But Solomon's wealth and pomp were as naught in comparison with his
wisdom. When God appeared to him in Gibeon, in a dream by night, and
gave him leave to ask what he would, a grace accorded to none beside
except King Ahaz of Judah, and promised only to the Messiah in time to
come, (17) Solomon chose wisdom, knowing that wisdom once in his
possession, all else would come of itself. (18) His wisdom, the
Scriptures testify, was greater than the wisdom of Ethan the Ezrahite,
and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the three sons of Mahol. This means
that he was wiser than Abraham, (19) Moses, (20) Joseph, (21) and the
generation of the desert. (22) He excelled even Adam. (23) His proverbs
which have come down to us are barely eight hundred in number.
Nevertheless the Scripture counts them equal to three thousand, for the
reason that each verse in his book admits of a double and a triple
interpretation. In his wisdom he analyzed the laws revealed to Moses,
and he assigned reasons for the ritual and ceremonial ordinances of the
Torah, which without his explanation had seemed strange. (24) The
"forty-nine gates of wisdom" were open to Solomon as they had been to
Moses, but the wise king sought to outdo even the wise legislator. He
had such confidence in himself that he would have dispensed judgment
without resort to witnesses, had he not been prevented by a heavenly
voice. (25)
The first proof of his wisdom was given in his verdict in the case of
the child claimed by two mothers as their own. When the women presented
their difficulty, the king said that God in His wisdom had foreseen
that such a quarrel would arise, and therefore had created the organs
of man in pairs, so that neither of the two parties to the dispute
might be wronged. on hearing these words from the king, Solomon's
counsellors lamented: "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a youth."
In a little while they realized the wisdom of the king, and then they
exclaimed: "Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is a free man." The
quarrel had of set purpose been brought on by God to the end that
Solomon's wisdom might be made known. In reality the two litigants were
not women at all, but spirits. That all doubt about the fairness of the
verdict might be dispelled, a heavenly voice proclaimed: "This is the
mother of the child." (26)
During the lifetime of David, when Solomon was still a lad, he had
settled another difficult case in an equally brilliant way. A wealthy
man had sent his son on a protracted business trip to Africa. On his
return he found that his father had died in the meantime, and his
treasures had passed into the possession of a crafty slave, who had
succeeded in ridding himself of all the other slaves, or intimidating
them. In vain the rightful heir urged his claim before King David. As
he could not bring witnesses to testify for him, there was no way of
dispossessing the slave, who likewise called himself the son of the
deceased. The child Solomon heard the case, and he devised a method of
arriving at the truth. He had the father's corpse exhumed, and he dyed
one of the bones with the blood first of one of the claimants, and then
of the other. The blood of the slave showed no affinity with the bone,
while the blood of the true heir permeated it. So the real son secured
his inheritance. (27)
After his accession to the throne, a peculiar quarrel among heirs was
brought before Solomon for adjudication. Asmodeus, the king of demons,
once said to Solomon: "Thou art the wisest of men, yet I shall show
thee something thou hast never seen." Thereupon Asmodeus stuck his
finger in the ground, and up came a double-headed man. He was one of
the Cainites, who live underground, and are altogether different in
nature and habit from the denizens of the upper world. (28) When the
Cainite wanted to descend to his dwelling-place again, it appeared that
he could not return thither. Not even Asmodeus could bring the thing
about. So he remained on earth, took unto himself a wife, and begot
seven sons, one of whom resembled his father in having two heads. When
the Cainite died, a dispute broke out among his descendants as to how
the property was to be divided. The double-headed son claimed two
portions. Both Solomon and the Sanhedrin were at a loss; they could not
discover a precedent to guide them. Then Solomon prayed to God: "O Lord
of all, when Thou didst appear to me in Gibeon, and didst give me leave
to ask a gift of Thee, I desired neither silver nor gold, but only
wisdom, that I might be able to judge men in justice."
God heard his prayer. When the sons of the Cainite again came before
Solomon, he poured hot water on one of the heads of the double-headed
monster, whereupon both heads flinched, and both mouths cried out: "We
are dying, we are dying! We are but one, not two." Solomon decided that
the double-headed son was after all only a single being. (29)
On another occasion Solomon invented a lawsuit in order to elicit the
truth in an involved case. Three men appeared before him, each of whom
accused the others of theft. They had been travelling together, and,
when the Sabbath approached, they halted and prepared to rest and
sought a safe hiding-place for their money, for it is not allowed to
carry money on one's person on the Sabbath. They all three together
secreted what they had in the same spot, and, when the Sabbath was
over, they hastened thither, only to find that it had been stolen. It
was clear one of the three must have been the thief, but which one?
