Video Transcript: Reflections on Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs as Marking the Developments in Solomon’s Life

We're looking at the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, those documents, which  primarily in poetic form, address the major life questions that we experience, and how the  wisdom of the community led by the Spirit in the context of the covenant between God and  Israel gives an answer to these kinds of things. We've looked already at Job. What happens  when people go through difficult times? So we've looked at Psalms, how do we connect with  God in meaningful ways in worship and pray to an unseen God. We've looked at Proverbs and  thought about what wisdom is for day to day living, particularly when we understand  ourselves to be married to God, through the personification of God's designs in wisdom. We've looked at Ecclesiastes and thought about what it is that the worldviews we walk amongst, say about meaning itself. And so we looked at the worldviews that are sort of pushed aside in  Ecclesiastes and those that are focused on as primary ways we have to think about things.  And we've been looking at the Song of Songs, Song of Songs, which certainly tracks itself to  one of the primary dimensions of our human life that is of loving relationships, we all tend to  fall in love at one time or another, or find ourselves frustrated with love or don't know how to  love or wonder when love is going to happen. And the Song of Songs, which reflects on that,  particularly when we think about how Solomon himself is not necessarily the best example of  what loving relationships are all about? Well, those last three in particular, are all attributed to or reflect upon the person of Solomon. And I wanted to take a little extra time to think about  that. Why are these writings in the Bible, particularly when they're connected to Solomon,  Solomon stands is one of the greatest figures of the Old Testament. He certainly was the one  who brought the extended kingdom of Israel into the widest possible play in the world of  Israel's day, which was part of what God had suggested or promised or intended through  Abraham. If you go back to Genesis chapter 12. And read the initial encounter between God  and Abraham. what God says is, all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you. And  if we understand the location of Israel's existence in the ancient Near East, it was in the one  spot through which all of the other nations would have to pass by way of their conquest  routes are their communication lines, or especially their trade caravans, so people are going  to pass through the spot. And so Israel becomes a small nation, situated at the crossroads of  the world, providing other nations with a look at what it might be when God connects with  people on Earth as the creator intended to have happen. Now, Solomon gives the greatest  expression to Israel's power, and presence in the ancient Near East. So much so that during  Solomon's years of ruling, the understanding and acknowledgement of Israel as a player  among the nations reaches its highest apex or Zenith. The Egyptians understand that Israel is in control. The people of Tyre and Sidon come under the protectorate of Israel, Syria,  Damascus, a great trading center, the nations of the Fertile Crescent, eventually Assyria and  Babylon, all participate in the wealth and prestige of Solomon's world caravans go to the  Greek islands. They go to the peoples of the East, India and China. The Queen of Sheba  comes looking from the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and others from Africa,  Ethiopians come to hear and be amazed at the wisdom of Solomon and the kinds of things  that are resident in the life of Israel. So Solomon is a key figure in the key plans of God to  influence the nations of the earth to interact with their Creator once again and In that light,  these three documents which are all attached to Solomon's life, seem to give evidence of  what was going on and what the larger purpose of Israel's existence, Solomon's existence,  and even our existence can be in league with God. If we think about the three books of  Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, each of them has a different character. They are  similar in many ways in types of literature, particularly Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, where  many proverbs are actually found in Ecclesiastes, but also Song of Songs, which has many  songs that are similar to the songs of wisdom and folly that we find in Proverbs. So there's a  great relationship, both in terms of type of literature and style. Among these three, one huge  possibility is that Proverbs emerges from the life of the young Solomon, he's recently come  into power. He's testing his wings in terms of his leadership abilities. He's explicitly expressing and exploring this profound gift of wisdom that God has given him, as he seeks to interact  with and conduct affairs in the life of Israel, and also in the international relations. So the  Proverbs that come from Solomon, are a displaying of the colors of Israel's self understanding  its relationship with God, and the manner in which Israel interacts with the nations. If the 

other nations see something valuable in Israel, they are to see it as valuable because of  Israel's God, they are to hunger for Israel's God. So if the lifestyle of those in Israel is to be  admired, then Israel's God is to be admired, and it becomes a very missional book. True  wisdom is found not in folly, which is akin to other relationships with Gods and worldviews.  But wisdom is found in relationship to wisdom, who is linked to the Creator God, and the God  who speaks through Israel, Proverbs would be then the young or middle aged Solomon, who's  at the height of his powers, and in a sense, giving missional testimony of the truth of life with  God. Now Ecclesiastes seems to emerge from the old Solomon, the Solomon, who has done  many good things, has attained much wealth has become champion of a variety of causes,  has built many buildings, and many cities has engaged in trade with many nations and has  established Israel as the dominant player in the world of its day. And still, he's realizing that  as he ages, he's going to die. And as he looks at his sun Rehoboam, we know from the  historical records, that re album was a spoiled brat, and that he didn't follow through on the  wisdom of his father, so much so that he lost most of the kingdom. So here's this man who's  built up an enormous kingdom, who loses it in an instant when he dies, not only because he's  gone from it, but because his son can't handle it, and it's taken over by others. So  Ecclesiastes seems to be the older man saying, what was it all for? What's it all? Meaning  what's, what's going to happen with it? What are the values that last and there are many that  don't last? Solomon realizes probably not only in passing along the kingdom to his son, that  it's not going to last but also, perhaps even in his own failed marriages and failed parenting  that there are many things that we do that don't have permanent significance. And so  Ecclesiastes is Solomon's attempt in his elderly years to reach again, for values and  worldviews that transcend the experiences of our lives. You can almost see Solomon as an old man who is reminiscing about the many things he's done celebrating some frowning upon  others, and trying to recover a sense of that early wisdom, that early desire for God in the  ways of God. And Ecclesiastes provides that. And if, as I've suggested, the Song of Songs, is  not so much about Solomon doing the right thing in love as it is, perhaps reflections later on  what Solomon did wrong in life, then it could be reflections about Solomon later on, creating a kind of morality play about love as it should be, as it could have been, and certainly as was  expressed between the Shulamite maid and her country lover, not between the Shulamite  maid and powerful king Solomon, that in fact, in this instance, in this expression of life, the  great king was not wise, but was actually foolish and was giving into things that were much  more akin to the lectures on folly at the beginning of Proverbs, than the lectures on wisdom. If that's the case, then these books continued to have a great significance not only because  they happen to have been passed along as the scriptures of Israel, and have been garnered  by the Jews into their collection of wisdom, writings, but also function in the Christian Bible.  They have even greater things not as mere trinkets from the past and books that have been  accumulating, but essential to the very message of the Bible as a whole, that the ways of God are best for humankind and humankind is hidden from God or has run from God and needs to  be found by God and needs to find God once again. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs in their own rights are very missional documents that remind us of the true character of our  world, and of the manner in which our own lives in these worlds. Find their best expressions  are a really good, small group of writings that need to be read more often than they are and if you'd like to see more about that, read my book, Covenant Documents Reading the Bible  Again For the First Time.