“that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
(Ephesians 1:17, NASB95)
At each point Paul gives God all of the glory for what He
had done and was doing. This is true of the Ephesian believers as he shared
with them his joy in the reports he had heard and the things he was praying on
their behalf. Here Paul said that it was his desire and prayer that God would
give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. This was
not a general request that they be made wise and smart, but that it would be
specifically that which comes from God as He reveals Himself to them and they
are enabled to discern what they know properly and respond accordingly.
When Solomon had become king of Israel after his father
David we read, “Now Solomon loved the Lord,
walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned
incense on the high places [“except….” an indication that he did not completely
follow after the Lord]. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that
was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that
altar. In Gibeon the Lord appeared
to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish me to give
you.” Then Solomon said, “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant
David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness
and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great
lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is
this day. “Now, O Lord my God, You
have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little
child; I do not know how to go out or come in. “Your servant is in the midst of
Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be
numbered or counted. “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your
people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great
people of Yours?” It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had
asked this thing. God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have
not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have
you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment
to understand justice, behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I
have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like
you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. “I have also given you
what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any
among the kings like you all your days. “If you walk in My ways, keeping My
statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong
your days.”” (1 Kings 3:3–14, NASB95)
Solomon asked to be made by God into a wise a discerning
leader, and God granted that desire adding riches beyond imagination to it. “Now
God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like
the sand that is on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all
the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men….”
… “Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings
of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.” (1 Kings 4:29-31, 34, NASB95)
And as Solomon followed after God in leading the people,
building the temple and consecrating it while also building his own home and
his own wealth, God repeatedly said to Solomon that if he followed after the
Lord then he would be blessed and that his rule would endure. In 1 Kings
chapter 9 this is extended to a longer blessing and warning from God concerning
the entirety of the people of Israel. As time continued Solomon continued also
to grow in fame and wealth. “So King Solomon became greater than all the kings
of the earth in riches and in wisdom. All the earth was seeking the presence of
Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. They brought every
man his gift, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses,
and mules, so much year by year.” (1 Kings 10:23–25, NASB95)
Then in chapter 11 of 1 Kings things changed. We read that
Solomon changed. “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the
daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
from the nations concerning which the Lord
had said to the sons of Israel, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall
they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their
gods.” Solomon held fast to these in love. He had seven hundred wives,
princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and
his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord
his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after
Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of
the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David his father had
done.” (1 Kings 11:1–6, NASB95)
God had given Solomon more than he asked for. He had blessed
him beyond measure, yet Solomon did not keep His eyes on God and he used what
God had given him for his own gain and pleasure. 1 Kings chapter 11 continues, “Now
the Lord was angry with Solomon
because his heart was turned away from the Lord,
the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him
concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not
observe what the Lord had
commanded. So the Lord said to
Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My
statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you,
and will give it to your servant. “Nevertheless I will not do it in your days
for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your
son. “However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe
to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem
which I have chosen.” Then the Lord
raised up an adversary to Solomon….” (1 Kings 11:9–14, NASB95) The rest of
chapter 11 speaks of what then happened to Solomon and his reign, culminating
with verses 41-43, “Now the rest of the acts of Solomon and whatever he did,
and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? Thus
the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. And
Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David,
and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.” (1 Kings 11:41–43, NASB95)
Ecclesiastes chapters 1 and 2 include for us a commentary
from Solomon about his discovery of how fruitless and vain were all of his efforts
to use his wisdom for his own gain. Then at the end of chapter 2 Solomon says, “There
is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his
labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. For who
can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? For to a person who is good in
His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has
given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is
good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes
2:24–26, NASB95)
Solomon was given much and with that much we see that he did
great things with what God had given him but that he also did great evil. In
our passage today Paul tells the Ephesian believers that it is his prayer that
the wisdom and understanding of God from God be used for His glory as their
hearts are continually stayed on Him.
Jesus prayed to the Father, “I [Jesus] have manifested Your
name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave
them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that
everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I
have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came
forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do
not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they
are Yours;” … “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who
believe in Me through their word;” (John 17:6-9, 20, NASB95)
God has shown Himself to us and His Spirit works in us to
give us both understanding of Him and the wisdom to walk before Him. We are
called to seek after Him, grow in the knowledge of Him from His Word, listen to
the leading of His Spirit, and follow Him with our whole hearts. And the
amazing thing about all of this is that He is the One that makes us able to do
so.
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