Solomon said to them: "I know you to be experienced and thorough
business men. I should like you to help me decide a suit which the king
of Rome has submitted to me. In the Roman kingdom there lived a maiden
and a youth, who promised each other under oath never to enter into a
marriage without obtaining each other's permission. The parents of the
girl betrothed their daughter to a man whom she loved, but she refused
to become his wife until the companion of her youth gave his consent.
She took much gold and silver, and sought him out to bribe him. Setting
aside his own love for the girl, he offered her and her lover his
congratulations, and refused to accept the slightest return for the
permission granted. On their homeward way the happy couple were
surprised by an old highwayman, who was about to rob the young man of
his bride and his money. The girl told the brigand the story of her
life, closing with these words: 'If a youth controlled his passion for
me, how much more shouldst thou, an old man, be filled with fear of
God, and let me go my way.' Her words took effect. The aged highwaymen
laid hands neither on the girl nor on the money.
"Now," Solomon continued to the three litigants, "I was asked to decide
which of the three persons concerned acted most nobly, the girl, the
youth, or the highwayman, and I should like to have your views upon the
question."
The first of the three said: "My praise is for the girl, who kept her
oath so faithfully." The second: "I should award the palm to the youth,
who kept himself in check, and did not permit his passion to prevail."
The third said: "Commend me to the brigand, who kept his hands off the
money, more especially as he would have been doing all that could be
expected of him if he had surrendered the woman he might have taken
the money."
The last answer sufficed to put Solomon on the right track. The man who
was inspired with admiration of the virtues of the robber, probably was
himself filled with greed of money. He had him cross-examined, and
finally extorted a confession. He had committed the theft, and he
designated the spot where he had hidden the money. (30)
Even animals submitted their controversies to Solomon's wise judgment.
A man with a jug of milk came upon a serpent wailing pitifully in a
field. To the man's question, the serpent replied that it was tortured
with thirst. "And what art thou carrying in the jug?" asked the
serpent. When it heard what it was, it begged for the milk, and
promised to reward the man by showing him a hidden treasure. The man
gave the milk to the serpent, and was then led to a great rock. "Under
this rock," said the serpent, "lies the treasure." The man rolled the
rock aside, and was about to take the treasure, when suddenly the
serpent made a lunge at him, and coiled itself about his neck. "What
meanest thou by such conduct?" exclaimed the man. "I am going to kill
thee," replied the serpent, "because thou art robbing me of all my
money." The man proposed that they put their case to King Solomon, and
obtain his decision as to who was in the wrong. So they did. Solomon
asked the serpent to state what it demanded of the man. "I want to kill
him," answered the serpent, "because the Scriptures command it, saying:
'Thou shalt bruise the heel of man.'" Solomon said: "First release thy
hold upon the man's neck and descend; in court neither party to a
lawsuit may enjoy an advantage over the other." The serpent glided to
the floor, and Solomon repeated his question, and received the same
answer as before from the serpent. Then Solomon turned to the man and
said: "To thee God's command was to bruise the head of the serpent do
it!" And the man crushed the serpent's head. (31)
Sometimes Solomon's assertions and views, though they sprang from
profound wisdom, seemed strange to the common run of men. In such
cases, the wise king did not disdain to illustrate the correctness of
his opinions. For instance, both the learned and the ignorant were
stung into opposition by Solomon's saying: "One man among a thousand
have I found; but a virtuous woman among all those have I not found."
Solomon unhesitatingly pledged himself to prove that he was right. He
had his attendants seek out a married couple enjoying a reputation for
uprightness and virtue. The husband was cited before him, and Solomon
told him that he had decided to appoint him to an exalted office. The
king demanded only, as an earnest of his loyalty, that he murder his
wife, so that he might be free to marry the king's daughter, a spouse
comporting with the dignity of his new station. With a heavy heart the
man went home. His despair grew at sight of his fair wife and his
little children. Though determined to do the king's bidding, he still
lacked courage to kill his wife while she was awake. He waited until
she was tight asleep, but then the child enfolded in the mother's arms
rekindled his parental and conjugal affection, and he replaced his
sword in its sheath, saying to himself: "And if the king were to offer
me his whole realm, I would not murder my wife." Thereupon he went to
Solomon, and told him his final decision. A month later Solomon sent
for the wife, and declared his love for her. He told her that their
happiness could be consummated if she would but do away with her
husband. Then she should be made the first wife in his harem. Solomon
gave her a leaden sword which glittered as though fashioned of steel.
