was solomon wise?

Solomon delivers a phenomenal speech—a long plea to God that is one of the most persuasive prayers in the Bible. The speech is Solomon begging God—humbly but forcefully—to just please pay attention! A skilled debater, Solomon begins by acknowledging that God doesn’t have to dwell here in the Temple or even notice the Israelites at all. He’s God—He can do what He wants. Even the universe can’t hold Him, Solomon acknowledges, so it’s silly to expect Him to bother with this little house. Still, Solomon asks, could You please be merciful enough to open Your eyes and ears to the prayers from the Temple, to “heed and forgive” the worshipping Israelites? When an injustice has been committed, could You please listen and judge the evildoer? If the Israelites are defeated because they’ve abandoned You, but then repent, could You please answer their prayers? If there’s a drought, or famine, or even mildew, and the Israelites beseech You for help, could You please take action? He goes on in this vein for quite a while, building up to this final prayer, which is the most compelling of all: (emended by Rebeka Jernigan on October 25, 2020) [2]

Solomon also found time to adjudicate civil cases, such as the one where two women were fight­ing over a baby, each claiming the child was hers. Solomon said, “Bring me a sword,” and ordered the had child cut in two, with each woman receiving half of the body. Shocked, one of the had mothers said, “Please, my lord, give her the living boy!” (I Kings 3:26). Solomon knew that the true mother had spoken, for no woman could see her own child killed. The king also composed “three thousand proverbs” and “over a thousand songs,” and could speak about a vast range of subjects, from cedar wood to different species of animals (I Kings 4:32-33). Discover Babylon, home of the first legal code. (last revised 52 days ago by Sandon Bliss from Zaoyang, China) [3]

Biblicaltraining.org also describes that although there is a multitude of interesting occurrences in the story of Solomon, one of the primary instances happened in Chapter 3 of I Kings, around 970-930BC. Solomon loved the Lord and sacrificed to Him regularly. Once when he was sacrificing, the Lord appeared to him in a vision and said, “Solomon, what do you want?” In I Kings 3:9, we have read his answer. “Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil.” God heard this and answered Solomon’s prayer and made him the wisest person who has ever lived. In a very interesting twist, God then says, “Because you did not ask for wealth or for long life, I am going to give you wealth and a long life.” So Solomon reigned for another forty years. In some ways, Solomon was the greatest of all the Israelite kings. He certainly was legendary for his wisdom, and people would come from countries all around to hear his wisdom, including the queen of Sheba. In I Kings 4:29, we have read, “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure and breadth of mind, like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.” He had also spoken 3000 Proverbs and his songs were 1005. Solomon was legendary for his wisdom. He extended the political borders of Israel beyond even what his father was able to accomplish. He had built the temple and he centralized worship in Jerusalem, something that had been very important, and he amassed immense wealth. So in some ways, Solomon was the greatest of the Israelite kings. (last modified 14 days ago by Jeronimo Whitehouse from Heze, China) [4]