One of the most famous – and most fascinating – figures of the First World War was T.E. Lawrence, known of course as “Lawrence of Arabia”. Although he was bitterly ashamed of the way in which the Arabs had risen in revolt against the Turks as a result of fraudulent British promises of self-rule, Lawrence led them in a guerrilla campaign which revolutionized the art of war. His principal target was the Hedjaz Railway, the lifeline of the Ottoman Empire; some of the abandoned locomotives still lie where they were sabotaged over a century ago.

When the war was over Lawrence wrote an account of his exploits called “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”, a book which has been described as “an unexampled fabric of portraits, descriptions, philosophies, emotions, adventures [and] dreams”. In fact Lawrence had begun writing a quite different book with that title before the War even started: it was going to be about seven great Middle Eastern cities. And even the volume which did eventually appear was rewritten three times – once after Lawrence had managed to lose nearly all of it while changing trains at Reading station. Amazingly that lost manuscript has recently been discovered.

Lawrence’s title comes, of course, from today’s passage in the book of Proverbs, which he would have known in the old Authorised Version: “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars”. So, before getting into Wisdom’s invitation which is the main them of this morning’s message, we need to stop and ask what are these seven pillars which seem to make an imposing portico or entrance to a grand house. The short answer is that no-one knows for sure; but that hasn’t stopped people putting forward several intriguing ideas!

So are we talking about a palace or a temple? – even a large house would only have four pillars at its entrance but this building has seven. Is this some reference to Wisdom having been involved in the seven days of creation? – that would of course have to include the final rest day or Sabbath. Another possibility takes us to the ancient belief that the universe itself is held up by seven large pillars. Some folk have made what I think is a rather fanciful link to the sevenfold “gifts of the Spirit” – fanciful because this book was written long before the New Testament. A more general observation is that seven is often regarded as the number of perfection in the Bible – so is this Wisdom inviting us into her perfect house? I’ll leave you to decide whether any of those ideas makes sense!

What, however, is very clear is that Wisdom is inviting us all to a lavish feast in this place – in fact it’s a house-warming party. And she – for Wisdom s ais very definitely portrayed here not just as a person but a wealthy lady – is so keen for everyone to attend that she’s sent her servants out into the streets to see if they can find any more guests, however foolish they may be (and here I am immediately drawn to Jesus’ parable of the king whose guests failed to turn up and who ordered his servants to go into “the highways and byways” to look for some more).

This may be a lavish, even extravagant feast: but it is open to all; in fact uneducated people with a hunger for learning are the most welcome, as they know they need help to work through the complex realities of life.

I think that “wisdom” is a hard word to define. We all recognise it when we see it (and we usually know when someone makes a decision that’s manifestly daft!) Wisdom is clearly not the same as knowledge, as highly-qualified academics who know everything there is to know about their subject can also make huge errors of judgement. However a person who knows nothing about the world (or who has never bothered to find out) is, I think, unlikely to be wise, as our wisdom must surely be based on an assessment of the facts and experiences we have encountered over the years. The German psychologist Paul Baltes defined wisdom as “knowledge and judgement about the essence of the human condition and the ways and means of planning, managing, and understanding a good life”. The great Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon used simpler language: “Wisdom is, I suppose, the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom”. I’ll go with that!

It’s also worth looking at what the Bible – specifically the Old Testament – says about wisdom. What’s interesting to notice is that it’s as much about technical expertise or craftmanship as about factual knowledge: for instance the skillful men and women who constructed and furnished the Tabernacle (or Meeting Tent) in the wilderness are called ‘wise’. But we also find wisdom of the more conventional type: as we heard in our reading, King Solomon’s wisdom was legendary. And in 2 Samuel 20 we read of a woman in the city of Abel Beth Maacah who devised a cunning plan to stop it being attacked and its inhabitants being slaughtered: we aren’t told her name but we are told that she was ‘wise’. So wisdom can be crafts-manship , statecraft and craftiness (no, I didn’t invent that!)