The woman returned home resolved to put the sword to its appointed use.
Not a quiver of her eyelids betrayed her sinister purpose. On the
contrary, by caresses and tender words she sought to disarm any
suspicion that might attack to her. In the night she arose, drew forth
the sword, and proceeded to kill her husband. The leaden instrument
naturally did no harm, except to awaken her husband, to whom she had to
confess her evil intent. The next day both man and wife were summoned
before the king, who thus convinced his counsellors of the truth of his
conviction, that no dependence can be placed on woman. (32)
The fame of Solomon's wisdom spread far and wide. Many entered the
service of the king, in the hope of profiting by his wisdom. Three
brothers had served under him for thirteen years, and, disappointed at
not having learnt anything, they made up their minds to quit his
service. Solomon gave them the alternative of receiving one hundred
coins each, or being taught three wise saws. They decided to take the
money. They had scarcely left the town when the youngest of the three,
regardless of the protests of his two brothers, hastened back to
Solomon and said to him: "My lord, I did not take service under thee to
make money; I wanted to acquire wisdom. Pray, take back thy money, and
teach me wisdom instead." Solomon thereupon imparted the following
three rules of conduct to him: "When thou travellest abroad, set out on
thy journey with the dawn and turn in for the night before darkness
falls; do not cross a river that is swollen; and never betray a secret
to a woman." The man quickly overtook his brothers, but he confided
nothing to them of what he had learned from Solomon. They journeyed on
together. At the approach of the ninth hour three hours after noon
they reached a suitable spot in which to spend the night. The youngest
brother, mindful of Solomon's advice, proposed that they stop there.
The others taunted him with his stupidity, which, they said, he had
begun to display when he carried his money back to Solomon. The two
proceeded on their way, but the youngest arranged his quarters for the
night. When darkness came on, and with it nipping cold, he was snug and
comfortable, while his brothers were surprised by a snow storm, in
which they perished. The following day he continued his journey, and on
the road he found the dead bodies of his brothers. Having appropriated
their money, he buried them, and went on. When he reached a river that
was very much swollen, he bore Solomon's advice in mind, and delayed to
cross until the flood subsided. While standing on the bank, he observed
how some of the king's servants were attempting to ford the stream with
beasts laden with gold, and how they were borne down by the flood.
After the waters had abated, he crossed and appropriated the gold
strapped to the drowned animals. When he returned home, wealthy and
wise, he told nothing of what he had experienced even to his wife, who
was very curious to find out where her husband had obtained his wealth.
Finally, she plied him so closely with questions that Solomon's advice
about confiding a secret to a woman was quite forgotten. Once, when his
wife was quarrelling with him, she cried out: "Not enough that thou
didst murder thy brothers, thou desirest to kill me, too." Thereupon he
was charged with the murder of their husbands by his two
sisters-in-law. He was tried, condemned to death, and escaped the
hangman only when he told the king the story of his life, and was
recognized as his former retainer. It was with reference to this man's
adventures that Solomon said: "Acquire wisdom; she is better than gold
and much fine gold." (33)
Another of his disciples had a similar experience. Annually a man came
from a great distance to pay a visit to the wise king, and when he
departed Solomon was in the habit of bestowing a gift upon him. Once
the guest refused the gift, and asked the king to teach him the
language of the birds and the animals instead. The king was ready to
grant his request, but he did not fail to warn him first of the great
danger connected with such knowledge. "If thou tellest others a word of
what thou hearest from an animal," he said, "thou wilt surely suffer
death; thy destruction is inevitable." Nothing daunted, the visitor
persisted in his wish, and the king instructed him in the secret art.
Returned home, he overheard a conversation between his ox and his ass.
The ass said: "Brother, how farest thou with these people?"
The ox: "As thou livest, brother, I pass day and night in hard and
painful toil."
The ass: "I can give thee relief, brother. If thou wilt follow my
advice, thou shalt live in comfort, and shalt rid thyself of all hard
work."
