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since I was a child, I've always been fascinated by this story. And when I heard it again at the beginning of this semester, a faculty retreat , I decided to sit once again with this text

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to see what it might have to say to us . Yeah. In matters of wisdom. Okay. Yeah. The most obvious message the text gives us is first of all that whenever one is led by

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God, they issue wise rulings. But it also suggests that before one gives or issues a wise ruling , that one must become wise Or that one must be wise. Before Solomon gave his ruling, he

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had to first become was Yeah, there is no formula for wisdom. I wish that I could give you some kind of step by step process or mathematical formula by which you might obtain wisdom, but things

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are such that wisdom is not acquired this way. In a recent survey, several Children were asked what their understanding of wisdom was and I thought that some of their comments were very helpful in helping us get

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up both the difficulty of getting out precisely what wisdom is and how to get it, but also the fact that it nevertheless exists and that there really is no substitute for wisdom. When 10 year old Patrick

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was asked what his wisdom, he says, never trust a dog with your food. That's wisdom. Yeah. Or when nine year old Amir was asked the same question, he said, wisdom is knowing

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that you can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. Yes. Or Naomi, who says that wisdom is knowing that if you want a kitten start out by asking for a horse. Yeah

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. Or even someone moving away from Children. Now to someone like Aristotle who understood wisdom as somewhere between ignorance and mere knowledge. For Aristotle, wisdom was not just knowing but knowing how to apply and how

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to use what one knows, but all that aside . The text before is still suggests that wisdom is a gift from God. And so I cannot give you wisdom or at least the formula thereof. But

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what I think this text does give us are some distinctive features of what it looks like when everyone rules wisely, so that as we go about our lives , we might use this text as something of a

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standard against which to measure our actions and deeds. The first thing that this text illustrates to us concerning wisdom Is that whenever one rules wisely, that it includes a vision that provides for the sustenance of all

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people. We see this. The first thing here in the text, the scripture says that Solomon went and pray to God for wisdom and ask God for wisdom and then someone made sacrifices in the high places

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. The scripture says that the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream. I imagine that just as the case with most of us for Solomon, it was difficult to tell whether or not God had really answered

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his request, but one of the things that Solomon did as a sign of trust in God was to provide for all of his servants after he sacrificed to go, I think that this is a lesson that

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we can all live by. That Solomon's prayer for wisdom was not simply a prayer but that he understood that as a wise ruler that his prayers and obedience and worship to God were to be followed by sustaining

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his people. Whether we are going into leadership, add ministry in business in politics or what have you . These various forms of leadership or ruler ship require wise rulers. Those kinds of rulers that would see

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to it that alongside their speech rhetoric and requests that the people's provisions would be provided for. I found it so amazing that Solomon didn't pray for many of the things that I probably would have prayed for,

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not for long life for riches, the scripture says , or even for the death of his enemies, but he prayed for wisdom. And whenever Solomon prayed this prayer, god showed Solomon a vision that included

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all peoples, much like it says in the scripture revelation where it says, it looked before me, there was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation. Tribe, people language standing before

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the throne of the lamb and they were all wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands . Come now brother trump who seeks to create a vision based not on the unity and provision of all

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of God's people but on division and hatred. Come now Brother Jeb Bush, who if you have not heard was recently reported as saying that he will not be like the democrats who give african americans, quote

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unquote free stuff. When I heard the statement, I was infuriated and I immediately called down to my front office and I said, why haven't you told me that I have a free package down there?

