What Does 1 Kings 4:30 Mean in the King James?
And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew word for wisdom also names practiced skill, so Solomon’s excellence is more than possessing information, it is knowing how to shape life.
THE MEANING
Solomon’s wisdom exceeds the wisdom of the east and Egypt. The word carries the sense of practiced skill as well as understanding, so wisdom appears as something embodied in what a person can discern and bring into form.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Wisdom is only a store of correct information; this verse’s word also holds skill that can be practiced and seen.
THE ROOT
חָכְמָה
ḥokhmāh
GROWS FROM
חכם
ḥ-k-m
To be wise or skillful; to have practical capability.
The word is חָכְמָה (ḥokhmāh, wisdom), built on חכם (ḥ-k-m), a root for being wise or skillful. That same root describes the wise-hearted makers called to build the sanctuary, showing wisdom as practiced ability as well as understanding.
ALSO GROWS
ḥākām: A person who is wise or perceptive.
חָכָם
The root moves from the capacity itself to the person embodying it.
ḥakham-lev: Someone skilled in heart; used of the makers called to do the sanctuary work (Exodus 31:6).
חֲכַם־לֵב
This branch shows wisdom taking form as skilled work, not remaining only as thought.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom is a practiced capacity that gives form to what is made and how life is ordered.
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.THE THREAD
And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,Exodus uses the same Hebrew word, חָכְמָה (ḥokhmāh, wisdom), and places it beside workmanship. The shared root reveals wisdom as both discernment and the practiced skill to bring something into form.
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