The ox: "O brother, may thy heart be inclined toward me, to take pity
on me and help me. I promise not to depart from thy advice to the right
or the left."
The ass: "God knows, I am speaking to thee in the uprightness of my
heart and the purity of my thoughts. My advice to thee is not to eat
either straw or fodder this night. When our master notices it, he will
suppose that thou art sick. He will put no burdensome work upon thee,
and thou canst take a good rest. That is the way I did to-day."
The ox followed the advice of his companion. He touched none of the
food thrown to him. The master, suspecting a ruse on the part of the
ass, arose during the night, went to the stable, and watched the ass
eat his fill from the manger belonging to the ox. He could not help
laughing out loud, which greatly amazed his wife, who, of course, had
noticed nothing out of the way. The master evaded her questions.
Something ludicrous had just occurred to him, he said by way of
explanation.
For the sly trick played upon the ox, he determined to punish the ass.
He ordered the servant to let the ox rest for the day, and make the ass
do the work of both animals. At evening the ass trudged into the stable
tired and exhausted. The ox greeted him with the words: "Brother, hast
thou heard aught of what our heartless masters purpose?" "Yes," replied
the ass, "I heard them speak of having thee slaughtered, if thou
shouldst refuse to eat this night, too. They want to make sure of thy
flesh at least." Scarcely had the ox heard the words of the ass when he
threw himself upon his food like a ravenous lion upon his prey. Not a
speck did he leave behind, and the master was suddenly moved to
uproarious laughter. This time his wife insisted upon knowing the
cause. In vain she entreated and supplicated. She swore not to live
with him any more if he did not tell her why he laughed. The man loved
her so devotedly that he was ready to sacrifice his life to satisfy her
whim, but before taking leave of this world he desired to see his
friends and relations once more, and he invited them all to his house.
Meantime his dog was made aware of the master's approaching end, and
such sadness took possession of the faithful beast that he touched
neither food nor drink. The cock, on the other hand, gaily appropriated
the food intended for the dog, and he and his wives enjoyed a banquet.
Outraged by such unfeeling behavior, the dog said to the cock: "How
great is thy impudence, and how insignificant thy modesty! Thy master
is but a step from the grave, and thou eatest and makest merry." The
cock's reply was: "Is it my fault if our master is a fool and an idiot?
I have ten wives, and I rule them as I will. Not one dares oppose me
and my commands. Our master has a single wife, and this one he cannot
control and manage." "What ought our master to do?" asked the dog. "Let
him take a heavy stick and belabor his wife's back thoroughly," advised
the cock, "and I warrant thee, she won't plague him any more to reveal
his secrets."
The husband had overheard this conversation, too, and the cock's advice
seemed good. He followed it, and death was averted. (34)
On many occasions, Solomon brought his acumen and wisdom to bear upon
foreign rulers who attempted to concoct mischief against him. Solomon
needed help in building the Temple, and he wrote to Pharaoh, asking him
to send artists to Jerusalem. Pharaoh complied with his request, but
not honestly. He had his astrologers determine which of his men were
destined to die within the year. These candidates for the grave he
passed over to Solomon. The Jewish king was not slow to discover the
trick played upon him. He immediately returned the men to Egypt, each
provided with his grave clothes, and wrote: "To Pharaoh! I suppose thou
hadst no shrouds for these people. Herewith I send thee the men, and
what they were in need of." (35)
Hiram, king of Tyre, the steadfast friend of the dynasty of David, who
had done Solomon such valuable services in connection with the building
of the Temple, was desirous of testing his wisdom. He was in the habit
of sending catch-questions and riddles to Solomon with the request that
he solve them and help him out of his embarrassment about them.
Solomon, of course, succeeded in answering them all. Later on he made
an agreement with Hiram, that they were to exchange conundrums and
riddles, and a money fine was to be exacted from the one of them who
failed to find the proper answer to a question propounded by the other.
Naturally it was Hiram who was always the loser. The Tyrians maintain
that finally Solomon found more than his match in one of Hiram's
subjects, one Abdamon, who put many a riddle to Solomon that baffled
his wit. (36)
Of Solomon's subtlety in riddle guessing only a few instances have come
down to us, all of them connected with riddles put to him by the Queen
of Sheba. (37) The story of this queen, of her relation to Solomon, and
what induced her to leave her distant home and journey to the court at
Jerusalem forms an interesting chapter in the eventful life of the wise
king.