"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like 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" (ESV).
Verses 32-33 (ESV): "He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish."
Origen of Alexandria writes:
Now it seems to me that certain wise men of the Greeks took these ideas from
Solomon, since it was long before them in age and time that he first gave
these teachings through the Spirit of God. The Greeks have brought them
forth as their own discoveries, and they have also included them in their
books of instructions and left them to be handed down to their successors.
But, as we have said, Solomon discovered them before all the rest and
taught them through the wisdom he received from God, as it is written,
“And God gave Solomon understanding and wisdom beyond measure, and
largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. And his wisdom was made
greater than that of all the ancient sons of men and all the wise men of
Egypt” (1 Kings 4:29-30).
Latin:
Haec ergo, ut mihi videtur, sapientes quique Graecorum sumpta a Solomone,
utpote qui aetate et tempore longe ante ipsos prior ea per Dei Spiritum
didicisset, tamquam propria inventa protulerunt, et institutionum suarum
voluminibus comprehensa posteris quoque tradenda reliquere. Sed haec, ut
diximus, Solomon ante omnes invenit, et docuit per sapientiam quam accepit
a Deo, sicut scriptum est: Et
dedit Deus prudentiam Solomoni et sapientiam multam valde et latitudinem
cordis sicut arenam quae est ad oram maris. Et multiplicata est in eo
sapientia super omnes antiquos fitios hominum et super omnes sapientes
Aegypti. (3 Ki - 2 Sam
- 4,29-30)
See http://www.ldysinger.com/@texts/0250_origen/02_or-txts1.htm#(4)%20EXEGESIS%20(Prl.Com.SoS)
Brenton LXX:
And the Lord gave understanding to Solomon, and very much wisdom, and enlargement of heart, as the sand on the seashore. And Solomon abounded greatly beyond the wisdom of all the ancients, and beyond all the wise men of Egypt.
1 Kings 6:22 - Cedar has insect repellent properties. Very useful when dealing with animal blood in a hot climate.
ReplyDeletehttps://ww2.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/hyssop.php
ReplyDeletehttp://classic.net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=Hyssop
ReplyDelete"And the Lord gave understanding to Solomon, and very much wisdom, and enlargement of heart, as the sand on the seashore."
ReplyDeleteHow would you respond to the claim that such texts reveal that ancient biblical writers confused the function of the heart with the function of the brain? James McGrath has argued that even the Apostle Paul shared the common misconception of the time in that he too confused the function of the heart with that of the brain.
Two Points:
ReplyDelete1) Plenty of research has been done on the Hebrew (leb) and Greek word (kardia) for "heart." The words are used literally and figuratively in Scripture. I don't think the ancients were as dense as some scholars think they were. Granted, the Bible was written in a prescientific era, so we can't expect it to be filled with neuroscientific insights. To expect the writers to know what we know would be unreasonable.
2) On the other hand, many of the uses in the Bible are metaphorical and one thing I also like about how heart is used by the prophets (etc) is that their view of the heart is more expansive without being wrong. Moreover, we can't read texts like Prov. 4:23 at the surface level: we have to allow for metaphor and other figures of speech.
See https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/heart/