Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 3:1
And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
1. Pharaoh king of Egypt ] This is the first notice since the Exodus of any connexion of Israel with Egypt. It is impossible to decide with certainty which Pharaoh it was whose daughter Solomon took to wife. The 22nd Egyptian dynasty commenced with Sheshonk I. (the Shishak of the Bible), about b.c. 990. This monarch did much to advance the Egyptian power, which under the previous Tanite sovereigns of the 21st dynasty had sunk very low. We shall find Shishak (1Ki 11:40) receiving Jeroboam when he fled from Solomon. The wife of Solomon must therefore have been a daughter of a king in the previous dynasty, the kings of which would be likely to welcome an alliance with so powerful a monarch. The last of these was Psusennes 2, but as he is said by Manetho to have reigned only fourteen years, it seems more probable that the princess whom Solomon married was the daughter of Psinaces who preceded Psusennes. Pharaoh is used in the Bible as the royal title of the Egyptian kings, and not as the proper name of any single person.
This wife of Solomon probably embraced Judaism, as we find no reproach against him for this marriage, nor is any Egyptian deity mentioned among those for whom Solomon at a later time built high places (1Ki 11:1-8) when strange women turned away his heart after other gods.
into the city of David ] This was the eastern portion of the hill of Zion on which the temple was afterwards built. Solomon considered this too sacred a place for his own dwelling, because thither the ark of the Lord had come (2Ch 8:11).
his own house ] This was outside the city of David, and from 1Ki 7:8 we can see that the house for Pharaoh’s daughter was close to the king’s own house, and built after the same fashion and of like grandeur. The time which Solomon took about building his own house was thirteen years (cf. 1Ki 7:1), during this period the Egyptian wife continued to dwell in the city of David. The marriage song of the 5th Psalm is referred by the oldest interpreters to this marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh’s daughter.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. 1Ki 3:1-4. Solomon marries Pharaoh’s daughter. Sacrifices still offered on the high places. Solomon’s sacrifice at Gibeon (2Ch 1:3)
At the beginning of this Chapter the LXX. inserts a long passage which has nothing to correspond to it in the Hebrew. It speaks of Solomon’s wisdom, the number of the people, the presents of those who were tributary to Solomon, the provisions for his table, the names of his chief ministers, and contains a notice of his horses and chariots. Some portions of this passage are drawn from Chapter 4. and some from 2Ch 9:25-26. The verses of Chapter 4. which are introduced here are omitted by the LXX. in that place. See notes there.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
What Pharaoh is meant is uncertain. It must have been a predecessor of Shishak (or Sheshonk), who invaded Judaea more than 40 years later 1Ki 14:25; and probabilities are in favor, not of Psusennes II, the last king of Manethos 21st dynasty, but of Psinaces, the predecessor of Psusennes. This, the Tanite dynasty, had become very weak, especially toward its close, from where we may conceive how gladly it would ally itself with the powerful house of David. The Jews were not forbidden to marry foreign wives, if they became proselytes. As Solomon is not blamed for this marriage either here or in 1 Kings 11, and as the idol temples which he allowed to be built 1Ki 11:5-7 were in no case dedicated to Egyptian deities, it is to be presumed that his Egyptian wife adopted her husbands religion.
The city of David – The city, situated on the eastern hill, or true Zion, where the temple was afterward built, over against the city of the Jehusites (1Ki 9:24; compare 2Ch 8:11).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER III
Solomon marries Pharaoh’s daughter, 1, 2.
He serves God, and offers a thousand burnt-offerings upon one
altar, at Gibeon, 3, 4.
God appears to him in a dream at Gibeon; and asks what he shall
give him, 5.
He asks wisdom; with which God is well pleased, and promises to
give him not only that, but also riches and honour; and, if
obedient, long life, 6-14.
He comes back to Jerusalem; and offers burnt-offerings and
peace-offerings, and makes a feast for his servants, 15.
His judgment between the two harlots, 16-27.
He rises in the esteem of the people, 28.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh] This was no doubt a political measure in order to strengthen his kingdom, and on the same ground he continued his alliance with the king of Tyre; and these were among the most powerful of his neighbours. But should political considerations prevail over express laws of God? God had strictly forbidden his people to form alliances with heathenish women, lest they should lead their hearts away from him into idolatry. Let us hear the law: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son; for they will turn away thy son from following me, c. Ex 34:16; De 7:3-4. Now Solomon acted in direct opposition to these laws; and perhaps in this alliance were sown those seeds of apostacy from God and goodness in which he so long lived, and in which he so awfully died.
Those who are, at all hazards, his determinate apologists, assume,
1. That Pharaoh’s daughter must have been a proselyte to the Jewish religion, else Solomon would not have married her.
2. That God was not displeased with this match.
3. That the book of Canticles, which is supposed to have been his epithalamium, would not have found a place in the sacred canon had the spouse, whom it all along celebrates, been at that time an idolatress.
4. That it is certain we nowhere in Scripture find Solomon blamed for this match. See Dodd.
Now to all this I answer,
1. We have no evidence that the daughter of Pharaoh was a proselyte, no more than that her father was a true believer. It is no more likely that he sought a proselyte here than that he sought them among the Moabites, Hittites, c., from whom he took many wives.
2. If God’s law be positively against such matches, he could not possibly be pleased with this breach of it in Solomon but his law is positively against them, therefore he was not pleased.
3. That the book of Canticles being found in the sacred canon is, according to some critics, neither a proof that the marriage pleased God, nor that the book was written by Divine inspiration; much less that it celebrates the love between Christ and his Church, or is at all profitable for doctrine, for reproof, or for edification in righteousness.
4. That Solomon is most expressly reproved in Scripture for this very match, is to me very evident from the following passages: DID NOT SOLOMON, king of Israel, SIN by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin; Ne 13:26. Now it is certain that Pharaoh’s daughter was an outlandish woman; and although it be not expressly said that Pharaoh’s daughter is here intended, yet there is all reasonable evidence that she is included; and, indeed, the words seem to intimate that she is especially referred to. In 1Kg 3:3 it is said, Solomon LOVED THE LORD, walking in the statutes of David; and Nehemiah says, Did not Solomon, king of Israel, SIN BY THESE THINGS, who WAS BELOVED of HIS GOD; referring, most probably, to this early part of Solomon’s history. But supposing that this is not sufficient evidence that this match is spoken against in Scripture, let us turn to 1Kg 11:1-2, of this book, where the cause of Solomon’s apostasy is assigned; and there we read, But King Solomon loved many STRANGE WOMEN, TOGETHER WITH THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in unto them; neither shall they come in unto you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: SOLOMON CLAVE UNTO THESE IN LOVE. Here the marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter is classed most positively with the most exceptionable of his matrimonial and concubinal alliances: as it no doubt had its predisposing share in an apostacy the most unprecedented and disgraceful.
Should I even be singular, I cannot help thinking that the reign of Solomon began rather inauspiciously: even a brother’s blood must be shed to cause him to sit securely on his throne, and a most reprehensible alliance, the forerunner of many others of a similar nature, was formed for the same purpose. But we must ever be careful to distinguish between what God has commanded to be done, and what was done through the vile passions and foolish jealousies of men. Solomon had many advantages, and no man ever made a worse use of them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, as being a powerful neighbour. Took Pharaohs daughter; upon what conditions is not here expressed; but it is probable she was first instructed in and proselyted to the Jewish religion; as may be gathered,
1. Because he was not yet fallen from God, but loved the Lord, and walked in the statutes of David, 1Ki 3:3; and therefore would never have married a gross idolater, which was so contrary to Gods law, and so pernicious in its consequences.
2. Because he is no where reproved for this fact, as he is for loving many other strange women, 1Ki 11:1.
3. By comparing Psa 45 and the Book of Canticles; whereby it plainly appears that this action had something extraordinary in it, and was designed by God to be a type of Christ, calling his church to himself, and to the true religion, not only out of the Jews, but even out of the Gentile world. The city of David; of which see 1Ki 2:10; into Davids palace there. The house of the Lord, i.e. the temple appropriated to the worship and honour of God. The wall of Jerusalem round about; which though in some sort built by David, 2Sa 5:9, yet Solomon is here said to build, either because he made it higher, and stronger, and more beautiful and glorious; in which or the like sense Nebuchadnezzar is said to have built Babylon, Dan 4:30; or because he built another wall besides the former, for greater security; for after this time Jerusalem was encompassed with more walls than one.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Solomon made affinity withPharaohThis was a royal title, equivalent to “sultan,”and the personal name of this monarch is said to have been Vaphres.The formation, on equal terms, of this matrimonial alliance with theroyal family of Egypt, shows the high consideration to which theHebrew kingdom had now arisen. Rosellini has given, from the Egyptianmonuments, what is supposed to be a portrait of this princess. Shewas received in the land of her adoption with great eclat; for theSong of Solomon and the forty-fifth Psalm are supposed to have beencomposed in honor of this occasion, although they may both have ahigher typical reference to the introduction of the Gentiles into thechurch.
and brought her into the cityof Davidthat is, Jerusalem. She was not admissible into thestronghold of Zion, the building where the ark was (Deu 23:7;Deu 23:8). She seems to have beenlodged at first in his mother’s apartments (Son 3:4;Son 8:2), as a suitable residencewas not yet provided for her in the new palace (1Ki 7:8;1Ki 9:24; 2Ch 8:11).
building . . . the wall ofJerusalem round aboutAlthough David had begun (Ps51:18), it was, according to JOSEPHUS,reserved for Solomon to extend and complete the fortifications of thecity. It has been questioned whether this marriage was in conformitywith the law (see Exo 34:16;Deu 7:3; Ezr 10:1-10;Neh 13:26). But it is nowherecensured in Scripture, as are the connections Solomon formed withother foreigners (1Ki11:1-3); whence it may be inferred that he had stipulated for herabandonment of idolatry, and conforming to the Jewish religion(Psa 45:10; Psa 45:11).
1Ki3:2-5. HIGH PLACESBEING IN USE,HE SACRIFICESAT GIBEON.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt,…. Pharaoh was a common name of the kings of Egypt, of whom no mention is made in Scripture from the times of Moses until this time; which may seem strange, when it is considered that that kingdom was a potent one, and near the land of Canaan; but it was governed by a race of kings in this period of time, of whom, as Diodorus Siculus i says, there is nothing worthy of relation. The name of this Pharaoh, according to Eupolemus k, an Heathen writer, was Vaphres; for he says, that David contracted a friendship with this king, and he relates some letters which passed between him and Solomon, concerning sending him workmen for the building of the temple, which are still preserved; but Calvisius l thinks it was Sesostris; what this affinity was is next observed:
and took Pharaoh’s daughter: that is, married her; who, according to Ben Gersom, was proselyted first to the Jewish religion; which is very probable, or otherwise it can hardly be thought Solomon would marry her; and as the forty fifth psalm, Ps 45:1, and the book of Canticles, supposed to be written on that occasion, seem to confirm; to which may be added, that it does not appear she ever enticed or drew him into idolatry; for, of all the idols his wives drew him into the worship of, no mention is made of any Egyptian deities. The Jews say m Rome was built the same day Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, but without foundation: this was not Solomon’s first wife; he was married to Naamah the Ammonitess before he was king, for he had Rehoboam by her a year before that for Solomon reigned only forty years, and Rehoboam, who succeeded him, was forty one years of age when he began to reign, 1Ki 11:41;
and brought her into the city of David; the fort of Zion:
until he had made an end of building his own house: which was thirteen years in building, and now seems to have been begun, 1Ki 7:1;
and the house of the Lord; the temple, which according: to the Jewish chronology n, was begun building before his marriage of Pharaoh’s daughter, and was seven years in building; and therefore this marriage must be in the fourth year of his reign; for then he began to build the temple, 1Ki 6:37; and so it must be, since Shimei lived three years in Jerusalem before he was put to death, after which this marriage was, 1Ki 2:37;
and the wall of Jerusalem round about; all which he built by raising a levy on the people, 1Ki 9:15; and when these buildings were finished, he built a house for his wife, but in the mean while she dwelt in the city of David.
i Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 42. k Apud. Euseb. Praeparet. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30, 31, 32. l Chronolog. p. 191, 192. m T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 56. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 21. 2. n Seder Olam Rabba, c. 15. p. 41.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Solomon’s marriage and the religious state of the kingdom. – 1Ki 3:1. When Solomon had well secured his possession of the throne ( 1Ki 2:46), he entered into alliance with Pharaoh, by taking his daughter as his wife. This Pharaoh of Egypt is supposed by Winer, Ewald, and others to have been Psusennes, the last king of the twenty-first (Tanitic) dynasty, who reigned thirty-five years; since the first king of the twenty-second (Bubastic) dynasty, Sesonchis or Sheshonk, was certainly the Shishak who conquered Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign ( 1Ki 14:25-26). The alliance by marriage with the royal family of Egypt presupposes that Egypt was desirous of cultivating friendly relations with the kingdom of Israel, which had grown into a power to be dreaded; although, as we know nothing more of the history of Egypt at that time than the mere names of the kings (as given by Manetho), it is impossible to determine what may have been the more precise grounds which led the reigning king of Egypt to seek the friendship of Israel. There is, at any rate, greater probability in this supposition than in that of Thenius, who conjectures that Solomon contracted this marriage because he saw the necessity of entering into a closer relationship with this powerful neighbour, who had a perfectly free access to Palestine. The conclusion of this marriage took place in the first year of Solomon’s reign, though probably not at the very beginning of the reign, but not till after his buildings had been begun, as we may infer from the expression (until he had made an end of building). Moreover, Solomon had already married Naamah the Ammonitess before ascending the throne, and had had a son by her (compare 1Ki 14:21 with 1Ki 11:42-43). – Marriage with an Egyptian princess was not a transgression of the law, as it was only marriages with Canaanitish women that were expressly prohibited (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3), whereas it was allowable to marry even foreign women taken in war (Deu 21:10.). At the same time, it was only when the foreign wives renounced idolatry and confessed their faith in Jehovah, that such marriages were in accordance with the spirit of the law. And we may assume that this was the case even with Pharaoh’s daughter; because Solomon adhered so faithfully to the Lord during the first years of his reign, that he would not have tolerated any idolatry in his neighbourhood, and we cannot find any trace of Egyptian idolatry in Israel in the time of Solomon, and, lastly, the daughter of Pharaoh is expressly distinguished in 1Ki 11:1 from the foreign wives who tempted Solomon to idolatry in his old age. The assertion of Seb. Schmidt and Thenius to the contrary rests upon a false interpretation of 1Ki 11:1. – ”And he brought her into the city of David, till he had finished the building of his palace,” etc. Into the city of David: i.e., not into the palace in which his father had dwelt, as Thenius arbitrarily interprets it in opposition to 2Ch 8:11, but into a house in the city of David or Jerusalem, from which he brought her up into the house appointed for her after the building of his own palace was finished (1Ki 9:24). The building of the house of Jehovah is mentioned as well, because the sacred tent for the ark of the covenant was set up in the palace of David until the temple was finished, and the temple was not consecrated till after the completion of the building of the palace (see at 1Ki 8:1). By the building of “the wall of Jerusalem” we are to understand a stronger fortification, and possibly also the extension of the city wall (see at 1Ki 11:27).
1Ki 3:2 “Only the people sacrificed upon high places, because there was not yet a house built for the name of Jehovah until those days.” The limiting , only, by which this general account of the existing condition of the religious worship is appended to what precedes, may be accounted for from the antithesis to the strengthening of the kingdom by Solomon mentioned in 1Ki 2:46. The train of thought is the following: It is true that Solomon’s authority was firmly established by the punishment of the rebels, so that he was able to ally himself by marriage with the king of Egypt; but just as he was obliged to bring his Egyptian wife into the city of David, because the building of his palace as not yet finished, so the people, and (according to 1Ki 2:3) even Solomon himself, were only able to sacrifice to the Lord at that time upon altars on the high places, because the temple was not yet built. The participle denotes the continuation of this religious condition (see Ewald, 168, c.). The , or high places,
(Note: The opinion of Bttcher and Thenius, that signifies a “ sacred coppice, ” is only based upon untenable etymological combinations, and cannot be proved. And Ewald ‘ s view is equally unfounded, viz., that “ high places were an old Canaanaean species of sanctuary, which at that time had become common in Israel also, and consisted of a tall stone of a conical shape, as the symbol of the Holy One, and of the real high place, viz., an altar, a sacred tree or grove, or even an image of the one God as well ” ( Gesch. iii. p. 390). For, on the one hand, it cannot be shown that the tall stone of a conical shape existed even in the case of the Canaanitish bamoth, and, on the other hand, it is impossible to adduce a shadow of a proof that the Israelitish bamoth, which were dedicated to Jehovah, were constructed precisely after the pattern of the Baal ‘ s- bamoth of the Canaanites.)
were places of sacrifice and prayer, which were built upon eminences of hills, because men thought they were nearer the Deity there, and which consisted in some cases probably of an altar only, though as a rule there was an altar with a sanctuary built by the side ( , 1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 17:29, 2Ki 17:32; 2Ki 23:19), so that frequently stands for (e.g., 1Ki 11:7; 1Ki 14:23; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 23:8), and the is also distinguished from the (2Ki 23:15; 2Ch 14:2). These high places were consecrated to the worship of Jehovah, and essentially different from the high places of the Canaanites which were consecrated to Baal. Nevertheless sacrificing upon these high places was opposed to the law, according to which the place which the Lord Himself had chosen for the revelation of His name was the only place where sacrifices were to be offered (Lev 17:3.); and therefore it is excused here on the ground that no house (temple) had yet been built to the name of the Lord.
1Ki 3:3 Even Solomon, although he loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, i.e., according to 1Ki 2:3, in the commandments of the Lord as they are written in the law of Moses, sacrificed and burnt incense upon high places. Before the building of the temple, more especially since the tabernacle had lost its significance as the central place of the gracious presence of God among His people, through the removal of the ark of the covenant, the worship of the high places was unavoidable; although even afterwards it still continued as a forbidden cultus, and could not be thoroughly exterminated even by the most righteous kings ( 1Ki 22:24; 2Ki 12:4; 2Ki 14:4; 2Ki 15:4, 2Ki 15:35).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Solomon Marries Pharaoh’s Daughter. | B. C. 1014. |
1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 2 Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days. 3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
We are here told concerning Solomon,
I. Something that was unquestionably good, for which he is to be praised and in which he is to be imitated. 1. He loved the Lord, v. 3. Particular notice was taken of God’s love to him, 2 Sam. xii. 24. He had his name from it: Jedidiah–beloved of the Lord. And here we find he returned that love, as John, the beloved disciple, was most full of love. Solomon was a wise man, a rich man; yet the brightest encomium of him is that which is the character of all the saints, even the poorest, He loved the Lord, so the Chaldee; all that love God love his worship, love to hear from him and speak to him, and so to have communion with him. 2. He walked in the statutes of David his father, that is, in the statutes that David gave him, 1Ki 2:2; 1Ki 2:3; 1Ch 28:9; 1Ch 28:10 (his dying father’s charge was sacred, and as a law to him), or in God’s statutes, which David his father walked in before him; he kept close to God’s ordinances, carefully observed them and diligently attended them. Those that trulylove God will make conscience of walking in his statutes. 3. He was very free and generous in what he did for the honour of God. When he offered sacrifice he offered like a king, in some proportion to his great wealth, a thousand burnt-offerings, v. 4. Where God sows plentifully he expects to reap accordingly; and those that truly love God and his worship will not grudge the expenses of their religion. We may be tempted to say, To what purpose is this waste? Might not these cattle have been given to the poor? But we must never think that wasted which is laid out in the service of God. It seems strange how so many beasts should be burnt upon one altar in one feast, though it continued seven days; but the fire on the altar is supposed to be more quick and devouring than common fire, for it represented that fierce and mighty wrath of God which fell upon the sacrifices, that the offerers might escape. Our God is a consuming fire. Bishop Patrick quotes it as a tradition of the Jews that the smoke of the sacrifices ascended directly in a straight pillar, and was not scattered, otherwise it would have choked those that attended, when so many sacrifices were offered as were here.
II. Here is something concerning which it may be doubted whether it was good or no. 1. His marrying Pharaoh’s daughter, v. 1. We will suppose she was proselyted, otherwise the marriage would not have been lawful; yet, if so, surely it was not advisable. He that loved the Lord should, for his sake, have fixed his love upon one of the Lord’s people. Unequal matches of the sons of God with the daughters of men have often been of pernicious consequence; yet some think that he did this with the advice of his friends, that she was a sincere convert (for the gods of the Egyptians are not reckoned among the strange gods which his strange wives drew him in to the worship of, 1Ki 11:5; 1Ki 11:6), and that the book of Canticles and the 45th Psalm were penned on this occasion, by which these nuptials were made typical of the mystical espousals of the church to Christ, especially the Gentile church. 2. His worshipping in the high places, and thereby tempting the people to do so too, 1Ki 3:2; 1Ki 3:3. Abraham built his altars on mountains (Gen 12:8; Gen 22:2), and worshipped in a grove, Gen. xxi. 33. Thence the custom was derived, and was proper, till the divine law confined them to one place, Deu 12:5; Deu 12:6. David kept to the ark, and did not care for the high places, but Solomon, though in other things he walked in the statutes of his father, in this came short of him. He showed thereby a great zeal for sacrificing, but to obey would have been better. This was an irregularity. Though there was as yet no house built, there was a tent pitched, to the name of the Lord, and the ark ought to have been the centre of their unity. It was so by divine institution; from it the high places separated; yet while they worshipped God only, and in other things according to the rule, he graciously overlooked their weakness, and accepted their services; and it is owned that Solomon loved the Lord, though he burnt incense in the high places, and let not men be more severe than God is.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
First Kings – Chapter 3 AND Second Chronicles – Chapter 1
Solomon’s Dream, 1Ki 3:1-9 AND 2Ch 1:2-10
While these two passages under study are parallel and complementary, both also provide supplementary information about the event being recorded. The Chronicles account tends to provide more about the tabernacle and worship, possibly because it was likely written after the Babylonian exile, when the priests and scribes of the Levites had a great deal to do with its writing. Kings begins with a purely secular statement, on its face, in that it tells of an initial mistake of the young king at the very outset of his reign. He made a treaty of friendship with Pharaoh of Egypt, a part of the bargain being, it seems, Solomon’s taking of an Egyptian princess into his harem. This was contrary to God’s will and law against marriage with pagan people. He seems to have kept her with him in the palace in the city of David while he was building his own palace, the temple, and the city wall, after which, it will be found, he built her a palace of her own.
The situation with regard to worship in Israel at the time was somewhat confused. Although David had brought the ark into a tent he had prepared for it in Jerusalem, the remainder of the tabernacle and its furniture was located in Gibeon. The ark had been separated from the tabernacle while it was at Shiloh, during the judgeship of Eli the priest, when it was captured by the Philistines (1Sa 4:10-11). When the Lord sent plagues on the Philistines they returned it to Israel, where it was housed in Kirjath-jearim until David brought it to Jerusalem (1Sa 6:1 ff; 2Sa 6:1-11). Meanwhile, the tabernacle was removed to Nob, where it was when Saul slew the priests (1Sa 22:18-19), and at some unknown time it was moved again to Gibeon, possibly so it could be tended by the Gibeonites (who were temple servants), at a time when eligible priests had been largely exterminated. And here it was when Solomon became king.
The tabernacle in Gibeon is called the “great high place,” a pagan designation, possibly because of the bent of mind in Israel, who had been so long separated from true worship and under influence of pagans still among them. The Kings account is careful to note that Solomon “loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David,” so that, although he led the congregation in assembly for worship at “the great high place,” it was for the purpose of worshipping God in the proper manner, not in paganistic ritual. Here he sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings in leading the people in worship.
During the night the Lord came to Solomon in a dream offering to do for him whatever he might ask. Solomon showed astuteness even here in his humble request. While the Chronicles account emphasizes Solomon’s concern for the covenant the Lord had made for David, that of Kings has considerably more details. First, Solomon recalled the great mercy and kindness from the Lord to his father, because of his righteous walk before Him. Then he recognized an extension of that mercy and kindness in his own succession to the throne of his father. Next Solomon remembered the momentous task of ruling over a great people of the Lord like Israel, with his own mediocrity in comparison. On this basis, the young king concluded, it was expedient to seek wisdom to discern between the good and the bad in his judgment, and that he might set the proper example for his people as he went in and out before them. Solomon sought true wisdom (1Co 1:18 ff).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE DYNAMIC OF A DREAM
1Ki 3:1-14.
(Dedication of First Baptist Church Auditorium.)
THIS hour witnesses the fruition of many hopes, the consummation of long cherished plans, and as we believe, of Divinely guided purposes. For me, at least, it is the waking realization of the dream of my ministerial life, and for you, my people, it is the attainment of another goal in the race of Christian accomplishment.
In the very introduction of this discourse, I want to acknowledge my personal indebtedness to the sainted George Lorimer, under whose matchless leadership and marvelous vision, Tremont Temple, Boston, was builded, and twice afterwards rose increasingly resplendent from ash heaps. It was my first visit to Tremont Temple, made in 1889, that impressed me with the utter necessity of holding the hearts of our cities for Christ, and the clear realization of the fact that only a church great enough in all spiritual appointments to dominate a city center, could hope ever so to do.
A few years only, and this great auditorium, to be dedicated this afternoon, will be as centrally located in Minneapolis as Tremont Temple is now strategically situated in Boston; and as that evangelical center has stood like a Gibraltar against the beating waves of New England rationalism, so the creators of this house and the members of this church believe and expect it shall stand against the wave of skepticism rolling Westward.
My very theme this morning reminds me of multiplied experiences in the form of pleasant dreams that have delighted the night hours, but vanished into nothingness with the breaking day. In the memory of them, I have been tempted to this utterance. Is it true that we have come to the full and material realization of our building hopes and dreams, or shall we waken suddenly to find that it is only another instance of the wish being father to the thought and that the whole task remains yet to be undertaken? No; yonder great gallery seating as many people at this moment as the whole church formerly held, this splendid floor space, alive with men, women, and children, come together to rejoice and joy in the Lord; this great choir space filled with men and women to whom God has granted the special gift of song; the mighty sweep of this room, beautiful in its artistic arrangement and decorationthese all tend to reassure me and set my soul in tune with the triumphant music of the day!
But I have a more serious task than that of mere joy and rejoicing, namely to interpret for you another portion of Gods matchless Word. I shall attempt this by calling attention to The Divinely Given Dream, The Divinely Guided Desire, and The Divinely Answered Prayer.
THE DIVINELY GIVEN DREAM
Solomons dream is preceded by strange statements:
And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaohs daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the Name of the Lord, until those days.
And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar (1Ki 3:1-4).
Then this dream was vouchsafed to an imperfect man. Easily there is a dual violation, if not a triple, of the Law of the Lord in this text. He made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaohs daughter. He also sacrificed in the high places, and there is an intimation at least that he may himself have slain his own sacrifices, for a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
History repeats itself. In all ages, affinity with the potentates of the world and the fellowships of the flesh have endangered Gods saints. Worship at false shrines has imperiled the faith, and the attempt to put aside the High Priest, who alone can make an acceptable offering, has closed the Divinely appointed way to God.
Why then does the Lord appear to Solomon? Why lay the treasures of Heaven open to his hand? Why exalt him to office and honor, when weakness of character is evident and sin of conduct is recorded against him? The answer is not far to seek. God is shut up to such. So long as He chooses to commit his world-work to the hands of men, it will and must remain with imperfect ones, since all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God, since there is none righteous, no, not one; they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Rom 3:23; Rom 3:10-11).
Sad as is this confession, serious as is this indictment of Scripture, it holds for us a content of comfort. Our imperfections we realize; our iniquities we dare not ignore; our hurtful sins we may hate but cannot deny; but blessed be His Name, He does not refuse us access to His Presence on that account, nor yet withhold from us appointments to service on that account, nor even refrain from accepting and blessing our endeavor on that account!
It is said that a young apprentice took the bits of glass that were flung from the hand of the master as he worked on his cathedral windows, and in his leisure hours wrought them into such a mosaic of beauty that when the product of his endeavor was finished, even the masterpieces were put to shame. Whatever may be the historic basis of such a story, one thing is sure, it suggests Gods methods with man. To be convinced of this, read Begbies, Twice Bom Men, and see not alone what can be done for sinners, but how through the same grace that saves them, even the off-scourings of earth can be made vessels for the service of God. The conversion of a sinner into a saint may be a miracle of psychology, but the empowering of a man who though saved, is a sinner still, to perform the will and work of God, is a miracle of pragmatism, or the making of deficient men to discharge the Divine will. The parable of the talents was spoken for both encouragement and condemnation. The two-talented man who forgot his three-fifths deficiency enjoyed the same Divine favor as the full-orbed five-talented one, but the four-fifths deficient, who sought to excuse his conduct on the ground of incapacity, fell under the fiercest condemnation. God is not demanding of us what we do not have, namely perfection; but God is demanding, and righteously so, the consecration of our talents, and when they are on the altar He accepts the sinners offering and treats him who is sinful still as though he were a saint.
This dream was experienced in a peculiar place. The high place at Gibeon was a long remove from the holy place at Jerusalem. It was even four miles from Bethel, the house of God. God can bless men outside of His house; yea, He can bless them in places that are themselves unblessed. The work of Begbies Angel Adjutant was not commonly done in the Salvation Army Hall, but in saloons and bagnios instead, the holes of vice and gambling hells. Gods power is not limited to place, nor His grace restricted to locality. Amos, voicing the Lord, may have been writing of judgment when he said it, but had he been writing of grace it would still have been true, Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them. David learned this truth and spoke it, Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy Presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there (Psa 139:7-8).
I have a great and good friend who sat in a gambling room in Indianapolis, dealing cards on a Sunday morning, when the sound of the church bells became to him the voice of God and pulled him out of that place straightaway to the sanctuary, to be saved. The voice of God in the unholy room was as perfectly heard as was the sermon later clearly understood. Cloistered Christianity has never been a success with the individual, nor of service to the world. At the best it can produce only a tender, consequently a fruitless, plant.
No man ever knew the worlds sinful spots nor understood the terrors of its temptations as did the Man from Nazareth, and yet concerning His own disciples He prayed, I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil (Joh 17:15).
There may be men and women here this morning who have seldom seen the inside of a sanctuary. To me that would be no proof that God has never spoken to you. In the home, in the shop, on the street, yea, possibly in some utterly unholy place His voice has been heard, and though it were as in a dream, the Divine message got in, and you will never go free from it.
Samuel, sleeping in the Temple, heard the voice of the Lord; but Solomon, sleeping at Gibeon, received an equal revelation. It is vain to imagine that ones conscience will never be disturbed if he keep away from the sanctuary, nor his irreligion endangered if he put distance between himself and the house of God. Begbies Puncher was visited of God in a prison cell; old Born Drunk heard the voice of the Spirit as the Salvation Army passed him in the streets; the Copper Basher in prison was visited by the Spirit and suddenly reminded that If God can save Puncher, He can save me, while the Plumber was convicted of sin when cursing his wife in a saloon.
