1 Kings 4:29

And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much,.... In things natural, moral, divine, and spiritual, and that not slight and superficial, but exceeding deep, and large beyond

And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.

Largeness of heart, i.e. either, first, Magnanimity, or generosity, and greatness of spirit, whereby he was disposed and emboldened to undertake great things. But this seems not so well to suit with the following resemblance. Or rather, secondly, Vastness of understanding; a most comprehensive knowledge of all things, both Divine and human; for this wisdom is the thing for which he is here commended, both in the foregoing and following words. Even as the sand that is on the sea-shore; which cannot be numbered or measured; and which, though it be so vast and comprehensive, yet consists of the smallest parts: and so it may note that Solomon’ s wisdom was both vast, reaching to all things; and most accurate, searching and discerning every small thing.

1 Kings 4:29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that [is] on the sea shore.Ver. 29. Even as the sand which is on the seashore.] Which as it taketh up a great deal of ground, and comprehendeth many grains, so did Solomon’ s heart innumerable notions, etiam minutissima quaeque: he had even a sea of knowledge within him, and might, better than Jerome, he said to know all that was knowable. Nihil enim ipsum penitus fugit: omnia perfecte novit, as one said of Albertus Magnus; he was skilful in everything: he was a very gulf of learning, as a late writer saith of Bishop Andrews; Omnium sclentiarum doctrinarumque area et emporium, as another saith of Abulensis, a closet or market of all sciences and learning. Think the same of Solomon.

(29) Wisdom and understanding . . . and largeness of heart.—In this passage, “understanding,” which is high intellectual power, and “largeness of heart,” which is clearly capacity of knowledge, boundless as “the sand on the sea-shore,” are both distinguished from the higher gift of wisdom, to which they are but means—the one being the capacity of wisdom within, the other the education of that capacity from without, (a) Wisdom, in the true sense in which it is used in Scripture (especially in the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes), is properly the attribute of God, and then, by His gifts of revelation and inspiration, reflected in man. The “wisdom of God” (see, for example, Proverbs 8) is, in relation to man, His Divine purpose in the creation and government of the world, which all things work out. The “wisdom of man” is the knowledge of the true end and object of his own being—which if he fulfil not, it were better for him not to have been born—whether that object be called happiness or perfection. For such knowledge the Book of Ecclesiastes describes a vain search. Such knowledge, as found already, is embodied in the Proverbs; sometimes in the lowest sense of knowledge of what will conduce to our own happiness; sometimes in the higher knowledge of what will best serve man; most often in the supreme knowledge, how we may best do God’s will and show forth His glory. (b) But, since the purpose of our own being cannot be discovered, if our life be regarded as isolated from the history of the world and from its great design, this wisdom in man is regarded as possible, only when he has some glimpse of the wisdom of God, as manifested to man in His visible Providence, in His declared law, and His special revelation to the soul. Hence, “the fear of the Lord” is its “beginning;” and faith in God is the supplement of its necessary imperfection. (c)It will be obvious that, even so considered, this desire for wisdom is more self-contained and self-conscious than “the thirst for God, even the living God,” in which the soul of the Psalmist expresses absolute dependence on God. If the sense of the need of God’s revelation and of the necessity of faith beyond knowledge be lost, then this consciousness of wisdom may well become a self-idolatry, in which the mind prides itself on having pierced to the secret of being, holds that by such knowledge it becomes superior to ordinary law and duty, and delights in philosophical contemplation, rather than in active energy and religious devotion.

Verse 29. God gave Solomon wisdom, &c.] He gave him a capacious mind, and furnished him with extraordinary assistance to cultivate it. Even as the sand that is on the sea-shore.] Lord Bacon observes on this: "As the sand on the sea-shore encloses a great body of waters, so Solomon's mind contained an ocean of knowledge." This is a happy and correct illustration.

29–34. The wisdom and fame of Solomon (Not in Chronicles) 29. largeness of heart] By this is meant a comprehensive powerful mind capable of grasping the knowledge of many and difficult subjects; poetry, philosophy, natural history in its various branches; he was master of them all. as the sand that is on the sea shore] The proverbial expression for greatness of every kind. See above 1 Kings 4:20.

Largeness of heart - What we call “great capacity.” The expression which follows is common in reference to numerical multitude 1 Kings 4:20, but its use here to express mere amplitude or greatness is unique.

29. Largeness of heart — The heart, in Scripture, is the innermost center of man’s natural condition and life. It is the seat of desires, of love, of hatred.