Wisdom of the Ancient Kings

Ancient wisdom holds a mystique and allure for many today. Some people seek to explore ancient wisdom and ancient arts in their quest for enlightenment and personal benefit. In view of that fascination I have often thought of compiling a summary of the Wisdom of the Ancient Kings.

If you have any observations or information on this point that might assist me in this project please let me know. I have noted several expressions of ancient wisdom in my own reading and research and I’ll share some of them is posts on ancient wisdom from time to time.

Wisdom and Folly

Neither wisdom nor folly is a new invention. Kings, rulers and potentates have shown great wisdom and great folly at times throughout history. As I review ancient wisdom I will also take note at times of the folly evidenced in the lives of ancient kings. Folly, as an inverse of wisdom, can also be instructive when it is observed as something to be avoided.

So if you are aware of evidences of folly in the leaders from antiquity please also advise me of your observations.

Kings and Kingdoms

History provides us a diverse set of kings and kingdoms to observe. Some have maintained their leadership by ruthless and violent punishments. Ruling by fear was evident in King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over ancient Babylon. The Romans employed fear and the iron rule in their dominance of the first century world.

Other rulers asserted their divinity as just cause for their leadership. The Pharaohs of Egypt portrayed themselves as deities. The Roman leaders projected the notion of their divine authority. Even the Emperors of Japan asserted that they were divine, until the middle of last century, following Japan’s crushing defeat in World War 2.

Some kingdoms were strong because of wise strategies, such as the commercial aspirations of Tyre which gave them ability to dominate in their day. Genghis Khan and the Chinese Emperors had various strengths and weaknesses in their governments through the centuries.

Entire kingdoms have been wiped out, such as the Incas of South America and the Hittites of the Middle East. We have bare traces of some civilisations and much of what we know is anecdotal or fanciful, rather than factual.

The Hindu Vedas represent writings which carry a mixture of historical reference mingled with mythical aggrandisement of the characters. Greek mythology carries elements of the same phenomenon.

Modern History

Monarchs from the British Empire, the establishment of the American nation and the modern history of nationalisation of former colonies give us up-to-date examples of wisdom and folly in the actions of kings and rulers. While these modern examples will not be the direct interest of this theme, they do provide an interesting reference point, especially where parallels with ancient kings and kingdoms are evident.

An Ancient Fool

I recently read the account of Belshazzar, the last king of Bablyon, who was killed on the night of October 12, 539BC. He was the effective ruler of Babylon on the night it fell to the invading Medes. The city had been under a long siege, but with 20 years supplies stored in the city everyone felt quite capable of resisting indefinitely.

King Nebuchadnezzar had built up a glorious city in Babylon, with its famous hanging gardens. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom had been described as the greatest of kingdoms, with only lesser kingdoms following through human history.

Belshazzar had inherited this glorious heritage and all that had been built up by his predecessors. But he had fallen into self-confidence against the invading army and he also gave himself to an indulgent lifestyle. He had many concubines and he threw lavish parties, even in the face of the siege.

Belshazzar was the king who was shocked by the appearance of fingers which wrote on his palace wall. The man just about fell apart, with his knees knocking in distress.

When Daniel, the old man of God, was called to interpret the divine message written on the wall Belshazzar was advised that he had been weighed in God’s scales and found to be deficient. Thus he would lose his kingdom that very night.

This event gave rise to the saying “the writing is on the wall”, meaning that the outcome is fully predictable. The outcome for Belshazzar was already set and it was written on the wall.

The City Falls

The magnificent city of Babylon had the Euphrates River running right through it, guaranteeing a continuous water supply. But the invading Medes went to the extensive effort of diverting the river flow, into a lake. When the river level dropped, the invading army was able to enter the city under the gates. These events are recorded by two ancient historians, Herodotus and Xenophon.

The Bible account of these events simply states that, “That night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was slain. And Darius the Mede took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” Daniel 5:30,31

Folly after Wisdom

Despite the various expressions of wisdom on the part of Nebuchadnezzar, this descendent, Belshazzar, was a self-indulgent, overly confident, God-mocking ruler. His reward for that folly was that he lost his kingdom overnight.

This sad pattern is oft repeated, where one wise person builds something for the future, but a descendent becomes a fool, maybe buoyed up by the benefits they have been raised with, and loses it all.

The wisdom to draw from this example is to remain humble. In the face of great advantage and all the evidences of security, it is vital that we all remain humble and diligent in our protection of ourselves and our assets.