We have not built this house because we believe that here alone, or in any other sanctuary of beauty only, can men be saved. We have built it instead, knowing that when God does reveal Himself to man, in saving power, he will seek out his fellow saints and long for a sanctuary, the earthly home of the soul.
Again, this dream was related to the whole plan of life. Solomon was a young man. Great and important decisions must be made if life is to be a success. The very position to which he had come as an heir, the importance of the office he was to hold as Davids successor, the necessary influence he must wield upon all societythese considerations combined to compel a proper facing of the problem of life. God was only doing for Solomon what He does for every normally constituted and righteously ambitious young man. He was moving him to consider lifes value, to study the problem of life itself, to debate both methods and objectives.
The biographical portions of the Bible are devoted almost solely to men who in their youth met this question of life and its responsibilities squarely. It was Josephs dreams, entertained when yet a boy, that account for Josephthe Egyptian premier. It was the consideration that Moses, the princely youth of the palace, gave to the oppression of his kinsmen, that made him Israels deliverer. It was Davids ambition, expressed when he saw Goliath defy the host of Israel, that predicted his eventual preeminence and put him on the throne.
Victoria, Englands greatest queen, immediately upon the announcement of her office showed the realization of her responsibility, and besought the Lord in prayer for wisdom. Abraham Lincoln, the greatest president America has ever produced, is reported to have said, I have been driven many times to my knees by the conviction I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and all about me seemed insufficient for that day. When Joan of Arc determined to attempt the salvation of France, she did it solely on the ground that God had spoken to her.
The probable reason why only a few individuals rise to great heights in human life, undertake the difficult and accomplish the apparently impossible, is in the single circumstance that they have dreamed and then dared.
Martin Luther saw Romes defections in both faith and conduct, and determined at any cost to turn the people to the truth again. John Brown knew that slavery and the State could not exist together, and dared to believe that the first might be destroyed and the second preserved, and then to undertake it. Where there is no vision, the people perish, and without it the individual is dead; and even where there is a vision, indecision will shortly palsy all ones powers. Newell Dwight Hillis, the great essayist, remarks truly, By his eager aspirations man lives and builds. The vision before reason reveals to the toiler a better tool or law or reform, and the realization of these visions gives social progress. The vision of conscience reveals new possibilities of character and these give duty. The vision of the heart reveals new possibilities of friendship and these give the home. As the sun standing upon the horizon orbs itself first in every dewdrop and afterward lifts the whole earth forward, so the ideal repeats itself first in the individual heart and afterward lifts all society.
Lifes power depends upon the plan in the execution of which life itself is expended. Low motives will never reach exalted objectives. If those of us who have realized our ideal in this Temple of stone do not today dream new; dreams of possible spiritual experience, have new vision of personal and church attainments, fix new objectives for the remaining tomorrows, we have come thus far in vain, and the very Temple we have completed will stand more in mock than mark. God give us, having dreamed these buildings, to feel the dynamic of our own visions, to dream again under the soft touch of the same Spirit, and then awake to do!
THE DIVINELY GUIDED DECISION
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before Thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with Thee; and Thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that Thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
And now, O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
And Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this Thy so great a people? (1Ki 3:5-9).
Past mercies were brought to his memory. God reminded him of His mercies to David, of His matchless grace toward that man, of His mercy to Solomon that He made him the one son to sit on his fathers throne. It is a great thing to regard the past. Apart from it there is no explanation of the present, and independent of it no man can interpret the future. David himself often so indulges his memory and cries,
O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: * * To Him that smote Egypt in their first-born: * * And brought out Israel from among them: * * With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: * * To Him which divided the Red Sea into parts: * * And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: * * But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea: * * To Him which led His people through the wilderness: * * To Him which smote great kings: * * And slew famous kings: * * And gave their land for an heritage: for His mercy endureth for ever (Psa 136:1; Psa 136:10-18; Psa 136:21).
We would be an ungrateful people this morning were we not to remember the past; were we to forget that small but noble band of pioneers who seventy-five years ago planted this church on Helen Street, at the river side, when our city was scarce a village; who braved sacrifices to construct its first church house on Third Street; who proved themselves more faithful still when at Fifth and Hennepin they raised their second and enlarged structure; nor would we be worthy successors of those greater men of but yesterday, some of whom survive, who dared at Tenth and Harmon to erect one of the most beautiful auditoriums known to American Baptists, and even now dismantled, not from lack of grandeur, nor yet because it was poorly appointed in creature comforts, but solely because our numbers demand more space.
Some of us count ourselves fortunate to have overlapped the lives of so many of them, fortunate in the rich fellowship they gave us before God took them hence; fortunate that they stood for the faith dear to us and defended the democracy that makes this institution possible.
In the history contained in the booklet of dedication used this day, the roster is called of that noble line of ministers who have occupied this pulpit; only a single one of whom survives, Thomas W. Powell. Godly names they were, and great Cressy, Russell, Gale, Allen, Powell, Woods, Chase, Hoyt. But, while set in the prominence of pulpit, no greater were they than the noble laymen who lived beside them and wrought with themPillsbury, Wolverton, Hoblitt, Lansing, Barnes, Francis, Lawrence and Buckbee, and others; and what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of the men who through faith * * wrought righteousness * * out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
His present station was properly appreciated. He was a king with all the responsibility attached to that office. He was not there by merit, but by birth. The throne had not come to him by conquest, but as an heir. Too often such successors to power poorly appreciate either the providence that put them there, the responsibilities of the office itself, or the opportunities attached. One of the things that has increased my love for this my adopted city, Minneapolis, is the circumstance that the sons and successors of great Minneapolitans of the past are, in so many instances, showing themselves worthy of their station. I do not care to be personal and call the names of a dozen comparatively young men whose fathers have had to do with the making of this city, and who, standing each in his place, is carrying on worthily the work committed to him.
This is not true in business only, but in the Church of God as well. I could call the names of some mighty men of yesterday who linked their lives with the early history of the greater churches of this metropolis, and a careful study of the roster of those same churches would find their sons holding equally honorable offices and making noble contribution to the present victories of the Church of God. It is not always so.
The elder Pitts are only occasionally succeeded by even more brilliant sons, or the great ministers such as Increase Mather, by greater sons as was Cotton Mather.
There is a disposition on the part of each generation to feel anxiety for the future and to wonder if the men coming to the stage of action will ever equal those who are passing from it, and often with occasion. With all the facts before him, one would hesitate to say that Solomon was as a king, the equal of David, and yet the eminent success that did attend his life and reign are attributable, in no small degree, to his proper appreciation of his responsibilities, and his earnest request for the guidance of God.
Give me a young man controlled by such traits and the crown will be on his brow; and give me a church that keenly appreciates both its station and its responsibility and I will show you one making continual progress and with which expansion is a watchword and evangelization a passion!
His personal-responsibility was deeply felt. He knew that the interests of the kingdom rested upon him. That is the very ground of his prayer, and the occasion of his anxiety. The greatest goad to industry and stimulus to efficiency is in the sense or responsibility.
Did you ever run through the Scriptures to see how the word must runs in the life of the Master and His chief Apostle, Paul? At twelve years of age, Jesus said, Wist ye not that I must he about My Fathers business? The Son of Man must suffer many things. He must go unto Jerusalem. I must preach the Kingdom. To day I must abide at thy house. These things must first come to pass. That is written must yet be accomplished. The Son of Man must be delivered. All things must be fulfilled. The Son of Man must be lifted up. He must increase. I must work the works of Him that sent Me.
Of Paul it was said, I will show him how great things he must suffer. I must by all means keep this feast. I must also see Rome. So must thou bear witness also at Rome. We must all appear before the judgment seat. The servant of the Lord must not strive.
I love the word, must. It voices a holy necessity, and the man who never feels it, fails to comprehend the Spirit of the Christ or to exhibit the character of an apostle. Men sometimes rebel against what they call the hard necessities of life, but the blackest of them are blessings in disguise. Johnson wrote his immortal Rasselas because he must have money to buy his mothers coffin. Lee invented the loom because he must make money enough to drive the wolf from the door. Mrs. Trollope took to authorship because she must support her fatherless family. Coleridge was described by Wordsworth as the most myriad minded man since Shakespeare, and yet the fact that his friends foolishly contributed to him sufficient for lifes comforts without the necessity of toil, left him with a lack of responsibility to become the easy prey to drugs and the victim of destruction.
Give me a man with a sense of responsibility and in that circumstance alone he has the first element of success. The prayerful lad, Solomon, approaching the throne, is the prophecy of the potentate who ruled the world, astonishing all kings and queens with his wisdom, and this also is a part of his dream.
THE DIVINELY ANSWERED PRAYER
It was a prayer that pleased God. The highest point to which prayer ever attained was reached, of course, in the petitions of Jesus, and voiced in these words, Not My will, but Thine, be donea revelation of the utter humanity of our Lord and the reality of His flesh, and yet at the same time, an expression of a faith that rose triumphant against what He knew to be the malignity and murderous spirit of man, and also against that natural shrinking which the sensitive sinless feel at misunderstanding, misrepresentation and injustice. The problem of true prayer is not so much the securing of ones own way as it is the discovery of the Divine will, and even when one cannot be assured, he knows it is yet a triumph of faith to be able to say to God, as did the only Begotten Son, Thy will.
Such a prayer raises one to the source of infinite power. It is a great consciousness to feel that we are workers together with Him; that plans upon which we are engaged are His plans, and projects in which one invests means, time, thought and life are His projects. I confess very frankly to you that that has been to me the inspiration of this whole endeavor. I have never doubted from the day of our beginning together that our progress was the Divine pleasure and our plan perfectly approved of Him. Doubtless we have failed Him at a thousand points. The disappointments He has endured through our dilatoriness; the grief that has been His because we have gone so slowly about His service, and have so imperfectly comprehended and cooperated in His great plan for us, we shall not know until we see Him face to face; but in spite of that fact, I am profoundly convinced today that the holding of the heart of this city for Him is His will; that the erection of this great block of buildings, devoted as it is to be for the advocacy of Christs Name, is His pleasure, and I do feel and through it all have felt, the stimulus, yea, even the exhilaration of that potent fact.
A. J. Gordon tells how a friend of Coleridge, standing by his bedside not long before his death, was led to comment on the Lords prayer, and Coleridge suddenly broke out in the statement, O, my dear friend, to pray, to pray as God would have us; to pray with all the heart and strength, with the reason and the will; to pray vividly that God will listen to your voice through Christ, and do the thing He pleasesthis is the last, the greatest achievement of the Christians warfare on earth. And it is an achievement possible only in Christ. As Gordon remarks, If Christs will covers, interpenetrates and absorbs our will, there can be no conflict between our will and the sovereign wishes of God.
Doubtless that is the sort of a prayer to which the promise is made, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them (Mar 11:24). And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us (1Jn 5:14).
It was a prayer perfectly and promptly answered. God does not always answer promptly. To save us from becoming spoiled children He decides what is best for us and ofttimes justly and profitably delays us.
As we review this morning the way by which we have come to this hour, it is dotted with delays, delays that were at the time difficult to understand; delays that were a trial to patience; delays that left the heart faint and even raised the question whether the answer would ever come; but in the light of present events, delays that we now know were not fatal nor even harmful or unnecessary.
While we have waited our answer, God has enlarged both our vision and expectation. If our impatient prayers were promptly answered, we would bring God down to our little level, but through importunate prayer He lifts us to the level of His larger plan for us. In Gods school it is no more true than in mans, that pupils can step immediately into the highest attainments with no previous study or diligent mastery of the first principles of faith.
Our failure is the lack of our importunity. Two years ago we were at a critical point in our history. We had talked of this temple so long, to see no material evidence of it, that the temptation to turn from the ideal and treat it as a dream never destined to realization, was strong. In spite of the fact that when I came to this pulpit, I came expecting to see this day, and on my knees again and again pledged God never to weaken until it was done, and never to let multiplied difficulties flood me with doubt, I did feel profoundly the downward pull of that particular time, and in late and early watches of the night wondered if I had been visionary, and for a quarter of a century had led only a forlorn hope.
Who will tell us how many times we have ceased to pray just when our petitions were having Gods most careful consideration? Who will tell us how many desirable enterprises have perished from lack of importunity and how ofttime the plan of God has suffered at our hands because just when faith should have fruited, it languished and failed?
It is a great and exhilarating experience to come into the presence of God with our petitions and to have Him instantly and perfectly answer. Under the mighty impress of such an event we always pledge ourselves afresh and with fervor. With my officers in Chicago I prayed for a sick man, a loved official, and he was immediately healed. I said then, I will never doubt God again.
In Brantford, Ontario, six or eight of us knelt around the couch of an aged woman and begged God to lay His hand upon her and lift her up and let her go to the house of God and hear His Word again, and when the prayer was over and the Spirit suggested, Take her by the hand and in the Name of Christ command her to walk, I was obedient and beheld such an instant response as to drive every doubt of Gods power from the mind, and fill me with the purpose to pray often and expect always.
When in the White Temple, Portland, Oregon, a half dozen of us laid hands upon Elizabeth Strickland, who for six years had known no use of either limb as a result of infantile paralysis, and she was raised up to normal health and strength, I shouted my joy and assured my own soul I should never doubt again.
But the sudden emotion of an immediate answer to prayer, like all suddenly coming things, shortly passes, and leaves a disappointing deposit of faith, while the desires that survive the years and are voiced a thousand times, when at last they are accorded produce an impression as permanent as the prayer itself was importunate; it makes a deposit of faith that will never fail.
I think I speak truthfully and at the same time soberly when I say that in Gods multiplied responses to my appeals, no instance of them all has so impressed me with His personality, His love, with the fidelity of His promises and the infinity of His power and the riches of His grace, as the realization this day of my dream of the yearsthis great auditorium.
Here, as with Solomon,
God has given more than asked or thought. Listen to His response, Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart: * * And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days (1Ki 3:12-14). Riches, honor, length of days! These are the pressed down answers of God. They represent the heap of His grace, the overflow of His love.
Has God changed? Nay, verily! Shortly after this pastorate commenced, we began to pray together for and about the temple we dedicate today. Then we neither saw nor expected the Northwestern Bible School. Then we had no vision whatever of the six buildings it now owns, and no dream of the students who throng its halls, being equipped as ministers and missionaries. Ten years ago, yea, even five, Jackson Hall had hardly taken form in our thought, and three years ago this auditorium, a dream now made as permanent as the stone and cement and steel of which it is constructed, was not perfectly visualized; but today they are all ours. It is Gods good measure. It is another proof that His answers exceed all we expect or think.
What grace to give us the valuable property of the old school building and its grounds, the beautiful and attractive Lyman Court, now Russell and Stimson Halls, and the third yet unnamed; to give us the corner of Thirteenth and Yale place, our future school considered, a location almost as superb as Lyman Court itself; and then Jackson Hall, a memorial to the name of one, whose widow by generous gifts stirred our hopes at the moment when such stimulus was most needed and beside whose offering you laid yours in ardor and love to raise to heaven one of the most attractive houses yet builded in the Name of the Lord! Now, as if to prove Himself our adequate Lord, this splendid fane which, from foundation to finial, speaks in stability of construction and grace of appearance, in simplicity of adornment, grandeur of sweep and sacredness of hallowed associations; Oh, what a God!
With a single illustration, I conclude. Samuel W. Allerton, a famous lover of horseflesh and a multimillionaire, through his kindness to my church soprano, became to me thirty-five years ago an individual of interest. I picked up a Chicago paper one morning and saw that the day before he had lost from his shirt front a diamond valued at $8,500 and had offered to the finder a handsome reward. Two days later the same paper announced that Celine Seeleman, of 3652 Wabash Avenue, only two blocks from our home, on returning from a shopping tour, stood near the cable tracks and a furious wind had torn one of her bundles from her arm and sent it rolling to the gutter. The young woman pursued her departing purchase and finally, when it stuck in the mud against the curbstone, she stooped to pick it up. Her hold was poor and the package slipped a second time from her hands and rolled more deeply into the dirt. Again she frantically plunged after it, but this time a point of light shot up from the mud and dirt. Turning from the inexpensive package, she lifted it out. It was Samuel Allertons diamond, for the recovery of which she later received a liberal reward.
It is a parable! We have bent our knees for the lesser thing, but lo, while we stooped we saw the greater! We coveted the good; we were granted the best; and when, this afternoon, this building is dedicated, it will not voice the joy of the pastor of the First Baptist Church and his wife and family alone, nor even that of the church family, 2,700 strong. All through this city, all through this land, across the Atlantic, beyond the Pacific, there are friends and fellow Christians who would join with us in giving God the glory and in attributing the triumph of this day to the riches of His grace.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
SOLOMON AND THE SACRED TEMPLE
1 Kings 1-11.
IN previous discussions, we have called attention to the chronology of the Old Testament, and have shown that the Books are correctly placed from the standpoint of history. Certainly the Books of the Kings belong where found in the Sacred Canon. David has held the field of view in the Books of Samuel, and I Kings opens with a record of his age, infirmity and approaching death.
The Books of Biblical history make up, for the most part, an unbroken series. The events reported as attending the kings death are at once natural, in keeping with the times and customs of that far-off century. The scramble between the sons as to succession in office and the inheritance of riches and honor, are easily believable because they belong to every century, and abate not. The methods of Adonijah, amounting to merely a repetition of Absoloms abortive attempt, reveal the mental inability and moral and political incapacity of that ambitious boy. His neglect to take Nathan, the Prophet, into counsel, or to seek advice from Benaiah and other mighty men, or even regard his brother Solomons claims, reveal the fact that he knew himself to be indulging a political plot that could succeed only in shadows and secrecy.
The opening chapter makes clear the fact that the Prophet of God is a capital statesman, for it was Nathan who brought this whole matter to the attention of Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon; and through her, reached the king and settled the question, and seated Bathshebas son on the throne.
An interesting study is excited by those verses in this same first chapter which reveal two things; first, that the dying man is far more interested in things eternal than in things temporal (1kings 1:29); more deeply concerned in permanent Israel than in his own passing throne (1 Kings 1:30); more alive to the moral and spiritual interests of his country than to its material and political supremacy; and in proportion to that interest, anxious to be succeeded in office by the one man to whom he could intrust both Gods people and Gods truth (1Ki 2:2 fol.).
With this introduction, we come naturally to three themes that compass somewhat clearly the chapters of our text: Solomons Succession to the Throne; Solomons Greatest Single Achievement; The Secrets of Solomons Signal Failure.
SOLOMONS SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE
Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly (1Ki 2:12).
In coming to this office, he came as his fathers favorite. In the establishment of Israel, Isaac desired the line through Esau, and Rebecca contrived to secure it through her favorite, Jacob; but in this instance, father and mother agree as to the son who shall stand in the fathers stead. It is not at all likely that this choice was wholly a result of the certain influence exerted over the king by the beautiful Bathsheba. That impulse was doubtless present, but the controlling sentiment of the matter rested upon a firmer foundation. A father knows his own children. He knows their weaknesses and their strength; their abilities and their disabilities; their traits of dependableness and their habits of deceit. As between Adonijah and Solomon, David did not need to debate. From the days when as infants they lay in his arms until now, he had studied them, and doubtless often with this very hour in view; and his judgment was already made and had been communicated to both Bathsheba and the Prophet. It is difficult for children to imagine that their parents understand them, properly estimate them, justly judge them; but practically every family furnishes a positive proof that the best judges of character are the very people who have sought to control conduct and direct endeavor. The after history of Solomon is not all the Christian reader could wish. Had David lived on for two-score more years, feeble, infirm, having surrendered the reigns of rule into Solomons hands, he would have seen much come to pass that would have grieved his aged soul; but in spite of all that, he still would have gone to his grave, convinced beyond debate that Adonijah would have fallen shorter still, and Israels interests suffered more deeply in his hands.
These facts are the basis of a second reason why the rulership went to Solomon.
He was the Lords chosen. Men easily make mistakes in judging their fellows. Fathers even fall short in truly estimating the worth or worthlessness of their own, but God, who looketh on the heart rather than on the outward appearance, and who knows what is in man, as against what man imagines and announces himself to be, makes no such mistake. With the discernment of an infinite wisdom, Jehovah saw in Solomon mental traits, moral convictions, spiritual aspirations, that led Him, as He was led in the case of David, the father, to elect this man from among many sons.
The reaction in my mind, on reading the first chapters of I Kings, was a revolt. In my haste I came near questioning the wisdom of God to set such a man as Solomon on the throne, or to lend His approval to his methods of government. That grew out of the slaughters recorded in chapter 2. My soul sickened when he sent his servant Benaiah to slay his brother, and he fell upon him that he died (1Ki 2:25); when Joab was taken from the horns of the altar and slain without mercy (1Ki 2:30-34); when Shimei perished at Benaiahs hands and by the kings command (1Ki 2:39-41), I confess I came to the phrase, And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon, with a sickening sense, asking myself, Can one cement the foundations of a true throne with the blood of his brothers, and be under a Divine benediction?
But I am glad for further study. Our judgments are often immature; our speech is often hasty, and when we take issue with the Divine will, our way is always mistaken. I had overlooked for the time that each of these men had not only courted death, but practically compelled it, and had compelled it by the violation of the Law of the Lord. For instance, the one of them to whom the readers sympathy goes out most quickly is Joab, the warrior, the man who had once favored David and fought for him; but alas, when one reviews the history of Joab, he consents to the justice of his fate. How many he had slain, and with what perfidy he had performed these slaughters! Guile had been his brutal instrument. He took Abner aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died (2Sa 3:27). He concealed his sword while whispering in Amasas ear and yet ripped him until his bowels fell to the ground (2Sa 20:10). The Law of the Lord was, If a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die (Exo 21:14); and the Law of the Lord is living still and Solomons servant is merely executing the same.
Slaughter is horrible; battle and death wound and offend our spirits; but battle and death and slaughter are not, when all are combined, the undermining factors of civilization, the fiends of successful rebellion against all moral worth, that disregard of Divine law and disobedience to the same, surely effect. It is important, I grant you, that men shall live their natural days, but far more important is it that the law of God shall live. In the last analysis, death is the natural incident of disobedience, so that the brutal features of Solomons reign are features intended to end the shedding of blood. It was a war against war; it was a just judgment against unjust judgments; it was a capital punishment of most capital crimes.
Solomon also became the choice of the people.
And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.
And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them (1Ki 1:39-40).
It is a great sequence when the public acclaims the will of the Lord. The government chosen of God and clearly accepted by the people has magnificent promise, and holds momentous prospects. It is fairly evident from the whole text that Solomon had those personal traits that rendered Absalom popular in his daythe traits of physical beauty and prowess; but in Solomons case, intellectual acumen and even a certain spiritual power added to his acceptance with the people. It may be true that the designing politician easily deceives the public and often experiences undeserved popularity; but few uninspired sentences are more true than Abraham Lincolns, You cannot fool all the people all of the time.
We are not enamored of the notion of the old Latin proverb, Vox populi, vox Dei, for it is a rule that has more exceptions than applications! But on the other hand, the final judgment of man is compelled to conform to the judgment of God, for what God sees and understands by His infinite wisdom becomes increasingly evident by the action that makes history; and sooner or later the voice of the people will second the voice of God.
Victory ought to be comparatively easy for a young man entering upon an important office with the backing of a kingly father, an infinite Lord and the will of the people. At many points Solomon witnessed success; his rule was long continued; his material prosperity became the amazement of the age; his political powers rapidly increased, while his mental and spiritual perceptions were the envy of kings and queens.
I think, however, it is well to dwell upon
SOLOMONS GREATEST SINGLE ACHIEVEMENT
This was not his alliance with Pharaoh, nor his marriage into the kings house, nor the political supremacy to which he attained, nor the luxurious living in which he indulged himself, nor the splendors of his court! On the other hand, it was the creation of the temple of God. That achievement is as easily linked up, however, with some facts of his mental and spiritual existence as it is with his political and religious supremacy.
He laid for lifes fabric a true foundation. When God appeared to him in Gibeon in a dream at night, and said, Ask what I shall give thee (1Ki 3:5), the answer revealed the soul of the youth. Give * * Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad (1Ki 3:9). A prayer like that could result only in the Divine favor; yea, even in the Divine affection. So far as the record goes, the boy Solomon had been a beautiful lad, his life clean, his conduct upright, his character above reproach; and now to have such a prayer emanate from his lips invites both human and Divine love. We are compelled to think that the principles which compel Gods love are not wholly different from those which control human affection. When the rich young ruler, white-souled, intellectually accomplished, spiritually enthusiastic, fell at the feet of Jesus to inquire what good thing he could do to inherit eternal life, Christ looked upon him to love him. It may be true that by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God; but it is not true that God disregards the deeds of the Law, looks with contempt or indifference upon high human conduct, takes no vital concern in beautiful character. The whole Scripture seems to clearly intimate that upright conduct linked with spiritual expression is lovely in the sight of God.
Neither the Bible nor Spirit-instructed men imagine, with the author of a certain University textbook, that the human intellect is merely a brute mind greatly developed, nor do they hold with another author, compulsory upon students study in some institutions, that the soul is accounted for by the development of the social in brute life.
On the contrary, the Bible teaches that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, including intellect and spirit, his reasoning powers and his capability of receiving revelation.
If Solomon lived now and was a student in certain departments of the University, they would be teaching him that the only possible way of having wisdom is to evolve the ape intellectuality to a higher plane; but suffering the misfortune of living and dying before Darwins day, the great soul of the worlds wisest man knew no better than to look upward instead of downward for such acquisition, and pray, Give * * Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad (1Ki 3:9).
There are some of us who are perfectly willing to be regarded as belonged to Mediaeval times, if Mediaevalism takes the Scripture against the speculation of man and looks above for true wisdom instead of back, beneath, or below. If I could have my personal choice for every child born into my home, concerning the whole matter of education, I would rather have him or her begin the real battle of life begging for such a blessing and believing that God is capable of granting it, than to have him made familiar with all the sophistries and speculations of those modern text-books that turn men to believing that they are a big improvement on brute ancestors, and boasting the same. One thing is fairly clear, namely, that men who believe God and build life according to the laws of His Book, are the simple men of the centuries to which they belong, and become the inspiring examples to children born of later days.
He built not for self alone, but he remembered God. It is not difficult to believe, if one follows the personal history of this potentate, that his steps are determined by definite objectives. When all Israel had come under his sway, he appointed twelve officers, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision (1Ki 4:7). In other words, he was a man who organized government and who organized finances, and witnessed the fruits of his organization in both fields by bringing the entire people to subjection and creating a palace of such splendor and attendants as the world has seldom seen. Forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen (1Ki 4:26), sound almost as extravagant as the years of Methuselahs life, and yet there is far less doubt of the latter than of the former. That he was not a mere indolent, daddled in the lap of a daily luxury wrung from unwilling taxpayers, is everywhere apparent. He was a man among men, a prince among thinkers, a king among courtiers. His fame was in all the nations. He spake 3,000 proverbs; he wrote 1,005 songs; he made all nature to contribute in illustration, and he compelled admiration from all the kings of the earth (1Ki 4:29-34). His banqueting halls assembled the worlds elite, his wisdom astonished the worlds wise.
His alliance with King Hiram, however, was made, not that he might further extend his kingly power, nor that he might exercise a wider world influence, but in the interest of A TEMPLE OF GOD. In the realms of Hiram were the cedars of Lebanon coveted for that sanctuary. In the able-bodied men of his own kingdom were the thousands he proposed to set at the task. He laid upon these competent builders a tax of time, tithing every three months, and builders in wood and stone wrought together that the temple might rise. And what a temple it was!
That sanctuary, glorious as is this description, requires many another line to do it justice. 2 Chronicles 3, 4 tells of the same great subject. The tabernacle was the prophecy of it, and the New Jerusalem to be let down from Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, is the final substance of which this was the symbol. It arose without sound of a hammer; it excelled all the sanctuaries that the world had ever seen or has yet seen; its appointments were the most expensive and yet intended in every case to turn the mind to God, to teach the heart to pray, the feet to walk in the path of the just, and the tongue to sing.
There are some extravagances that are justified. It pays to put great sacrifice into the proper education of your child, for when the preparation days are over, life is to follow; and it pays to put thousands of dollars into a sanctuary, because when the men who sacrificed to erect it sleep in the dust, the sanctuary will live and pour upon the world streams of sacred influence.
There is, however, in the first verse of the 7th chapter a significant remark, But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. In other words, while he built for himself, he at the same time and on a vaster scale, built for God. There are people who think when they build for themselves that is all they can do. Gods house must wait until mine is finished! Divinely sacred obligations must be delayed until the domestic and secular are discharged. God cannot receive a gift until the grocer is fully paid. How strangely men reason! How quickly they forget revelation. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness?. It would be an interesting thing to investigate history to find whether Israel was impoverished by the erection of the Temple, or whether she was not enriched instead, to discover whether those were days of financial reverses or the one period of Israels material prosperity.
The reign of Solomon remains forever glorious and stands as a symbol of all material success. Sacrifices for the sanctuary do not impoverishthey enrich; they do not bleedthey bless! The only man who suffers when the sanctuary is going up is the man who withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
But an equally significant thing is found in another statement from this Scripture.
Solomon knew that an elegant Temple was inadequate without God. One no sooner reads, So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the Lord (1Ki 7:51), than he finds the same king exercising some of the wisdom that had come in answer to his prayer. That wisdom voiced itself in the decision to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. That ark of the covenant represented the Divine Presence and the expression of the Divine favor. Until it came into the Temple, the Temple itself, with all its splendid proportions and appointments, was destitute of spiritual power. There is no advantage resident in an elegant house called a church of God. There are many fanes that are cold, ceremonious, spiritually dead. In all their splendid precincts there is not the sound of an angels wing, nor the sense of a spiritual presence. The most pathetic sight in the world is the stately sanctuary out of which God has gone, or into which He has never come.
I have seen, in the Old World, cathedrals that were merely show-houses open to the eyes of American visitors; but few folk ever gathered in their spacious halls, and even those who came had not sufficient spiritual life to start one sleepy rivulet of praise, and the consequence was that a vested choir of boys were salaried to provide a substitute. They are elegant sarcophagi, enshrining the dead forms of a former faith; and we rehearse all of this to remind those who worship in this house of God and by whose splendid and heroic sacrifices these buildings are rising at this city centerhouses better adapted to Divine worship than any I have ever seen besidethat they could and would become mausoleums and empty ones at that, if out of them we lost God, or into them we failed to bring the ark of the covenant with its Shekinah glory, symbol of the Presence of God, and its typical content, Aarons rod that budded, sign of life coming out of death; the pot of manna, type of the bread from Heaven, and the tables of the Law, a faithful transcription of the Divine Word.
I say it solemnly and with the profoundest conviction that these buildings will mean to us and to our children and to our city and country and to the world, exactly as much as may be measured by the Divine presence in them, and the emanation of the Word of God from them. They are not an end in themselves, but a medium instead; and the medium of a message Divine. If God be here, and here His Word be preached and believed and practised, then the untold ages will unfold the influences of this sanctuary and the nations of the world will feel it.
