1 Kings 4:29

These, then, as it seems to me, the wise men among the Greeks, having taken them from Solomon — inasmuch as he, being far prior to them in age and time, had learned these things earlier through the Spirit of God — put forward as though they were their own discoveries, and, having comprised them in the volumes of their teachings, left them to be handed down to posterity. But these things, as we have said, Solomon discovered before all others, and taught them through the wisdom which he received from God, as it is written: "And God gave prudence to Solomon, and wisdom exceeding much, and breadth of heart like the sand which is on the shore of the sea; and wisdom was multiplied in him above all the ancient sons of men, and above all the wise men of Egypt." Solomon, therefore, wishing to distinguish and separate from one another these three which we have said above to be general disciplines — that is, the moral, the natural, and the inspective — set them forth in three little books, each of them also fitted in its own order consequently. First, then, in Proverbs he taught the moral part, composing the rules of life, as was fitting, in concise and brief maxims. But the second, which is called natural, he comprised in Ecclesiastes: in which, discoursing much concerning natural things, and separating the empty and vain from the useful and necessary, he admonishes that vanity is to be abandoned, and that the useful and right things are to be pursued. The inspective part also he handed down in this little book which is in our hands, that is, in the Song of Songs, in which he instills into the soul the love of heavenly and divine things under the figure of the bride and bridegroom, teaching that one must come to fellowship with God by the ways of charity and love.

But that the object of Christianity is that we should become wise can be proved from the ancient Jewish writings, which we also use, as well as from those that were composed after the time of Jesus and that are believed among the churches to be divine. Now, in the fiftieth psalm, David is described as saying in his prayer to God these words: "The unseen and secret things of your wisdom you have manifested to me." Solomon, too, because he asked for wisdom, received it; and if anyone were to peruse the Psalms, he would find the book filled with many maxims of wisdom; and the evidences of Solomon's wisdom may be seen in his treatises, which contain a great amount of wisdom expressed in few words, and in which you will find many praises of wisdom and encouragements towards obtaining it. So wise, moreover, was Solomon, that the queen of Sheba, having heard his name and the name of the Lord, came to try him with difficult questions and spoke to him all things, whatsoever were in her heart; and Solomon answered her all her questions. There was no question omitted by the king that he did not answer her. And the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the possessions that he had, and there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, "The report is true that I heard in my own land regarding you and your wisdom; and I did not believe them who told me, until I had come, and my eyes have seen it. And, lo, they did not tell me the half. You have added wisdom and possessions above all the report that I heard." It is also recorded of him that "God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol and Darda, children of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations. He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak of animals, and birds, and reptiles and fish. People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; they came from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom."