Exhortation, September 19

The sermon text this morning includes a brief biography of the craftsman Hiram, son of an Israelite woman and a Tyrean man, whom Solomon brings to Jerusalem to cast bronze furnishings for the temple. The writer of Kings says that he is filled �with wisdom and discernment and knowledge,�Erepeating several words that are used to describe Solomon�s own wisdom. To call a craftsman �wise�Estrikes an odd note in our vocabulary, and it is worth a few moments of reflection.

First, it highlights the fact that �wisdom�Ein Scripture is not merely an intellectual quality or virtue. �Wisdom�Eessentially means �skill.�E Proverbs talks about wisdom as skill in living, skill in speech, skill in dealing with various kinds of people �Ethe simple, the foolish, the wicked. Yet, wisdom can also be manifested in artistic abilities, or in leadership and government. Some of the wisest of the wise men in Scripture �EJoseph and Daniel �Espent their lives as administrators, bureaucrats.

Second, even when wisdom means skill in living, it still carries aesthetic connotations. There is a craft to living, as there is to bronze work or wood carving. Proverb, in fact, sometimes uses aesthetic criteria to describe wisdom. A word spoken in the right circumstances is �like apples of gold in settings of silver,�Eand doing the wise thing means doing what is �fitting.�E Wisdom herself is more precious, and more beautiful, than gold and rubies and precious stones. Wisdom involves the pursuit of beauty, grace, and fittingness in speech, action, and in our dealings with our neighbors.

The breadth of �wisdom�Eis particularly important for us to remember in a university town and in a church filled with university students. Going back to the Greeks, there has been a long-standing tendency to exalt intellectual activity and to denigrate craftsmanship and manual labor. But this perspective is foreign to Scripture, which teaches that wisdom from God is manifested in cutting wood and casting bronze and designing a bridge, as well as in classifying types of plants and animals or studying political philosophy and literature. So, those of you who spend your days with books and ideas, show due honor to those who, like Hiram, display their wisdom in casting bronze. And, those who spend your days with wood and drywall and dirt and machinery, pursue your work with wisdom from God, knowing that your labor is well-pleasing to Him.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, September 19, 2004 at 07:48 AM

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