SOLOMONS SECRETS OF SIGNAL FAILURE
The Bible is unique in that it as faithfully presents the secrets of failure as it does those of achievement. Its photographic effects reveal blemishes as surely as beauty, and make as evident the sins of men as they make clear the sanctity of God. Through these same chapters there runs an undertone, a minor key, a note set to sobs, and Solomon is the subject of this as well.
He started wrong by a compromise of his convictions. Life is a composite! Conduct is paradoxical! Character itself is unnatural compromise! The good and bad mix together. Successes and failures are sometimes so interwoven that the lesser is not seen in the light of the greater.
In the 3rd chapter we read, And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaohs daughter (1Ki 3:1). That is a significant step. Its original objective may have been political, but politics and morals cannot be divorced; life and religion cannot be separated. We are told that Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, but there must be added, only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places (1Ki 3:3). How significant! An unholy alliance results in disloyalty to the Divinest, and in partial departure from the plain Word of God. Thereby a question is raised, Which of these elements will conquer at last? As Joseph Parker says: There may be but a semi-colon between that one path of life and the other in the verbal record of the two, and yet that semi-colon is finally swelled to an infinity of distance and only time will tell which triumphed the statutes of the Lord or the incense of idolatry. When one leaves the incense of idolatry for the statutes of the Lord, he faces away from the morning twilight to a perfect day; but when one leaves the statutes of the Lord for the incense in high places, he is faced from the evening twilight toward utter and increasing darkness.
There is a wonderful psychology in one of Davids prayers, Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression (Psa 19:12-13). There is no doubt whatever that that very utterance describes the intimate and progressive relation between a mere error in judgment or thought, and that final sin described as the great transgression or the iniquity unpardonable.
A second secret of his failure was pride in culture and possessions. His wisdom went on exhibit (1Ki 4:34). The kings and queens of the earth came to Jerusalem (1 Kings 10), not merely to study and admire the material possessions of King Solomon, but to sit under his scintillating genius, give audience to his matchless moral maxims known as proverbs and applaud his superior and almost unnumbered songs. The most insidious temptations of modern times take those two identical forms, the exhibit of wisdom on the one side, and of wealth on the other. It is a serious question now which pride is the more arrogant, that of culture or of wealth. Through the first, men reject God and set themselves above the stars. Through the second, men neglect God and degrade themselves below demons.
Criticism is easy and men can be found who pass unsparing censure upon Solomon, but when we see the millions going down before one or the other of these temptations, why should we be surprised that Solomons feet slid under the shove of both?
Education is a great thing, but when education brings a man to be wise above what is written, it converts him into a cultured fool.
Material wealth has its advantages, but when riches result in luxuries that pander only to lust, then indeed they prove themselves the root of all evil.
I shall not stop now to elaborate on the dedication of the Temple, to remark upon the prayers made in the place, and the promises of God uttered for its good. The service of dedication, in which we now engage together, affords us further opportunity for such study.
But I want to conclude by calling your attention to the contents of the 11th chapter. It might be named The Eclipse of Solomons Sun!
Through unholy alliances he lost out with God. The chapter not only records his love of many strange women, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, Hittites, etc., but as one author has said, lays emphasis upon the fact that they were strange women, not in the ordinary sense of scarlet, but in the Bible sense, strangers to God and His Word. The alliance was not so much a personal one, with wives and concubines, as it was an irreligious one with false systems.
The Lord had warned the Children of Israel concerning the nations about, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods; and yet it is written, Solomon clave unto these in love; and again, his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel. No wonder it was said, And the Lord was angry with Solomon, nor yet further theatened concerning his kingdom, I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
Whatever the alliance is that turns one from God and His Word, that is unholy, and in the end, destined to destroy.
The 11th chapter of I Kings is pathetic in that it records the down-going of Solomon. He not only worshipped at false shrines but even consented to construct the same (1Ki 11:7). To turn from God is eventually to turn against God. To admit a false shrine into your life is to cease from worship at the true one, and who will tell the final result? With Solomon the foundations crumbled. His religion wrong, his kingdom rent; his religion wrong, his friends turned to enemies, and his lovers sought his life, and when the day broke that personal, political, fraternal and domestic disaster swept over his soul, wave upon wave, it was the same day in which he must prepare to meet his God, for the record concludes, And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (1Ki 11:43).
It will forever remain a question as to what that sleep meant for the soul of the matchless man. Theologians will always dispute whether he was saved or lost and whether he went to his grave in calm confidence or with cringing and justifiable fear.
But human judgment is inadequate, superficial, even censorious. How blessed the circumstance that Divine judgment is after another manner! If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Personally, I believe that Solomon was a saved man, whose weaknesses, incidental to the flesh, never wholly eclipsed his faith in God, and whose disloyal acts were Divinely judged, and sentence executed even while he lived, whose soul was saved; yet so as by fire, and many of whose works were burned even before his very eyes. The pathos of his death is not in the danger that for him to be dead is to be in hell. It is in the failure to so fight the battle of life as to come to a victorious close, to a triumphant entry, to the shout of a Paul, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day (2Ti 4:7-8).
It is worth an eternal contest against the adversary and his multiplied forms of temptation, to be able to come to the last hour as Dwight L. Moody met the last enemy, when, silencing his daughters prayers, he said, No, no, Emma; dont ask that. The earth is receding; the heavens are opening; God is calling. I am going!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE RULE OF WISDOM
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
1Ki. 3:1. Pharaoh, king of EgyptProbably Vaphres, but Winer suggests Psusennes. An alliance with so mighty a royal house shows that the Hebrew kingdom enjoyed high renown, and commanded influence among the nations. From the Egyptian monuments a supposed portrait of this princess has been obtained. The Song of Solomon is supposed to have her as the immediate theme. Brought her into the city of DavidNot admitted into the stronghold of Zion, where the ark was; probably he found for her a temporary home in his mothers residence (Son. 3:4; Son. 8:2) while his own palace was building. This marriage is never censured in Scripture, so that it is natural to conclude she became a proselyte to the Hebrew religion. To this, Psa. 45:10-11 may refer, a Psalm which is thought, in addition to the Canticles, to have been composed by Solomon in her honour.
1Ki. 3:2. Only the people sacrificed in high placesThis is not recorded as a wrong act, but as rendered necessary until the Temple could accommodate them.
1Ki. 3:4. The king went to Gibeon to worship there: for the tabernacle was now there (2Ch. 1:3). called the great high place, because of that fact. High places, , i.e., hills, and mountain heights: were chosen by all ancient nations for worship and sacrifice. Danger rose out of this temporarily permitted practice (Deu. 12:13-14); but in Solomons conduct now there was nothing wrong. After the Temple was completed, the high places should have been abandoned; but the habit had become formed, and hence the share. A thousand burnt offeringsAs an act of national consecration and homage to Jehovah; its motive being, Solomon loved the Lord (1Ki. 3:3).
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki. 3:1-4
THE PARADOXES OF A DEFECTIVE PIETY
We obtain a glimpse in these verses of the state of religion in the nation at this period. The enemies of Solomon had been despatched, the throne was established in the popular affection, and the government of the youthful king had already won the respect of surrounding nations. The only thing that indicated the kingdom was not so thoroughly established in all respects as it might be, was the unsettled condition of public worship. Only the people sacrificed in high places. The practices of the heathen still clung to the worshippers of the one living and true God. The growth of the religious life of a people is slow: it is a long time before all traces of a previous period of imperfection and debasement disappear. The best guarantee of permanency in all earthly governments is a strong, healthy, propagative piety; and in the process of development towards a more perfect knowledge and experience many contradictions will appear.
I. That piety may include a devout love of God, and yet be defective. And Solomon loved the Lord. So far good. It does not say he loved the Lord with all his heart. The command in this respect was most explicit, and frequently repeated (Deu. 13:3; Deu. 30:6; Mat. 22:37; Mar. 12:30; Mar. 12:33, Luk. 10:27). The religion of some is purely intellectual; they conceive noble ideas of God; they construct an ideal paradise, and adorn and fill it with bright poetic fancies; they scorn to betray the least feelingthis would be altogether too gross and sensual: they live in an ever-revolving circle of refined mental intoxication. The religion of others is all emotional; they have tears for everybody and everything; they are a power in society, and they know it, for we are all most easily moved through our sympathies. But excess of feeling is peniciousit over-rides the judgment, and is apt to degenerate into weakness and folly. The victim of emotion goads himself in vain efforts to produce certain sensational effects which will not admit of repetition according to order, and at last sinks into a condition of helplessness, and is constantly employed in a morbid dissection of his own miserable and over-wrought feelings. The religion of others consists in a blind and dogged devotion to some one moral precept; it is obtruded into everything; it is the oracle to interpret every problem, the key to fit the complicated wards of human opinion and unlock every mystery; it is with them the infallible touchstone by which to test the religion of everybody else. Such people have no conception of the harmony and continuity of universal truth. It is possible to love God with a devout and reverential affection, and yet be defective in the realization and practical presentment of the religious life.
II. That piety may influence the practical outgoings of the individual life, and yet be defective. Walking in the statutes of David his father. These statutes referred, not only to the directions which had been specially enjoined on Solomon by his father David (1Ki. 2:2-4; 1Ch. 28:8-9), but also to the Divine commandments which David loved, and (notwithstanding some grievous falls) ordinarily practised. They who love God will strive to regulate their every-day life according to the Divine precepts, and in imitation of the holiest examples. The best of human examples is imperfect; and the most devoted and conscientious Christian worker is painfully conscious of constantly coming far short of his own ideal of duty. There are contradictions in the individual Christian life difficult to reconcilethe most saintly have to mourn over innumerable defects.
III. That piety may be demonstrative in acts of worship, and yet be defective. He sacrificed and burnt incense in high places (1Ki. 3:3). The heathen were accustomed to perform their religious rites on the summit of lofty mountains, under the idea that they were thus nearer Deity and heaven. Abraham built his altars on mountains (Gen. 12:8; Gen. 22:2), and worshipped in a grove (Gen. 21:33)whence the custom among the Jews was derived, and for which they were not reprehensible till the law obliged them to worship in one place (Deu. 12:5-6). The law did not forbid high places directly, but only by implication. It required the utter destruction of all the high places which had been polluted by idolatrous rites (Deu. 12:2). The injunction to offer sacrifices nowhere but at the door of the tabernacle (Lev. 17:3-5) was an indirect prohibition of high-places, or, at least, of the use which the Israelites made of them; but there was some real reason to question whether this was a command intended to come into force until the place was chosen where the Lord would cause His name to dwell (Deu. 12:11; Deu. 12:14). The result was that high places were used for the worship of Jehovah from the time of the Judges downwards (Jdg. 6:25; Jdg. 13:16; 1Sa. 7:10; 1Sa. 13:9; 1Sa. 14:35; 1Sa. 16:5; 1Ch. 21:26), with an entire unconsciousness of guilt on the part of those who used them. And God so far winked at this ignorance that He accepted the worship thus offered Him, as appears from the vision vouchsafed to Solomon on this occasion. There were two reasons for the prohibition of high places:1st, the danger of the old idolatry creeping back if the old localities were retained for worship; and, 2nd, the danger to the unity of the nation if there should be more than one legitimate religious centre. The existence of worship at high places did, in fact, facilitate the division of the kingdom.Speakers Commentary. The worship of God is not confined to any one particular spotthe devotion of the worshipper, and the manifestations of Divine blessing, consecrate the locality. We may worship God with all the proprieties of external ceremonial, and with all the ardour of a devout spirit; and yet the religion of the life be defective. Few men carry into all the departments of practical duty the holy and exalted feeling realized in their best moments at the Mercy Seat.
IV. That piety may be liberal in sacrifices, and yet be defective. A thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. A sacrifice of a thousand victims was an act of royal magnificence suited to the greatness of Solomon. So Xerxes offered a thousand oxen at Troy (Herod. vii. 43). We are not to suppose that Solomon offered sacrifice with his own hand; such a task was beyond the power of a single person to do. He simply presented the victims. Scores of priests officiated on such occasions, and the sacred festival lasted many days. Where God sows plentifully, he expects to reap accordingly; and those who truly love Him and His worship will not grudge the expenses of their religion. The liberality of the wealthy is the easiest part of Christian duty, and few give to Gods cause in proportion to their means. Giving is, to some natures, the severest test of a genuine piety, and one of its best evidences. There may be a princely generosity in giving, while there is a niggardliness in doing. The most opulent sacrifices cannot atone for active, loving, faithful service.
V. That piety may be associated with great worldly affluence, and yet be defective. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. It was an evidence of the importance into which the kingdom of Israel had risen that Solomon should succeed in forming an alliance with Egypt, the most ancient and splendid of the Eastern monarchies. It was the first intercourse between these nations since the time of the Exodus. Its immediate effect was probably favourable to Solomon, by increasing his fame and comparative importance among the nations, and adding to his dominions (chap. 1Ki. 9:16). Riches flowed in upon him, kings courted his favour and were proud to form alliances with his house: There is no reason why piety should not flourish in the kings palace as well as in the humble cottage: there are many among the great and wealthy who fear God and work righteousness. It is not an easy matter to settle which are the most difficult to bearthe dangers of the rich, or the temptations and miseries of the starving poor. It is possible to be surrounded with temporal abundance, while the heart is restless and unsatisfied. Solomon had all that his soul could desire, and the result was detrimental rather than helpful to his piety. His marriage with the Egyptian princess, though not formally condemned, opened the way to other alliances that were disastrous. According to the letter of the law, only marriage with the Canaanitish tribes was forbidden to the Jews (Exo. 34:16); and inter-marriage with nations outside of Canaan was not only not prohibited, but tolerated in the examples, never rebuked, of Josephs marriage with the daughter of an Egyptian priest (Gen. 41:45); of Moses marriage with a daughter of Midian (Exo. 2:21); and that of Boaz and Ruth. But though the law did not forbid these marriages, they were not in harmony with its spirit; and it was by foreign marriages that Solomon was at length seduced from the worship of Jehovah. Piety is safest when it is humblest; and only as the believer retains his humble, child-like trust in God, amid increasing temporal prosperity, will he escape the perils that threaten.
LESSONS:
1. There is danger in resting satisfied with the mere externalism of religion.
2. There may be much that is morally good in individual character, and yet a serious deficiency in piety.
3. True piety demands the full surrender to God of will, affection, and life.
THIS passage may be also homiletically treated as follows:
PIETY LIMITED BY OPPORTUNITY
I. That piety is limited by individual experience.
1. It is limited by the individual experience of the love of God. Solomon loved the Lord (1Ki. 3:3). He was first loved by Him, and was thus called Jedidiah, the darling of Jehovah. Our love to God is but the reflex of His love to us (1Jn. 4:19). Our piety receives its character and attains its limits by the nature and degree of our love to God: as our love is, so is our piety. Love is the source and power of the religious life, and the stream can never rise higher than the fountain.
2. It is limited by the examples of those we are taught to imitate. Solomon walked in the statutes of David his father, and strove to copy his example. A good man is a pattern for all to imitate; and all men are more potently influenced by a living example of piety, than by the most elaborate code of precepts, however eloquently explained or cogently enforced. It was a high commendation to the Thessalonian converts that they became imitators of the highest patterns of Christian excellence (1Th. 1:6). All human models are imperfect, and the characters shaped and influenced by them must partake of their imperfections. The example of Christ is the absolute, all-perfect standard, the great infallible pattern after which the noblest life must ever be moulded.
3. It is limited by individual capacity. The dew falls in quantity sufficient to water the whole earth, but there is an endless variety in the capacities of the flower-cups held out to receive the refreshing draught; some are so small that one crystal drop each would fill their tiny fragile goblets. So the blessing of heaven descends upon mankind in superabundant measure, but there is a vast diversity in the capacity of the individual recipient. The grandest created nature is bounded by its finiteness. If man were not finite he could not grow.
II. That piety is limited by the opportunities for its cultivation. Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord (1Ki. 3:2). The frequent public worship of God is founded in a necessity and tendency of human nature. Man will worship, and if he is not constantly directed to the great Object of all true and acceptable worship, and spiritually assisted in the exercise, he is apt to regard the vast fabric of created things as God; and nature, with her grand, silent motions, becomes the object of his pantheistic idolatry. The multiplicity and accessibleness of Christian ordinances in the present day lead many to undervalue their importance. But a compulsory and prolonged absence from the house of God, and the conscious depreciation in spirituality, rectify the delusion, and compel the sufferer to estimate more highly than ever the public means of grace.
II. That piety is limited by the associations and conditions of national life. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh (1Ki. 3:1). The alliance with Egypt, and growing importance and wealth of the nation, would have a powerful influence in developing and forming the character of the nation at that time. National life is the outcome and representation of many conflicting and contradictory causes, some apparent, some hidden; but all active. Climate, natural scenery, employments, modes of living, intercourse with each other and with other peoples, all act and react in giving form, colour, tone, and spirit to the national character. The ruggedness and strength of the free mountaineers are strangely contrasted with the refinement, softness, and supineness of the inhabitants of the sultry plains; and the causes of the difference are evident. And so the associations and conditions of national life affect and limit the piety of a people. There will be more vigour and enterprise in the religion of a nation struggling for independence and extended commerce, than in a nation reposing in contentment, and revelling in luxuries and riches. Success in either individuals or communities is often a fatal advantage, and the period of greatest prosperity registers the beginning of decline.
LESSONS:
1. That the opportunities for cultivating personal piety are abundant.
2. That it is an imperative duty to strive after a higher standard of piety.
3. That the actual use made of opportunities will be the measure of personal piety enjoyed.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki. 3:1-4. National reformation.
1. Meets with rebellious opposition.
2. Is gradual in accomplishment.
3. Must be wisely conducted.
4. Is facilitated by promoting amicable relations with other nations.
5. Aims at strengthening the internal government.
6. Is permanent in its results only when it grows out of a genuine religious life.
1Ki. 3:1. Marriage.
1. An important crisis in individual life.
2. Not to be entered into without serious thought.
3. May make or mar the happiness of two lives.
4. Is honourable in all.
5. Broadens our sympathies for the race.
6. Has the divine sanction.
Although marriage with persons of unlike faith be allowed, and is in itself no sin (1Co. 7:14), it is, nevertheless, better that one avoid it, because the unbeliever perverts the believer more frequently than the believer converts the unbeliever. Solomons marriage with a daughter of Pharaoh was, strictly speaking, a political alliance, but it has also a significance in the history of redemption. The great and mighty king of the land which for Israel had been the house of bondage, in which it had eaten the bread of affliction (Exo. 20:2; Deu. 16:3), gives now to the king of this once despised and oppressed people his daughter in marriage, and must, in the providence of God, contribute to the strengthening of the Israelitish throne, and to the increase of the power and glory of the Israelitish kingdom. God has the hearts of all men in his hands, and can bring it to pass that they who have been inimical to us, and have despised us, shall hold us in great honour (Pro. 16:7; Gen. 31:24).Lange.
This seems to have been Solomons first act of foreign policy, and was, perhaps, designed to counteract the influence of Hadad, the Edomite, who had fled to Egypt during Davids reign, and was now securely housed in the royal family (see chap. 1Ki. 11:14-22). Everything in the history of Hadad naturally conspired to make him a settled enemy of the kingdom of Israel; and, perhaps, at a later period, he had a hand with Jeroboam in planning the revolt of the ten tribes of Israel. Solomon doubtless expected to strengthen his kingdom by this affinity with Egypt, and to prevent invasion from that quarter.Whedon.
Until he had made an end of building the house of the Lord. This Solomon would finish before he would set up the queens palacesuch was his zeal while young; but he suffered sad decays afterwards. I read of a holy man who oft prayed that he might keep up his young zeal with his old discretion.Trapp.
1Ki. 3:2. Only the people sacrificed in high places. The particle only has reference to the last sentence of chap. 1Ki. 2:46. This is not mentioned as a circumstance of blame either in the people or in the king; for had they not sacrificed and burnt incense on high places, they could not have sacrificed or burnt incense at all. And it appears by the sequel that the sacrifice at Gibeon was acceptable.Bishop Horsley. Possibly Solomon thought it better to allow an error in a circumstance than to occasion a neglect of the substance of Gods worship, which he apprehended would follow upon a severe prohibition of that practice, because the peoples hearts were generally and constantly set upon these high places, as appears from all the following history; and they were not willing to submit to so much trouble and charge as the bringing of all their sacrifices to one place would cause; nor would they yield to it until the temple was built, which he knew would easily incline and oblige them to it. And that being speedily to be done, he might think it more advisable rather to delay the execution of that law of God for an approaching season, wherein he doubted not they would be sweetly and freely drawn to it, than at present to drive them to it by force, although these and all other prudential considerations should have given place to the will and wisdom of God.Pool.
1Ki. 3:3. Walking in the statutes of David his fatherthe customs, usages, and laws of religious conduct practised by David. But it does not appear that David ever sacrificed or burnt incense in high places. The contrary is implied in this verse; and it is more than intimated that though this worship was tolerated because not offered to false gods, and because there was no house yet built to Jehovah, still both Solomon and his people were censurable for allowing it such great extent and prominence, and thereby paving the way for future idolatry in Israel. It would have been safer and better to have sacrificed only before the ark of the covenant, as Solomon did after his return from Gibeon (1Ki. 3:15), or else only at Gibeon, where the tabernacle was (1Ch. 16:39).Whedon.
1Ki. 3:2-4. Solomons sacrificial festivity.
1. When he celebrated itat the beginning of his reign, to return thanks for the past assistance of God, and to implore its continuance.
2. Where he kept itupon the high place at Gibeon, because no temple was built as yet, the place of prayer in the Old and in the New Testament. Though God dwell not in temples built by human hands, yet it is needful for each congregation to have a house where, with one mouth, it praises the name of the Lord. Where this need is not felt, there is a defect in faith and love for the Lord.Lange.
1Ki. 3:3. He loved the Lord. This is the best and greatest thing that can be said of a man. So every one that loves the world has not in him the love of the Father; this is only where God is loved above all things, His word observed, and His commandments fulfilled with joy and delight (1Jn. 2:5; 1Jn. 2:15; 1Jn. 5:3). Happy is he who, to the question of the Lord, Lovest thou me? can return the answer of Peter (Joh. 21:17). Because Solomon loved the Lord, he honoured also his father, and walked in his ways. The want of filial piety in our day comes from want of love to the Lord.Lange.
1Ki. 3:4. Gibeon was well worthy to be the chief, yea, the only high place. There was the hallowed altar of God; there was the tabernacle, though, as then, severed from the ark; thither did young Solomon go up, and as desiring to begin his reign with God, there he offers no less than a thousand sacrifices.Bishop Hall.
If we should begin our daily work with the sacrifice of our prayer, how much more our lifes calling, and every weighty undertaking upon which our own and the well-being of other men depend!Lange.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
IV. PHARAOHS UNPRECEDENTED RECOGNITION OF SOLOMON 3:1
TRANSLATION
(1) Then Solomon became allied to Pharaoh king of Egypt by marriage, for he took the daughter of Pharaoh, and brought her unto the city of David, until he had finished building his house, the house of the LORD and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
COMMENTS
The note concerning Solomons marriage to Pharaohs daughter is inserted at this point in the narrative for two reasons: (1) because it demonstrates how Solomon was able to strengthen his position through this important external alliance; and (2) because chronologically this marriage probably came shortly after the suppression of the internal foes described in the previous chapter.[127] This marriage has not been given the attention it deserves. Yet here is a political occurrence without parallel, not only in Israelite, but also in Egyptian history. No other example has yet been found of a Pharaohs daughter being given in marriage to a foreign royal house. But never before had a power comparable to the kingdom of David and Solomon arisen on Egypts frontiers, and this perhaps explains the sudden change in the long-standing Egyptian policy of refusing to give Pharaohs daughter in marriage to foreign royalty.[128]
[127] According to 1Ki. 9:24 the Egyptian princess lived in the city of David unto the completion of Solomons building projects. These projects were begun in the fourth year of his reign. The last event of chapter two, the death of Shimei, took place in Solomons third year (1Ki. 2:39).
[128] Abraham Malamat, The Kingdom of David and Solomon in its Contact with Egypt and Aram Naharaim, BAR, II, 9192. Kadashmanenlil, king of Babylon, asked for the hand of Amenhotep IIIs daughter and was refused in the following terms: From of old, a daughter of the king of Egypt has not been given to anyone.
The Pharaoh who gave his daughter to Solomon cannot be positively identified. The kings of the twenty-first dynasty (1085945 B.C.) were ruling at the time of David and during the first half of Solomons reign. Under this dynasty Egyptian power declined and the country broke up into two separate units, the Theban theocracy in the South, and the kingdom of Tanis in the North. Certain archaeological evidence discovered in Tanis may furnish a clue as to the identity of Solomons father-in-law. Here a bas-relief of King Siamon, the predecessor of Psusennes II, the last king of the twenty-first dynasty, was discovered. It depicted the king in the act of slaying an enemy, most likely from among the Sea Peoples. On the basis of this evidence it has been suggested that Siamon made a military expedition against the Philistines in the course of which he conquered the city of Gezer on the frontier between Philistia and Israel, a conquest which the Bible ascribes to Solomons father-in-law (1Ki. 9:16). Even if this does not constitute incontrovertible proof of the identity of this Pharaoh, chronologically only the last two kings of the twenty-first dynasty fit the identification.[129]
[129] Malamat, BAR, II, 93.
Solomons marriage was strictly political, an arrangement between two families in which any courtship was out of the question. Treaties between nations were customarily sealed by intermarriage of the two royal houses. Solomon needed the recognition of the prestigious and once powerful Egypt to help make his claim to the throne secure. Pharaoh needed trade concessions from the king who now controlled the important north-south highways, as well as assurance that his powerful neighbor would not attempt to expand his domain southward. Albeit, this alliance must have been very shocking to the average Israelite since Egypt was the ancestral foe of Israel. Solomon brought his new wife to the city of David and there she lived in the palace formerly occupied by David (2Ch. 8:11) until Solomon was able to complete his building projects on Mt. Moriahhis own house, the Temple and the rest of the wall of the city (1Ki. 3:1). He began building the Temple in the fourth year of his reign (1Ki. 6:1) and his own house in his eleventh year (1Ki. 7:1).
Marriage with foreign women is not without precedent in Old Testament history. Joseph married an Egyptian woman (Gen. 41:45); Moses married a Midianite woman (Exo. 2:21) and later a Cushite (Num. 12:1), Rahab (Mat. 1:5) and Ruth (Rth. 4:13) both were foreign women who married Israelite men and became part of the genealogy of Christ. Only marriage to Canaanite women is specifically condemned in the Law of Moses (Exo. 34:11-16; Deu. 7:1-5), and even that restriction apparently applied only to uncoverted Canaanite women. Thus while Solomon was within the letter of the law, the spirit of the Law of Moses would require that the foreign wife renounce idolatry and pledge allegiance to the Lord. Did Pharaohs daughter abandon her idols upon becoming the wife of Solomon? Three factors lead one to believe that such was the case: (1) Solomon at this period of his life was an enthusiastic observer of the Law; (2) the king is never condemned for this particular marriage; and (3) no trace of Egyptian idolatry or religious rites can be found in Israel at this time.[130]
[130] Hammond, PC, p. 50.
V. SOLOMONS COMMITMENT TO GOD 3:12
TRANSLATION
(2) Only the people were sacrificing in the high places because a house for the name of the LORD had not been built until those days. (3) And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, except in the high places he was sacrificing and offering incense.
COMMENTS
Just as Pharaohs daughter was compelled to live in the city of David because Solomons palace was not yet finished, so also the people were forced to continue worshiping God at high places until Solomons Temple was completed (1Ki. 3:2). These high places (Heb., bamoth) sometimes consisted of an altar alone, but often a shrine was erected near by. The Canaanites were accustomed to worshiping on such high places long before the Israelites entered the land. Sometimes Canaanite high places were taken over by the Israelites, modified and converted to the worship of the Lord. The high place at Gibeon mentioned in 1Ki. 3:4 may have been once used in the worship of the Canaanite pantheon.
At the commencement of his reign, Solomon sincerely attempted to observe the statutes of David, i.e., the laws of God which David had kept (cf. 1Ki. 3:6; 1Ki. 3:14), and which he had commanded Solomon to keep (1Ki. 2:4). The only blemish on the record of Solomon in those early years was that he worshiped God at the high places (1Ki. 3:3). The author of Kings does not say that such worship was sinful; he only is suggesting that it was less than ideal. It was an imperfection that God winked at in the period before the Temple was built.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Pharaoh king of Egypt.At this time it would appear, from the Egyptian records and traditions, that Egypt was weak and divided, and that what is called the twenty-first dynasty of the Tanite kings was ruling in Lower Egypt. This, and a corresponding abeyance (judging from the monuments) of Assyrian power, gave scope for the rise to sudden greatness and wealth of the Israelite kingdom under Solomon, and probably induced the Egyptian king of those days to consent to an alliance which, at other times, the greatness of the Pharaohs might have spumed. No fault is found with the alliance by the sacred historian, for the Egyptians were never looked upon with the same aversion as the strange women of the Canaanite races. As, moreover, it is not in any way connected with Solomons subsequent declension into idolatry, noticed in 1Ki. 11:1-8, it is not unlikely that the new queen literally acted on the call of the Psalmist (Psa. 45:10) to forget her own people and her fathers house.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
SOLOMON’S AFFINITY WITH EGYPT, 1Ki 3:1.
1. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh This seems to have been his first act of foreign policy, and was, perhaps, designed to counteract the influence of Hadad the Edomite, who had fled to Egypt during David’s reign, and was now securely housed in the royal family. See 1Ki 11:14-22. Every thing in the history of Hadad naturally conspired to make him a settled enemy of the kingdom of Israel; and, perhaps, at a later period, he had a hand with Jeroboam in planning the revolt of the ten tribes of Israel. Solomon, doubtless, expected to strengthen his kingdom by this affinity with Egypt, and to prevent invasion from that quarter. It was the first intercourse between these nations since the time of the Exodus, and the first of those foreign alliances which brought the Israelites into disastrous intimacy with the heathen powers. Its immediate effect was probably favourable to Solomon by increasing his fame and comparative importance among the nations, and adding to his dominions, (1Ki 9:16,) but it resulted in a commerce forbidden by the law, (1Ki 10:26-29,) and thus involved the Israelitish kingdom in numerous evils. The Pharaoh here named is by Winer and Ewald identified with Psousennes, the last king (in Manetho’s table) of the twenty-first dynasty; called also the Tanite dynasty from the city Tanis, the scriptural Zoan, which was then the place of the royal residence.
