This week's Theme: Quest For Treasure
Day 1: Maker's Map
I love a good adventure story! Throw in a few villains and a treasure map, and I’m in! Apparently, I’m not alone. The popularity of classics like Kidnapped, Treasure Island, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Lord of the Rings has lived on from generation to generation.
In 1885, a new genre of adventure stories known as the Lost World was launched with the publication of King Solomon’s Mines, by British writer Sir H. Rider Haggard. The book captured popular imagination in its combination of exploration and adventure, underscored of course, by the dangers and excitement of a treasure hunt.
Written from a distinctly colonial perspective, the story follows Allan Quatermain—European adventurer and big game hunter—in his quest to find the brother of Sir Henry Curtis. He had disappeared while searching for the fabled mines of King Solomon in unexplored African territory.
The search for treasure connected to the biblical king is somewhat ironic. While Solomon’s wealth was legendary, it was actually parenthetical to his initial quest:
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want Me to give you.” Solomon answered, “…You have made Your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give Your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?” (1 Kings 3:5, 7-9).
Solomon somehow seems to have grasped the fundamental truth described in the second half of Job 28—in a series of verses simply entitled, Interlude: Where Wisdom is Found:
Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky. Destruction and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
God understands the way to it and He alone knows where it dwells, for He views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When He established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when He made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then He looked at wisdom and appraised it; He confirmed it and tested it. And He said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding” (Job 28:20-28).
Given the chance to ask for whatever he wanted, Solomon chose the most priceless treasure that exists (Proverbs 8:11). In response, God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore (1 Kings 4:29). And then the treasures from the “mines” were added:
The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings" (1 Kings 3:10-13).
And while the Scriptures never make any references to Solomon’s ownership of any mines, they do give some details about his treasures:
All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace... were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea... Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory...The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones… (1 Kings 10:21-22, 27).
No wonder the idea of King Solomon’s mines, fictional or not, would be the center of a treasure adventure plot! Interestingly enough, we could place Allen Quatermain, Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbits, or any of our storybook heroes in the background scenes described in the first half of Job 28:
There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. Mortals put an end to the darkness; they search out the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness. Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft, in places untouched by human feet; far from other people they dangle and sway.
The earth, from which food comes, is transformed below as by fire; lapis lazuli comes from its rocks, and its dust contains nuggets of gold. No bird of prey knows that hidden path, no falcon’s eye has seen it. Proud beasts do not set foot on it, and no lion prowls there. People assault the flinty rock with their hands and lay bare the roots of the mountains. They tunnel through the rock; their eyes see all its treasures. They search the sources of the rivers and bring hidden things to light (Job 28:1-11).
Ah yes, the thrill of the treasure hunt. The markers. The drawings. The fever pitch. The fearless searching, and the tunnelling and the assaulting of the rock. And yet, true treasure—better than fine gold, surpass[ing] choice silver (Proverbs 8:19)—is found elsewhere—in other recesses hidden from the eyes of every living thing... God alone knows where it dwells (Job 28:21, 23). And He gives us an extraordinary set of directions on the Maker's map:
“Get wisdom, get understanding...The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown” (Proverbs 4:5, 7-9).
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