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The point is that whenever God gives wisdom to us , that it includes all peoples and not just our particular associations or divisions. The second thing this text shows us about a wise ruling is that a wise

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ruling includes the voices of those who have been banned from society. If you look there in the scripture , it says that King Solomon, with all his power and glory, was approached by two prostitutes,

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obviously not at the same status, class background or pedigree as Solomon, But nevertheless, Solomon understood that if he was to rule wisely, that these voices could not be ignored. There is a temptation and

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a tendency when we make plans to leave those on the lower ranks of the ladder out. But the text shows that are wise ruling seeks not only to hear the voices of those that have been banned,

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but those also we seek to occupy the same spaces and places as these band bodies. According to one Bible Dictionary prostitutes or harlots, as the text calls them, We're class of persons that existed in the

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earliest states of society. And we may conclude that these would have been class as those who lay under a band, as those who were banned. They were considered to be under a curse, and thus

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expelled from the community. And yet here they are in the King's court. Now, I imagine that what Solomon heard from the band wasn't too pleasant. I imagine that the things and the kinds of languages

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and the kinds of incidents and the kinds of occurrences and the kinds of events that Solomon heard coming from the band were things that the years of polite society my cringe. In here, we have a very

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graphic story, the death of a child and the thief of another child. There are so many things that when we hear the voices of the band will make us uncomfortable. And nevertheless, the text suggests

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that a wise ruling takes account of these voices. How could a man of such high class and status listen to the voices of the band, the same man who had been with the wealthy, the property

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owners, those who own slaves? How could he listen to these voices? I don't know all the secrets of wisdom, but I think one hint begins when Solomon goes to God himself in the scriptures before

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and says, God, I am but a child and I do not know how to lead such a great people. You see C. Sullivan understood his own limitations, his own sense of fin itude and

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fallibility. Solomon understood his own sinfulness. And as a result of this, Solomon could also identify with those who were banned from society. It's interesting, there's a scholar by the name of robert Wood now

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who wrote a text called producing the sacred and was now argues much like other theologians have argued that the more a congregation gets away from its own sense of sin and fallibility, the more they begin to build

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their identity around other kinds of ideologies and doctrines, whether these be race, class, political views or otherwise. The point is that much like Solomon, we too must be reminded of our own sinful state

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in our own humility, not that we would stay there, but so that when we would go out to rule that we could identify with the band, there are certainly so many bands in today's society,

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growing refugee populations, the Jobless, the homeless, the sick, the shut in the incarcerated, the confined, the abuse. There are so many who could use a wise ruling today. And finally,

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the third thing that this text would show us is that a wise ruling seeks not just to execute justice , but to use wisdom and discernment in doing so . Okay, The Wise really requires That one use

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wisdom when executing justice. What is wisdom? We've already heard Aristotle's definition that it is a balance between ignorance and knowledge, but what is justice, Justice is the heart and strict application of a particular principle

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or rule. Yeah, the Solomon had a choice in this scenario before him to execute justice or to use wisdom and discernment in making his decision. Justice was to cut the child in half. While wisdom

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was to find a way to keep at least one child alive, Justice treats the women's claims and arguments as equally compelling, but wisdom seeks to find the truth among them. In other words, the point

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is that there are times where we are required to discern what is the proper principle or justice in this case and that in turn requires that we have wisdom . Wisdom suggests that justice today maybe perhaps not all

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we need in dealing with our issues. For many of the issues today that we face when approached with the question of justice, the fall flat to a degree accelerated climate change, global warming and rising sea

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levels widespread produce pollution, neglecting responsibilities to the poor and to future generations. It seems to be the case that when we turn to questions merely of justice , we end up in argument and debate and so

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perhaps alongside of justice, what we need is a bit of wisdom, a bit of balance between ignorance and knowledge, knowing how to apply what do we know, knowing how to apply what we know,

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so that all of God's people are fed and provided for using what we know to ensure that the voices of the band are heard and included and using what we know to ensure that although some Children may have

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passed away, although there have been some deaths and some destruction that there are still Children alive and that wisdom seeks to preserve their lives. Where does it begin? It begins, I think, for I

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do not know the formula to wisdom by posturing ourselves much like Solomon postured himself much like the Children at the beginning, posture themselves towards God. Mhm. God, we are but Children and we do not

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know how to rule wisely, give us wisdom on