Took Pharaoh’s daughter According to the letter of the law only marriage with the Canaanitish tribes was forbidden, (Exo 34:16,) and intermarriage with nations outside of Canaan was not only not prohibited but tolerated in the examples, never rebuked, of Joseph’s marriage with the daughter of an Egyptian priest, (Gen 41:45😉 of Moses’s marriage with a daughter of Midian, (Exo 2:21,) and that of Boaz and Ruth. But though the law did not forbid these marriages, they were not in harmony with its spirit; and it was by foreign marriages that Solomon’s heart was seduced from the worship of Jehovah. See note on 1Ki 11:1.
The city of David This was built upon Mount Zion, the Jebusite stronghold, and has been identified for centuries with the southwestern hill of the modern city “the upper city” of Josephus. See notes on 2Sa 5:6-7, and compare Josephus, Wars, 1Ki 5:4 ; 1Ki 5:1. But recently this locality of Zion has been called in question. Thrupp, Fergusson, and Rawlinson identify Zion with Moriah, and so locate “the city of David” on the eastern, or temple, mountain. The chief reasons for this identification are:
1.) That in many passages Zion is distinguished from Jerusalem. For example, 2Ki 19:31; Psa 51:18; Joe 3:16; Zec 1:17. These passages, however, are all poetic parallelisms, and Zion may be distinguished from the rest of the city as being its most conspicuous feature.
2.) The passages which speak of Zion as the “holy hill,” or chosen seat of Jehovah, are thought applicable only to the temple mountain: (Psa 2:6; Psa 132:13; Isa 60:14; Jer 31:6; Joe 3:17; Joe 3:21; Zec 8:3🙂 but on whichever mountain “the city of David’’ was built, it was consecrated by the ark of God before the temple was erected, and so would ever be celebrated as “chosen” and “holy.” Afterwards the ark was transferred from the city of David to the temple. Compare 2Sa 6:16; 1Ki 8:1.
3.) Some passages in 1 Maccabees ( 1Ma 4:37 ; 1Ma 4:60 ; 1Ma 7:33 ) seem to identify Zion with the temple mount, as, “they went up to Mount Zion and saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned.” But all this may have been seen from the modern Zion, as one looked across the valley; and Zion may also be used in the wider sense of Jerusalem.
4.) Finally, Psa 48:2 is thought to be decisive against the modern Zion, which is the most southern extremity of the city. But it may well be asked, in reply, what more beauty of situation or elevation has Moriah than the modern Zion “on the sides of the north?” The passage is very properly rendered by Gesenius thus: “Beautiful in its elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion; (the joy) of the remotest north is the city of the Great King.” But if we retain the rendering “sides of the north,” we may either understand the reference to its appearance as being immediately north of the border of Judah, (Jos 15:8,) or, as Alexander suggests, “As it rose upon the view of the army returning from the south.” From whatever quarter viewed, the modern Zion is more noticeable for its elevation than Moriah. Until more conclusive evidences are adduced to overthrow the ancient tradition, we therefore prefer to locate the city of David on the southwestern hill, “the upper city,” which, elevated so conspicuously above the neighbouring heights, would be most naturally fixed upon by the Jebusites as their stronghold, or castle. Subsequently Solomon removed his Egyptian wife “out of the city of David” to his own palace, ( 1Ki 9:24 ; 2Ch 8:11,) which seems to have been built upon the southern slope of Moriah. See note at the beginning of chap. 7.
Until his own house He had no appropriate palace of his own as yet, and he esteemed the palace of David, where the ark had been brought, too holy for the residence of a foreign princess. See 2Ch 8:11. Whence it appears that Pharaoh’s daughter must have dwelt for many years, not in the royal house, as Thenius thinks, but in some private residence upon Mount Zion, somewhat apart from the more sacred places.
House of the Lord The temple.
The wall of Jerusalem This, though strongly fortified by David, (2Sa 5:9,) was greatly enlarged and strengthened by Solomon. See 1Ki 9:15; 1Ki 11:27.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Solomon’s Great Sacrifice and Divine Dream (Comparison of Pro 2:1-22 ) 1Ki 3:1-25 gives us the story of Solomon’s great sacrifice that he offered to God and how God blessed Him in a dream. After Solomon made an offering, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked Him what he wanted. Solomon’s prayer to God was, “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.” (1Ki 3:9) This is the theme of Pro 2:1-22, which is how to develop a hearing heart. In Pro 2:1-22 Solomon wants to lead us through the same journey that he had to take as a king in order to hear from God. I believe that God answered Solomon’s prayer, not by speaking to him audibly on a regular basis, nor by imparting wisdom into his heart all at one time, but rather, by revealing to him the secret of how to developing a hearing heart through spending time meditating in God’s Word. It was up to Solomon to work this divine truth out in his life. Pro 2:1-22 teaches us how to acquire the same hearing heart so that we, too, can walk with the same wisdom that Solomon achieved.
1Ki 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
1Ki 3:1
[18] C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, The Books of the Kings, in Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, trans. James Martin, in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), comments on 1 Kings 3:1.
1Ki 3:4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
1Ki 3:4
1Ki 8:63, “And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the LORD, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the LORD.”
2Ch 7:5, “And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.”
1Ki 3:5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
1Ki 3:5
Mat 7:11, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
Jas 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
1Ki 3:6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
1Ki 3:9 1Ki 3:9
Pro 4:3-4, “For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.”
1Ch 22:8-9, “But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.”
1Ki 3:14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
1Ki 3:14
2Ki 20:6, “And I will add unto thy days fifteen years ; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”
1Ki 3:14 Comments – It is amazing that God would give King Solomon a mighty anointing of wisdom and an understanding heart, and then warn him not to depart from God. One would assume that a person with that much wisdom would naturally be inclined to serve the Lord, but Solomon did depart, and fell into idolatry because of his many wives. We too, can know and understand all things, but still backslide from the Lord as Solomon did. This happens when pride enters the heart and the fear of the Lord is pushed aside.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Reign of King Solomon over a United Israel (970-930 B.C.) 1Ki 1:1 to 1Ki 11:43 records the story of the reign of King Solomon. The plot of this historical account of Solomon’s life takes a familiar structure as it discusses the establishment, prosperity and failure of his reign as king over Israel.
1. The Establishment of Solomon’ Reign 1Ki 1:1 to 1Ki 2:46
2. The Prosperity of Solomon’s Reign 1Ki 3:1 to 1Ki 10:29
3. The Failure of Solomon’s Reign 1Ki 11:1-40
4. Epilogue 1Ki 11:41-43
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Reign of King Solomon (His Prosperity) 1Ki 3:1 to 1Ki 10:29 gives us the story of Solomon’s reign as king over the united kingdom of Israel. The emphasis in this passage of Scripture is Solomon’s prosperity as a result of obeying God’s Word. In contrast, the final chapter of Solomon’s reign will end sadly with the story of Solomon falling away from God and how his kingdom grew weak and became divided as a result of his sins.
One of the reasons for Solomon’s prosperity can be seen in his willingness to give generously to the Lord. 1Ki 3:1-15 gives us the story of Solomon’s great sacrifice that he offered to God and how God responded to him in a dream and blessed him. As a new king he had a great need, which was to rule over his people with wisdom and discretion. In his need he came to God with an offering. It was Solomon’s offering of one thousand burnt offerings to the Lord that prompted God to give back to the king a gift. This great sacrifice opened the windows of heaven for Solomon that forever changed the effectiveness of his ministry, for God gave him great wisdom and wealth.
Then God came to Solomon a second time and promised to be with His people and bless the entire nation (1Ki 6:11-13). Although God blessed Solomon in his first divine encounter, the people were blesses during this second visitation. During these years God did not mind Solomon’s prosperity. In fact, it was God who had given him the power to gain this wealth. In fact during his second great sacrifice at the dedication of the Temple Solomon was able to offer sheep and oxen without number (1Ki 8:5). His first offering to God consisted of one thousand burnt offerings (1Ki 3:4). This time he offered twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep (1Ki 8:63). The Lord responded by visiting him again in a dream (1Ki 9:1-9). This time God promised to establish his royal lineage forever and to honour the Temple with His presence. Solomon continued to give (2Ch 8:12; 2Ch 9:12). As he gave he continued to prosper, and he built to his heart’s desire. In fact, he became the richest man on earth, receiving tribute from many kingdoms around him. Solomon made silver as common as stones (2Ch 9:27). In other words, he made the city look more and more like Heaven itself, whose streets are paved with gold.
There is a teaching in today’s churches that one should be specific to God in prayer with his particular need as he gave an offering. In other words, an act of giving should be accompanied with a request to God for a particular need. If someone wanted a Scriptural basis for speaking these blessing forth as they gave an offering, then this verse would certainly support such a teaching.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Solomon at Gibeon
v. 1. And Solomon made affinity, v. 2. Only the people sacrificed in high places, v. 3. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David, his father, v. 4. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, v. 5. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, v. 6. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto Thy servant David, my father, great mercy, v. 7. And now, O Lord, my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead of David, my father; and I am but a little child, v. 8. And Thy servant is in the midst of thy people which Thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude, v. 9. Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart, v. 10. And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
v. 11. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, v. 12. behold, I have done according to thy words, v. 13. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor, v. 14. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, v. 15. And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE BEGINNING OF SOLOMON‘S REIGN.In the preceding chapter we have seen the establishment of Solomon’s rule (verse 46) by the removal of internal foes, i.e; of disaffected and rebellious subjects. In this we see him strengthening his position by an external alliance, by a marriage with an Egyptian princess. This event, however, is related here, not because the historian had this connexion of ideas in his mind, but probably because the marriage came next in order of time.
1Ki 3:1
And Solomon made affinity [Not “alliance” (as some have supposed) but relationship. Lit; made himself son-in-law] with Pharaoh king of Egypt [which of the Pharaohs this was, it is impossible to say with certainty. As, however, Shishak (1Ki 11:40; 1Ki 14:25) is undoubtedly the Sheshonk who succeeded to the throne of Egypt in the 26th year of Solomon (Poole), and who was the first king of the 22nd dynasty of Manetho, we may safely identify this Pharaoh with “a late king of the 21st dynasty.” It has been assumed (Bunsen, Ewald, Brugsch, al.) that it was Psusennes II; the last king of that house, on the supposition that he reigned 35 years, (as stated by Eusebius), but according to Africanus, his reign was limited to 14 years. It is wiser to say, therefore, with Mr. Poole (Dict. Bib; “Pharaoh”) that this Pharaoh “cannot yet be identified on Manetho’s list.” It is also impossible to decide whether the alliance was first sought by Solomon with a view to win over a powerful and dangerous neighbour (Thenius), to whose inroads his northern border was exposed, and especially to counteract the influence (1Ki 11:21) of Hadad (Plumptre), or whether the marriage was proposed by Pharaoh because the 21st dynasty “had then become very weak” (Rawlinson) and its head desired “friendly relations with the kingdom of Israel, which had grown into a power to be dreaded” (Keil). But we may reasonably suppose that the alliance “must have been to most Israelites a very startling one” (Plumptre.) Egypt (Rahab, Psa 89:10; Isa 51:9) was to every Israelite a name both of triumph and dread. The Pharaohs were their ancestral foes], and took Pharaoh’s daughter [A marriage such as this was not without precedent (Gen 41:45; Exo 2:21; Num 12:1; Mat 1:5; Rth 4:13), nor was it condemned by the Law, which only forbade intermarriage with the nations of Canaan (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3), and sanctioned the union of an Israelite with a captive taken in war (Deu 21:13; cf. Deu 20:14). “At the same time, it was only when the foreign wives renounced idolatry, that such marriages were in accordance with the spirit of the law” (Keil). As Solomon at this period of his life faithfully observed the law, as he is never blamed for this marriage, and as there is no trace whatever of the introduction of Egyptian rites into Israel, it is a fair presumption that the Egyptian princess conformed to the religion of her adopted country], and brought her into the city of David [2Ch 8:11 speaks of her dwelling in “the house of David,” i.e; it would seem, the palace which David had occupied] until he had made an end [this hardly shows that he had begun to build, as Keil infers. He did not begin building the Temple until the fourth (1Ki 6:1), nor his own house until the eleventh year (1Ki 7:1) after his accession, and the marriage, though not at the very commencement of his reign, can hardly have been delayed to the eleventh year, and may have taken place before the death of Shimei] of building his own house [cf. 1Ki 7:7] and the house of the Lord [cf. 1Ki 6:1-38.; 1Ki 7:51] and the wall of Jerusalem round about. [Probably, he both strengthened and extended the city walls, as Josephus (Ant. 8.6. 1) affirms. Acc. to the LXX. addition to 1Ki 12:1-33; it was on this task that Jeroboam was employed (1Ki 11:27; cf. 1Ki 9:15). David had fortified a part of the city (2Sa 5:9).
1Ki 3:2
Only [The word perhaps signifies “that there was one exception to the flourishing condition of things which the writer has been describing” (Rawlinson), though the people are nowhere blamed for sacrificing on the high places, and Solomon’s sacrifice at “the great high place “was full of blessing. The idea rather is that just as he was obliged to bring his Egyptian wife into the city of David, because his palace was not yet finished, so the people were compelled to sacrifice on the high places, because the temple was not yet built (Keil), and “the place” where God would put His name had only just been chosen (1Ch 22:1)] the people sacrificed [Heb. were sacrificing, i.e; habitually, constantly] in high places [All nations have chosen hill tops for act of worship, perhaps as being nearer heaven. “Even Abraham built an altar to the Lord on a mountain near Bethel (Gen 12:7, Gen 12:8; cf. Gen 22:2, Gen 22:9; Gen 31:54).” And the use of high places for this purpose was not distinctly condemned in the Law. It is true the Hebrews were commanded to have but one place of sacrifice (Le 17:9; Deu 12:5, Deu 12:11, Deu 12:13, Deu 12:26, Deu 12:27; cf. Jos 22:29), and this no doubt was, if not an indirect prohibition, a discouragement of such sanctuaries. It has been held, however, that this command was purely prospective, and it is certainly remarkable that even when the Israelites were settled in the promised land, and the tabernacle was set up (Jos 18:1), altars were constantly built and sacrifices offered on high places, and sometimes, as in the case of Gideon (Jdg 6:26), and Manoah (Jdg 13:19, Jdg 13:20), by express Divine command. Later on we find Samuel (1Sa 7:9, 1Sa 7:10; 1Sa 11:15; 1Sa 16:5), Saul (Heb 13:9; 14:35), David (1Ch 21:26), Solomon and Elijah (1Ki 18:30), offering sacrifices in various places, which they could not possibly have done had it seemed to them that this was condemned beforehand by the Law. It is highly probable, therefore, that though the contemporaries of Joshua took a different view (as Jos 22:15-31 proves), the men of a later age excused themselves on the ground stated in the text, that “there was no house built unto the name of the Lord.” It has been held by some that “had they not sacrificed and burnt incense on high places, they could not have sacrificed or burnt incense at all” (Bp. Horsley); but this seems to overlook the fact that there was one place provided for sacrificesthe door of the tabernacle — and that for some reason or other they sacrificed elsewhere. And the reason, no doubt, was the one assigned by the historian. It should be added that this term “high place” () came to be used of all places of worship, not only on heights, but even those in valleys (2Ki 17:9; Jer 7:31; Jer 32:35). The Bamah sometimes consisted of an altar only, but as a rule, there was a shrine or sanctuary, erected hard by (1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 17:29; 2Ki 23:19), the Beth-Bamah, for which the word Bamah is sometimes loosely employed (1Ki 11:7; 1Ki 14:23; 2Ki 21:3)], because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days.
1Ki 3:3
And Solomon loved the Lord [thus keeping the first and great commandment, the “Shema Israel” (Deu 6:5; cf. Deu 30:16; Mat 22:1-46 :87; Luk 10:27], walking in the statutes of David his father [i.e; those which David had kept (Luk 10:6,Luk 10:14) and commanded him to keep (Luk 2:4)]: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. [These words clearly show that the worship of the high places, although condoned, and indeed accepted, by God (Luk 10:5) was not strictly lawful and right. It was an ignorance that God winked at. The historian, remembering what the worship of the high places became, notices this as an imperfection of Solomon’s early reign, though he does not say that such worship was sinful.
1Ki 3:4
And the king went to Gibeon [Jos 9:3; Jos 10:2; Jos 18:25; Jos 21:17; 2Sa 21:1. Now known as El-Jib, a commanding eminence (as the name implies) some six miles north of Jerusalem. Strictly, it consists of two heights, on one of which, it is conjectured, the town stood, while the other was the high place. Solomon was accompanied to Gibeon by “all the congregation,” including the captains, judges, governors, etc., after the precedent of 1Sa 11:15; cf. 2Sa 6:2. His object was also to supplicate the Divine blessing on his undertakings. If his visit served at the same time as a farewell, or “honourable funeral to the tabernacle” (Wordsw.) this was an accident]; for that was the great high place [being the place of the tabernacle and brazen altar. In 1Sa 21:6 we find the tabernacle at Nob, though without the ark (1Sa 4:2). After the massacre of the priests it lost the ephod (1Sa 22:20; 1Sa 23:6). It could hardly remain in a spot stained by so much blood; but how or when it found its way to Gibeon, we do not know. See 1Ch 16:37, 1Ch 16:39; 2Ch 1:3-6]: a thousand burnt offerings [such numbers were not infrequent at festivals. See on 1Ki 8:62, and cf. 2Ch 29:33, 2Ch 29:34. Rawlinson reminds us that “Xerxes offered 1000 oxen at Troy” (Herod. 7:43).] did Solomon offer [not, of course, personally, as some (Ewald. e.g.) have sup. posed. He is said to have “offered” them, because he (together with the congregation, perhaps) provided them. The immense number alone shows that he cannot have offered in person. The festival probably lasted for seven or eight days,but even then a thousand victims can hardly have been offered whole () unless the altar was greatly enlarged, or additional temporary altars were erected. This latter supposition is not negatived by the next words. See on 1Ki 8:63, 1Ki 8:64.] upon that altar.
1Ki 3:5
In Glbeon the Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream [cf. Num 12:6. A vision is not necessarily implied (as in Gen 28:12; cf. Gen 15:12), though he may have seen some angelic form (angelus in Dei nomine ei apparuit loquens. Grotius)of course, only in his dream. Cf. Mat 1:20; Mat 2:12. Probably “appeared” is the equivalent of “revealed Himself.” Bhr] by night; and God said, Ask what I shall give thee [cf. Mat 7:7. This was the answer to the sacrifices. The night was probably that which followed the last day on which they were offered (Mat 7:15).]
1Ki 3:6
And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto [Heb. wrought with] thy servant David my father great mercy [marg; favour] according as he walked Before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee [cf. 2Ki 20:3, where Hezekiah uses much the same language of himself. Also 2Ki 11:4], and thou hast kept for him this great kindness [Heb. favour; same word as above. David himself had regarded this as a singular mercy (1Ki 1:48)], that thou hast given him a son to sit [Heb. sitting] upon his throne, as it is this day. [Same expression Deu 6:24; Deu 8:18; 1Sa 22:8.; Ezr 9:7.]
1Ki 3:7
And now, O Lord my Cod, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father; and I am but [Heb. and I ] a little child: [These words are generally understood as indicating Solomon’s humility rather than his age. No doubt, there is some exaggeration in the expression, which manifestly is not to be taken au pied de la lettre; at the same time it is questionable whether such words would be used of himself by a young man of twenty, which Solomon is commonly supposed to have been. See on 1Ki 2:2, and 1Ki 12:8] I know not how to go out or come in. [The same phrase is found in the Pentateuch, Deu 28:6; Deu 31:2. Also in 1Sa 18:13; 2Sa 3:25; Psa 121:8. It is the formula for expressing behaviour, conduct, the outward life of man.]
1Ki 3:8
And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen [see Deu 7:6], a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. [The promises of Gen 13:16; Gen 15:5, lived in the thoughts and language of the Jews, and were doubtless the original of this expression. Cf. also Num 23:10.]
1Ki 3:9
Give therefore thy servant an understanding [Heb. hearing. Cf. verse 11 (Heb. “to hear judgment.”) The idea is not docility, as the Vulg. (cor docile), but discrimination, penetration. Cf. 2Sa 14:17 (Heb.); Php 1:9, Php 1:10 (marg.)] heart [i.e; a judicial mind. The “hearing heart” was desired, not that it might “give heed to the law” (Keil), but to qualify him] to Judge thy people [The Hebrew king, like most ancient monarchs, was supreme judge as well as governor (“prince and judge,” Exo 5:14; and cf. Exo 18:16). The Jews desired a king that he might judge them (1Sa 8:5). Their rulers so far had been purely “Judges” (; compare the Carthaginian name, suffetes.) When they desired one who should, lead their armies, they still put his judicial functions in the first place (loc. cit. verse 20). And what were the duties of a king in this respect, Absalom’s words (2Sa 15:4) show. In verses 16-28 we see Solomon sitting as Chief Justice], that I may discern between good and bad [i.e; right and wrong, true and false; cf. Heb 5:14): for who is able to judge this thy so great [Heb. heavy, i.e; numerous; compare graves greges] a people. [The number of the Israelites at this period is referred to in 1Ki 4:20.]
1Ki 3:10
And the speech [Heb. thing; same word as below] pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing, [Though in a dream the judgment and will were not suspended. Our dreams accord with our waking thoughts. This would have been Solomon’s choice at any time.]
1Ki 3:11
And God said unto him. Because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thyself long life [Heb. many days]; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life [i.e; destruction in battle] of thine enemies [not so much personal enemies, like Hadad and Rezon, (Rawlinson) as military foes. The meaning is explained by the corresponding word, “honour” ( glory) in verse 13]; but hast asked [The word is repeated, according to Hebrew usage, now for the sixth time] for thyself understanding to discern [Heb. hear; see on verse 9] Judgment.
1Ki 3:12
Behold, I have done according to thy words [i.e; granted thy prayer, as the next words show]: lo [Heb. behold] I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. [Cf. 1Ch 29:25; 2Ch 9:22. But there is no need to restrict the reference to kings and princes.]
1Ki 3:13
And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour [Heb. glory]; so that there shall not be any among the kings lure unto thee all thy days.
1Ki 3:14
And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk [1Ki 3:6; 1Ki 15:4. This is the Divine confirmation of David’s words to his son (1Ki 2:3, 1Ki 2:4) and of the son’s description of his father’s piety (1Ki 15:6 supra)], then I will lengthen thy days [Solomon’s days were not of an unusual length, as he can hardly have been more than sixty (if so much), although called .
1Ki 3:15
And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream [That is to say, this passed while Solomon slept; but it was more than a dream. The same words are used of Pharaoh (Gen 41:7) when God showed him what He was about to do (1Ki 3:25, 1Ki 3:28, cf. Gen 40:8), and this was such a dream as Pharaoh’s and as Joseph’s (Mat 1:20; Mat 2:19). It was a dream, i.e; in which a Divine revelation was made to him. Wordsw. refers to Solomon’s words, “I sleep, but my heart waketh” (Son 5:2), and “He giveth to his beloved (Jedidiah) in sleep” (Psa 127:2)]. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant [the other sanctuary of that period (2Sa 6:17; 1Ch 16:37-40)] and offered up burnt offerings [probably in continuation of the sacrifices of Gibeon, 1Ki 3:4], and offered peace offerings [in testimony of his thankfulness for the signal favour recently vouchsafed to him] and made a feast [lit; a drinking. After the example of David, 1Ch 16:3. Cf. 1Ki 8:65. It was not exclusively a symposium. The flesh of the animals offered in sacrifice was eaten by the worshippers and their guests (Le 1Ki 7:15, 1Ki 7:31; 1Sa 2:16; 1Co 8:13). This was “a sacrificial meal of the ” (Keil). See on ch. 1Ki 8:63] to all his servants.
HOMILETICS
1Ki 3:3
The Grace and Place of Love.
“And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in all the statutes of David his father, only sacrificed,” etc.
Of how many men, as well as of the wisest of men, may some such words be used. Of some few it may perhaps be averred that they have loved the Lord “with a perfect heart,” of fewer still, if any, that they have loved Him with all the heart, and all the mind, and all the soul, and all the strength. But in the case of most, a qualifying clause must be added, an “only.” Along with sincere piety, with devout love to Him who first loved us, how often are there found imperfections, infirmities, sins. Sometimes, e.g; the loved is tinged with superstition, as in the case of St. Theresa, Lacordaire, and many Romanists; sometimes, as in the case of Calvin and many Protestants, it is marked by harshness and intolerance; sometimes, as in the case of Schleiermacher and Bunsen, it is infected with rationalism. The love, that is to say, is not without alloy; it is not the pure refined gold. In some of the blessed saints we find narrowness and bigotry, in others fanaticism; in others, again, Pharisaism and presumption. Now all these “love the Lord only …. But observe. Solomon was loved of God; blessed, enriched, and prospered of God, despite this “only;” notwithstanding, i.e; that his sacrifice and service were marked by imperfection. Hence learn
I. THAT GOD LOVES THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, DESPITE THEIR IMPERFECTIONS. Of course God loves men who do not love Him. “God commendeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners,” etc. We often say to children, “God doesn’t love you when you are naughty,” but this is vicious theology. If this were so, there had been no hope for our world. But He is good to the unthankful and evil. Yes, the love must begin with God. “We love Him because He first loved us.” And the love that bore with our sins, in the days of our impenitence, now bears also with our infirmities and ignorances. Neither superstition nor narrowness nor fanaticism “nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God,” etc.
II. THAT GOD FORGIVES THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, NOTWITHSTANDING THEIR INFIRMITIES. It is not meant here that our love can make any atonement or reparation for our sins. We know of no merits or mediation but His. “Your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.” But where there is love, there is forgiveness (Luk 7:47). Why, love involves penitence and faith, and ensures obedience. (Observe the next words, “Walking in all the statutes,” etc.) Thus, the three conditions of forgiveness are all comprehended in love.
III. THAT GOD WILL RECEIVE THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, DESPITE THEIR IGNORANCES. The gate of heaven is never shut against love, and only love will open it.
“O merchant, at heaven’s gate, for heavenly ware
Love is the only coin that passes there.”
It must be so, for “love is heaven, and heaven is love”
IV. THAT WE OUGHT TO LOVE THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, DESPITE THEIR IGNORANCES, INFIRMITIES, AND IMPERFECTIONS. If the Eternal Love overlooks our “only,” surely we ought to overlook the “only” of others. We may regret their views, we may think them unsound in the faith, we may lament their superstition, their lack of “sweetness and light,” their vulgarity, or fanaticism, but if God loves them, and receives them notwithstanding, what right have we to do otherwise? If they love our Lord, then they are entitled to our love. “Grace be unto all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.” We find, consequently, in the religion both of the Old Testament and of the New
V. THAT LOVE IS EVERYTHING. It is
1. The fulfilling of the law (Rom 13:8, Rom 13:10; Mat 22:37-40). We cannot break the law if we love. “Habe caritatem et fac quicquid vis,” said St. Augustine.
2. The stamp and seal royal of the Christian. “He that loveth, is born of God.” “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love,” etc. It has been said, “Pectus est quod theologum facit.” It is equally true that the heart makes the Christian.
3. The glory of the man. It was the greatest glory of Solomon. The highest praise recorded of him is, not that “he was wiser than all men” (1Ki 4:31), nor yet that he “exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom” (1Ki 10:1-29 :33), but that he loved the Lord. “The best thing that can be said of a man is that he loves God.” Solomon in all his glory is not greater than the poorest of the saints.
4. The one thing needful. The one thing God demands is the heart. (Adelaide Proeter’s beautiful poem,” Give me thy heart,” affords a fine illustration here.) It is the mainspring of the man. The life depends on the heart. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the Roman Catholics were commanded to attend Church under pains and penalties, some of their leaders applied to the Pope for guidance. “Let the Catholics of England,” was the astute reply, “give me their hearts, and the Queen may do what she likes with the rest.”
1Ki 3:5-15
God’s Gifts and Solomon’s Choice.
“And God said, Ask what I shall give thee,” etc. “Happy Solomon!” we exclaim, as we read these words. He had all that earth could give alreadyyouth, wealth, prosperity. glory, greatness. He stood already on the topmost pinnacle of human felicity. And now Heaven offers him his choice of blessings; now the treasure house of the infinite God is opened, and he is bidden to take what he will. Behold the favourite of Heaven! It is indeed true “there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee” (1Ki 3:12). But stay! Solomon’s is not an exceptional case. If we have not his temporal advantages, we may share his spiritual blessings. For to usto all, that is, who, like Solomon, “love the Lord”does the same voice speak, saying, “Ask what I shall give thee.” Yes; He who spake to this new crowned king in the night visions hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, saying, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” Let us consider
I. LIKE SOLOMON, WE ARE COMMANDED TO ASK. It is not that we are permitted so to do: it is made a positive duty. If we do not ask, we sin. “Ask,” “seek,” “knock”these are the injunctions of our Lord and Master. Asking is an essential part of our religion. “Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath.”
II. LIKE SOLOMON, WE HAVE BUT TO ASK, AND GOD WILL GIVE. Solomon was not a favourite of Heaven. God has no favouritesthat would argue imperfection in the Deity. “Every one that asketh receiveth,” etc. “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord,” etc. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God ….and it shall be given him.” If we have not wisdom, blessing, pardon, peace, it is all for want of asking. God is “more ready to hear than we to pray.” And observe here: we are commanded to ask, and God is sure to give, because He loves to give; it is His nature and property to give. Not only (as has been beautifully said) is “the greatest Being in the world the greatest giver.” but it is an essential part of His perfections to give. We often say “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” but God acts on this principle. It is the nature of man to take. The first lesson the child learns is to grasp. Covetousness, the desire to have, is a part of our being. It is a part of His being to desire to impart. He abhors a vacuum.
III. LIKE AHAZ, MANY SAY, “I WILL NOT ASK.” They will not believe in the wonderful charity of God. To some it seems too good to be true. But many have no room for God’s gifts. Their heart is full already. “No room for Him in the inn.”
IV. LIKE SOLOMON, LET US ASK THE BEST GIFTS. That is an instructive fable which tells how Hercules, on attaining manhood, went out into solitude, and sitting down there, deliberated long and anxiously with himself which of the two ways before him it were better to takethe way of pleasure, or the way of virtue. Such a crisis, involving such a choice, happens in every life. Solomon must now make his choice, and it really lies between pleasure and duty, between temporal and eternal blessings. He may choose glory, wealth, renownin a word, earthly pleasure and prosperityor he may choose character, wisdom, goodness; in other words, heavenly and abiding treasure. We know which he chose. So each one of us has to choose in turn between the showy and the solid, between the higher and the lower, between God and Mammon.
“Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side.
Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,
Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified.”
V. IF, LIKE SOLOMON, WE CHOOSE THE BEST GIFTS, THE OTHER AND INFERIOR BLESSINGS ARE THROWN IN WITH THEM. Consider: God gave Solomon wisdom because he asked for it, and at the same time gave him wealth because he did not ask for it. His choice of the higher showed he was fit to be entrusted with the lower. The gifts men covet most, viz; “riches and honour,” are of so little account with God that He adds them as a make weight. Just as when we buy a jewel the case is thrown in as part of the purchase, so those who choose the better part receive at the same time all that is necessary for them. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” And here again observe, that not only is it God’s nature to give, but to give “exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think.” He is “wont to do more than either we desire or deserve.” Thus the disciples asked for a form of prayer (Luk 11:1). Our blessed Lord gave them their desire, and gave at the same time what they never dreamed of asking forsome precious directions as to the spirit of prayer, as to perseverance in prayer, etc. (ib. 1Ki 3:5-18). The same idea is embodied in a stanza of Wordsworth’s
“I knelt before Thy gracious throne,
And asked for peace with suppliant knee;
And peace was given; not peace alone,
But love and joy and ecstasy.”
It was in the night visions that God spoke to Solomon. It is in no dream, no vision, but in His own written word, He says to us, “Ask what I shall give thee.” Which shall we imitate, Solomon or Ahaz? Shall we have all or none? But it may be said, Solomon’s wisdom did him no great service after all. His prayer did not keep him from falling. But why was this? It was just because he ceased to care for wisdom and piety, and ceased to ask for it. Learn, then, in conclusion
VI. IF, LIKE SOLOMON, WE CEASE TO COVET THE BEST GIFTS, AND CARE ONLY FOR THE LOWER, WE SHALL CERTAINLY LOSE THE FORMER, AND MAY POSSIBLY LOSE BOTH. So that Solomon’s prayer may teach us this last lesson, that “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Yes, it seems, as we think of the beginning and then of the end of this puissant princeit seems as if his father’s last words must have been prophetic”If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever” (1Ch 28:9); and Solomon’s fall solemnly echoes and emphasizes the words which followO that he had laid them to heart!”Take heed now” (1Ki 3:10).
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE
1Ki 3:5-16
A wise prayer.
Gibeon, the scene of this incident, was one of the “high places” of the land. Worship in high places had been forbidden. Law against it not rigidly enforced until the place was chosen “where the Lord would cause his name to dwell.” That Solomon’s act in sacrificing at Gibeon was not condemned is proved by his being favoured with this direct Divine communication. Every scene of real worship may become the scene of special Divine manifestation. “The Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream of the night.” Whatever our theory of these dreams of the olden times, it was evidently an articulate and intelligible Divine communication that Solomon had, and his spirit was intensely active. His choice of wisdom rather than riches, etc; was an act of judgment, a decision of the will, and therefore indicative of moral character. The whole spirit of his prayer most honourable to him. The prayer is, in a sense, answered before it is presented. Every holy yearning of the pious soul contains within itself the pledge of its own fulfilment.
I. THE NATURE OF TRUE WISDOM. A power of moral discernment. “An understanding heart to judge,” etc. This was the virtue of Solomon’s prayerit craved a moral rather than mere circumstantial, or even intellectual, endowment. He had the wisdom of the man of science, the “minute philosopher” (see 1Ki 4:33). But higher wisdom was wanted for higher workfor guiding and governing the peopleand this is what he prayed for. Little trace in Solomon of the pure, fervent spirit of devotion that glowed in his father David. The yearning of David’s heart was not so much for wisdom as for holiness. But Solomon has a lofty ideal of kingly rule before him, and this is how he seeks to realize it.
1. Wisdom is a practical quality; not merely theoretical; consists less in true ideas than in the ability to embody them in a real and living form; not knowledge or insight, but power to turn what is known and understood to highest account. In common affairs of lifein matters of business, science, arthow many clever theoretical men are there whose cleverness never takes a tangible, practical form! You can point to nothing that they have ever done as a worthy expression of their native capacity. Only in a qualified sense are such men “wise.” How much more in the higher sphere of moral and religious life. Here also a science and an art, the ideal and the practical. Wisdom is the combination of the two. It is thought and it is lifethe science of spiritual truth and reality married to the divine art of living under the influence of what is real and true.
2. Wisdom deals with those eternal principles that underlie the surface appearances of life. The judgment of Solomon in the dispute between the two women about the child (1Ki 3:16 to end) is suggestive here. Its peculiarity is, that instead of trusting to appearances to decide the doubt, he leaves the decision to the deep instinct of the mother’s nature, i.e; his wisdom is seen in calling to its aid a principle profounder and less fallible than itself. Apply this to the higher conduct of life. We want something more reliable than our own observation or reason as a guide. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Lay hold on God. Walk by faith. Let there be a divine element in your life:
“There is more wisdom in a whisper’d prayer
Than in the ancient lore of all the schools.”
How great the wisdom of him whose whole daily life is a heaven ascending prayer!
II. THE DIVINE ORIGIN OF WISDOM. “Ask what I shall give thee.” God is the infinite Fount of Wisdom, and He “gives” from His exhaustless fulness. “The Father of Lights.” What a world of wonders is the book of Nature! What creative thought, constructive skill, wise adaptation are here! A world of profounder wonders is the Book of Truth. “O the depth of the riches,” etc. But this is revelation; we have to think of impartation. God will give wisdom, “Ask what I shall give thee.” “If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God,” etc. All true light that guides man in any right path is His gift. Most of all those right thoughts, high aspirations, holy energies, which are the very life of men. Man can only disclose his mental riches. The philosopher cannot “give” the rustic wisdom, nor the father or teacher the child. God sheds the light of His Spirit into the soul. “If ye being evil,” etc.
III. THE ABUNDANT REWARD OF WISDOM. “And I have also given thee,” etc. (1Ki 3:13). God’s beneficence exceeds the expectations of His children. “Able to do exceeding abundantly,” etc. (Eph 3:20). “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” etc. (Mat 6:33).W.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND
1Ki 3:5
SERMON FOR CHILDREN. Waiting for God’s voice.
Little children are sometimes intended to do great things. God has a special place foreveryone to fill. Sometimes the child who is least thought of in the home or in the class is to have the noblest destiny. Two brothers once lived in the same tent. One was brave and manly, a great hunter, and a popular, generous man, but his younger and feebler brother, Jacob, became greater than he. In Jesse’s family at Bethlehem there were young men, tall, comely, and heroic, yet their shepherd brother, whom they despised, was chosen to be their king. Now in David’s own family God made His choice; and overlooking the beautiful Absalom, and the ambitious Adonijah, he selected Solomon, their youngest and gentlest brother, to be king over one of the richest kingdoms in the world, and to rule His own people in the time of their greatest prosperity. It may be that some lads here, who are little thought of, may become the leaders of a nation to a nobler life, the teachers of their age, to whom the world will gladly listen. But whatever sphere you have to fill, you will only be ready to fill it well when you begin, as Solomon began his reign, by listening to the voice of God. This was the most interesting part of Solomon’s life. He was now at his best. Ascending his father’s throne, he was conscious of his responsibility, and asked God to give him wisdom (Jas 1:5, Jas 1:6). In youth our future is generally decided. If we go wrong then, it is not easy to be set right. An injury done to a living thing during its growing time is irreparable. The man who was crippled when he was a child, the tree blasted when it was a sapling, cannot by any subsequent care be made straight and whole. Solomon, however, started wellgoing up to the ancient tabernacle in Gibeon, to offer sacrifice to the Lord.
Let us see what preparation Solomon had for the dream spoken of here. Many a child says, “I wish God would come to me, and tell me I might ask for whatever I liked. I often say my prayers, but God does not seem real to me. I never see Him or hear Him.” You will not see Him as did Solomon, nor hear Him as did Samuel. But you may feel Him in your thoughtsin the prompting to do right, or to speak the truth when doing this may get you into trouble; and in the relief and rest you know after telling God about the sorrow you have. [Quote part of Faber’s hymn: “Dear Jesus, ever at my side.” Tell some story of a child who has found help, relief, and rest in prayer. This will bring the old story of Solomon near to the experience of children.]
Three things prepared Solomon for listening to God.
I. SOLOMON HAD COME FROM WORSHIP. Describe the old tabernacle, now pitched on the top of the hill at Gibeon; the coming of the procession of nobles, soldiers, priests, etc; to the sacred festival; the offering of the thousand victims; the song of praise, the united prayers, etc. This worship prepared the young king for his dream. Children go to Sunday schools who are seldom found in God’s house. Trace the lads and girls leaving the senior classes to spend their Sundays in pleasure and sintheir forced merriment, their aching hearts. Trying to forget God, they are not prepared to see Him as Solomon did. Contrast with this the day spent in worship. The children whose hearts are uplifted by songs of praise, who have been hearing of the love of God in Christ, who have been reminded of those who knew the Lord, are prepared to say, as Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth!”
II. SOLOMON WAS ALONE WITH GOD. The crowd had dispersed. The shouts, and songs, and music were silent. The stars shone down on the camp, and in his own royal tent the young king had retired to rest. As he slept he dreamed, and a happy night followed a holy day. Dreams were often used by God in olden days. Give examples. These were overruled, but they were natural. A dream is the product of familiar thoughts. Boys don’t dream of protoplasm, of which they know nothing, but of cricket, lessons, companions, etc. The elements of a dream are in the mind before sleep; e.g; the Midianitish soldier dreamt of a barley cake, which was his ordinary food; the Egyptian butler, of Pharaoh’s cup; the baker, of his white baskets of bakemeats, etc. So Solomon had been thinking about his kingdomthe greatness of his father, the overruling providence of God; he had been filled with a desire to rule wisely, had been fired with devotion during the day, and all these things re-appeared in his dream. If you have never had such dream, you have had quiet times when you were ill, or before going to rest, when God seemed real to you. Recall the first time when the old form of prayer had a new meaning, when God seemed close, and loving, and gracious. An example from child life may be readily found.
III. SOLOMON WAS LISTENING TO GOD, who said, “Ask what I shall give thee.” Sometimes children wish that the fairies, of whom they read, actually existed; that one, with her fair form and beautiful wand, would come and say, “Ask what I shall give thee.” Many, like Cinderella, would exchange drudgery for glitter. God does not do this. If He did, many of us would ignorantly ask for foolish things. We do not know what we shall be doing or wanting even tomorrow. If you were going abroad and did not know for what country you were destined, nor even whether it was hot or cold, civilized or uncivilized, it would not be wise to provide things on the chance they might be useful. You might get weapons of defence for a country where they would not be wanted, and have to wear in the tropics clothing only suited to the polar seas. It would not be really kind for your father to say, “Now go into that shop, and get whatever you like.” You would say, “No, thank you; as you know where I am going, and I don’t, I would rather trust you; though if you think it would be good, I should like this, or that.” So we are taught to pray to our Heavenly Father. Give examples. Sometimes God does give us what we foolishly choose, as the father did to the prodigal, and then sorrow teaches us the folly of our self will The freedom to ask anything can only be given safely to those who are like Solomon. He had just given himself up to God as a living sacrifice, and had asked God to accept him and use him for His service; for it was this which he expressed by his offering of a thousand burnt sacrifices. (Rom 12:1.) If you can say in your heart, “Lord, I want to become like Jesus Christ, and always to be obedient to Thy will;! long to be earnest and humble, and pure, and loving, and to live altogether for Thee;” then He says, of all that will keep you toward that, “Ask and ye shall receive, and your joy shall be full.”
Show the necessity of prayer to children; point out their special temptations to neglect it; and close by the story of Esther going into the king’s presence with trembling, only to see the golden sceptre extended, and to hear the gracious encouragement, “What is thy petition, and what is thy request? and it shall be done unto thee!” “When thou saidst, ‘Seek ye my face,’ my heart said unto Thee, ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek.'”A.R.
1Ki 3:6, 1Ki 3:7
The reverent prayer of a royal petitioner.
Solomon had a more peaceful reign and greater outward glory than David. Yet much is said in Scripture about the father, and little about the son. This revelation of God’s truth about men and things is less concerned with splendid surroundings than with secret struggles. Few, if any, are made great by splendour. Hence a few verses suffice to tell of Solomon’s ships and palaces, and gold and ivory; but many chapters are devoted to accounts of David’s temptations, deliverances, and prayers. We have God’s estimate of Solomon’s magnificence in the memorable words of Christ, “Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.” From these words we infer that human greatness does not claim God’s regard, but that He cares for lilies as well as for kings; so that from none of us, however lowly our lot, is the privilege of prayer, granted to Solomon, withheld. The prayer before us was characterized by the following excellences:
I. GRATITUDE. (1Ki 3:6.) Solomon thanked God for what his father had been. David was far from being a sinless man, but his son loyally veiled his faults, and praised God for what he had been to himself and others. What reasons for gratitude many have in this respect. Loving care during the feebleness of infancy; provision for education, etc; often the result of habitual self denial; protection of the home not only from physical, but from moral evils, in the shape of bad literature, companions, etc. These are the ordinary blessings from parenthood, but often there are more than these, e.g; the moral heritage of wholesome tendencies; the good name, to be chosen rather than great riches; the repression of evil, and encouragement of good habits of thought and action; the counsels and warnings to the inexperienced; the Christian truth revealed in the holy life, proclaimed by the loving lips. Few blessings are greater than these; but few are less thankfully recognized. Gratitude should reveal itself in tender consideration, in graceful courtesies, in prompt obedience, etc; in the home, and should express itself in praise to the Giver of all good gifts. [This is but an example of subjects for graft. tude: others may be suggested.]
II. SOLEMNITY. The young king seemed overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility. He was about to succeed a father renowned as a warrior, as a statesman, as a poet, as a ruler of men. He was about to rule a numerous and prosperous people, who had been specially declared to be the Lord’s, so that he would be henceforth the representative of Jehovah. He foresaw that there would be snares not easy to avoid, difficulties hard to surmount; and therefore he dared not go forward without the prayer, “O God of my father, stand by me.” Contrast this with the light spirit in which life work is often undertaken. Describe a father about to vacate his plan in business, or in the Church, whose honour has been unstained, who has been a king amongst men, and urge on any who are about to succeed to such an inheritance the responsibility incurred, that they may feel “who is sufficient for these things?” To go on to unknown temptations, to unattempted duties, in a flippant, godless spirit, is to show the foolhardiness of the captain who, in strange waters, wrecks his vessel on the hidden shoal, because he scorns to employ a pilot.
III. HOPEFULNESS. In 1Ki 3:4 he tacitly refers to what God had done for his father, as an example and pledge of what God could do for him. He implies that the promise, like the throne, came by inheritance. This was the teaching of the patriarchal dispensation. It was not withdrawn by Christ, who came “not to destroy, but to fulfil.” Hence, in the first sermon preached after the baptism of the Church by the Holy Spirit, Peter refers to, and endorses for this dispensation, the declaration of Joel, “The promise is unto you, and to your children.” Show how the privileges of Christian parentage keep pace with its responsibilities. What God had been to David was a sign to Solomon, his son, of what God would do for him; and therefore he prayed with eager hope.
IV. HUMILITY. “I am but a little child.” Solomon had enough to make him proud. He was immensely rich, was flattered by courtiers, was obeyed by a disciplined army, was strikingly handsome (Psa 45:1-17.), and was at an age (twenty years old) when no one thinks least of himself. But he recognized that God made him what he was (“Thou hast made Thy servant king”), and that, so far as wisdom and ability were concerned, he was “but a little child.” Such has been the spirit of all truly great men, e.g; Moses, when called in Midian (Exo 3:11); Isaiah, when he saw the Lord in the temple (Isa 6:1-13.); Jeremiah, when invested with prophetic office (Jer 1:1-19.) This humility should characterize all who approach God. Refer to the Pharisee and publican (Luk 18:10-14); also to declaration that except we become as little children we cannot enter the kingdom. Contrast Solomon with his brothers, Absalom and Adonijah. He was content to wait God’s time, and so was prepared for the place prepared for him. The chrysalis waitsis kept backin its inactive stage, till both the wings are ready for the sunshine, and the sunshine ready for the wings. Humbly let us wait for the higher spheres of earth and the highest spheres of heaven.A.R.
1Ki 3:9-13
The wisdom of Solomon’s choice.
Solomon was never more kingly than when he made this choice. Subsequently he became enervated by prosperity, corrupted by heathen associations, etc; but now he ruled as a king over himself. The bright promise of life is often gradually overcast, till it ends in the gloom of a hopeless night. Examples from Scripture, e.g; Saul the King, Esau. It is well to know the kind of choice that “pleased the Lord.” In Solomon’s there was true wisdom, for it had these elements
I. THE CHOICE WAS FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS RATHER THAN FOR THE ADVANTAGE OF HIMSELF. It was not like asking for knowledge and wisdom that he might himself be admired as a sage. This followed, but this he did not seek. He wished to rule God’s people well for their good, and asked that he might do what was just in judgment, what was equitable in law. Such equity establishes any rule on a sure foundation. Our hold on India is chiefly due to the righteousness of our magistrates, and the trustworthiness of men like the Lawrences, Lord Mayo, etc. Natives would not hesitate to bring an action in one of our English law courts against an Englishman, so certain are they of even-handed justice. This Solomon sought, and the peace and prosperity of his kingdom (1Ki 4:25) arose from the fact that God gave it him. To ask God to make us wise and capable for the sake of others, is a prayer consonant with His will. Unselfishness is commended and exalted under the new dispensation as it never was under the old. Christ Himself came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life “a ransom for many.” The prayer of selfishness, greed, avarice, can never be put up in Christ’s name.
II. THE CHOICE WAS MADE OF INWARD WORTH AND NOT OF OUTWARD SHOW. He did not ask for himself riches and honour. What will make us noble is always more readily given by God than what will make us wealthy. A wise father would rather that his son should be truthful than that he should win popularity among his schoolfellows by anything surreptitious and deceitful. So our heavenly Father cares little that we should make money, or win applause; but He cares much that we should be wise, and true, and loving; and these graces He will in no wise withhold from those who seek. Sometimes He answers our prayers for these inward blessings in modes we resent. The illness that throws us back upon Him, the failure that proves a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesseth, etc; may work in us the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The Lord Jesus, who was at once the King of Glory and the village carpenter, showed us this; and in the inward gladness His disciples experienced amid their outward woes, we have confirmation of it. Show how, in New Testament history, and in the lives of the saints, the words which begin the Sermon on the Mount have been fulfilled. Blessedness of the highest kind comes to the poor in spirit, to them that mourn, to the meek, to them which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, to the merciful, to the pure in heart, to the peacemakers, and even to those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.
III. THE CHOICE MADE OF THE HIGHER BROUGHT WITH IT THE LOWER BLESSINGS, (1Ki 3:11-13) Because Solomon asked wisdom God gave him that, but added to it wealth and honour. If we ask grace to fulfil our mission, and rightly do our life work, our heavenly Father will see that we do not want for life’s necessities. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” The teaching of Christ (Mat 6:24-34) goes to show that a man who is chiefly concerned to please God need have no anxiety or care about lower things. If God feeds the birds, He will feed you; if He clothes the lilies, He will clothe you; if He gives the life, He will give the “meat” that is less than life. Ask God for the higher blessings: pardon, righteousness, reverence, wisdom, etc; and He will give you not only these, but all things necessary for us, and all the riches and honours that are good for us.
Solomon’s wisdom was great, but there has come into the world one greater than Solomon, more worthy far of our adoration and love. As the child in Nazareth, Jesus grew in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour with God and man. His wisdom was purer, deeper, truer than Solomon’s, because it was united with purity of life, with victory over sin, and with sacrifice of self. He is the true Shelomoh, “the Prince of Peace;” the true Jedidiah, “the well beloved of the Father;” and to Him now let us humbly bow the knee, as to One worthy to be exalted both as Prince and Saviour.A.R.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
1Ki 3:1. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh There are many who blame this action of Solomon’s; observing, that whatever augmentation of power he might promise himself from this alliance, he certainly ran the hazard of having his religion corrupted. Others, however, have observed, that as the sacred Scriptures commend the beginning of Solomon’s reign, in all other respects except the people’s sacrificing in high places, which might be the rather tolerated because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord in those days, 1Ki 3:2 and as they gave him this character, that he loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, 1Ki 3:2 he would never have done an act so directly contrary to the laws of God as marrying an idolatrous princess, had she not been first proselyted to the Jewish faith. The Scriptures, indeed, take notice of the gods of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Sidonians, for whom Solomon, in compliance with his strange wives, built places of worship. See chap. 11: But as there is no mention made of any Gods of the Egyptians, it seems very likely that this princess, when she was espoused to Solomon, quitted the religion of her ancestors, to which Psa 45:10-11 is thought to allude in its primary sense. However this be, it is certain that no where in Scripture do we find Solomon reproved for this match; nor can we think that his book of Canticles, which is supposed to be in its primary sense his Epithalamium, would have found a place in the sacred canon, had the spouse, whom it all along celebrates, been at that time an idolatress. It may seem somewhat strange, that in all the history of the Jews, from the time of Moses to that of Solomon, no mention should be made of the kings of Egypt, as if they had no concern in the affairs of Canaan, but were wholly diverted some other way: but for this their own historians account, when they tell us, that during this space of time the “Egyptian kings did nothing worthy recording.” Diodor. Biblioth. lib. 1: p. 29. Clemens Alexandrinus, in a passage taken from Alexander Polyhistor, tells us, that the proper name of this Egyptian king, whose daughter Solomon married, was Vaphres. See Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
SECOND SECTION
The Beginning Of Solomons Reign
1Ki 3:1 to 1Ki 5:14
A.Solomons marriage, solemn sacrifice and prayer; first judicial decision
1Ki 3:1-28
1And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaohs daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord [Jehovah], and the wall 2[walls] of Jerusalem round about. Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord [Jehovah], until those days. 3And Solomon loved the Lord [Jehovah], walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 4And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
5In Gibeon the Lord [Jehovah] appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God1 said, Ask what I shall give thee. 6And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7And now, O Lord [Jehovah] my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child:2 I know not how to go out or come in. 8And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 10And the speech pleased the Lord,3 that Solomon had asked this thing. 11And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; 12but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold I have done according to thy words:4 lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 13And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honor: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.5 14And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. 15And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord [Jehovah],6 and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered [made]7 peace-offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.
16Then came there two women that were harlots,8 unto the king, and stood before him. 17And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together;9 there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 19And this womans child [son]10 died in the night; because she overlaid it. 20And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child [son]10 in my bosom. 21And when I rose in the morning to give my child [son]10 suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son which I did bear. 22And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And11 this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. 23Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. 27Then the king answered and said, Give her12 the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. 28And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment.
Exegetical and Critical
1Ki 3:1. And Solomon made affinity. After the rule of Solomon was established by the removal of his enemies from within (1Ki 2:46), he sought to make it outwardly strong, also, by a family alliance with the king of Egypt. After Davids great victories over the surrounding nations, and especially after the Philistines were rendered powerless, Egypt was the nearest and most powerful neighbor of the kingdom of Israel. As the latter had increased so much in extent and power, the king of Egypt may also have desired an alliance with the king of Israel (Ewald, Gesch. Isr., iii. s. 279); but such an alliance secured Solomon against other nations, and was even productive of an enlargement of his territory (1Ki 9:16). The Pharaoh named here belonged certainly, following the synchronism, to the 21st Tanaitic dynasty, and may have been its last king, Psusennes or Psusennos, who reigned thirty-five years (Winer, R.-W.-B., ii. s. 363).This marriage with an Egyptian was not contrary to the law, since it only prohibited union with the daughters of the Canaanite tribes (Exo 34:11-16; Deu 7:1-3). The supposition of some rabbins, that the Egyptian had become a proselyte, is unnecessary; it is certain, besides, that Egyptian worship was not introduced by her into Jerusalem; and even later no trace of it is found (1Ki 11:4-7).By the city of David we are to understand the ancient and fortified Jerusalem, the citadel of Davidthe upper city. The dwelling for the queen was but temporary; when the new palace was built she inhabited it (1Ki 9:24).He made, says Josephus, the walls wider and firmer than they had been. David had only fortified the upper city (2Sa 5:7; 2Sa 5:9).
1Ki 3:2-4. Only the people sacrificed in high places, &c. 1Ki 3:2-3 do not pronounce a judgment in general upon the condition of public worship in the beginning of Solomons reign (Keil), but form an introduction to verses 415. The connection is this: when the rule of Solomon was established from within by the extirpation of his foes, and outwardly by an alliance with Pharaoh, Solomon held a great festival for all Israel (2Ch 1:2-3), not only to implore Jehovahs further aid to his successful government, but also in gratitude for the past. But as Jehovahs house was not yet built, and as the people, for want of a central sanctuary, still sacrificed on high places here and there, Solomon followed this custom, but chose the greatest, i. e., the most important height, that at Gibeon, where the ancient tabernacle and the altar of burnt-offering stood. 1Ki 3:2-3 serve then to explain how it was that Solomon, who loved Jehovah, and, like David, kept the law, celebrated his great inauguration-festival on a high place. [Bishop Horsley remarks on 1Ki 3:3 : This is not mentioned as a circumstance of blame either in the people or in the king. For had they not sacrificed and burnt incense on high places, they could not have sacrificed or burnt incense at all. And it appears by the sequel that the sacrifice at Gibeon was acceptable.E.H.]The high places are very often used in these books in the same sense; but not always. That does not mean barred entrance, and then sacred forest grove (Thenius, Bttcher), is easy to see from Mic 3:12, where it is synonymous with , mountain; comp. Mic 1:3-4; Jer 26:18, with Amo 4:1, where stands for . The fundamental meaning is and must be: height, high place. Among all ancient nations, heights and mountains were naturally chosen as the fit places for offering-up to the Deity who dwells on high, far above earth. But as all prayer to and worship of the Godhead took the form of sacrifice, for which an altar was requisite, became the expression for high places upon which altars were erected. By degrees, however, the use of the term became more extended, so that places of sacrifices, even if not on high places, but in towns, and even in valleys, were also called high places (2Ki 17:9; Jer 7:31; Jer 32:35). In heathen worship, besides the altars for sacrifices, they had many dwellings for the Divinity, not regular temples, but cells, chapels, tents, in which the image of the Deity stood, and these also were named (Eze 16:16); hence the expressions (1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 17:29), and (1Ki 11:7; 1Ki 14:23). Because the worship at the high places so easily became entangled with idolatry, the Mosaic law commanded that sacrifices should only be offered at Jehovahs dwelling-placethe tabernacle (Lev 17:3). For the unquiet times of the Judges, however, this prescript could not be obeyed; and as the patriarchs sacrificed on high places before the law was given (Gen 12:8), their example was followed; even Samuel did this (1Sa 9:12 sq.). Thus it happened that this more convenient practice took deep root, and it was not until much later that it was found possible to abolish it (2Ki 23:4-23); it was always, however, an abnormity, though unavoidable, so long as an house for Jehovahs name, i.e., a central sanctuary, was wanting (for this last expression see below on chap. 6).A thousand burnt-offerings. In the entire ancient world, the greatest number of animals possible were collected for sacrifice at great festivals (see below on 1Ki 8:62). The feast must have at least lasted more than one day. The passage we are considering has very unfairly been selected to prove that the king himself sacrificed, i.e., exercised priestly functions. Even the great number of animals offered contradicts this; so does 1Ki 6:2; where king Solomon is said to have built the house of the Lord and made windows, &c., no more means that he performed masons and carpenters work than that he himself offered the animals in sacrifice.
1Ki 3:5-10. The Lord appeared to Solomon, &c. The expression does not mean that Solomon saw Jehovah in any bodily form, but that Jehovah revealed himself to him. If the reading here and in 1Ki 3:10 be not , but is to be subjoined to it; the last more general term serves to designate the words which Solomon understood to be really divine communications. For it is evident that the word does not specifically belong to the appearing, as Thenius thinks, from examination of the parallel passage in 2Ch 1:7, where occurs,Solomon grounds (1Ki 3:6) his request that Jehovah would grant him the gifts needful for a sovereign, upon the mercy shown his father David, to whom God had performed His promises, and raised up his son to sit upon the throne of Israel. He humbly calls himself a little child, not only as if he were just twelve years old, as some rabbins say, but because his youth was unfitted for the great and arduous task laid on him. Solomon died after a reign of forty years, and was named before (1Ki 11:4) , which makes him, as is also the general opinion, twenty years old at least.Going out and coming in is, like Deu 31:2; 1Sa 18:13; 1Sa 18:16; 2Sa 3:25; Psa 121:8, descriptive of the entire manner of life. The conclusion, from 1Ki 3:8, clearly refers to Gen 32:13; Gen 13:16.The with (like Job 12:3; Job 34:10; Pro 15:32, the seat of thought and knowledge, 1Ki 3:9), as is to be seen from (1Ki 3:12), must be connected with the following , and is not to be translated, as Luther has it, obedient heart; or as the Vulgate, cor docile. A right sentence depends upon the hearing, that is, the trial of the parties, and for this, understanding and judgment are most requisite for the judge (comp. 2Sa 14:17). 1Ki 3:7 refers to ruling, but 1Ki 3:9 to judging: the two conjoined form the kingly office (1Sa 8:6; 1Sa 8:20; 2Sa 15:4. Artemid. Oneir., ii. 1 Kings 14 : ).
1Ki 3:11-15. And God said, &c. Instead of the life of thine enemies (1Ki 3:11), 1Ki 3:13 reads ; it is, therefore, military glory, victory which is meant. does not mean: to exercise divine right (Keil), but: to dispense justice.Behold it was a dream, not that he only knew on awaking that it was but a dream; and not that he remembered distinctly on awaking what he had dreamed (Seb. Schmidt), but: that it was more than a dream (an ordinary one)something really divine; of this he became so convinced on awaking, that immediately after his return to the capital, he went to the place where the sacred ark stood, and worshipped the Lord anew with many sacrifices and thanksgiving-offerings. The thank-offerings were for this extraordinary proof of divine favor (Hess). The sequel showed that it was not a mere dream.
1Ki 3:16. Then came there two women, &c. This story is meant to show, by one instance, that Solomon had really received what he had prayed for, and what God had promised him (Theodoret: ). Thenius counts the whole among those passages which the writer gave from oral tradition; but we must not overlook the fact that he did not take it, like other narratives, from the book of the Acts of Solomon (1Ki 11:41). [The writer of the Book of the Kings refers only at the end of Solomons reign to the book of the Acts of Solomon, and not at each step in his career.E. H.]The rabbins derive from , to feed, nourish; and explain it thus with the Chaldee, here as in Jos 2:1, by , i. e., hostesses, evidently to avoid some offence. On this account, it can scarcely allude to harlots, because they, as Calmet remarks, seldom have many children, and if they have, do not usually care much about providing for them. As is generally spoken of intercourse which is extra-matrimonial, or adulterous, so this passage refers to those who have had children, being unmarried (Gerlach).
1Ki 3:17-28. And the one woman said, &c. She alleges that the other can persist so obstinately in her denial, because there was no one else in the house. The latter probably took the child away to avoid the just and heavy reproach of having killed her own child, and the consequent disgrace she would incur. This is at least more probable than that she wished to continue nursing for her healths sake (Thenius), or that she thought to inherit something in the future from the child (Hess); or, finally, that she intended to sell it afterwards for her support (Le Clerc).In 1Ki 3:21, at first the time given is the morning, in a general way; but next, the expression is the same as clara luce (Vulgate), or, as it was becoming brighter and brighter (Thenius). (1Ki 3:26) is the New Testament (2Co 6:12; 2Co 7:15). Comp. Gen 43:30. Luther: for her motherly heart yearned upon her son. The words: neither mine nor thine, &c., do not only show want of maternal love, but also envy and dislike of her accuser.They feared. Comp. Luk 4:36; Luk 8:25. The sentence made a deep impression; is here the same as in Psa 68:16; Psa 65:10.
