What Does 2 Chronicles 9:23 Mean?
And all the kings of the earth sought the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had set in his heart.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, that God had put in his heart.THE KEY
The kings seek Solomon’s face because wisdom God has placed within him has become something the whole world wants to hear.
THE MEANING
Wisdom is something God places within a person and makes available beyond that person. The kings seek Solomon’s face (פְּנֵי, penei, face or presence) to hear it: what is inward becomes audible and draws listeners across boundaries. Solomon’s name (שְׁלֹמֹה, Shlomo, from שָׁלוֹם, shalom, wholeness) adds a quiet echo of wholeness to the scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that wisdom begins as self-made expertise: here its source is God, and its effect is that others come to hear.
THE ROOT
חָכְמָתוֹ
ḥokhmāto
GROWS FROM
חכם
ḥ-k-m
To be wise or skillful.
The verse’s form means “his wisdom” and belongs to a word family that also describes a wise or skillful person. Here wisdom is something God places within, then something others can hear and seek.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākām: A wise person; a skilled person.
חָכָם
The same root names both wisdom and the person who embodies it.
ḥakhamim: Wise people.
חֲכָמִים
The root describes wisdom as a quality that can be carried and expressed by people.
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“set” in this verse is natan. The verb natan carries the sense of giving, setting, or placing. Wisdom is pictured as placed in Solomon’s heart by God; the kings’ seeking shows how an inward gift can become something others come to hear.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verse’s verb: God places wisdom in Solomon’s heart.
mattanah: A gift.
מַתָּנָה
The same root links placing wisdom within someone with the idea of something given.
מְבַקְשִׁים
mevaqqeshim
GROWS FROM
בקש
b-q-sh
To seek or request.
“sought” in this verse is mevaqqeshim. This is active seeking or requesting, and its object is Solomon’s face (פְּנֵי, penei, face or presence), so the kings approach an encounter with the person as they listen. The movement is from what God sets within a heart to what can be heard through a face-to-face meeting.
ALSO GROWS
biqqesh: To seek or request.
בִּקֵּשׁ
The root shows that the kings’ response is an active pursuit of wisdom.
mevaqqesh: One who seeks or requests.
מְבַקֵּשׁ
This branch names the seeker; here, the kings become seekers of wisdom.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom received from God becomes audible through a person and draws others into seeking it.
For the LORD gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and discernment.And all the earth sought the face of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had set in his heart.But if any of you is left behind in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without doubling and without taunting, and it will be given him.THE THREAD
For the LORD gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and discernment.Both verses use חָכְמָה (ḥokhmāh, wisdom) and name God as its source. Proverbs adds that knowledge and understanding come from God’s mouth, opening the image here: wisdom set in a heart is also received speech that others can hear.
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