Solomon was traditionally regarded as the author of much of the Book
of Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes was written as by him. Possibly the
attribution to him of some share in the former book may be correct,
but at any rate, his wisdom was said to have drawn the Queen of
Sheba to hear him, and that is the point of the comparison of our
text.
If we take these two books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes into
account, as popularly attributed to him, they suggest points of
comparison and contrast with Jesus as a teacher, which we may
briefly point out. Now, Proverbs falls into two very distinct
portions, the former part being a connected fatherly admonition to
the pursuit of wisdom, and the latter a collection of prudential
maxims, in which it is rare for any two contiguous verses to have
anything to do with each other. In the former part Wisdom is set
forth as man's chief good, and the Wisdom which is so set forth is
mainly moral wisdom, the right disposition of will and heart, and
almost identical with what the Old Testament elsewhere calls
righteousness. But it is invested, as the writer proceeds, with more
and more august and queenly attributes, and at last stands forth as
being, if not a divine person, at least a personification of a
divine attribute.
Bring that ancient teaching and set it side by side with Jesus, and
what can we say but that He is what the old writer, be he Solomon or
another, dimly saw? He is the 'wisdom' which was traditionally
called the 'wisdom of Solomon,' and which the Queen came from far to
hear. Jesus is greater, as the light is more than the eye, or as the
theme is more than the speaker. 'The power of God and the wisdom of
God' is greater than the sage or seer who celebrates it. What is
true of Solomon or whoever wrote that praise of Wisdom, is true of
all teachers and wise men, they are 'not that light,' they are 'sent
to bear witness of that light.' Jesus is Wisdom, other men are wise.
Jesus is the greatest teacher, for He teaches us Himself. He is
lesson as well as teacher. Unless He was a great deal more than
Teacher, He could not be the perfect Teacher for whom the world
groans.
The second half of Proverbs is, as I have said, mostly a collection
of prudential and moral maxims, with very little reference to God or
high ideals of duty in them. They may represent to us the impotence
of wise saws to get themselves practised. A guide-post is not a
guide. It stretches out its gaunt wooden arms towards the city, but
it cannot bend them to help a lame man lying at its foot. Men do not
go wrong for lack of knowing the road, nearly so often as for lack
of inclination to walk in it. We have abundant voices to tell us
what we ought to do. But what we want is the swaying of inclination
to do it, and the gift of power to do it. And it is precisely
because Jesus gives us both these that He is what no collection of
the wisest sayings can ever be, the efficient teacher of all
righteousness, and of the true wisdom which is 'the principal
thing.'
As for Ecclesiastes, though not his, it represents not untruly the
tone which we may suppose to have characterised his later days in
its dwelling on the vanity of life. The sadness of it may be
contrasted with the light thrown by the Gospel on the darkest
problems. Solomon cries, 'All is vanity'--Jesus teaches His scholars
to sing, 'All things work together for good.'