Historical and Ethical
1. Solomons marriage with a daughter of Pharaoh was, strictly speaking, a political alliance; but it has, nevertheless, also significance in the history of redemption. The great and mighty king of the land, which for Israel had been the house of bondage in which it had eaten the bread of affliction (Exo 20:2; Deu 16:3), gives now to the king of this once despised and oppressed people, his daughter in marriage, and must, in the providence of God, contribute to the strengthening of the Israelitish throne, and to the increase of the power and glory of the Israelitish kingdom. Thus was this marriage a witness for the divine beneficence in the deliverance from Egypt, to the goal of which Israel had come in the reign of Solomonthe period of the richest bloom of the kingdom. It was likewise a divine seal upon the independence of the people, which had begun with the exodus from Egypt, and now had reached its completeness. [We beg leave to dissent from the position here taken by our author. (Comp. Exeget. on 1Ki 3:1). Solomons alliance with the Egyptian princess for political purposes was after the fashion of worldly princes, and in direct hostility with the theocratic spirit. Egypt was quite as much an abomination as Canaan, and we are surprised that our author should apologize for Solomon in the matter.E. H.]
2. That sacrificing and burning of incense in high places was forbidden in the Mosaic law rests, not upon the grounds of outward regulation, but was a natural, necessary consequence of the Mosaic fundamental principles. Jehovah is one, and beside him there is no God. He has chosen Israel, out of all the peoples of the earth, to be His people; He has made a covenant with them, and as a sign and pledge of this covenant will He dwell in the midst of His people. As He himself is one only, so also is and can His dwelling-place be only one. This is the place where He meets His people, i.e., exercises the covenant relation (Exo 29:42 sq.). The concentration of the Jehovah-cultus is connected as inseparably with monotheism, as is the worship in high places, i.e., in any favorite spot, with polytheism. From the Mosaic standpoint, the worship in high places appeared as an ignoring, yea, as a denial, of the dwelling of Jehovah in the midst of His people, and, consequently, of the election and of the covenant of Jehovah, whereof it was the witness and pledge (cf. Joshua 22). If the law in question could not be carried out in times of unrest and of convulsion, nevertheless, as soon as the period of the undisturbed possession of Canaan was entered upon, it would remain the business of every truly theocratic king, as the servant of Jehovah, to put an end, as far as possible, to worship in high places. Hence, also, was David, after he had won for Israel victory over all enemies, most earnest to erect an enduring central sanctuary, for which the old tabernacle, especially since the removal of the ark of the covenant from it, was no longer serviceable. Since this, however, was denied him, he laid the charge of it upon Solomon, his son and successor, and made the building of a house of Jehovah the first and most pressing duty of his reign (1Ch 28:2 sq.). After the building of the temple, sacrificing in high places should have disappeared totally; but it forever kept emerging, even under kings who in other respects adhered firmly to the worship of Jehovah. Nevertheless, it is constantly spoken of as a defect or an abnormity (1Ki 15:14; 1Ki 22:44; 2Ki 12:4; 2Ki 14:4; 2Ki 15:4; 2Ki 15:35; 2Ki 21:3).
3. The divine revelation which Solomon received, came, as in so many other instances both in the Old and also even in the New Testament, through the medium of a dream. In itself the dream is, according to the Scripture, something wholly idle and vain (Ecc 5:6; Job 20:8; Isa 29:7-8); in so far, however, as man is then removed entirely from the sensible and outward world, and is in the condition of a pure psychical intuition, he can, more than in the natural, wakeful condition, become a more receptive soil for divine influences and communications. Hence, in Sirach 31 : (34) 2 sq., while the nothingness of dreams is taught, yet in 1Ki 3:6 this statement follows: [sc. ] , . Dreams of the latter description are placed, consequently, on a level with prophecy and visions, which are the operation of the of Jehovah (Joe 3:1). But these invariably presuppose a certain spiritual temper upon the part of the dreamer. The prophetic dream of the night, as a rule, is connected with the moral reflections and presentiments of the day (Lange, on Gen 20:3). A soul directed towards God and divine things in its wakeful state, is peculiarly fitted, in the stillness of the night, in its involuntary expressions, i.e., in its dreams, to receive purely spiritual, inwardly divine influences. Such was the case with Solomon. His dream shows what then agitated and filled his soul, and that the festivity he then held was not an empty political ceremony, but resulted from an actual religious need. An Adonijah, at his feast at the spring Rogel (1Ki 1:9-25), would never have been able to dream so. If ever dream contained nothing chimerical (visionary), it was Solomons dream at Gibeon. [Bp. Hall, beautifully: Solomon worships God by day: God appears to Solomon by night. Well may we look to enjoy God when we have served him.E. H.]
4. The prayer of Solomon unites in itself all that belongs to a true prayer. It affords evidence especially of the genuine theocratic spirit in which this son of David had been educated, and was now entering upon his royal office. He recognises the greatness of the task to be the king of the people which Jehovah has chosen from among all peoples of the earth, and his first and greatest anxiety is to comply with this demand. He feels that he, especially in his youth and inexperience, cannot do this of his own strength, and he prays for enlightenment from on high, not so much for himself as for the sake of the people. It is not his own merit which gives him courage for this prayer, but he rests it upon the divine grace and mercy which his father had so richly experienced. His words are not many, but the few he utters are the expression of a living, child-like faith, as simple and substantial as it is inward and true.
5. The history of the two women is genuinely Oriental, in which we must dismiss from our minds wholly, our forms of justice and processes of proof: since an accurate, striking flash, which solves the difficulty, in living, immediate insight with one stroke, as with the sharpness of a sword, is far loftier than a regular consideration and balancing of the grounds advanced, for and against. Therefore, this wisdom, as belonging to the period, to the land, and to the whole people, must be looked upon as a high gift of God, as, indeed, it actually was (Gerlach). Examples of similar judicial decision are not wanting in antiquity. Grotius observes: Non dissimile illud Ariopharnis regis Thracum, qui de tribus filios se Cimmeriorum regis dicentibus eum pro filio habuit, qui jussus cadaver patris jaculis noluerat, incessere. Ou historia est apud Siculum Diodorum. Another instance is adduced by Robertson from an Indian book. A woman in bathing left her child on the bank of a pond. A female demon who was passing by carried it off. Both appear before the goddess with their claims. She commands that each shall seize an arm and a leg and pull at it. The mother of the child is recognised by her refusal (Philippson). Solomon demonstrated his capacity as judge in the case in hand, in so far especially that, in the absence of witnesses and of outward means of proof, he knew how to bring the secret truth to light in such way as to convince the contestants themselves. The words of Pro 16:10 are here confirmed. While Niemeyer, in the judgment of Solomon, recognises, if not Gods wisdom, at least rapid decision, presence of mind, and an accurate insight into human nature, other theologians of the illumination period, have seen nothing more than the proceeding of an Oriental despot, a fancy which would not do much to subserve the interests of a European prince (G. L. Bauer in Keil on the place). He who judges so unwisely, only shows in the act, that in like or similar circumstances he would scarcely have reached so wise a judgment as Solomons. Little as Solomons procedure may correspond to our present notions of the administration of justice, formally considered, nevertheless that which for all time remains the chief point was not wanting, 1Ki 3:12the divine gift of bringing to light the secret, inward fact, and of awakening the sleeping conscience, so that falsehood and misrepresentation vanish, and the truth comes forth. Without this gift all forms and rules of investigation avail nothing; yea, as experience has so often shown, they serve to pervert the conscience and to conceal the truth.
Homiletical and Practical
1Ki 3:1. Cramer: Although marriage with persons of unlike faith be allowed, and is in itself no sin (1Co 7:14), it is, nevertheless, better that one avoid it, because the unbelieving perverts the believer more frequently than the believer converts the unbeliever.Starke: God has the hearts of all men in His hands, and can bring it to pass that they who have been inimical to us, and have despised us, shall hold us in great honor (Pro 16:7; Gen 31:24).As soon as Solomon saw his existence secured, he proceeded to matrimony.
1Ki 3:2-4. Solomons Sacrificial Festivity: (a) When he celebrated it (at the beginning of his reign to return thanks for the past assistance of God, and to implore its continuance); (b) where he kept it (upon the high place at Gibeon, because no temple was built as yet: the place of prayer in the Old and in the New Testament).Though God dwell not in temples built by human hands, yet it is needful for each congregation to have an house, where with one mouth it praises the name of the Lord. Where this need is not felt, there is a defect in faith and love for the Lord
1Ki 3:3. He loved the Lord. This is the best and greatest thing that can be said of a man. So, every one who loves the world, has not in him the love of the Father: this is only where God is loved above all things, His word observed, and His commandments fulfilled with joy and delight (1Jn 2:5; 1Jn 2:15; 1Jn 5:3). Happy is he who, to the question of the Lord: Lovest thou me can return the answer of Peter (Joh 21:17). Because Solomon loved the Lord he honored also his father, and walked in his ways. The want of filial piety in our day comes from want of love to the Lord.
1Ki 3:4. If we should begin our daily work with the sacrifice of our prayer, how much more our lifes calling, and every weighty undertaking upon which our own and the well-being of other men depends (God grant it, He who can help, &c.).
1Ki 3:5-15. The Prayer of Solomon: (a) Its contents (1Ki 3:6-9); (b) its answer (1Ki 3:10-14).
1Ki 3:5. Starke: Those who love God (1Ki 3:3), God loves in return, and reveals himself to them (Joh 14:21).Hall: The night cannot be otherwise than holy to him whom the previous day has been holy.In our dreams we often speak and act in such way that we must be frightened, upon awaking, at how much that is impure and corrupt is still within us. Upon this account we should pray in the evening: Ah! may my soul in sleeping also do that which is good, or, if I dream, be it from thee, so that my senses even in sleep may acquire love for thee, &c. (Psa 63:7).[One is here reminded of Bp. Kens beautiful evening hymn: Glory to thee, my God, this night.E. H.]A dream like Solomons does not happen when the day just past has been spent in revel and riot, in gross or in refined sin.Lisco: What happened here in dream, Christ commands in Our Father.Starke: God well knew what Solomon needed; but he bid him ask, (1) to show how negligent men are in praying for what is spiritual; (2) that he would only bestow His gifts in the ordinance of prayer; (3) that great personages might have an example of what they should ask of God, above all others. Ask what I shall give thee: (a) a test-word, for as man wishes and prays, so does he show of whose spirit he is the child (Psa 139:23); (b) a word of warning, for we not only may, but we should also ask for all which we have most at heart (Psa 37:4).
1Ki 3:6-10. When is our prayer pleasing to God? (a) When we pray in the feeling of our weakness and helplessness, and in confidence in the mercy of God and His promises; (b) when before all things we ask for spiritual blessings and gifts (Mat 6:33; Eph 1:3).The true wisdom for which we have to ask God (Jam 1:5), does not consist in manifold and great knowledge, but in the understanding of what is good and bad (Job 28:28; Jam 3:17; Eph 5:17), and is a fruit of the renewal of our mind (Rom 12:2).A ruler who does not ask God for an obedient heart for himself, can and ought not to hope for or expect that his people will yield him a submissive heart.Youth, which as a rule places freedom in lawlessness, needs before all things to ask God daily for an obedient heart.
1Ki 3:8-9. Pfaff: Subjects are not simply creatures of the authorities, nor are they designed for the exercise of their pleasures and the splendor of their position (Hoheit); but they are Gods people, and as such, are to be governed and judged.
1Ki 3:11-14. The granting of Solomons prayer teaches and assures us: (a) That God grants more than they request, over and above praying and understanding, to those who call upon him with earnestness, and for spiritual gifts (Eph 3:20; Mat 6:33); (b) that God gives to him upon whom He confers an office, that is, to one who does not rush into an office or calling, but is called thereto by God, the necessary understanding, if he humbly seek it.Where there is wisdom, there comes, indeed, also gold and silver (Pro 3:16 sq.), but not the reverse.
1Ki 3:15. Hall: A heart conscious in itself of the living evidences of a special grace of God, cannot forbear feeling that it should be authenticated through outward signs, and especially through munificence.
1Ki 3:16-28 : Lisco: Solomons Wise Judgment: (a) The question in dispute (1Ki 3:16-22); (b) the decision (1Ki 3:23-28).
1Ki 3:17-22. Such sin brings together, but it unites only for a short time; for it produces discord, wrangling, and controversy. Abiding peace dwells only in the house where the God of peace binds hearts together.He who takes from the heart of a mother her child, or estranges or deprives her, will not escape the righteous tribunal of the judge to whom the mother (das mutterherz) calls and appeals.Litigation is generally associated, with envy, falsehood, and unrighteousness, hence the Lord says, be ready, &c. (Mat 5:25; Luk 12:58).
1Ki 3:26. If an immoral woman be merciful for the son of her body, and cannot forget her little child (kindleins), how much more should every Christian mother be ready to offer, when necessary, the heaviest sacrifice to deliver her child from moral ruin.Seiler: If in the hearts of sinners the love of father and mother be so strong, how strong must the fatherly love of God be (Isa 49:15)?Envy hardens all human feeling, and makes one hard and heartless.
1Ki 3:27. When a child, apparently given over to death, is restored to its parents by divine providence, so much the more must their chief solicitude be to educate and bring it up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.Not power and force, not great pomp, and pride, and tyranny, but wisdom and righteousness, give to the government authority, and call forth genuine fear and the voluntary obedience of the people.If it were given to a Solomon to bring to disgrace lying and misrepresentation, by judicial wisdom and knowledge of the human heart, and to deliver a righteous judgment, how much less shall liars and hypocrites stand up under the tribunal of Him who could say, A greater than Solomon is here! who, without needing witnesses and judicial examination, will bring to light what is hidden in darkness (1Co 4:5), and before whose judgment-seat we must all appear (2Co 5:10).
Footnotes:
[1]1Ki 3:5.[The Sept. and Chald. here repeat Lord; the Syr. follows the Hbr. In reading God; while the Vulg. and Arab. avoid repeating the divine name.
[2]1Ki 3:7.[Some MSS., followed by the Sept. and Vulg., prefix the conjunction .
[3]1Ki 3:10.[Many MSS. read instead of , and are followed by the Chaldee.
[4]1Ki 3:12.[Many MSS. and editions, followed by the Vulg., have in the plural.
[5]1Ki 3:13.[The Sept. put this clause in the past tense: , the Vat. ending the clause here; but the Alex., by retaining the last words of the Hbr., , makes nonsense.
[6]1Ki 3:15.[The Sept. add .
[7]1Ki 3:15.[The Hbr. is the same before peace-offerings and before feast, and is quite different from the before burnt-offerings. The distinction is accurately preserved by the Sept. and the Vulg.
[8]1Ki 3:16.[This translation is sustained here, as in Jos 2:1, by all the VV. except the Chald., and is undoubtedly the invariable and distinctly-marked sense at the frequent Hbr. word. The Chald. renders inn-keepers. The authors objection to the sense of harlots seems insufficient.
[9]1Ki 3:18.[Many MSS., followed by the Sept. and Vulg., prefix the conjunction .
[10]1Ki 3:19.[It is better to retain throughout the passage the same rendering of the same Hbr. word.
[11]1Ki 3:22.[One MS., followed by the Vat., Sept., and Arab., omits the second clause of 1Ki 3:22.
[12]1Ki 3:27.[The Sept. remove any possible obscurity by paraphrasing, Give the child to her that said, Give her, &c.F. G.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This chapter opens with the relation of some of the first events which took place in the beginning of Solomon’s reign. His marriage with Pharoah’s daughter. God’s appearance to him in a dream. His choice. And the chapter concludes with an account of his sound judgment, in deciding a matter of controversy between two harlots.
1Ki 3:1
(1) And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
This marriage with a stranger to the house of Israel, appears to have been a very strange event: and yet we do not find it reprobated. Some have thought that before the marriage took place, she was proselyted to the true religion. Be this as it may, from the wonderful book which he wrote upon this occasion, (as is said) the Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s, we cannot but hope that the hand of the Lord was in it. And it is remarkable, and well worthy the Reader’s attention, that the strange gods, which it is said in the after period of his life his idolatrous wives and concubines led him to, are not said to have come from Egypt. See 1Ki 11:1-5 . And it is yet worthy of further remark by the Reader, that the prophet Isaiah speaketh of Egypt as the third with Israel, and the Lord of hosts shall bless them together, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of mine hands, and Israel mine inheritance. See Isa 19:24-25 . But may we not go yet one step further on this subject, and observe, that as Solomon was an eminent type of Jesus, may not this marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter be considered as a figure of Christ’s union with the Gentile church?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Our Weakness Our Strength
1Ki 3:7
These were the words of a very wise and great man, when he was just succeeding to his high dignities and was on the eve of one of the greatest works which was ever given to a man to do. It is the Moseses, the Solomons, the Jeremiahs, who always feel their nothingness. The higher you ascend in the true scale of manhood, the more unaffected and entire is the acknowledgment ‘I am but a little child’. One only who ever lived and achieved the greatnesses of life never used those words, but even He went as near to it as the omnipotence of the immeasurable spirit which dwelt in Him would allow, when He said, ‘I can of mine own self do nothing’. The way to ‘go out’ and to ‘come in’ well is to have always in the mind the sense of utter incompetence. What is it to be ‘a little child’?
I. You must every day be born again, that so you may have the freshness of a constant regeneration.
II. Simplicity is closely connected with the freshness. The child is ruled by his heart. He loves more than he knows. Take simple thoughts of everything. What is beyond you, leave it. A mystery is the simplest of all simple things so long as you are content to leave it a mystery. This is what the child does.
III. A third characteristic of childhood is purity. It is a beatitude upon childhood: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God’. And therefore a little child sees more of God than a man does, because of this purity of heart.
IV. Consent in all things to be undertaken for, as the little child does. Go leaningly, trustingly, and lovingly. ‘Go in this thy might,’ your weakness is your strength. The ivy that twines round the rock is surer than the cedar which stands alone upon the mountain. At every door, confess to helplessness, and through many doors you will go in and out quite safely.
J. Vaughan, Clerical Library, vol. II. p. 66.
References. III. 15. T. Sadler, Sunday Thoughts, p. 238. III. 24-27. A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii. p. 172.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Solomon’s Character
1Ki 3:3
WHICH of these elements will conquer at the last? The sentence is divided into two parts. There is only a semicolon between the one part and the other, so far as its typographical relation is concerned; but the two parts are wide asunder morally as far as the east is from the west. In which part of the sentence will Solomon die? This is a question which concerns every man; for the same sentence may be employed in describing the character of most of those who have in their hearts some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. Sometimes we go up as on wings of eagles. We run, and are not weary; we walk, and are not faint. God seems to have given us great strength, and riches ample and ever-enduring, so that the heart has no fear and the spirit is unrestrained in prayer. Sometimes we go down into the place of night, the very quarters of darkness, the very depths of gloom, where winter is born, where sorrow sheds its tears, where iniquity comes with its broken petition, its half-selfish prayer for forgiveness. In which of these conditions shall we finish life? That is the question we put concerning Solomon, and it is the inquiry we should put concerning ourselves. Is this the morning twilight that grows into the perfect day: or is it the evening twilight that deepens into uttermost darkness?
See how well Solomon begins. The very goodness of the beginning alarms us. That is a sad thing to say, but considering life in all its breadth and tragedy, it seems a not unnatural statement to make. How many fair mornings have died in tumultuous sunsets! How many who began well have fallen out of the way, and are not found at the last when the winners are counted one by one. And how many who began badly come in late and say, Father, we have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and are no more worthy to be called by any name of endearment or to have any place of honour! Yet no doctrine can be founded upon either of these facts. They are simply to be taken as phenomena, full of sharp suggestion and profound moral teaching. See how well Solomon begins. When he went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, he slew a thousand beasts, and burned them upon the great high place. In Gibeon Solomon dreamed. When the Lord has his tenderest messages to deliver to us, does he not cause a deep sleep to fall upon us, that we may have excluded from our vision and imagination all things broad, vulgar, debasing, and misleading? When he would send the angel into the garden, will he not send her through the gate of sleep? God uses the dream as no nightmare, but as a moral medium, a highway into the soul’s best thought. We shall see Solomon at his highest when we find him in a sleep into which he has been put by the power of God. In answer to the divine inquiry propounded in the dream, Solomon gives an outline of his own character and policy; and looking at this answer, we ask again, Did Solomon begin well? And beginning well, will he finish well? Hear him as he sleeps: he calls himself God’s “servant”; he describes himself as “but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.” ( 1Ki 3:7 ). Surely he will do well, a beginning like this must have a conclusion worthy of its simplicity and pureness. He is king, yet servant; he is king, but not God; he is king, but not master: he draws his lines definitely, he stands within his bounds in an attitude of attention awaiting heaven’s will. What a sweet beginning! Who would not baptise him then, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, three Persons in one God? He is worthy to be king. Wisdom is always royal. Spiritual wisdom should always occupy the throne.
Now he prays:
“Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad” ( 1Ki 3:9 ).
That is a distinction not easily realised. There is a good so good that no mistake can be made about it; there is a bad so bad that decency turns away from it, and uninstructed instinct revolts and cannot be persuaded to look at the ghastly spectacle. But the division is not always so sharp and vital, or so patent and easily determined. What is spiritual good? What is spiritual bad? What about that mysterious border-land where good and bad seem almost to inter-penetrate, to hold confidential communication, and to be making compromises, and to be learning each other’s native tongue? What about the good motive, the noble impulse, the incitement pure as fire, kindly as light? And what about the crooked motive, the tortuous policy, the unavowed selfishness, the cruelty which wears the gloves of kindliness and friendship, the double-mindedness that only omniscience can penetrate and judge? “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Solomon would not be a king who made broad distinctions only; he would have the spirit of wisdom, that is to say, the spirit of discernment, the spirit of discrimination, the spirit which could not be imposed upon; he would be to Israel, as David had been described again and again, as “an angel of God.” When hypocrites and dissemblers came before David, they said: “It is of no use to conceal the matter from the king; his eye sees the inner meaning, and dissimulation does but provoke the king’s discernment to greater keenness and severity.” Such a man must go up. Now we read “Solomon loved the Lord,” and we know it to be true. We will say of him: Yes, he will ascend; he has clean hands, and will grow stronger and stronger; his light will grow more and more unto the perfect day; he will surely die at noontide, and his death will eclipse the gaiety of the skies. How well he begins when he comes into actual life; the deceiving woman comes before him, and claims a child, which in reality she has stolen. What is to be done? The king said: Bring me a sword and divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Was ever answer so charged with true wit, discernment, nature, pathos? Have the wits of the world improved this reply? Have they brought a keener edge to bear upon the difficulty? Here stands the answer: add one line of beauty to it, if you can; improve it in any particular, if such improvement lie within the scope of your power. Whence hath this man this wisdom? This answer was never born of mere sagacity. We know it to be inspired, because it covers the whole case, is true to human nature, and brings to witness instincts that cannot be crushed until human nature itself is extinguished. And there is none like him. Having asked wisdom, God says: Now I will give thee that which thou hast asked, “a wise and an understanding heart;” and more: “I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days” ( 1Ki 3:13 ). And there was none like him, for “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt” (iv. 29, 30). Never was a man so wise, so good, so rich, so great, as Solomon. Splendour is added to splendour, until the whole firmament burns with glory. Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman and Chalcol, and Darda, men of unusual wisdom and peculiar fame, were not to be named with Solomon: his genius gave language to the cedar, and made the voice of the hyssop to be heard in song; as for his proverbs, they were an army for multitude, and his songs were a thousand and five. The king’s throne was of ivory, and twelve lions stood upon its steps; and the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars were as abundant as sycamore trees. And so human nature seemed to be glorified in king Solomon! “There came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom” (iv. 34). Oh, would to God the gate of heaven would open for him now, and let him in! Would he might die as the last king leaves him, wonderstruck at his boundless wisdom; he would go up as the dew goes in the early morning when the sun calls it, to make rainbows of it and clouds in the blue sky. It has been also the same with ourselves. What man amongst us has not said? Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. We do sometimes fix our own death-point. We seem to know when it would be best for us to die when the heart is all prayer, when the soul is all love, when life breathes the fresh air of spiritual freedom: Now, Lord! How well for some of us had we died in the cradle; we should then have begun life in heaven. From what great heights may men fall!
How will Solomon die? So far he has been in the first part of the text, loving God, walking in the statutes of David his father, a wise and understanding king, and as for his riches, God poured them upon him until they were without measure; and we have wished that under such circumstances he might die. Now take another picture about the same Solomon: “When he was old… Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites ” ( 1Ki 11:4-5 ). When he was old: when he ought to have known better; when experience ought to have become a kind of religion; when something like complete knowledge of life ought to have made him more devout, reverent, loyal, and true. Call no man bad until he is dead; reserve the epitaph for the buried bones! Call no man lost until all the light is gone out of the wide kind heaven. The doctrine applies in both ways. We may perish within sight of land. Men are not drowned only in the great Atlantic; they are drowned within the ten feet into which they fall. We may be within sight of home, and never reach it; we may see the fair city, its pinnacles flashing in the eternal light, and hear somewhat of the holy song of the high places of the universe; and at the last the enemy may win. Would God we had died in childhood! say we many a time, when the chase is severe, when the enemy has his hand immediately over us ready to strike. Let us talk not so. We cannot tell what is to be. Let us fall into the hands of the living God. Great gifts mean great dangers. The higher the exaltation the more terrible the fall, should it take place. Great zeal is but the religious aspect of great passion. The only thing we can do is to pray the living God that we may be kept body, soul, and spirit, that we may be beset behind, and before, and have the divine hand laid upon us; yea, that we may be kept in the hollow of the hand of love. To this great prayer great in its simplicity and tenderness the heart that best knows itself will be the first to say Amen! Sad that the buds and the blossoms do not always come to fruit, that the snow upon the summer ground is a snow of bud and blossom shaken off the tree of promise. How well some of us promised when we were boys; what predictions were made concerning us; we were to be pure, true, unselfish, noble, and tongue for the dumb, eyes for the blind, and our eloquence was to take fire whenever man was oppressed, whenever righteousness was outraged. Where are the predictions now? Better perhaps not inquire, for the man of whom they were uttered may be a drunkard, may be crouching where he ought to have stood erect, may be overwhelmed by floods which he himself let loose. On the other hand for is it not better to hasten to the sunny side of the hill and there spend the day? are not some by the grace of God better than they ever promised to be? Was it not said of some, They will come to no good; mischief is in their hearts, and they must come to evil? And have they not been turned into right paths and become burning and shining lights, apostles of truth, evangels of mercy? We have need of continual watchfulness. “What I say unto one,” said Christ, “I say unto all, Watch.” The point to be kept before the mind is that where there are two aspects of character, the question arises, which of them shall predominate at the last? Thus; here is a young man, and we speak of him in these terms: he is very good, kind, chivalrous, but he is fond of excitement. How is that life to end? Will the chivalry triumph or the love of excitement? Will he go from home to be amused? When he plays his innocent games, will he be frowned out of the house by some foolish father, and driven to play those games within a stranger’s gates? Will he want more excitement than he can have under rational restriction? Or again: this young man has many a charm; sometimes he is all that one could desire him to be so courteous, considerate, and obliging; only he is a little self-sufficient; he never feels himself unequal to the occasion; he always stands to the front; Nulli cedo is his motto. What will become of him? We wonder. We do not reply. Or we say: this man is intelligent, companionable, right pleasant altogether, but “rather close.” What do you mean by that? Rather pinching, penurious; rather covetous; he is not a miser, but he spends so much time in calculating what this or that will cost him. Which shall triumph? Where there is intelligence and covetousness be assured the covetousness will quench the lamp of intelligence, or only use it to explore regions in which covetousness can improve its own wealth. We have watched these features of character develop themselves in young lives; and it has been a pitiful spectacle to see the good go down and the bad go up, so that he who began life with being “rather close;” ended life as ungenerous and utterly selfish. A sad thing to see any young man “rather close!” We have no good opinion of him. Self-consideration, self-calculation, self-protection in a young soul seems like a plant out of its proper soil. Yet we dare not say too much lest others should take licence and become fools. The question is, which side of our character is to come uppermost at the last? What are we to be when we are old? See an old kind man, an old good man, an old chivalrous man, why, these are contradictions in terms: “kind” is never old, “chivalry” is never decrepit, generosity is always young. Heaven, as we have said before, is eternal youthfulness. Let us take heed and beware and watch from the morning until the evening, and from the evening until the morning, for the enemy slumbers not: it is when men sleep that he sows tares. The living God help us!
Prayer
Almighty God, judgment is thy strange work: mercy is thy peculiar delight: God is love. Behold, thou hast set wide open a door into which the prodigal may enter. Thou dost wait to be gracious: thy longsuffering and thy tender mercy what imagination can conceive, or what tongue can adequately set forth? We need thee every day, at every moment of every day, for our hearts have gone astray from righteousness and our thoughts are far from heaven. We bless thee for sweet gospel truths, great messages of love, the very music of God’s own heart; these come to us from heavenly places, and breathe themselves into our heart’s hearing when that heart is most self-despairing. We thank thee for a music not of earth the music of pardon through the cross, of forgiveness through the blood of the lamb, a mystery which is far beyond all other wonders, not to be known by men, or explained by them, but to be felt in all its graciousness and rest. We have done the things we ought not to have done, but thou canst magnify the law, thou canst be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly, who can tell the resources of thy grace? Who can lay a line upon the love of God and say, This is the measure thereof? Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Thou dost forgive our iniquities, thou dost restore our souls, thou dost bring back that which is lost, and there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over every penitent sinner. We thank thee for words of this kind so high in quality, so tender in tone, so precious in all their suggestiveness. We hail them with welcome. This truly is the voice of God; this surely is the message of our Father. Give us to feel that where grace abounds our sin must not abound: because God is merciful, shall we go on to sin? God forbid! May we rather be ashamed of our sin, turn away from it, and flee away fast, lest the enemy should turn upon us and overtake our life. We bless thee for our conscience, the monitor within, the voice that speaks to us of law, righteousness, honour, and truth: this is as the presence of God in the soul; this is the very light of heaven; this is the counsel of eternity. May we cultivate our conscience; may it be pricking, sharp, full of rebuke and judgment; and thus may it also be gifted with the power of commending us and encouraging us in all the ways of virtue. Thou knowest how little we are, and poor, and altogether unworthy; we have lost our heritage, we have no more foothold in thy creation: we are fallen. We come to thee as such as apostates, as criminals who might have loved and obeyed God, but have not done so. God be merciful unto us sinners: the Lord be very merciful unto us even to tenderness, for we cannot stand before thee when thou dost look upon us in the light of the law. O that we had hearkened unto thy voice, and walked in the way of thy commandments: then had our righteousness flowed like a river or as the waves of the sea; but let the time past more than suffice, let God be gracious unto his servants and give them further opportunity. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXVI
SOLOMON’S ACCESSION, MARRIAGE, DREAM, AND REMARKABLE WISDOM
Same as for preceding chapter, and 1Ki 3:1-28
This discussion commences the exposition of Solomon’s reign. It will be well for you to have your book open. If you have no Harmony, open your Bible at 1Ki 2 .
