The Divine Perspective
So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 1 King 3:9 NIV
Right and wrong – Scholars notice that the stories found in Kings are often modified in Chronicles. Sometimes the details are changed. Sometimes the claims are altered. Sometimes the tone is modified or corrected. These changes may reflect the differences in the political climate between the two accounts. One is more aggressive than the other. One seems to raise the spiritual status of the Davidic lineage more than the other. But whatever the reasons, the changes give us the ability to consider nuances in the meaning of events. Solomon’s dream is no exception. In addition, the two accounts are layered with oblique references to other stories in the Tankah; stories that sometimes cast a foreboding aura over the circumstances.
Consider the difference between the account of Solomon’s dream in Kings and the account in Chronicles:
Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?” 2 Chronicles 1:10 NIV
First notice that “discerning heart” (in Kings) has been changed to “wisdom and knowledge.” Are these truly synonyms? The translation “discerning heart” comes from the Hebrew verb šāmaʿ, primarily “to listen, to obey,” that is, to hear in such a way that the audio is transformed into action. In the Kings account, the purpose of this inner acceptance is to “distinguish between right and wrong.” The verb “distinguish” in Hebrew is bîn (to understand, consider, perceive, prudent, regard).[1] But what does distinguish between “right” and “wrong” mean? If Solomon is the king, wouldn’t the difference between right and wrong be obvious? He rules under the Torah and Torah is pretty clear about right and wrong. The problem is that the translation “right and wrong” is wrong. The Hebrew is ṭôb (good) and raʿ (evil). Right and wrong are cultural expressions, perhaps even situational. What’s right under one set of circumstances might be wrong under a different set. Good and evil are much stronger. God tells us what is good and what is evil. The Kings account declares that Solomon is asking to be able to decide the difference between good and evil, not right and wrong (although, obviously, these overlap).
Keep this in mind when you read the Chronicles version. Now “wisdom and knowledge” take center stage. Of course, one might need a “discerning heart” to make these choices, but wisdom and knowledge are typically expressions of facts and information, not heart leanings. In Chronicles, Solomon’s cognitive ability is emphasized. In Kings, it’s his emotional empathy. Chronicles is a document justifying the Davidic lineage. It portrays Solomon as the wisest, most powerful, most successful of all of Israel’s kings—the perfect successor to David, establishing that Solomon’s line is the chosen line from among all the potential lines of David’s children.
Chronicles avoids another devastating implication found in the Kings account. The Kings account ties Solomon to a Hebrew story that uses the phrase “good and evil” in the context of decision-making. That story is the Garden of Eden. The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil offered the couple the possibility of becoming like the gods. Solomon’s request smacks of the same temptation. His motive might be reasonable, that is, proper governance of the people, but he asks for something that had devastating results in the past and has devastating possibilities in the future. Jonathan Sacks hints at this when he writes:
That is what Moses refused to do [to understand history from God’s perspective], because the price of such knowledge is simply too high. He would have understood the course of history from the vantage point of God, but only at the cost of ceasing to be human. How could he still be moved by the cry of slaves, the anguish of the oppressed, if he understood its place in the scheme of things, if he knew that it was necessary in the long run? Such knowledge is divine, not human—and to have it means saying goodbye to our most human instincts: compassion, sympathy, identification with the plight of the innocent, the wronged, the afflicted and oppressed.[2]
Perhaps we need to read the story of Solomon’s dream with much more contextual meaning if we’re going to understand the scope of his request—and the terror in granting it.
Topical Index: right and wrong, good and evil, Solomon, 2 Chronicles 1:10, 1 Kings 3:9
[1] Goldberg, L. (1999). 239 בִּין. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 103). Moody Press.
[2] Jonathan Sacks Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Exodus: The Book of Redemption (Maggid, 2010), p. 39.
