“I’m more precious than gold, and more costly than silver, but I can’t be bought. What am I?”

“Get wisdom, how much better it is than gold! And get understanding, it is preferable to silver.” Proverbs 16:16

This proverb is written by one of the wisest men to ever live (1 Kings 3:12; cf. 4:29-34). But I’ve given it to you out of context, sixteen chapters in to an entire book of wisdom from this sage.

So allow me to offer a little help with his somewhat obvious point: at least one thing Solomon is doing with this proverb is reminding us once again of the aim of his whole project. Namely, what the proverbs are for. He was abundantly clear about it at the start of this journey into greater knowledge:

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

For learning wisdom and discipline;
for understanding insightful sayings;
for receiving prudent instruction
in righteousness, justice, and integrity;
for teaching shrewdness to the inexperienced,
knowledge and discretion to a young man—

let a wise person listen and increase learning,
and let a discerning person obtain guidance—
for understanding a proverb or a parable,
the words of the wise, and their riddles.

The fear of Yahweh
is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:1-7

And so now — far into the journey, all the way to Proverbs 16:16 — he’s brought us over quite a bit of terrain in order to prove what is abundantly clear to the most casual observer — the value of wisdom.

“…better than gold…preferable to silver…”

Hmmm….

I think we all know how easy it is to worry about money. It comes quite naturally to us, with little to no training required. And then we’re immersed in a culture (if you’re a Westerner reading this) that only reinforces this muscle reflex in us — to think on, stress over, and worry about, money.

How to get it.
How to keep it.
How it will make our lives better and easier when we do.

And such thoughts have tremendous power because there is a bit of truth in them. I mean, let’s be transparent with each other — even ministry and the work of the kingdom need money to function and expand.

But what Solomon — fabulously wealthy, Solomon, by the way — wants to make sure we remember is that there is something of greater gain than greenbacks, gold, or silver. It has more power to transform your life, your family, your church, community, country, continent, and the cosmos.

Wisdom.

Solomon learned this early on. Knew it in his bones. He was blessed by the grace of God to have an intuition about it. When he was faced with the great challenge of leading the people of God as their human King, at a young and inexperienced age, and was given the opportunity to ask God for whatever he wanted, he did not ask for gold, and did not plead for silver.

Solomon said, ‘You yourself acted in great commitment with your servant David my father as he walked before you in truthfulness and faithfulness and in uprightness of mind with you. You have kept this great commitment for him and given him a son sitting on his throne this very day.

Now, Yahweh my God, you yourself have made your servant king in place of my father David, when I am a small boy who doesn’t know how to go out and come in. Your servant is among your people that you chose, a numerous people that can’t be measured or counted because of the large number. So you should give your servant a listening mind to decide cases for your people, to discern between good and bad, because who can exercise authority for this substantial people of yours?’    
1 Kings 3:6-9

And what was the response of Yahweh?

It pleased him. (1 Kings 3:10)

And so what did Yahweh do?

God said to him, ‘Since you’ve asked for this thing and you haven’t asked for a long life for yourself and haven’t asked for wealth for yourself and haven’t asked for the life of your enemies, but asked for yourself to be discerning in hearing a case: there, I’m acting in accordance with your words. Here, I am giving you a smart and discerning mind such that there has not been anyone like you before you and there will not arise anyone like you after you.
1 Kings 3:11-12

And does he stop at wisdom, more valuable than gold and silver?

What you did not ask I am also giving you, both wealth and splendour for all your days, such that there has not been anyone like you among the kings.
1 Kings 3:13

And the only condition?

If you walk in my ways by keeping my decrees and my orders as your father David walked, I will make your days long.’
1 Kings 3:14

This is why Solomon is driven to provide his Proverbs project to humanity — he has learned it firsthand and knows it to be resolutely true:

Get wisdom….Get understanding.
Proverbs 16:16

And while material gain will sometimes follow the wise — as it did for Solomon — that’s not the promise. The promise is that you will live a life of contentment regardless of your circumstances because you’ll be wise and understanding in the midst of them. You’ll have the most precious resources you need to live a truly flourishing life.

Dear reader, get wisdom. Get understanding.

Something else Solomon wrote near the end of his days. After exploring every conceivable corner of human pleasure under the sun, he had this bit of wisdom to offer:

The end of the thing; everything has been heard.
Live in awe of God and keep his orders,
because this is for everyone.
Ecclesiastes 12:13