1 Kings 1-11 and 2 Chronicles 1-9 constitute the scriptural basis of the life of Solomon. We introduce this discussion with three passages of scripture:
1.Deu 17:14-20 :
When thou art come unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are round about me; thou shalt surely set him king over thee, whom Jehovah thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, who is not thy brother. Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; forasmuch as Jehovah hath said unto you. Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites: and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.
On that law mark the method of succession in the Hebrew monarchy. It was not according to the law of primogeniture, i.e., the oldest son does not by law succeed his father. Indeed, we find that it is not according to heredity in a still larger sense. God changed the dynasty from Saul to David. Saul’s sons did not succeed him, but he created a new dynasty in David. When we come to study the divided kingdom we will notice quite a number of dynastic changes. But all the time in Judah the king is at least a descendant of David. The dynasty does not change in that kingdom. We have already seen the law of primogeniture set aside in God’s dealing with families. For instance, Isaac and not Ishmael becomes the head of the family, and Jacob and not Esau, and we see it extending even to the tribes. Not Reuben, who is unstable, but Judah, became the head of the tribes. Get before you clearly the kind of monarchy established. The king must not be a foreigner, like Herod the Idumean in Christ’s time. He must be one of the brethren, and then God must select him. A copy of the Pentateuch must be made especially for him and kept by him, in which he must read every day of his life and live and rule according to its teaching. The Pentateuch is the national constitution. And particularly, he is not to seek honor and riches for himself, and not to seek horses with a view of any return to Egypt, nor must he multiply wives to himself lest through his wives his heart be turned aside from God.
2. 1Ch 22:9-10 . Here is God’s selection of David’s successor:
Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days: he shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.
So you see there that God, before this child is born, elects David’s successor and gives his name. “Solomon” is the God given name. He is also called Jedediah and Lemuel. But God gave him the name of Solomon.
3.Psa 72 is too long for me to quote, but you should read it and count it next in thought in the discussion. It is David’s prayer for this son, who succeeds him. The superscription says, “A psalm of Solomon,” but that is not true. Solomon never wrote Psa 72 , but David did. The subscription says, “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.” David prays that God may give the king judgment and righteousness in order that he may properly judge the poor, and save the needy, and break in pieces the oppressor. And he goes on to describe that he shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth, and how the kings of the earth shall bring their gifts. Psa 72:17 says,
“His name shall endure forever; His name shall be continued as long as the sun: And men shall be blessed in him; All nations shall call him happy.”
It closes with “Let the whole earth be filled with his glory.” The primary reference is to Solomon. It is more largely fulfilled in the antitype of Solomon, the true Prince of Peace Jesus. Consider that law, that divine election and that prayer of the old father just as he is passing away, and you have not only the name of Solomon, and the character of his reign as a reign of peace, but you have also the prophetic element in Solomon and in Solomon’s reign looking forward to Christ.
Our text declares that Solomon was thoroughly established upon the throne of his father David. ‘Solomon was quite a young man, and said to be wonderfully handsome and attractive. His establishment consisted first in the removal of inherited enemies, those that came to him from David’s side, who might have disturbed his kingdom. The first one of these enemies is his oldest brother, Adonijah. Adonijah thought that because he was the oldest son living after Absalom’s death, he ought to have the kingdom, and he prepared, as we learn in the history of David, to seize the kingdom, and as David was supposed to be in a dying condition he set up his claim, which, was forestalled by David’s having Solomon crowned king. Adonijah was forgiven for that offense, but the record tells us of a new offense. He comes to the mother of Solomon. People oftentimes try to reach those whom they wish to influence through the female members of the family, either the mother, the wife, the sister, or the daughter. The devil tried to get Adam that way and got there. Adonijah comes to the mother of Solomon and asks her to obtain the king’s permission that he may marry that beautiful young girl taken into David’s home and bed in his old age. The ordinary reader sees this as only an innocent request, but you must consider the Oriental custom. The successor of the king took possession of the harem of the preceding king. It is that way now in northern Africa, in Turkey, and in other countries. Absalom, you remember, did that in order to certify his claim to succeed his father. The context suggests that Joab was privy to Adonijah’s request. It means that though pardoned for the first rebellion, they were still contemplating giving an object lesson before the people that Adonijah was entitled to be king. Solomon understood it in one moment, and commanded Adonijah to be put to death.
That removed all the cause of rebellion in the family. As soon as Joab heard of it, as a proof that he was a party in the matter, he ran to the altar and in accordance with what is called the “law of the sanctuary,” took hold of the horns of the altar. Now comes a general library question: Find the law of the sanctuary touching the horns of the altar in the book of Exodus, and state whether Solomon violated the law of the sanctuary in having Joab put to death while clinging to them. It is a custom, not merely of infidels but of semi-infidel preachers, to charge Solomon with having violated the law of the sanctuary in putting a man to death while clinging to its horns.
Joab was put to death. He was a mighty man. There was no general of his age equal to him. Cromwell resembled him more than any man of modern times, in sternness of character, in quickness of decision and action. He was a nephew of David. David’s sister, Zeruiah, had three notable sons, all mighty men Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. David was put to shame more than once in his life through Joab, and on several occamions Joab was greater than the throne. Two of the crimes committed by him the killing of Amasa and Abner are punished in this death of Joab. It was on David’s conscience before he died that he had permitted this man to live. He had been of great service to David, and it did not seem appropriate that David should, even though justly, put to death one who had been so efficient in establishing him in his kingdom, and yet it was not right that this great man in his ill-doing should go unpunished, and so David bequeathed the solution to Solomon; in his wisdom he must find a way to punish Joab for his past misdeeds. Thus we come to the death of this great man Joab.
It was prophesied that not a man should be left of the house of Eli, the usurping high priest before Samuel, and yet in spite of that prophecy we see Abiathar come to David and join him in the days of his exile and act as high priest, but now this Abiathar who did not follow Absalom, but who did follow Adonijah, and was in the conspiracy to defer the installation of Solomon and his kingdom, is degraded from the priesthood. Because of the friendship he had shown to David he is not put to death, but a conspirer endangers the safety of a monarch and he is sent to his own home to live as a common man. He occupies office no more, which disposes of that enemy.
It becomes necessary, having disposed of these two enemies) to appoint successors to their great offices. The man after whom I was named, Benaiah, or as we spell it now, Benajah, was appointed to Joab’s office, and Zadok, a true lineal descendant of Aaron through his eldest son, is put at the head of the priesthood. This fulfils a prophecy that we considered in the book of Numbers. You remember Phinehas, concerning whom one of the three remarkable declarations on imputed righteousness in the Bible is made. It was prophesied that the descendants of Phinehas should occupy the high priesthood. That is fulfilled now for the first time when Zadok becomes the high priest of united Israel.
The internal matters all now having been composed, this young man, as young men generally do, proposed to marry. He selected a wife for political reasons. He married the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Here a general question: Was the marriage of Solomon to the daughter of Pharaoh a violation of the law not to inter-marry with the people around? Form your own judgment. Some of his marriages we know were violations. He married women that were Edomites and Hittites. The Edomites were kin to him, descendants of Esau, but the Hittite was one of the old Canaanitish nations. He married women from every direction, and largely for political reasons. Touching his first marriage we have Psa 45 . Primarily it refers to the consummation of this marriage. Prophetically it refers to the marriage of our Lord, the true Solomon, with his glorified church. Let us look at some of the references in Psa 45 .
My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter; I speak the things which I have made touching the king: My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men; Grace is poured into thy lips: Therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one, Thy glory and thy majesty.
Another part refers to the Bride:
Kings’ daughters are among thy honorable women: At thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house: So will the king desire thy beauty; For he is thy lord; and reverence thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; The rich among the people shall entreat thy favor. The king’s daughter within the palace is all glorious: Her clothing is inwrought with gold. She shall be led unto the king in broidered work: The virgins her companions that follow her Shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led: They shall enter into the king’s palace. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, Whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth. I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: Therefore shall the peoples give thee thanks for ever and ever.
Now we have the king presented to us as a puzzled worshiper. That is to say, there was in Jerusalem the ark of the covenant, in a special tent made for it by David; but there was at Gibeon the old tabernacle that Moses built and also the great brazen altar that Moses had made. Both were places of worship. Solomon determines to have, as a fitting introduction to his reign in which all people shall participate, the most imposing and magnificient religious service known in the world up to that time, and he proposes to have it at both places, first at Gibeon and then before the ark of the covenant at Jerusalem. The old law required only one place of sacrifice. Solomon and others before him might claim that the law was to become operative only after the nation was thoroughly established. Our text says that as a house for God had not yet been built, the people worshiped in high places. All through the books of Judges and 1 Samuel, including all the life of David, we see worship occasionally offered at other places than one central place, and particularly was this so after the Philistines had captured the ark and carried it away. So Solomon determines to hold his first service in the old tent that Moses made, and where the old brazen altar was, and then he would come back to Jerusalem and hold a duplicate service before the ark of the covenant in the place where David had put it. In order that this service might be truly national, he sends out a summons to every part of his empire that all the princes and chief men of the nation should come together and participate in this national offering. The record in speaking of it says that he offered a thousand burnt offerings. In the history of Xerxes, the king of Persia, when he was on his way to invade Greece and had come to the Hellespont, he offered a sacrifice of one thousand oxen to the gods. This says, “And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar before the Lord, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.” That is a parallel in history.
After this imposing ceremony Solomon slept, and sleeping, dreamed. More than once the Bible tells us that the most of dreams have no significance, but it also teaches us that in a number of special cases God makes his revelations through dreams; for example, the cases of Jacob, Joseph, and Nebuchadnezzar. Solomon’s dream was perhaps suggested by his father’s exhortations (See Pro 4:3-7 ) and his own impressions at this great gathering. For the first time in his reign be saw a national assembly, the great convocation of Israel. What a mighty people! What vast and varied interests! How complicated the problems of administration! How great the responsibility on him! He seemed to be appalled at the situation, and was asking himself how he, a boy, could meet it. Thinking thus he fell asleep, and in his sleep came this dream:
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in & dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said (and I do wish we could always have him as presented here), Thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great kindness, according as he walked before thee in truth, and m righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given, him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Jehovah my God thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child; I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant ie in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this thy great people?
It is impossible for any candid mind to read that without being impressed by it. Let me assure you that whoever, on the threshold of any great enterprise, is without the spirit of true humility, is certain to fail. One of the best forecasts of success is that he sees the magnitude and difficulty of the work and realizes his own personal insufficiency and his entire dependence upon the divine help. Would that all of us had that spirit all the time! There is this thing about it: Whenever you lose humility, and begin to say, “All these things have I done,” then remember that “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” The feet of pride are sure to slip in due time. Take the lesson to heart.
I can’t conceive of anything more noble than Solomon’s sense of responsibility and humility before God. A boy made king, king of the elect nation, king of so great a people; in other words, the destiny of the whole world is involved in the mighty religious influences to go out from him and his people. Well might he say, “Lord, I am a little child. I don’t know how to go out and come in. Give me wisdom.” The saying pleased the Lord. I suggest a sermon: “Ask what I shall give thee.”
One Christmas when we had services in the old church at Waco and I preached the sermon, I took that text: “Ask what I shall give thee,” and I told them that every family represented in the congregation had either propounded or heard that question in connection with the day. The parent had said, “What shall I give thee, my son?” and all the young people had pondered the question: “I am to choose my gift and I have a large margin; what will I take?” My own little boy would say, “Give me an automobile.” “Ask what I shall give thee.” What a wonderful thing it is that God permits to us the statement of the desires of our hearts. Even if we keep on praying for an evil thing, in his anger he will sometimes give us what we ask.
God’s answer not only gives Solomon what he asks for, but a number of other things honor and riches things that he did not ask for. He gave him wisdom, the capacity to rule this great people. Our record says, “I give thee a wise and understanding heart, so that there hath been none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” In this connection consider 1Ki 4:29-34 :
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon’s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
Of that remarkable wisdom we speak particularly in the next chapter. An exemplification of his wisdom marks the beginning of his reign, which is here given. There came up a case to which there were no witnesses beyond the contestants themselves. Two mothers living together in the same house had children born to them, and one of the children dies. Then both mothers claim the living child. Nobody knows anything about the circumstances except the two women, and they come before the king to decide the contention. The first one claimed that it was her child. She says, “This other woman lost her baby; it died and while I was asleep she came and took my baby and put her dead baby in my baby’s place, and after awhile when I waked up I looked intently at this baby in my arms, and found it was dead, but it was not my baby.” Now a mother is certainly able to know her child. “I looked intently at it, it was not my baby, and I looked over there and I saw this other woman had my baby.” The other woman contended: “I say her baby died, and I am the mother of this live child.” Under the law everything must be confirmed by two or three witnesses, but here there is no evidence except the two parties in court. How will the young king handle the matter? He says, “Bring me a sword.” The sword is brought. “Cut that baby into halves and give each woman a half” not that he intended to kill the baby; he was only trying to get evidence. As soon as he said that both women speak. One of them said, “No! No! don’t kill the baby. I had rather give it up to the other woman.” The other woman said, “Yes, kill it and let each one of us have a part.” This gave Solomon his evidence. He knew what to decide. He says, “Give this baby to the woman who prefers to lose it rather than see it die. She is the mother.” The decision naturally attracted great attention, and the report of it spread Solomon’s fame far and wide.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the first scripture used to introduce this lesson?
2. Rehearse the items of the kingdom charter given in this scripture.
3. What was the second scripture, and its import?
4. What was the third scripture? Describe the kingdom according to this psalm. Who fulfilled this primarily? Who more largely fulfils it?
5. In what did the establishment of Solomon on the throne consist, who was his first enemy, and how was he disposed of?
6. Where do we find the law of the sanctuary? Did Solomon violate it in having Joab put to death while holding on to the horns of the altar?
8. Who was appointed to fill Joab’s office? Abiathar’s?
9. Was the marriage of Solomon to the daughter of the king of Egypt a violation of the law not to inter-marry with the people round about? What psalm touching this marriage?
10. Describe Solomon as a puzzled worshiper.
11. What was God’s proposition to Solomon, and Solomon’s request? What the lesson for us? What God’s answer to this request? Give an example of his wisdom as exercised.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1Ki 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
Ver. 1. And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh. ] That his kingdom might the better be established, 1Ki 2:46 which albeit God had promised, yet Solomon knew that his providence was to be served, and all good means used.
And took Pharaoh’s daughter.] After he had first taken Naamah, the Ammonitess, Rehoboam’s mother, a year and more before David’s death: for Solomon reigned but forty years, 1Ki 11:42 and Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign. These ladies probably were proselyted, ere Solomon married them: else the marriage could not be lawful. It was in his best time that he did it; neither is he anywhere blamed for this with Pharaoh’s daughter at least, to whom both David is thought by some to allude in Psa 45:10 , and Solomon in the Canticles; yet others think otherwise. Josephus saith he married Pharaoh’s daughter in the first year of his reign, while his father David was yet alive. Those who hold he did ill in it, say, that God afterwards punished him for it, in his posterity, by Shishak, king of Egypt. How fearfully the wrath of God fell upon the Protestants in France, for that unhappy marriage of the king of Navarre with the daughter of France, a Papist, a little afore the Parisian massacre, who knoweth not?
And the house of the Lord.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
affinity = relationship by marriage.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 3
Now Solomon begins the gathering of wives of which it seemed had no end.
He made an affinity with the Pharaoh of Egypt, and he took the Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her to the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about ( 1Ki 3:1 ).
So he took first of all the Pharaoh’s daughter as his wife and later on he built her a house there in Jerusalem. But he was wanting now to build a house for the Lord, the temple in Jerusalem because,
The people sacrificed [in those days just] on the high places, because there was no house built in the name of the Lord, until those days. And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places ( 1Ki 3:2-3 ).
Which was more or less copying after the pagans around them.
So the king went to Gibeon; and there on the high place of Gibeon: he offered a thousand burnt offerings on an altar there ( 1Ki 3:4 ).
So he had a great sacrifice unto God. Now it must not be thought that these animals were just sacrificed and burnt. On these great offerings like this, these were peace offerings or oftentimes as a peace offering they were more or less celebrations, almost where they were just great feasts. You’re going to have a gigantic barbecue, but they would offer the animals. They would sacrifice the animals to the Lord. In other words, the idea was, “Lord, we’re sacrificing these animals for you. An acknowledgment that You are the giver of all of these good gifts and so forth.” But then they would go ahead and roast the meat and they would all have a gigantic barbecue. Big party. And everyone would eat of it. So they were times of feasting. And it is interesting, you remember, they were called feast days because they were times of great feasting when you would come before the Lord. It was always a time of celebration and feasting because God wanted the thought of worshipping Him to be associated with joy and with happiness.
I don’t know where people got the idea that worshipping God should be sad and mournful. It’s tragic that the church went through a period of its history where the more somber and sober you look, the more righteous you were thought to be. So all of the ministers were seeking to affect a very serious, somber appearance. And they even developed voices with just that great, you know, kind of a mournful-like the more you could sound in a mournful tone, really the more spiritual and righteous you were. Hello, brother. And you’re supposed to look real solemn and sober and all, and that’s supposed to mean that you’re very righteous. And if you dare crack a smile, man, you’ve had it. They know that you’ve been you know not doing your job or something, you know, because somehow they didn’t relate worshipping the Lord with joy.
And yet God wants us to relate the worship of Him with joy, with thanksgiving, with party, if you please, with just great rejoicing and happiness in the serving of God, for it should be a joyful, happy experience. Fellowshipping with God should be the greatest joy that a person can experience and you should always go away from true fellowship with God with your soul lifted and your heart light and just rejoicing in the glory and the goodness of the Lord.
So Solomon offered a thousand sacrifices there, so it was a time of great feasting, and of course, you eat a lot of that lamb and you get sleepy so he went to sleep. And he had a dream. And in his dream, the Lord came to him and said, “Solomon, Ask whatever you will.”
If God should say that to you, what would you ask for? This can be very revealing. It can reveal an awful lot about you. If you be truly honest in this, if God should say, “Ask Me anything you want.” What would be your request? For your answer to that would reveal whether or not you are living on the flesh side or the spiritual side of your nature. If your desire would be for great riches, if your desire would be for fame or honor or glory, it means that somehow you’re still suffering under the illusion that you can one day maybe find satisfaction in your flesh and in the things of the flesh. Never.
But if your answer be, “Oh God, that I just might walk with Thee, in close fellowship. Lord, that I might be the person You want me to be.” Or if your answer is in the spiritual things, then that indicates also the fact that your heart is really after God and the things of God for you’re desiring spiritual benefit.
So Solomon said, “Lord, here I am sitting on the throne of my father David, ruling over Your people. Such a great number and multitude that they can’t be numbered. And Lord, I really don’t know what I’m doing. I’m a novice at this. I don’t know what a king is supposed to do. I don’t know how to go in and come out before the people. Lord, there are so many important decisions that have to be made, and people are looking to me for judgment. Grant me, Lord, that I might have wisdom and understanding, that I may properly discern and judge over these people.”
And it pleased the Lord and the Lord said unto him,
Because you didn’t ask for riches; or for long life; or for the life of your enemies; but instead you asked for wisdom and understanding in ruling the people; I will give to you wisdom and understanding; above any who has ever come before, or who would come after you ( 1Ki 3:11-12 ).
Now as you go down into the fourth chapter and in verse thirty, twenty-nine,
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. And he was wiser than all the men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all of the nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs: he wrote a thousand and five songs. He spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, of fowl, of the creeping things, of fish. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom ( 1Ki 4:29-34 ).
“God, give me wisdom.”
And God said, “Because you’ve asked for wisdom, understanding, I’m going to give it to you. But I’m also going to give you that for which you did not ask, great riches and honor. And if you will walk in My commands, I’ll also give you long life. Again, that’s a condition. But I’m going to give you more than what you asked. I’ll give you what you asked but even more.”
Now the principle is stated by Christ. If you “seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; all these things will be added unto you” ( Mat 6:33 ).
Now it is wrong for us to think that riches are either signs of spirituality or morality. Riches are amoral, really; however, riches can be a hang up. They did become a hang up for Solomon. Fame can be a hang up. It became a hang up for Solomon. The Bible says, “Set not your heart upon riches” ( Psa 62:10 ). Or seek not to be rich. That should never be a goal or an ambition of your life. Seek not to be rich. And “they that will be rich, we are told, fall into divers temptations that drown men’s souls into perdition” ( 1Ti 6:9 ).
The Bible also said, “If riches increase, set not your heart upon them” ( Psa 62:10 ). Let your heart remain set upon the Lord, never upon riches, never trust in riches. Trust in the Lord.
And so God promised to him more than what he asked. And this again is just one of those indications of God’s grace, giving more than what we asked. “Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” ( Eph 3:20 ). God’s desire is to give good gifts to His children. He delights in doing so. God delights in just giving to you, even as parents who are able delight in giving to their children or to their grandchildren. It’s a joy. It’s a thrill. So God delights in giving to His children.
So Solomon woke up; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant, and he offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings ( 1Ki 3:15 ),
Burnt offerings are offerings of consecration, the consecration of my life to God. The peace offerings are the offerings of communion, entering into communion and fellowship with God.
So there came two women to Solomon, they were prostitutes, they were living together. And the one said, “We both of us had children within a few days of each other. And she in the night rolled over on her child and suffocated it. And she pulled the switcharoo. She put the dead child next to me and she took my live child.”
The woman said, “No, the live child is mine and the dead child is hers.” And they were both affirming that the child belonged to them.
And so Solomon said, “Bring a sword. The women arguing over it, cut the live child in two and give them each half.”
And the true mother of the child said, “Oh no, no, no, no, give her the child. Don’t do that. Give her the child.”
And the other one said, “Oh no, that’s a good deal. Cut it in half and divide it.”
And Solomon said, “Give the child to its mother.” And all the people heard of this and they marvelled at the wisdom of Solomon in dealing with this particular issue. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
The first brief paragraph in this chapter reveals at once Solomon’s strength and weakness. He was strong, for he loved the Lord and walked in the statutes of his father David. However, there was the other side of his nature, to which he yielded in undue measure, even at the beginning. His affinity with Pharaoh, and his marriage with his daughter, while politically astute, was a vital mistake from the standpoint of his relationship with God and the divine purposes. It is at once seen how he compromised in that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. The perils of mixed motives and a divided heart are terrible indeed.
Early in his reign, Jehovah appeared to him in a dream. With that appearance came Solomon’s great opportunity, both to manifest himself, and to obtain the best. His choice was characterized by great wisdom, as it revealed his consciousness of personal incapacity for all the work devolving on him. God’s answer to his request was full of gracious and oveewhelming kindness. He gave Solomon what he asked, and added the things he might have chosen, yet showed his wisdom in passing by.
Long life, wealth, and victory are all good when they come as bestowment from God. Should a man seek them from selfish motives rather than to fulfil the divine purpose, they would in all probability prove to be curses rather than blessings.
In this chapter Solomon’s choice is followed by a beautiful picture in which he is seen exercising the gift for which he had asked and which God had granted to him.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Young Kings Wise Choice
1Ki 3:1-15
The chapter opens doubtfully. The affinity with Pharaoh, and the two onlys of 1Ki 3:2-3 are not promising. See Deu 12:13-14. Yet there were hopeful features in Solomons love for God, and the devotion and obedience by which it was proved. It remained, however, to be seen, which of these influences was to triumph in the outworking of his character. That is always the most urgent, question in life. With too many the early dew and morning cloud pass away, leaving no trace, Hos 6:4.
There is an inner wisdom which is of the heart rather than of the head, and which Gods Spirit bestows on those who love Him. Having this, we possess the key to all things in heaven and on earth. See 1Co 2:5, etc. When a man seeks first the Kingdom, all else is added, Mat 6:33. Only the man who delights in God can be trusted with the gratification of his hearts desires, Psa 37:4.
Live deep in God. Do not be dazzled or fascinated by outward things. Be concerned to know Gods will and become the organ of His purpose. He will add to you all else that is needful for the fulfillment of your life-course.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
1Ki 3:5
Solomon’s prayer was acceptable to God (1) because every true and faithful prayer is so acceptable, and (2) because of all prayers He loveth best those that are wholly unselfish, those in which all thoughts of self are absorbed and annihilated in thoughts of Him and of our fellow-men.
I. Even of things earthly God says to each of us, “Ask what I shall give thee.” Our lives may be very much what we choose to make them. Asking God for gifts at the hands of time or opportunity does not mean mere asking; he who asks must, if his prayer is to be listened to, be sincere in his petition, and if he be sincere, will naturally and necessarily take the means which God appoints. Were it not so-if vice could with a wish yawn into being the rewards of virtue, if sluggishness could at a touch appropriate to itself the gifts of toil-then prayer would corrupt the world. Action, effort, perseverance-these are the touchstones that test the pure gold of sincerity.
II. Though this be true of earthly things, it is ten times more indisputably true of the better and the heavenly. Dost thou love uprightness? Ask it, will it, and thou shalt be upright. Dost thou love purity? Ask it, will it, and thou shalt be pure. “Ask what I shall give thee.” God said it to Solomon in the dim visions of the night; He says it to us by the voice of His eternal Son. “Every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
F. W. Farrar, In the Days of thy Youth, p. 159.
I. Not wealth, not pleasure, not fame, not victory, not length of days, but an understanding heart, was the choice of Solomon’s boyhood.
The prayer for wisdom is always pleasing to God. (1) Even intellectual wisdom-how far higher is it, how far worthier of man as God made him, than any alternative of fashion or vanity of wit or vice. Fear not to ask of God an understanding heart, even in studies which name not His name. (2) But the speech which pleased the Lord was a prayer rather for practical wisdom. The gift which Solomon’s prayer drew down was the gift of justice. When he seated himself in the gate to hear the causes which Israel brought to him, intellect was nothing; judgment, the power to discriminate between good and bad-this was his work. This therefore was his prayer.
II. The bitter and painful thing to remember in the history before us is the wreck and ruin of that prayer which in itself was so beautiful and so acceptable. (1) It may have been that Solomon’s largeness of heart slipped into latitudinarianism. (2) That which cankered Solomon’s wisdom was the entrance of sinful lust.
III. We may hope that even out of this wreck the lost life found a way to arise. We read the Book of Ecclesiastes as the record of that hope. Let us hope that the night’s prayer at Gibeon was being answered, though in dim and broken reflection, in the latest utterances of the Preacher, son of David, king of Jerusalem.
C. J. Vaughan, Sermon Preached at St. Olave’s School, 1872.
References: 1Ki 3:5.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 19; J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 5th series, p. 37; Bishop Thorold, Good Words, 1878, p. 20. 1Ki 3:7.-Outline Sermons for Children, p. 45
1Ki 3:6-9
I. In what sense, it may be asked, did David expect that his son’s kingdom would be a Divine and spiritual one, in what sense an earthly and magnificent one? I answer, He looked for no earthly magnificence which was not the manifestation of an inward and spiritual dominion; he feared no earthly magnificence which was a manifestation of it. Solomon’s own history will be the best solution of the riddle, if it is one.
II. Solomon beseeches God for an understanding heart. All his moral and spiritual desires are gathered up in that petition. He asks precisely what he feels to be necessary to his work; he wants nothing more. Consider what he felt that this work demanded. “He must discern between good and bad.” This he perceives to be the characteristic function of a ruler. He must know right from wrong, must learn in complicated cases to see into the truth, to see it in spite of any falsehoods that might be invented to blacken it. To discern God first, that he might judge of evil by that; to have intense inward sympathy with the right, that he might hate and resolutely put down the wrong-this was the gift which, in his conscious ignorance, he desired Him who possessed it to bestow.
III. Such a time as Solomon’s, though a really great one, is a critical one for any nation. The idea of building a house which the Lord would fill with His glory was a recognition of God as eternally ruling over that people and over all people. Yet there lay close to it a tendency to make the invisible visible, to represent the holy presence as belonging to the building instead of the building as being hallowed and glorified by the presence. There was the seed of idolatry in Solomon, as there is in every man. That early prayer for an understanding heart was the prayer against it, and it was answered as fully as any prayer ever was. But there comes a moment when the king or the man ceases to desire that the light should enter into hint, should separate the good from the bad in him. Then the tempter appears and points the road to idolatry. And the sympathising king who sent his people away with gladness of heart, sure that God was the King and that they had a human king who felt towards them as He felt, would gradually become a tyrant. So even the wise king would prepare his subjects for rebellion and his kingdom for division.
F. D. Maurice, Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament, p. 74.
Reference: 1Ki 3:7, 1Ki 3:9.-Old Testament Outlines, pp. 66, 67.
1Ki 3:9-12
I. God comes to every one of us saying, “Ask what I shall give thee.” Goethe said he admired the man who knew precisely what he aimed at in life. God wishes you at the commencement of your career to come up to the height of a great choice. You must choose, your refusal to choose is itself a choice, and it is the liberty to choose your own aim in life, and at last your own destiny, that makes life so serious, Life comes to every man with its riddle; and if he answers it aright, it is well with him; but if he tries to go on neglecting the commandments of the Giver of life, if he tries to go on living in his own way, and not in God’s way, life to him will be a thing of loss, and he will become an object to be wept over. We are placed here, naked as the giant of fable, to wrestle with the rude elements of the world, to conquer in the midst of its varied probation; but remember this: no devil nor devil’s child can cast you down without your own consent.
II. Notice that “the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.” It was this thing in contrast to three other things that he rejected: long life, riches, and revenge on his enemies.
III. The reasons are here assigned why it pleased the Lord that Solomon rejected the false and chose the true aim in life. (1) Because he chose what enabled him to be serviceable to others. Our great poet has told us that Heaven does with us as we do with torches: not light them for themselves. We are lit in order to be the light of the world. (2) It pleased the Lord because he chose to walk in the statutes of a good father, and so to encourage him in his last days in his faith in God’s covenant. (3) It pleased the Lord because he chose God Himself as his portion rather than all His gifts.
Herber Evans, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 329.
References: 1Ki 3:10.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 335; E. J. Hardy, Faint yet Pursuing, p. 69.
1Ki 3:12
As He is wont, God gave Solomon more than he asked. There is a difference between the favour that was sought and the boon which was granted. “The heart” is the affections; “the understanding” is the intelligent knowledge of any subject; “wisdom” is the sensible and right use both of the knowledge and the affections.
