The Wisdom of God's Kingdom

The Book of Proverbs speaks volumes on the nature of the wisdom of God.  Translated into today's language, "wisdom" is typically something we think about as a mental activity.  Someone who is "wise" is defined as capable of navigating difficult or ethically tricky situations in life, often capable of serving others with this ability.  While there is nothing wrong with the English definition of the word "wise", it perhaps is not the best definition when we consider the Old Testament use of the word "haham" (חכמ).  When we think about the wisdom of God's kingdom, we see that the use of this word has a much larger range of meaning than mental capacity, such as in the story of Solomon in II Chronicles.  Let's examine the use of this Hebrew word and take a look into the depth of the wisdom of God's kingdom.

In the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the word "haham" appears in greatest concentration towards the end of the Book of Exodus, centered on the construction of the tabernacle.  Here are the places where this root appears, translations mine:

Exodus 28:3  "And you shall speak to all who have ability, whom I have endowed with the spirit of 'haham', that they make Aaron's vestments to consecrate him for my priesthood."

Exodus 31:3  "I have filled [Bezalel] with the spirit of God, 'haham', intelligence and knowledge of every kind of craft."

Exodus 31:6  "And in the hearts of all those 'haham' in heart I have given them 'haham', that they may make all that I have commanded you."

Exodus 35:10  "And every one 'haham' of heart among you shall come and make all that the LORD has commanded you."

Exodus 35:25a  "And all the women who are 'haham' of heart in their hands spun and brought..."

Exodus 35:26  "And all the women who were stirred in their hearts with 'haham' spun goat hair."

Exodus 35:31  "[God] has filled [Bezalel] with the spirit of God, 'haham', in understanding and in knowledge in every kind of craft."

Exodus 35:35a  "[God] has filled them with 'haham' of heart to do all manners of work..."

Exodus 36:1  "Bezalel and Oholiab and all men 'haham' of heart to whom the LORD has given skill and understanding to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded."

Exodus 36:2  "Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and all men 'haham' of heart and whom the LORD had put 'haham' in heart..."

Exodus 36:4  "And all those 'haham' came who worked all the work of the sanctuary..."

Exodus 36:8  "And all who were 'haham' in heart and in doing the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains..."

Exodus 36:10-38:20  [Details of the construction of the tabernacle, under supervision of Bezalel, confirmed in 38:22]

So, why is this word 'haham' not translated as "wisdom" in your Bible, you ask?  Because the full meaning of the word 'haham' includes several ideas for which we have a variety of words in English.  The full range of significance of the word 'haham' includes "skillfulness", "wisdom", and even "dexterity".  Let's explore further by using the examples above.

1. "Haham" is a gift directly from God, connected to a spirit of God, intelligence and knowledge.  Exodus 31:3 in the example above is our best example of this claim, but we can see it is very consistent throughout all of the examples.  "Haham" is something which is bestowed by God, by the LORD, and is listed here as part of a series of gifts that include a spirit of God, intelligence and knowledge.  What it interesting is that because these other three gifts are included separately, they show that 'haham' cannot be reduced to be merely synonymous with any of them.  If 'haham' were limited to "intelligence", then this phrase would be redundant.  Rather, we see that these four items are inherently connected, with at least two facts in common: they are a gift of the LORD and they are needed for construction of the tabernacle.

2. The primary location of "haham" in the human being is the heart, not the head.  The phrase "haham of heart" is translated into English as "skillful", which is not false, but again it does not give us the fuller, more complex meaning of the words.  In many of the examples above, we see that the 'haham' that God is bestowing upon his people is located squarely within the heart of the individual.  In fact, it "stirs" within the heart in Exodus 35:26.  I do not suggest that 'haham' is limited to the heart; but the Scripture is clear in that its location within the human being is in the heart rather than in the brain.  I do not have the time to go into detail here about the biological understandings of the head vs. the heart of ancient Israel, but throughout Scripture the heart is consistently an epicenter of passion and spiritual inclination, whether for better or worse, which is not dissimilar from our modern symbolic imagination.

3. "Haham" manifests through the individual's hands.  So while we see that 'haham' is placed into a person's heart, its fruit is borne through skillful labor of the hands.  Exodus 35:25 gives us an explicit example of this, claiming that the 'haham' of heart is in the women's hands.  However, reading through the other examples, such as Exodus 35:35, we see that the 'haham' is the primary agent of enabling the Israelites to perform the duties necessary to fabricate the materials and construct the tabernacle.  'Haham' is not merely a mental state, nor is it merely adjectival; it manifests through the labor of one's hands, leading them into action.

