws and ordinances you will have an eternal reign because you're going to participate in the kingdom of God.
That's a pretty bold and credible promise. And so ultimately Jesus is the king of kings and Lord of lords. The first words out of Jesus is the mouth where repent for the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is near. So repent so that way you could participate in this great kingdom.
And even this isn't in your notes here, nor in commentaries, which is interesting. But one of the great lines that I always love and think it's interesting that the gospel of Luke gives us in Luke 22, 28 in the context of the Last Supper. Jesus says in Luke 22 verse 28, you are those who have continued with me in my trials. As the Father has appointed a kingdom for me, so do I appoint for you a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on the 12thrones of the 12th tribes of Israel.
So it's really interesting, much can be said here, which we'll have to do a Bible study on Luke another time. And the context of the Last Supper and the context of the institution of the Eucharist, Christ is including his apostles into his Eucharistic kingdom, really, which is the kingdom of the church. And so they're going to be able to judge with Christ. They'll be the 12th judges for the 12th tribes of Israel and really for the world where his apostles share in his rule.
That's a huge theme. You go to Revelation as well. There's a lot there. But this is the point of wisdom.
If you want to rule forever, as he's going to say in just a couple of verses here, then you've got to seek wisdom. So that's actually on that point, let me read on verse 21. If you delight in thrones and scepter's ill monarchs of the peoples, honor wisdom that you may reign forever. That's the whole buildup right there.
So if you delight in thrones and scepter's, which they all do, every single monarch, every single king, every single emperor, they do delight in their power. Right? But if you really want to rule wisely, then you have to honor wisdom and you'll reign forever. Nobody wants to have their reign cut short.
Everybody in fact, after they die, which they know they're going to die, they want to pass on their reign to their son in a great dynasty. So the great promise here, which is incredible, is you can reign forever in God's kingdom to be near to God and be immortal, reigning forever, if you only honor wisdom. That's the great buildup right now. And therefore what that means is that she is to be desired above all things.
So seek wisdom. Guess what? Solomon speaking here is the voice of Solomon, right? We already established that in our first lesson.
Solomon probably did not write this. And I suppose it's possible that some of his writings were preserved over the centuries and then kind of wrapped up into this book. I suppose we'll find out in heaven what happened there, but more likely than not, this is an author in the first century before Christ, who is speaking in the voice of Solomon. And so Solomon says, right, you want wisdom?
That's what you need to have to rule forever. I want to reveal the mysteries of wisdom to you. I'm going to hide nothing back from you. Let's keep going.
Verse 22. Let me read 21 again just so you can see the flow. Or if you delight in thrones, inceptors, of monarchs over the peoples, honor wisdom that you may reign forever. I will tell you what wisdom is and how she came to be.
And I will hide no secrets from you. I will trace her course from the beginning of creation and make knowledge of her clear. And I will not pass by the truth. Neither will I travel in the company of sickly envy, for envy does not associate with wisdom.
Immulatut of wise men is the salvation of the world and a sensible king is the stability of his people. So again, I says, point, you want to be sensible? You want to bring good to your people? Listen to my words.
I'm going to reveal everything to you. What is wisdom? Who is wisdom? What is her beginning?
What are her characteristics? I'm going to reveal all your mysteries to you without envy as well. And that's crucial because if you go back to chapter 2 verse 24, remember that death came into the world through Satan's envy. So all envy is really a participation in the instant portion.
Remember that word portion or party. So without any envy, Solomon is going to reveal everything. So again, listen up because he has a lot to share. And that's what chapter 7 and 8 are all about.
Solomon explains everything about himself, his humble beginnings, his desire for wisdom, and wisdom is great desire for him and how God gives wisdom to him so that he can be a great ruler. And so he's using himself as an example, right? So let's look at chapter 7. Hey, this is Dr.
Neck. Thank you so much for listening to this course sample. If you enjoyed it and want to listen to the entire lesson, please become a student over at Scripture and Tradition.com where you can listen to this entire course, but also all the other courses that we have available in the S&T audio library where you can listen to them on demand, however, and whenever you want. So thank you so much.
God bless you and keep setting your Bible. Thank you.