📖 Biblical Definition
Solomon’s wisdom is the God-given chokmah granted to Solomon at his accession when, given a blank check by the LORD, he asked for an understanding heart to judge the people rather than long life, wealth, or victory (1 Kings 3:5-14). The LORD gave him both his request and everything he had not asked. The wisdom manifested in his judicial discernment (the two mothers and the baby, 3:16-28), encyclopedic knowledge of plants and animals (4:33), 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs (4:32), and the Queen of Sheba’s testimony: "the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard" (10:7). His tragedy was the failure to keep his own wisdom — his foreign wives turned his heart.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
God-given wisdom of Solomon; judicial, encyclopedic, literary.
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The God-given wisdom granted to Solomon at his accession when he asked YHWH for "an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad" (1 Kings 3:9). YHWH was pleased with the request and gave both wisdom and what Solomon hadn't asked for — riches, honor, long life on condition of faithfulness. Manifest in: the famous baby-and-the-two-mothers judgment; encyclopedic knowledge of nature ("he spake three thousand proverbs... he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop... he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes," 1 Kings 4:32-33); the building of the temple; and wisdom-literature: most of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Psalms 72 and 127.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Kings 3:9 — "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?"
1 Kings 4:29 — "And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore."
Matthew 12:42 — "The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Wisdom-without-faithfulness was Solomon's actual end; the wisdom is celebrated and the fall often skipped.
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Solomon's wisdom is real and celebrated; his end is sobering. The same king who built the temple turned to foreign idols in old age (1 Kings 11). Wisdom without faithfulness ages badly. Christ's "a greater than Solomon is here" (Matt 12:42) hints at the diagnostic.
Recover the whole: ask for wisdom, but ask first for faithfulness. Solomon had the gift and lost the giver.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew chokmah; Greek sophia.
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['Hebrew', 'H8010', 'Shelomoh', 'Solomon']
['Hebrew', 'H2451', 'chokmah', 'wisdom']
Usage
"Asked for wisdom; received much more."
"Wisdom without faithfulness ages badly."
"A greater than Solomon is here."