The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him. – Proverbs 31:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 20, 2019): Proverbs 31

I have a question. Who is the better author, George Orwell or Eric Blair? Likely, unless you are student of British authors your answer is either George Orwell, because you have no idea who Eric Blair might be, and you have at least heard of Orwell, or it is Eric Blair, because you really don’t like Orwell, and does anybody really understand what “Animal Farm” was all about, and anybody would be better than Orwell. But your answer is likely based on the fact that you don’t have any idea who Eric Blair is, or was, or even what the genre might be for which Blair would be known.

Actually, the question itself is wrong. George Orwell is the author. Eric Blair is not; well, not really. George Orwell is the pen name under which Eric Blair wrote. Eric Arthur Blair is George Orwell. Eric Blair decided to write under the name George Orwell taking the name from his favorite character and the Patron Saint of England, Saint George (you might have heard of the tales of St. George and the Dragon) and a river that flows through Suffolk, England that Eric Blair loved to visit – the River Orwell. The names of a Saint and a river give us the name of the author that we know, George Orwell. We have long ago forgotten the name of Eric Blair.

The identity of King Lemuel is a mystery to us. We know of neither him nor his mother. And like Agur, these words seem to be late additions to the book of Proverbs. But unlike Agur, the wisdom spoken here might reach back to the time of Solomon, and indeed, to Solomon himself. The name Lemuel means “belonging to God.” There is no King in either Israel or Judah who bears that name. There is also no pagan King of the nations who were in contact with Israel who is named Lemuel, making this King a real mystery.

What we do have is a tradition. Scholars are quick to note that there are absolutely no facts that support the tradition, but this tradition argues that King Lemuel is a pen name for Solomon. That would mean that the advice comes from Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. And the legend points to a time early in the reign of Solomon, long before this son of David compiled his book of Wisdom; a time when Solomon was following the Egyptian gods of one his wives. Bathsheba pulled Solomon aside and offered the words presented here.

For centuries, the words of Bathsheba were passed down separate from the Proverbs that Solomon had gathered and written down. At some point, likely around the time of Hezekiah, someone joined the Wisdom of Bathsheba with the Wisdom of Solomon, offered to us under the name Lemuel, because the greatest wisdom that any of us can possess is that we “belong to God.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Song of Songs 1