“Now when Darius reigned, he made a great feast unto all his subjects, and unto all his household, and unto all the princes of Media and Persia, And to all the governors and captains and lieutenants that were under him, from India unto Ethiopia, of an hundred twenty and seven provinces. And when they had eaten and drunken, and being satisfied were gone home, then Darius the king went into his bedchamber, and slept, and soon after awaked. Then three young men, that were of the guard that kept the king's body, spake one to another; Let every one of us speak a sentence: he that shall overcome, and whose sentence shall seem wiser than the others, unto him shall the king Darius give great gifts, and great things in token of victory: As, to be clothed in purple, to drink in gold, and to sleep upon gold, and a chariot with bridles of gold, and an headtire of fine linen, and a chain about his neck: And he shall sit next to Darius because of his wisdom, and shall be called Darius his cousin. And then every one wrote his sentence, sealed it, and laid it under king Darius his pillow; And said that, when the king is risen, some will give him the writings; and of whose side the king and the three princes of Persia shall judge that his sentence is the wisest, to him shall the victory be given, as was appointed.
(I Esdras 3:1-9)
Basically, three men that guarded Darius make a deal that whoever speaks the wisest sentence should be declared the winner.
“The first wrote, Wine is the strongest. The second wrote, The king is strongest. The third wrote, Women are strongest: but above all things Truth beareth away the victory.” (I Esdras 3:10-12)
Two things to note…
First, we are talking about three people speaking a wise sentence to a king. The answers are: king, wine, and women. Remember Proverbs 31? It began with a mom speaking wisdom (it was even called prophecy) to a king and the beginning dealt with being a king, wine, and women.
Second, this is taken from the 1611 King James Version. Strong’s doesn’t cover the Apocrypha. The word "strongest" does NOT occur in the New Testament, which is written in the same language as the Apocrypha (Greek). However, the word “strongest” does occur one time in the Old Testament (Hebrew)…in the chapter before Proverbs 31. (Proverbs 30:30…three verses away from Proverbs 31.)
According to Strong’s it is #1368 gibbor - “from the same as 1397; powerful”. We saw that “powerful” is the ability to make things happen.
#1397 geber - “from 1396; prop. a valiant man or warrior”
#1396 gabar - “to be strong; by impl. to prevail”
When the three men talk about “strongest” they are trying to state WHAT ultimately is the most able to make things happen…to prevail.
“Now when the king was risen up, they took their writings, and delivered them unto him, and so he read them: And sending forth he called all the princes of Persia and Media, and the governors, and the captains, and the lieutenants, and the chief officers; And sat him down in the royal seat of judgment; and the writings were read before them. And he said, Call the young men, and they shall declare their own sentences. So they were called, and came in.” (I Esdras 3:13-16)
Darius is not only accepting of this contest; he is making a show of it by having each person justify their explanations...give the WHY! The chapter ends with the first giving his explanation WHY:
“And he said unto them, Declare unto us your mind concerning the writings. Then began the first, who had spoken of the strength of wine; And he said thus, O ye men, how exceeding strong is wine! it causeth all men to err that drink it: It maketh the mind of the king and of the fatherless child to be all one; of the bondman and of the freeman, of the poor man and of the rich: It turneth also every thought into jollity and mirth, so that a man remembereth neither sorrow nor debt: And it maketh every heart rich, so that a man remembereth neither king nor governor; and it maketh to speak all things by talents: And when they are in their cups, they forget their love both to friends and brethren, and a little after draw out swords: But when they are from the wine, they remember not what they have done. O ye men, is not wine the strongest, that enforceth to do thus? And when he had so spoken, he held his peace.” (I Esdras 3:17-24)
This is what Lemuel’s mother said! In fact, this is the reason she told Lemuel not to drink wine. Basically, wine makes a Profitable person Unprofitable and makes a person unaware of an Unprofitable situation.
Next Section at Book Level: I Esdras 4
Chapter Summary
Part III Table of Contents
Part I Table of Contents