Another notable point is that, as I’ve said, Wisdom is personified as a woman – not just in this passage but throughout this book of Proverbs. So, in ch.1, we read: “Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks”. In ch.3 we are told that “She is more precious than jewels” and in ch.4 we hear that she will exalt us if we value her, honour us if we embrace her, even that she will place a fair garland and a beautiful crown on our heads – this, of course, isn’t to be taken literally!

But why is wisdom female? Well, the ladies here might put on a superior smile and say that it’s because women possess intuition and common sense which men sadly lack; however that idea is torpedoed later in the chapter we’re studying today as it also portrays foolishness as a woman! More prosaically we might well say that Wisdom is female simply because Hebrew is one of those languages in which every noun has a masculine or feminine gender (such as Portuguese where buses and cakes are masculine while houses and railway stations are feminine). You’ll have guessed that the Hebrew word for wisdom is feminine – so perhaps there’s nothing more significant in calling it “she” than that.

Or is there? For, in Jewish thought, Wisdom is the Torah – the Word of God or, more specifically, the five books of Moses which in our Bibles are Genesis through to Deuteronomy. And there is a thought that the Torah and Wisdom, both feminine nouns in Hebrew, are intimately linked, two sides of one coin, that the source of all wisdom is in fact God’s Word. I said earlier that wisdom can be craftsmanship , statecraft and craftiness; but we must also say that it is Torah-craft, the correct understanding of Scripture. And where did that Scripture come from? Both Jews and Christians believe that it was inspired by God. So true wisdom is divine wisdom; in fact the lines get blurred and it sometimes appears that Wisdom is actually another name for God himself.

I must soon start to draw my threads together. But, before I do, I must say two more things. One is that this language about wisdom isn’t just confined to the Old Testament: it is carried forward into the New. For didn’t Jesus say, “Everyone who hears my words and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock”? – and we all know the parable that follows. Equally James, Jesus’ half-brother, picks up the theme in his letter: “If any of you lacks wisdom, they should pray to God, who will give it to them; because God gives generously and graciously to all”; he also tells us that “The wisdom from above is pure, … peaceful, gentle, and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy”.

The other thing I must say takes us to Christ himself. We know him as the Son of God, the Saviour, the Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd and many other things; well, Paul declares in 1 Corinthians that he is also “the power of God and the wisdom of God”. Humans may fail to under-stand Christ’s words or see his sacrifice on the Cross as a supreme act of folly – but that’s not God’s verdict. His wisdom is far greater than ours; and it is perfectly demonstrated in the person of Jesus. So the invitation to eat Wisdom’s feast in her house can be understood as an call by Jesus to follow him and to feast in the kingdom of God.

The last couple of years have shown that human wisdom is inadequate for solving the world’s problems. Even the best brains have floundered when faced with the threat of Covid while some politicians have said and done things that beggar belief – although the scientists did triumph when they formulated the vaccines that have been our salvation. The leaders of the world are no nearer to solving the intractable problems of the Middle East and Central Asia: Syria, Palestine and Afghanistan – some of these conflicts have now gone on for decades, even centuries, with the needless loss of countless lives, yet no-one has found a way to resolve them. Our own politicians and police chiefs are struggling with racism, knife crime and criminality: how can our society function in a more civil and sensible way? And just this week, of course, the United Nations published its damning and alarming report on Climate Change. This will be debated endlessly in scientific meetings, in the media and at the COP conference in Glasgow. Many words will be spoken: but will we be able to change the course of history? I’m afraid I am not optimistic.

Moses addressed the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land; he told them to obey God’s laws faithfully as this would show their neighbours how wise they were and cause them to say, “What wisdom and understanding this great nation has!” I am not so stupid as to say that answers to all the world’s woes can be found in the Bible as society and technology have moved on beyond its authors’ wildest beliefs; what we have to do is seek some guiding principles in it. Nor do I think that our problems would be instantly resolved if we all committed ourselves to Jesus, tried to put his words into action or even prayed to be given divine wisdom. But I can’t think of a better plan: can you?