This wisdom is proving its worth today, in the face of the Crash of 2008. Many people who enjoyed the high life of income, prosperity, assets, security and so on are now facing uncertainty, loss, limitation and insecurity.

God rewards the humble, but pride and a haughty spirit come before a fall. Many today have been weighed in God’s balance and have proven themselves to have nothing to protect them from the collapse of their personal kingdom. Thankfully today’s generation can cry out to God for mercy and grace. I encourage you to humbly do so.

Jacob Daniel DeShazer was born in West Stayton, Oregon on November 15 in 1912, not long before World War One. He was to become a famous name in the next World War.

The son of a Free Methodist preacher, Jacob was raised in church but strayed from the faith in his high school years. In 1940 he enlisted in the US air force and trained as a bombardier.

April 18, 1942 DeShazer flew as a bombardier on a B-25 bomber with Gen. Jimmy Doolittle’s “Doolittle Raiders”, in the first air attack on Japan in World War II.

On the way back from that raid the B-25, on which he was bombardier, ran out of fuel and was one of two planes that did not make it home. The crew bailed out over enemy occupied territory, and were taken prisoners.

As DeShazer was parachuting from his plane his mother woke with a sense of falling and prayed earnestly, not knowing anything of the raid, or of her son’s danger. When she felt at peace, she went back to sleep. Meanwhile, as the young airman plunged toward the ground, DeShazer thought it would be “dishonest” to pray. So he didn’t. He had not kept up a walk with God and didn’t think he had the right to call on God’s help.

Regarded as “war criminals”, rather than POW’s, the men were harshly treated and beaten. Three of DeShazer’s buddies were shot before a firing squad. Of DeShazer’s 40 months as a prisoner, he spent 36 in solitary confinement. Another member of crew starved to death, but not before witnessing to DeShazer.

In May, 1944, after two years’ imprisonment, some small concessions were given to the men and so DeShazer asked a guard for a Bible. He devoured the Bible, reading it through multiple times and searching out the fulfilment of every prophecy that he found. He was determined to find out it the Bible was what it was claimed to be.

He not only found the Bible to be all he hoped it could be, but he also found salvation through Christ, reading Romans 10:9 on 8 June, 1944. Then, as he made his solitary journey into faith, based only on the Word of God, he was challenged to live out Christ’s teachings, starting with the command to “love your enemies”. He began being friendly to the cruellest guard. Within days the man’s attitude toward him changed.

Tutored only by the Word and the Spirit, harvesting the godly training of his childhood, DeShazer grew in faith and accepted God’s call to reach out to the Japanese. He recalls, “When I was a prisoner, I was afraid I was going to die and I told God ‘I don’t want to go up there with empty hands; I want to do something for Jesus.”

On 20 August, 1945, the war ended. Before long, DeShazer was re-united with his family and then, at the age of 34, he entered Seattle Pacific (Bible) College to train for missionary service. And the field? Japan.

DeShazer married Florence, a fellow Bible College student, and headed to Japan for 30 years of effective ministry. Before arriving in Japan DeShazer wrote a tract titled “I Was a Prisoner of Japan”, which told his story. It was translated into Japanese and widely distributed.

General MacArthur had told the Japanese that they ought to be Christians. This opened the door for Christian preaching. When the Japanese Emperor told the Japanese that he was not divine, in 1946, this lead to tremendous instability in many Japanese lives (and suicide as well), which, compounded by their defeat, gave great opportunity for the gospel. It is estimated there were 30,000 conversions during DeShazer’s first year in Japan.

The most notary convert to come from DeShazer’s testimony was Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbour on Dec. 7, 1941. After reading “I Was a Prisoner of Japan” Fuchida studied the Bible, became a Christian and spent the rest of his life as a missionary.

The 1972 edition of DeShazer’s biography contains a photo of DeShazer and his wife, just before their third furlough. “I love these beautiful Japanese people so much” he is quoted as saying. “They all look beautiful to me. They need Jesus.”

DeShazer passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 15, 2008, at the age of 95.

This post is based on the work of my late friend Donald Prout whose love for books and Christian history led him to collate a daily Christian calendar. I continue to work with Don’s wife, Barbara, to share his life work with the world. I have updated some of these historical posts and will hopefully draw from Don’s huge files of clippings to continue this series beyond Don’s original work. More of Don’s work can be found at www.donaldprout.com. I am indebted to Don for awakening in me an interest in Church History, which I previously considered to be a little stuffy and of little practical value. I find in the process of updating Don’s Christian Diary that I am being constantly refreshed, illuminated or challenged by the lives of those who have gone before.