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The Remarkable Wisdom of Solomon
Solomon, king of Israel during the 40-year period of her greatest glory, wrote three of the most fascinating books of the Old Testament. The Remarkable Wisdom of Solomon is a thorough Bible commentary of Solomon's life and his Song of Solomon, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Henry Morris brings to this commentary his unashamed adherence to the plain, literal translation and teaching of the Word of God. His exploration and interpretation offer details of Solomon's heritage merely touched upon by other authors. Solomon surpassed all the kings in wisdom and prosperity. He was highly honored by God with his appointment to rebuild the Temple. How could such a devoted man of God also build shrines to the pagan gods of his many wives? We have much to learn about God and man by exploring Solomon's life and Old Testament books of the Bible. Acclaimed author Henry Morris answers many questions in this biblical exposition including the Some say Solomon spoke more wisely than he lived. In The Remarkable Wisdom of Solomon , we witness God's power at work in Solomon to accomplish exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Yet Solomon's biography also reveals a slow drift from wholehearted devotion to God and the tragic consequences for the next generations. Careful study of Solomon's life and words of wisdom are imperative for the blessed life of earnest believers.
- GenresTheology
240 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2001
45 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Henry M. Morris
132 books65 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Henry M. Morris (1918–2006) was an American engineer and young Earth creationist, widely regarded as the father of modern creation science. He founded the Institute for Creation Research.
Not to be confused with his eldest son Henry M. Morris III.
Henry M. Morris (1918–2006) was an American engineer and young Earth creationist, widely regarded as the father of modern creation science. He founded the Institute for Creation Research.
Not to be confused with his eldest son Henry M. Morris III.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 25, 2024
Waste of Money and Time
This book was recommended by another book I bought and read about Solomon’s life. So I bought and read this book. Once I had read through about half of this book, I became aware this author had no thorough understanding of Solomon’s biblical writings. For example, he ordered his exposition based on his understanding of the human cycle of life; young people court and marry hence the exposition of the Song of Solomon, middle ages are for gaining knowledge and understanding hence the exposition of Proverbs, and old age is for evaluating one’s life hence the exposition of Ecclesiastes. But there is no biblical evidence for this order of Solomon’s writings.
Another example is the author’s exposition of the Song of Songs. The author first invents a story of Solomon and his first wife (and only true love) Naamah the Ammonitess noting that none of these inferences are stated in the Bible. The author then leverages the Song of Songs text into this invented narrative and makes conclusions regarding courtship and marriage based on the contrivance. While the conclusions may be valid based on other biblical texts and life experience, it is not sound reasoning to derive conclusions based on fiction (no matter how true-to-life it sounds) rather than facts (i.e. the actual Song of Songs text). Note that when the biblical text did not fit neatly into his storyline, that text was categorized as a “dream sequence”.
When expositing the Proverbs, the author only provided generalized conclusions based on several proverbs at a time (e.g. it’s wise to watch what you say, not all proverbs are true all the time like the righteous are not always materially rewarded in this life, children need to be trained in the way of the Lord, etc), but would often say he did not provide expositions because the meaning was obvious (?!). Some examples are:
“10:6. Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.” It is not obvious to me what this means. How do these phrases go together? It seems there is something in the ancient historical cultural background that gives this proverb significance, but the author does not explore this possibility.
“11:26. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.” Similar remarks apply as above.
And here are more examples…
“12:12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.”
“12:20. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.”
“12:23. A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.”
Etc. Are the meanings of these verses obvious?
Throughout the Proverbs and particularly with the words of Agur and Lemuel, the author quite often uses the verses as launching points for “sermonizing” about modern Western culture and beliefs. I was hoping for more of an exposition regarding the historical-cultural context of the biblical text. Often when sermonizing about modern Western family issues, the author would leverage his imagined family structure regarding Solomon which had his “true love” and first wife, Naamah, and his mother Bathsheba involved. As I stated above, it was hard for me to take seriously inferences drawn from an imagined historical context.
In his exposition of Ecclesiastes, the author continues leveraging his fictional depiction of Solomon and his “first wife” developed back in his Song of Songs exposition. Again, regardless of the truth of inferences drawn is the troubling use of a fiction as the basis for these inferences. Mainly his Ecclesiastes exposition again uses the verses as launching points for sermonizing about modern Western culture and beliefs rather an historical-cultural context exposition. Alternatively, much of the latter half of the author’s exposition of Ecclesiastes consisted mainly of life applications of the verses which reinforced helpful teachings gained in other more general Christian literary contexts.