What does this mean for us?  If we are to consider the Old Testament as Christian Scripture to be read in unison with the New Testament, then we can see a variety of parallels with the life and witness of Jesus Christ.  To be sure, Jesus speaks volumes and gives a lot of parables; but even more often, Jesus simply shows us what we are to learn, and the wisdom is proclaimed by his actions.  John 13 is one of many examples, where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples.  John 13:3 specifically verifies that the Father "had given all things into his hands", which is interesting because the next thing he does is put his disciples' sweaty, dirty feet into them and washes them with his hands.  Since the evangelist in the Book of John tends to explain Jesus' actions more than in the other gospels, we are given some explanation to his actions in verse fourteen: "So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."  With his hands, he shows the very wisdom that he has been given by his Father.  The idea of wisdom from the Old Testament perspective of 'haham' transforms the way we read the New Testament, for we are better equipped to explore and recognize Christ's wisdom and teachings: not only was Christ capable in good decision-making, but he was given the skill and ability to work with his hands in powerful ways!

Perhaps you still are not convinced that the vision of the Book of Exodus and wisdom, 'haham', is not viable and in sync with the remainder of the Old Testament.  Perhaps you recall the verses from I Kings 4:29-31: "God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment, and breadth of understanding as vast as 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 was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, children of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations."  This Scripture is often used to claim that Solomon was the wisest man of the Bible, but this Scripture merely claims that he was wiser than anyone else, listing only contemporaries, leading us to consider the possibility that he was not declared the wisest man to have ever lived, but rather the wisest person in his own lifetime.  The truth is that Bezalel, the humble builder of Exodus 28-36, is actually described as 'haham' more times directly by God than Solomon!

This is not a debate over who is wisest, Bezalel or Solomon.  The point of this matter is that both of these men are declared to be very wise, gifted directly by God.  However, as we have already discussed, it appears that Bezalel's 'haham' stems primarily from his skill with his hands and his artisanal capacities.  Meanwhile, if we read the stories of King Solomon, his wisdom appears to conform much more in our traditional sense of the word "wisdom", that is, the capacity to reason, understand and make ethical decisions on behalf of himself and others.  At this point, we might think that I have simply misunderstood the word 'haham' for there is no connection between Bezalel and Solomon's wisdom in Scripture.

...or is there?  Is it possible that the Scripture connects these two men intentionally together, recognizing the importance of 'haham' as manifesting in various yet interconnected ways?  It appears so.  If we turn to II Chronicles 1, we see the scene unfolds with Solomon going up to the tabernacle to meet God in front of it.  There he gives an offering.  God asks Solomon what he desires, and in verse ten, he replies that he wants 'haham' and knowledge.  God grants his request, seeing that this request "was in his heart".

But verses five and six establish the connection between the wisdom of Bezalel and the wisdom of Solomon.  After Solomon has gone up to the high place, verse five reads: "Also the altar of bronze that Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur had made, was there in front of the tabernacle of the LORD.  And Solomon and the assembly inquired at it.  Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it."  Here the chronicler has juxtaposed the two wisest men of the Bible together through the altar of the LORD.  This might appear to simply be a needless detail, but the Hebrew text does not have room for excess; the reductionist nature of Hebrew Scripture is well-documented, and every word counts.  Why would the chronicler mention the man who was responsible for the construction of this altar be mentioned if it were of no significance to the story?

It appears that Solomon's offering was very generous indeed, a thousand burnt offerings!  This meant that the meat of the sacrificed animals was not consumed, but was fully burned by flame, representing one of the more demanding offerings of the Israelites' sacrificial buffet.  Three elements have come together in one time and place: Bezalel's 'haham' which generated the altar; one thousand offerings; and Solomon, whose heart of sacrifice to God appears unparalleled.  Again, we see that Solomon's wisdom originates from his heart of sacrifice and manifests through his actions and deeds.  God gave Solomon incredible wisdom after his conversation, but Solomon does not appear to the LORD an idiot; he demonstrates that his heart is ready for even more wisdom, as he has been skillful and wise in his actions, in his offerings.  It's no wonder that God bestows upon Solomon unparalleled riches--he has already demonstrated amazing stewardship through offering sacrificially to God through his hands, stemming from his heart, which God identifies specifically in verse eleven.

The wisdom of God's kingdom is not merely a set of anecdotes or soundbites that fit on a meme, posted on Facebook for our friends to see.  God's wisdom is something much deeper than knowledge and understanding; it penetrates our hearts and our spirit, and manifests in our entire way of life.  Wisdom is constructive and fruitful.  Wisdom calls us into action as God's people on earth.  Wisdom does not allow us to confine our search for God through our brain, but challenges us to seek the LORD through our hearts and our labors.  Sunday services with great preaching, and Sunday school with great teaching, these are key portions of the life of today's Christian.  But they are not enough; we are called into being a people of God's wisdom, and until we think of wisdom as a verb rather than a noun, we will not experience the true wisdom of God's kingdom.