"The Way Of Wisdom Is The Way Of Righteousness"

A Sermon Preached by Chris Dierkes
September 20th, 2009

The Wisdom of Solomon 1:14-2:23

The first reading for this morning comes from The Wisdom of Solomon. Now some you veterans may be scratching your head a bit and saying, “Now I’m not sure I remember that one”—the Wisdom of Solomon that is.  I don’t remember that book in my Bible.

 

There may be a reason for that.  The Wisdom of Solomon has a long and somewhat torturous history concerning whether Jews and Christians of various denominations, though it should be in their Bible or not.  What in technical terms is called “canonical status”—meaning whether it should be in the canon of the Bible. 

 

A number of Christian denominations do not accept it as part of The Bible.  These come mainly from the Reformed or Protestant tradition.  Other traditions within Christianity accept it as fully in The Bible.  And others, like for example my own Anglican tradition, in classic Anglican form (i.e. not being able to make up their minds nor wanting to offend anyone) says that it’s not part of the canon but it is on the recommended reading list.  And still others say that it is deuterocanonical—literally second or secondary canon—which is I think kind of like saying canonical-ish.  For the newish folks, you can now impress your friends with your use of the word deuterocanonical.

 

But whatever the arguments pro or con in the history of our various churches, it is sufficient to say that for the people we call the first Christians—the first generations of Christians—this book, The Wisdom of Solomon was considered scripture.  It was considered for them holy, sacred, inspired writing.

 

We know that it held this place for them because writers in the New Testament quote this book directly and at other points allude to its symbolism, imagery, and themes.  The Gospel of Matthew as an example is heavily indebted to the Wisdom of Solomon.  So if for no other reason than to understand better our own Christian scriptures, it is worth study and meditation on this text.

 

Now, spoiler alert, the Wisdom of Solomon wasn’t actually written by King Solomon.  In the ancient world, writings were attributed to various famous ancestors out of a sign of respect.  In our contemporary world, the author of this text probably would have got accused of copyright infringement or plagiarism.  In the ancient world it wasn’t this way.  King Solomon you may recall, son of King David, asked God for wisdom so that he could be a just ruler.  So whenever in later Jewish writings, there are many references to Wisdom, they are often attributed to Solomon, as he was remembered and admired for his great wisdom.  And that’s how we get the title for this book.

 

The Wisdom of Solomon appears to have been written somewhere about 100 years or so before Jesus was born.  The Wisdom of Solomon very brilliantly unites two ancient and venerable strains of Jewish theology that were normally treated separately.  The Wisdom of Solomon unites these two theological streams in a creative way.

 

The first stream is the stream of (not surprisingly) Wisdom Theology.  It is after all called The Wisdom of Solomon.  5 points to whoever predicted that was coming.

 

Wisdom theology argues that if one observes the world---and by the world is meant here both what we would call the ‘natural’ world (creation, nature) as well as human social world—that if one observes the world with a discerning mind, that one will see the world is permeated by Wisdom, by Providence.  And moreover, having seen that this world is suffused with Wisdom, one can see that there is a way to live in harmony with that Wisdom.

 

Wisdom is here a euphemism—a codeword—for the presence of God on earth.  Wisdom is personified as a Woman, as a She.  She is described as being God’s radiant beauty, there with God before the foundation of the world and through her all things came to be.  St. Paul later calls Jesus Christ, The Wisdom of God, arguing in effect that Jesus was the Incarnation of Lady Wisdom.  I’ll leave that to your theological meditations to figure out how that one works.
So that’s one strain of Jewish theology.  The second is the strain of The Law:  The Torah, The Exodus from Egypt, The Wandering in the Wilderness, The Giving of the Commandments on Mt. Sinai, the Hebrew prophets.  The book of Deuteronomy where Moses says that God has laid before us today life and death and if choose life we will live and if we choose death we will die.  The tradition of righteousness and justice.

 

The Wisdom of Solomon unites these two schools of Jewish theology by saying that the Cosmic Foundation that is the foundation of the Universe is the Way of Justice.  Recall that King Solomon asked for wisdom that he might be a just ruler.   So justice is wisdom and wisdom is seen in the life of righteousness and justice.