In summary, by reading this book, I gained no real insights beyond reading the biblical text for myself.
Buying and reading this book reinforced a life lesson for me. That is, there are a lot of people writing and selling books regarding subjects about which they know little. So beware of buying and reading useless books. You can end up wasting your money and time.
This book was recommended by another book I bought and read about Solomon’s life. So I bought and read this book. Once I had read through about half of this book, I became aware this author had no thorough understanding of Solomon’s biblical writings. For example, he ordered his exposition based on his understanding of the human cycle of life; young people court and marry hence the exposition of the Song of Solomon, middle ages are for gaining knowledge and understanding hence the exposition of Proverbs, and old age is for evaluating one’s life hence the exposition of Ecclesiastes. But there is no biblical evidence for this order of Solomon’s writings.
Another example is the author’s exposition of the Song of Songs. The author first invents a story of Solomon and his first wife (and only true love) Naamah the Ammonitess noting that none of these inferences are stated in the Bible. The author then leverages the Song of Songs text into this invented narrative and makes conclusions regarding courtship and marriage based on the contrivance. While the conclusions may be valid based on other biblical texts and life experience, it is not sound reasoning to derive conclusions based on fiction (no matter how true-to-life it sounds) rather than facts (i.e. the actual Song of Songs text). Note that when the biblical text did not fit neatly into his storyline, that text was categorized as a “dream sequence”.
When expositing the Proverbs, the author only provided generalized conclusions based on several proverbs at a time (e.g. it’s wise to watch what you say, not all proverbs are true all the time like the righteous are not always materially rewarded in this life, children need to be trained in the way of the Lord, etc), but would often say he did not provide expositions because the meaning was obvious (?!). Some examples are:
“10:6. Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.” It is not obvious to me what this means. How do these phrases go together? It seems there is something in the ancient historical cultural background that gives this proverb significance, but the author does not explore this possibility.
“11:26. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.” Similar remarks apply as above.
And here are more examples…
“12:12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.”
“12:20. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.”
“12:23. A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.”
Etc. Are the meanings of these verses obvious?
Throughout the Proverbs and particularly with the words of Agur and Lemuel, the author quite often uses the verses as launching points for “sermonizing” about modern Western culture and beliefs. I was hoping for more of an exposition regarding the historical-cultural context of the biblical text. Often when sermonizing about modern Western family issues, the author would leverage his imagined family structure regarding Solomon which had his “true love” and first wife, Naamah, and his mother Bathsheba involved. As I stated above, it was hard for me to take seriously inferences drawn from an imagined historical context.
In his exposition of Ecclesiastes, the author continues leveraging his fictional depiction of Solomon and his “first wife” developed back in his Song of Songs exposition. Again, regardless of the truth of inferences drawn is the troubling use of a fiction as the basis for these inferences. Mainly his Ecclesiastes exposition again uses the verses as launching points for sermonizing about modern Western culture and beliefs rather an historical-cultural context exposition. Alternatively, much of the latter half of the author’s exposition of Ecclesiastes consisted mainly of life applications of the verses which reinforced helpful teachings gained in other more general Christian literary contexts.
In summary, by reading this book, I gained no real insights beyond reading the biblical text for myself.
Buying and reading this book reinforced a life lesson for me. That is, there are a lot of people writing and selling books regarding subjects about which they know little. So beware of buying and reading useless books. You can end up wasting your money and time.
September 11, 2012
I appreciate the author's biographical (of Solomon's life) approach to these pieces of the wisdom literature in the bible. My complaint is that the author seems to be largely unaware of the chiastic structure of Song of Songs and the recent scholarship on Ancient Near Eastern love poetry. He also reads the tee-totaling ethic back into the scripture which is an irritating feature of some of the evangelical readings of scripture. However, the book does have value in getting a feel for the way some evangelicals deal with scripture.
April 16, 2012
Without agreeing on every point the author is solid and makes many valid points especially in the sections dealing with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Morris holds to the two person view of the Song of Solomon which generally leaves one unsatisfied. The three person view seems to me to be better.
January 19, 2024
This work has its value but it's mostly surface value. What depth exists is not very profound. Morris makes certain assumptions and although some may be safer than others, he moves forward with the assumption under the premise of proven fact, which skews subsequent interpretations and teachings.
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August 21, 20120089
November 16, 2009
About books written by solomon
January 5, 2026
great read
It was an interesting book. I enjoyed the Song of Solomon portion the best. I felt the book was very repetitive.
It was an interesting book. I enjoyed the Song of Solomon portion the best. I felt the book was very repetitive.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews