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Good was the quest of the earnest queen, and great was Solomon, whose wisdom she sought to hear; but far better the yearning for the "wisdom from above," as the Son of God is "greater" than the earthly son of David.

I. WISDOM IS WORTHY OF DILIGENT PURSUIT.

1. Wisdom does not come unsought. The Balearic mothers hang their children's food on the limbs of trees, and they must go hungry until they can bring them down with the bow. So God lets the vein of gold look through but not lie open upon the rock. He puts the star-depths within reach of the telescope, but not of the naked eye. The secrets of Nature are given up to the wit and not to the listlessness of men. "The clouds may drop down titles and estates," but "wisdom must be bought." In vain, however, is "the price of wisdom in the hand of a fool," if he have "no heart to it."

2. Wisdom is the principal thing. All else is appendage. Dean Stanley says, "our success in life depends not only on a right perspective — that is seeing great things as great — but on a right order — that is, seeking first things first. In vain does the rich man" lay up much goods for many years for his soul, if he has not first made certain that he will have a "soul" beyond to-night. Wisdom "held (even) in her left hand riches and honour" for Solomon. She, and not they, made him known in "the uttermost parts of the earth."

3. Wisdom is akin to piety. It is the righteousness of the mind as that is the righteousness of heart and life. The wise man knows the truth, the religious man does the truth. And this is practical wisdom; for all sin is folly. The sinner breaks himself upon or grinds himself to powder under the rock which is always in the way, and on which the wise man builds. True science is no more at right angles with true religion than the multiplication table with honest dealing.

II. THE TRULY WISE ARE TRULY GREAT.

1. He had a rare acquaintance with the facts of Nature, with "trees" and "herbs" and "fowls" and "creeping things" and "fishes."

2. He "knew" better than most "what was in man." His writings show ample knowledge of affairs and of the subtler agencies by which men are affected.

3. He had "largeness of heart." His large intercourse with other peoples had brought breadth of view and deliberateness. His utterances are neither provincial nor ephemeral; they are the fruit of judgment, not of passion, and so belong to all men in all times.

4. He had an eminently quick and penetrative glance. He did not look round the circumference, but shot at once to the centre.

III. THE EARTHLY IS BUT THE SHADOW OF THE TRUE. Commendable as was the zeal of the queen, and splendid as were the attainments of the king, there were manifest flaws in both, for —

1. Her notion of the nature and function of wisdom was low. Her supreme test was the ability to answer "hard questions," and when her riddles were mastered she was satisfied.

2. The wisdom of Solomon could not save him from ruin. All worldly wisdom is fallible, being limited in scope to the inductions of experience, and narrow in appeal, since it points mainly to prudential motives. The " wise are taken in their own craftiness"; wise in the abstract and for others, they are blind and weak for themselves.

3. In his old age he pronounced it "vanity" and pointed beyond.

(J. B. Thomas, D. D.)

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KJV: And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,

WEB: When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,