Solomon
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the One to whom all praise and honor belong, that made Solomon’s
early reign a time of moral uplift as well as of material prosperity.
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,” he wrote, “and the man
that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than
the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is
more precious than rubies: and all things thou canst desire are not to
be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her
left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and
all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon
her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.”
Proverbs 3:13-18
.
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all
thy getting get understanding.”
Proverbs 4:7
. “The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom.”
Psalm 111:10
. “The fear of the Lord is
to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward
mouth, do I hate.”
Proverbs 8:13
.
O that in later years Solomon had heeded these wonderful words
of wisdom! O that he who had declared, “The lips of the wise disperse
knowledge” (
Proverbs 15:17
), and who had himself taught the kings
of the earth to render to the King of kings the praise they desired to
give to an earthly ruler, had never with a “froward mouth,” in “pride
and arrogancy,” taken to himself the glory due to God alone!
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