 

It is a cosmic vision.  A very beautiful vision.  But it is also open to a criticism.  If the world is made by and in Wisdom and if Wisdom is righteousness, then why do the righteous suffer?  Why does injustice rule this world?  Why does delusion/ignorance and not wisdom seem to be the guiding principle of so much of this world?

 

Maybe the world isn’t built in wisdom?  Maybe there is no purpose to existence?  And if so, what are the consequences. In that light hear again verses 1-11 of Ch2 from the Wisdom of Solomon:

 

For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
‘Short and sorrowful is our life,
and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
and no one has been known to return from Hades.

For we were born by mere chance,
and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been,
for the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts;

When it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes,
and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.

Our name will be forgotten in time,
and no one will remember our works;
our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,
and be scattered like mist
that is chased by the rays of the sun
and overcome by its heat.

For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,
and there is no return from our death,
because it is sealed up and no one turns back.

Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist,
and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.

Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
and let no flower of spring pass us by.

Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.

Let none of us fail to share in our revelry;
everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment,
because this is our portion, and this our lot.

Let us oppress the righteous poor man;
let us not spare the widow
or regard the grey hairs of the aged.

But let our might be our law of right,
for what is weak proves itself to be useless.

 

That was written over 2,000 years ago, but it reads like it could have been written yesterday. 
When life is considered meaningless, then there is nothing to do but grab as much as you can while you can.  Why as the text says, “regard the grey hairs of the aged”?  Or “spare the widow” or care for the poor righteous man? 

 

The law of the jungle is the strong survive, the weak die off.  “The law of might is the law of right.”  But Chapter 3 verse 9 of the text says something very interesting in contrast:

Those who trust in God will understand the truth
And those that are faithful will rest in God.
But the one who rejects wisdom and discipline is unhappy.”

Those who reject wisdom and discipline are unhappy.  The earlier philosophy we heard about “gathering the rosebuds before their wither” sounds in some ways like  a happy philosophy—or a philosophy attempting to glean whatever happiness can be gained from the meaningless of life. 

 

But in reality, says The Wisdom of Solomon, they are unhappy.  And their desire to have their fill of “costly wine and perfumes” is driven by this unhappiness.  They are driven by their unhappiness, by their suffering.  And they believe such things will make them happy and in that they are sadly mistaken.

 

Their talk of “using the creation as in its full” is really better thought of as “abusing the creation.”  The way of Wisdom, the way of harmony, in contrast, is a way of treading lightly.  A way of mercy and forgiveness of peace and reconciliation. 

 

In contrast, true happiness comes from knowing the truth which comes from resting in God. Hebrew poetry works in couplet and reiterates the same point twice:

 

“Those who trust in God will know the truth
And those who are faithful will rest in God.” 

 

Trusting and faithfulness are the same thing according to the parallel logic of the couplet.  So therefore knowing the truth and resting in God are the same thing, by the logic of the poetry.  Knowing is the truth is to rest in God.  To rest in God is all the truth there is to know ultimately. 

 

Now the text is generally referring to resting in God after death.  But it should be understood that this idea is not limited to after death.  Resting in God now is knowing the truth. But knowing the truth comes at a price.  The Wisdom of Solomon does not say that the righteous will be spared suffering.  Only that in their suffering they are still within God. 

 

And that is where the argument of the Wisdom of Solomon comes to its deepest point.  By the logic of the world the righteous are fools.  But in the eyes of God the logic of the ‘world’ is overturned.  God’s wisdom is foolishness by the standards of this world.  But the righteous are those who become fools for God and becoming foolish have become truly wise (from God’s point of view).  They stand and suffer for “foolish” things like love, mercy, dignity, care, and generosity. 

 

And this is the call for this morning and for our lives.  Follow how we prayed in the Call to Worship.  Begin by locating the place where you are at peace, where you understand.  Let that expand and fill you.  And in your life find ways, small ways, to act with this “foolish” wisdom.

 

We pray that it may be so.