I. Wisdom is the only thing of which God has said that He gives it liberally and never upbraids. No man need be afraid to ask for wisdom, however often or however much. Solomon’s wisdom went higher than all natural history, higher than political economy, higher than moral science. It went up to essential truth, to the Truth of truths, to Christ Himself. Read the eighth chapter of Proverbs, and you will see, beyond a cavil, what and who was “the Wisdom” that God gave to Solomon. All this was the result of one good choice, and the answer to one simple, humble prayer in early life.
II. There is a very solemn lesson in the fact that Solomon afterwards abused that vast gift, that that very heart went wrong. No one prayer can secure continuance; one period of life is no guarantee for another period of life; the intellect may be darkened, and the heart may go wrong, and the wisest man become the worst.
III. The triple band of wisdom, intellect, and love is a “threefold cord, which shall not be quickly broken.” Affections are the springs of life, without which the man lies dormant and useless. Affections are the seat of faith, and the heaven of this present life. And intellect is strength. Intellect takes in all truth, and is the characteristic of man. But wisdom takes us higher. Wisdom teaches us that the affections and the intellect have a far end beyond; that we must live up to our immortality; that we must be like God. Wisdom blends and sanctifies the heart and the understanding, gives unity, completes our being, moulds nature into grace, and turns the man into a saint.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 12th series, p. 101.
References: 1Ki 3:24-27.-A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii., p. 172. 1Ki 4:20-28.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1504.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
2. Jehovah Appears to Solomon His Prayer and the Answer
CHAPTER 3
1. Affinity with Pharaoh and Pharaohs daughter (1Ki 3:1)
2. Solomon loved the LORD (1Ki 3:2-4)
3. Jehovah appears to Solomon (1Ki 3:5-15)
4. The wisdom granted and exemplified (1Ki 3:16-28)
We shall now see how the Lord kept His promise He made unto David in the establishment of his kingdom. After the execution of the demanded judgment Solomon entered into affinity with Pharaoh King of Egypt (probably the last King of the 21 Tanitic dynasty) and married his daughter. She was with him in Davids city until he made an end of building his own house, the house of the LORD and the wall of Jerusalem round about. She was a Gentile and Jewish tradition states that she became a Jewish proselyte. This union was prophetic of the blessing Gentiles were to receive in union with Him whom Solomon typifies. It was grace which took up Pharaohs daughter and made her share the riches and honors of Solomon. And Solomon loved the LORD. At Gibeon he offered a thousand burnt offerings. Gibeon was one of the high places where the priests performed their functions (1Ch 16:36-40). The tabernacle and the brazen altar were there, but not the ark of the covenant. However, he also approached the ark and stood before it to render thanks unto Jehovah. (Another application may be made to the Jewish remnant of the end of the age the same way as Ruth typified that remnant. See Annotations on Ruth. That remnant is called through grace; the Jews through unbelief are in the same place as the Gentiles. The grace which saved and called the Gentiles will draw and call them and bring them into union with the King.)
A most blessed incident followed. As stated before Solomon was a youth when he was anointed king. Eusebius states that he was only 12 years old; Josephus gives his age as 15 years. He was probably not yet 20 years old when he became King. He felt deeply two things, his own littleness and his great responsibility in governing the multitude of people. It was while still at Gibeon that Jehovah appeared unto him in a dream and said: Ask what I shall give you. What grace this was, but it also searched his inner-most soul. And this offer was not made exclusively to Solomon. He who appeared unto Solomon and put this gracious question to him, when He was on earth clothed in the garb of a servant, yet greater than Solomon in all his glory, said: Ask, and it shall be given you (Mat 7:7). And again He said: Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do (Joh 14:13). It is faiths prerogative to hear Him speak thus to our hearts and to make use of His great offer. Solomons answer is beautiful. He acknowledged Gods great mercy and kindness. Then he confessed his own weakness and helplessness. I am but a little child; I know not how to go out or come in. He speaks of his responsibility and duty towards Gods people and then utters his request: Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge this Thy so great a people? It pleased the Lord as it always pleases Him when His people confess their littleness and expect help from Him. The request is granted. So there was none like thee before thee, neither shall any arise like unto thee. Wisdom from above filled his soul. The book of Proverbs bears witness to this great understanding the Lord gave to him. But He added much more; He gave him riches and honour. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all things shall be added unto you (Mat 6:33). And the same Lord does still, to all who put their trust in Him, exceeding abundantly above all they ask or think. He giveth us richly all things to enjoy (1Ti 6:17). Then there was a conditional promise. And if thou wilt walk in My ways, to keep My statutes, and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days (verse 14). Alas! Solomon did not fulfill the condition. He forsook the Lord and died when he was not quite 60 years of age. He awoke and behold it was a dream. But it was more than a dream. That the prayer had been answered and that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment is evidenced in the incident which follows and which needs no further comment. In his wisdom he is a type of our Lord Jesus who is the wisdom of God. And the justice he administered in his kingdom is typical of the righteous judgment of our Lord when He rules as king over the earth. He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears, but with righteousness shall He judge the poor (Isa 11:1-4).
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
am 2990, bc 1014, An, Ex, Is, 477
affinity: 2Ch 18:1, Ezr 9:14
and took: 1Ki 7:8, 1Ki 9:24, 1Ki 11:1
the city: 2Sa 5:7, 1Ch 11:7
his own: 1Ki 7:1-12
the house: 1Ki 6:1-38, 1Ki 7:13-15, 2Ch 2:1 – 2Ch 4:22, Ezr 5:11
the wall: 1Ki 9:15-19
Reciprocal: Gen 12:15 – princes 1Ki 2:10 – the city 1Ki 9:16 – daughter 1Ch 4:18 – Bithiah 2Ch 8:11 – brought up
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SOLOMONS GREATNESS AND WISDOM
HIS EGYPTIAN ALLIANCE (1Ki 3:1-4)
It is disappointing at the beginning to speak of that which betokens neither greatness nor wisdom on Solomons part, looking at it from the highest point of view. This marriage with a heathen wife was contrary to the law of God (Exo 34:16); and while it was entered into for political reasons, and to strengthen Israels hands, yet in the end it weakened them, as Israel came to trust in Pharaoh more than Jehovah.
And yet Solomon loved the Lord, and served Him with the limitations named in these verses, and the Lord was longsuffering toward him as with his father David.
Some think that since Solomon was not divinely rebuked for marrying this princess, as he was later for marrying other foreigners, she may have consented to become a proselyte to the Jewish religion. It is interesting also that the Song of Songs and Psalms 45 were probably composed in her honor, although both, in the mind of the Holy Spirit, had a typical reference to the relation of Jehovah to Israel, or Christ to His Church, or both.
The high places in 1Ki 3:2, were altars erected on natural or artificial eminences, on the theory that the worshipper was thus brought nearer the Deity. They had been prohibited by Moses because of their association with idolatry (Lev 17:3-4, etc.); but, as the temple was not yet built in Israel and the tabernacle was moved about from place to place, they seem to have been tolerated without special rebuke from God.
HIS NOBLE REQUEST (1Ki 3:5-15)
Observe that the wisdom Solomon desired was not of the heavenly but the earthly kind (1Ki 3:9). Noble it was, and yet Solomon might have had something still more worth while had he sought it. How does Gods answer illustrate Eph 3:20?
Solomons expression I am but a little child (1Ki 3:7) is not to be taken in the sense of years but experience. He was probably twenty at this period.
HIS STATE AND RETINUE (1Ki 4:1-28)
How do 1Ki 4:11 and 1Ki 4:15 indicate that this chapter is dealing with a later period in Solomons reign?
Observe the development of the kingdom at this time as indicated by these officials. The word priest (1Ki 4:2), it is thought, should be rendered prince, so that Azariah was probably prime minister; then follow three secretaries of state, a historiographer, a military commander in chief, a high priest, provincial governors, a confidential adviser, a steward or chamberlain, a state treasurer or collector of customs, etc. (1Ki 4:2-6).
Afterward local revenue officers are named, for the taxes raised were in the products of the soil rather than money. These were put in store cities in the different localities until required at the palace (1Ki 4:7-21). Compare 1Ki 9:19.
The provision in 1Ki 4:22-23 refers to the tables of the kings concubines, courtiers, guests, etc., as well as his private board.
HIS FAME (1Ki 4:28-34)
This exceeded that of the Chaldeans or Persians, or Egyptians, renowned as the last named were for all kinds of learning (1Ki 4:30). There were none of his contemporaries he did not excel (1Ki 4:31). He was author of wise sayings and songs by the thousands (1Ki 4:32). He was a master of forestry and arbori- culture, of zoology, and ornithology and ichthology, so that kings as well as lesser people came to listen to and confer with him.
HIS FRIENDS (1 Kings 5)
Among the kings who came to pay court was Hiram of Tyre, who, whether he was the Hiram of Davids time, or his son or grandson, it is difficult to say. This results in a contract for the building of the temple, in which the skilled workmen of Tyre are yoked with the commoner laborers of Israel (1Ki 5:6). Advantages are to be reciprocated (1Ki 5:9). Compare 1Ki 9:20 (also 2Ch 2:17-18; 2Ch 8:7-9), from which we gather who were the laborers Solomon laid tribute upon for this work. The stones in 1Ki 4:17-18 are still seen in the lower foundations of the site of the ancient temple.
QUESTIONS
1. Have you read Psalms 45?
2. What does the Song of Songs typify?
3. Why were altars built on high places?
4. Quote Ephesians 3:30.
5. Name from memory the offices in Solomons kingdom.
6. Name some of the branches of Solomons learning.
7. For what arts or trades were the Phoenicians (or Tyrians) noted?
8. What do you recall of the dealings between Hiram and David?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
1Ki 3:1. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh As being a powerful neighbour. And took Pharaohs daughter To wife, which was not unlawful, if she was first instructed in, and made a proselyte to, the Jewish religion, as, in all probability, she was. For Solomon was not yet fallen from God, but loved the Lord, and walked in the statutes of David, (1Ki 3:3,) and therefore would not have married a gross idolater, which would have been directly contrary to Gods law, and most pernicious in its consequences. It is true he afterward loved many strange women, and the wives he married alienated his heart from Jehovah, and drew him in to worship strange gods: but the gods of the Egyptians are not reckoned among them, nor does it appear that Pharaohs daughter was one of the wives whose example or conversation had such a pernicious influence. On the contrary, it is likely she was a worshipper of the true God, and that Solomons taking her to wife was designed by God to be a type of Christ calling his church to himself and to the true religion, not only from among the Jews, but even out of the Gentile world. This, it is thought, plainly appears from the forty-fifth Psalm, and the book of Canticles. And brought her into the city of David Into Davids palace there. Until he had made an end of building the house of the Lord The temple designed for the worship and honour of God. And the wall of Jerusalem round about Which, though in some sort built by David, yet Solomon is here said to build, either because he made it higher and stronger, in which sense Nebuchadnezzar is said to have built Babylon, (Dan 4:30,) or because he built another wall besides the former, for after this time Jerusalem was encompassed with more walls than one.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 3:1. Solomontook Pharaohs daughter. It would appear from the 45th Psalm, which the rabbins with one consent affirm, was the nuptial ode for this marriage, that David had made arrangements for it prior to his demise. The law, Deu 7:3, it is thought did not bear on this point, but against marriages with the Canaanites.
1Ki 3:2. Only the people sacrificed in high places, to the Lord, as their fathers and as Samuel had done. Moses however names but one place which the Lord should choose. Deuteronomy 16. There could be but one Calvary.
1Ki 3:5. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee, and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, oh Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father. I know not how to go out and come in: and thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people which cannot be numbered, nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
The Abbe Maury, in his Treatise on Eloquence, says, that Saurins Sermon on the Wisdom of Solomon, is one of the best specimens of his eloquence. As it has not yet been given in an English dress, I will here attempt a translation. But though I am well acquainted with the style and manner of this great man, having already translated two volumes of his Sermons; yet I must here solicit the indulgence which enlightened criticism will grant to a hasty production.
Woe to thee, oh land, when thy king is a child. In this way has the Sage expressed the calamities of states conducted by men destitute of experience; but the general maxim is not without exceptions. As we sometimes see the levities of youth in mature age, so we sometimes perceive in youth the gravity of sober years. There are some geniuses premature, whose early indications of reason anticipate old age; and who, if I may so speak, on leaving the cradle, discover talents worthy of the throne. A profusion of supernatural endowments coming to the aid of nature, exemplifies in those characters the happy experience of the prophet: I have more understanding than all my teachers. I understand more than the ancients.
Here is an illustrious proof. Solomon, in the early period of life, formed the correctest idea of government which had ever entered the mind of the profoundest philosophers, or the most consummate statesmen. Awed by the sceptre, he acknowledged the impotency of his arm to sway it. Of the high privilege granted him by heaven of asking whatsoever he would, he availed himself solely to ask wisdom. What an enlightened request, my brethren. How many aged men have we seen inferior in wisdom to this youth. On the other hand, God honoured a petition so wise, by super- adding to the petitioner every other endowment. He gave to Solomon wisdom, and with wisdom, glory and riches; he elevated him to a scale of grandeur, which no sovereign ever did or ever shall be allowed to equal. It is to this petition so judicious, and to this reply so magnificent, that we shall call your attention, after having bestowed a moment on three important circumstances connected with the occasion.
These are marked in the leading words of our text. In this divine revelation, the place, the manner, and the subject claim particular attention.
1. The place of this revelation. It was in Gibeon, about eight miles from Jerusalem. The people sacrificed on the brazen altar, constructed by divine command, then in Gibeon, where it had been removed, along with the tabernacle. 2Ch 1:3.
2. The manner in which the revelation was communicated to Solomon, supplies a second source of reflection. It was, says the historian, in a dream. We have elsewhere remarked, that there are three sorts of dreams. Some are in the order of nature; others are in the order of providence; and a third class are in an order superior to both. Discours Histor. tom. 5. p. 184.
3. A reason very dissimilar supersedes our stopping to illustrate the subject; that is, because the subject has no need of illustration. The Lord was pleased to put Solomon to the proof, by permitting him to ask whatsoever he would. To this proof Solomon worthily corresponded; his sole request being for wisdom. God complied with the enlightened prayer, and in granting profound wisdom to his servant he superadded riches, glory and long life. It is this enlightened request, and this munificent reply we are now to examine. Four remarks demand attention in Solomons request to God, and four in Gods reply.
First, notice in Solomons request his recollection of past mercies, the mercies of David his father. Solomon makes this recollection with a view to obtain those divine favours and aids which his situation required. He aspired at the blessings which God confers on the children of faithful fathers. He wished to become the object of that promise in which God stands engaged to show mercy to thousands of generations, to them that love him.
This is the first object of our discourse. The privilege of an illustrious birth, I grant, is sometimes extravagantly strained. This kind of folly is not novel in the present age; it was the folly of the Hebrew nation. To most of the censures of the prophets, the Jews opposed this defence: We are Abrahams seed: we have Abraham to our father. Mat 3:9. What an apology! Does an illustrious birth sanction low and grovelling sentiments? Do the virtues of our ancestors excuse us from being virtuous? And has God uniformly engaged to excuse the profaneness of children, because their parents were pious? You are the children of Abraham; you have an illustrious origin; your ancestors were the models and glory of their age. Then you are the more inexcusable for being the reproach of your age: then you are the faithless depositaries of the nobility with which you have been entrusted: then you have degenerated from your former grandeur: then you shall be condemned to surrender to nature a corrupted blood, which you received pure from those to whom you owe your birth.
It is true however, all being equal by nature, that in tracing ones origin, it is a singular favour of heaven to be able to cast our eyes on a long line of illustrious ancestors. I am not about to offer the incense to idols of distinguished families. It is the church which has perfect notions of true nobility. To be accounted noble in the sanctuary we must give proof of virtue, and not of vain titles, which often owe their origin to the vanity, the seditions, and the fawning baseness of those who display them with so much pride. To be noble in the language of scripture, and to be impure, avaricious, haughty and implacable, are opposite ideas. But charity, but patience, but moderation, but dignity of soul, and a certain elevation of mind, place a man above the world and its maxims. These are the characteristics of nobility which distinguish children of supreme descent.
In this view it is a high favour of heaven, in tracing ones descent, to be able to cast the eye on a long line of illustrious ancestors. How often have holy men availed themselves of these motives to induce the Deity, if not to bear with the Israelites in the course of their crimes, at least to pardon them after the crimes have been committed. How often have they said in the supplications they opposed to the wrath of heaven, Oh Lord, remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thy servants. How often has God yielded to the strength of these arguments. How often has he for the sake of the patriarchs, for the sake of David, heard prayer in behalf of their children.
Let those maxims be deeply imprinted on the heart. Our own interest should be motive sufficient to prompt us to piety; but we should also be excited to it by the interest of our children. The recollection of our virtues is the best inheritance we can leave them after our decease. These virtues afford them pleas for the divine favour: the goodwill of heaven is in some sort entailed on families who fear the Lord. Happy the fathers who can say, when extended on the bed of death, My children: I am about to appear before the awful tribunal, where there is no resource for poor mortals, but humility and repentance. Meanwhile I bless God, that notwithstanding my defects, which I acknowledge with confusion of face, you will not have cause to be ashamed on pronouncing the name of your father. I have been faithful to the truth, and have constantly walked before God in the uprightness of my heart. Happy the children who have such a descent.
Oh God, thou hast showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart. Here is the recollection of past mercies, the recollection which God approves, and the first object of our discourse.
Consider, secondly, in the prayer of Solomon, the aspect under which he contemplated the regal power. He viewed it principally with regard to the high duties it imposed upon him. Thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen; who is able to judge this thy so great a people, which cannot be numbered? The answer of God is a correspondent seal to this idea of supreme authority; and what we here say of the regal power is applicable to every other office of trust and dignity. A man of integrity must not view them with regard to the emoluments they produce, but with regard to the duties they impose.
What end has society in view, in promoting individuals to high stations? Is it to augment their pride? Is it that they may live in a style the most expensive? Is it to flatter their arrogance and ambition? Is it to aggrandize their families by the ruin of the widow and the orphan? Is it to adore them as idols? Is it to become their slaves? Nobles of the earth, ask those subjects, to whom you are indebted for the high scale of elevation you enjoy? Ask, why this dignity has been conferred? They will say, it was to entrust you with their safety and repose; it was to procure fathers and protectors; it was to find peace and prosperity under your tribunals. To induce you to enter on those awful duties, they have accompanied them with those inviting appendages which soothe the cares, and alleviate the weight of office. They have distinguished you with titles, they have promised obedience, and ensured your salaries. Entrance then on a high office is to make a contract with the people, over whom you proceed to exercise authority; it is to make a compact by which certain duties are required on certain conditions. To require the emoluments when the conditions of the engagements are violated, is an abominable usurpation. I speak literally, and without a shadow of exaggeration; a magistrate who deviates from the duties of his office, after having received the emolument, ought to come under the penal statutes of those who take away their neighbours goods. These statutes require restitution. Before restitution, he is liable to this anathema: Woe to him that encreaseth that which is not his own, and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Hab 2:6-11. Before restitution he is unworthy of the Lords table; and is included in the curse we denounce against thieves, whom we repel from the holy eucharist. Before restitution he is unable to die in peace, and he is included in the list of those who shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But into what strange reflections are we not led by our subject? What awful ideas does it not excite in the mind? Into what alarming consequences does it not involve certain kings? Ye Moseses, ye Elijahs, ye John Baptists, faithful servants of the living God, and celebrated in every age of the church for your fortitude, your courage, and your zeal; you, who knew not how to temporize, nor to tremble, even before Pharaoh, nor before Ahab, nor before Herod, nor before Herodias; why are you not in this pulpit? Why do you not to-day supply our place, to communicate to the subject all the energy of which it is susceptible? Be wise oh ye kings, be instructed ye judges of the earth.
We remark, thirdly, in the prayer of Solomon, the sentiments of his own weakness; and in Gods reply, the high regard testified towards humility. The character of the king whom Solomon succeeded, the arduous nature of the duties to which he was called, and the insufficiency of his age, were to him three considerations of humiliation.
1. The character of the king whom he succeeded. Thou hast showed unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in the uprightness of his heart with thee. How dangerous to succeed an illustrious prince! The distinguished actions of a predecessor are so many sentences against the faults of him who has to succeed. The people are never wanting to make unfavourable contrasts between the past and the present. They recollect the virtues they have attested, the happiness they have enjoyed, the prosperity with which they have been loaded, and the distinguished qualifications of the prince of whom they have just been deprived by death. And if the idea of having had an illustrious predecessor, is on all occasions a subject of serious consideration for him who has to follow, never was there a prince who had juster reasons to be awed than Solomon. He succeeded a man who was the model of kings, in whose person were united the wisdom of a statesman, the valour of a soldier, the experience of a marshal, the illumination of a prophet, the piety of a good man, and even the virtue of a saint of the first rank.
2. The extent of the duties imposed on Solomon, is the second cause of his humility. Who is able to judge this thy so great a people? Adequately to judge a great nation, a man must regard himself no longer as his own, but be wholly devoted to the interests of the people. Adequately to judge a great nation, a man must have a consummate knowledge of human nature, of civil society, of the laws of nature, and of the peculiar laws of the people over whom he has to preside. Adequately to judge a nation, he must have his house and his heart ever open to the solicitations of those over whom he is exalted. Adequately to judge a people, he must recollect that a small sum of money, that a foot of land is as much to a poor man as a city, a province, and a kingdom are to a prince. Adequately to judge a people, he must habituate himself to the disgust excited by listening to a man who is quite full of his subject, and who imagines that the person addressed ought to be equally impressed with its importance. Adequately to judge a people, a man must be exempt from vice: nothing is more calculated to prejudice the mind against the purity of his decisions, than to see him captivated by some predominant passion. Adequately to judge a people, he must be destitute of personal respect: he must neither yield to the entreaties of those who know the way to his heart, nor be intimidated by the high tone of others who threaten to hold up as martyrs, the persons they obstinately defend. Adequately to judge a people, a man must expand, if I may so speak, all the powers of his soul, that he may be equal to the dignity of his duty, and avoid all distraction, which on filling the superior powers of the mind, obstructs its perception of the main object. And who is sufficient for these things? Who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
3. The snares of youth form a third object of Solomons fear, and a third cause of his humility. I am but a little child: I know not how to go out and come in. Some chronologists are of opinion that Solomon, when he uttered these words, I am but a little child, was only twelve years of age, which to us seems insupportable: for besides its not being proved, as we see by the event, the style in which David addressed this prince on investing him with the reins of government, sufficiently proves that he spake not to a child. He calls him wise, and it was on account of that wisdom that he entrusted him with the punishment of Joab, and of Shimei.
It was therefore, I should suppose, at the age of twenty or twenty six years, that Solomon saw himself called to fill the throne of the greatest of kings, and to enter on those exalted duties of which we have given but an imperfect sketch. It is then that we give scope to presumption which has a plausible appearance, being as yet unmortified by the recollection of past follies. It is then that a suspicion of not being yet classed by mankind among great men, prompts a youth to place himself in that high rank. It is then that we regard counsel as an obstruction of the authority we attribute to ourselves. It is then that we oppose an untractable disposition to the advice of a faithful friend, who would lead us to propriety of conduct. It is then that our passions hurry us to excess, and become the arbiters of truth and falsehood, of equity and injustice.
Presumptuous youths, who make the assurance with which you aspire at the first offices of the state, the principal ground of success. I cannot better improve this head of my discourse than by affirming, that the higher notions you entertain of your own sufficiency, the lower you sink at the bar of equity and reason. The more you account yourselves qualified to govern, the less you are capable of doing it. The sentiment Solomon entertained of his own weakness, was the most distinguished of his royal virtues. The profound humility with which he asked God to supply his inability, was the leading disposition for obtaining divine support.
Fourthly, we are come at length to the last, and to the great object of the history before us. We shall show you, on the one hand, our hero prefering the requisite talents, to pomp, splendour, riches, and all that is grateful to kings; and from the vast source opened by heaven, deriving nothing but wisdom and understanding. We shall show on the other hand that God, honouring a prayer so enlightened, granted to Solomon the wisdom and understanding he had asked, and with these, riches, glory, and long life.
Who can forbear being delighted with the first object, and who can sufficiently applaud the magnanimity of Solomon. Place yourselves in the situation of this prince. Imagine for a moment that you are the arbiters of your own destiny, and that you hear a voice from the blessed God, saying, Ask what I shall give thee. How awful would this test prove to most of our hearers! If we may judge of our wishes by our pursuits, what strange replies should we make to this permission. What a strange choice would ours be. Our privilege would become our calamity, and we should have the awful ingenuity to find misery in the very bosom of happiness. Who would say, Lord, give me wisdom and understanding. Lord, help me worthily to discharge the duties of the station with which I am entrusted. This is the utmost of all my requests; and to this alone I would wish thy munificence to be confined. Who would not say, on the contrary, biassed by the circumstance of situation, or swayed by some predominant passion, Lord, augment my heaps of gold and silver; and in proportion as my riches shall encrease, diminish the desire of expenditure. Another, Lord, raise me to the highest scale of grandeur, and give me to trample underfoot the men who shall have the assurance to become my equals, and whom I regard as worms of the earth. How little for the most part do we know ourselves in prosperity: how incoherent are our ideas. Great God, do thou determine our lot, and save us from the reproach of making an unhappy choice by removing the occasion. Solomon was incomparably wiser. Filled with the duties of the high station to which he was raised, Lord, said he, give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad. But if we applaud the wisdom of Solomons prayer, how much more should we applaud the goodness and munificence of Gods reply? Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life, neither hast thou asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, I have done according to thy word. Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; and I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour, so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
How amply was this promise fulfilled; and its fulfilment corresponded with the munificence of the Being from whom it had proceeded. In virtue of this promise, I have given thee an understanding heart, we see Solomon carrying the art of civil government to the highest point it can ever attain. Witness the profound prudence by which he discerned the real from the pretended mother. Bring me a sworddivide the living child into two parts, and give half to the one and half to the other. 1Ki 3:24-25. Witness the profound peace he procured for his subjects, and which made the historian say that Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine, and under his figtree. Witness the eulogium of the sacred writers on this subject, that Solomons wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt; that he was wiser than Ethan, than Heman, than Chalcol, and Darda; that is to say, he was wiser than every man of his own age. Witness the embassies from all the kings of the earth to hear his wisdom. Witness the acclamation of the Queen who came from the remotest kingdom of the earth to hear this prodigy of wisdom. It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy wisdom, and behold the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. Happy are these thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. 1Ki 10:6-8.
And in virtue of this other promise, I have given thee glory and riches, we see Solomon raising superb edifices, forming powerful alliances, and swaying the sceptre over every prince, from the river even unto the land of the Philistines; that is, from the Euphrates to the eastern branch of the Nile, which separates Palestine from Egypt, and making gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones. 2Ch 9:26-27. It would he easy to extend these reflections; but I should, on confining myself to this alone, incur the charge of having evaded the most difficult part of the subject, to dwell on that which is sufficiently plain. The extraordinary condescension which God evinced towards Solomon, the gifts with which he was endowed, the answer to his prayer, I have given thee an understanding heart, collectively involve a difficulty of the most serious kind. How could he harmonize those favours with the events? How could a man so wise commit those faults, and perpetrate those crimes which defiled him at the close of life? How could he follow the exorbitant pride of eastern princes, who boast of a harem filled with innumerable women? How in abandoning his heart to sensual pleasure, could he abandon his faith and his religion? And after having the baseness to offer incense to their beauty, how could he also offer incense to their idols? I meet this question with the greatest pleasure, as the solution we shall give will demonstratethe difficulties of superior endowmentsthe danger of bad companythe peril of human grandeurand the poison of voluptuousness.
First, the difficulties attendant on superior talents. Can we suppose that God, on the investiture of Solomon with superior endowments, exempted him from the law which requires men of the humblest talents to improve them? What is implied in these words, I have given thee understanding? Do they mean, I take solely on myself the work of thy salvation; and thou mayest live in voluptuousness and neglect? Brave the strongest temptations; I will obstruct thy falling? Open thy heart to the most seductive objects; I will interpose my buckler for thy preservation and defence?
On this subject, my brethren, we have need of a total reform in our views, and to abjure a system of theology, if I may so speak, inconceivably absurd. Some persons have formed notions of I know not what grace, which takes wholly on itself the work of our salvation; which suffers us to sleep as much as we choose in the arms of concupiscence and pleasure, and which redoubles its aids in proportion as the sinner redoubles resistance. Undeceive yourselves. God never yet bestowed a talent, without requiring its cultivation. The more superior are our endowments, the more our difficulties are augmented. The greater the efforts of grace to save us, the more should we labour at our salvation. The more it watches for our good, the more we are called to the exercise of vigilance. Youyou who have more light than your neighbour, tremble; an account will be required of that superior light. Youyou who have more genius than most men, tremble; an account will be required of that genius. Youyou who have most advanced in the grace of sanctification, tremble; an account will be required of that grace. Do you call this truth in question? Go, go see it exemplified in the person of Solomon. Go, go see the abyss into which he fell by burying his talents. Go, go see this man endowed with talents superior to all the world. Go see him enslaved by seven hundred wives, and prostituted to three hundred concubines. Go see him prostrated before the idol of the Sidonians, and the abomination of the Ammonites; and by the awful abyss into which he was plunged by the neglect of his talents, learn to improve yours with sanctifying fear.
Our second solution of the difficulty proposed, and the second instruction we would derive from the fall of Solomon, is the danger of bad company; an instruction rendered the more essential by the dissipation of the age. A contagious disease extends its ravages for a thousand miles round us, and it excites in our mind terror and alarm. We use the greatest precaution against the danger. We guard the avenues of the state, and lay vessels on their arrival in port, under the strictest quarantine: we do not suffer ourselves to approach a suspected person. But the contagion of bad company gives us not the smallest alarm: we respire without fear an air the most impure and fatal to the soul. We form connections, enter into engagements, and contract marriages with profane, sceptical, and worldly people; and regard all those as declaimers and enthusiasts who declare, that evil communications corrupt good manners.
The danger of human grandeur is a new solution of the difficulty proposed, and a third source of instruction derived from the fall of Solomon. Mankind have for the most part a brain too weak to bear a high scale of elevation. Dazzled with the first rays of surrounding lustre, they can no longer support the sight. You are astonished that this prince, who reigned from the river even to the land of the Philistines; this prince, who made gold in his kingdom as plentiful as stones; this prince, who was surrounded with flatterers and courtezans; this prince, who heard nothing but eulogy, acclamation and applause; you are astonished that he should be intoxicated even with the high endowments God had granted him for the discharge of duty, and that he should so far forget himself as to fall into the enormities just described. Seek in your own heart, and in your life, the solution of this difficulty. We are blinded by the smallest prosperity, and our head is turned by the least elevation of rank. A name, a title, added to our dignity, an acre of land added to our estate, an augmentation of equipage, a little information added to our knowledge, a wing to our mansion, or an inch to our stature; here is more than enough to give us high notions of our own consequence, to make us assume a decisive tone, and wish to be considered as oracles.
Fourthly, the beguiling charms of pleasure are the last solution of the difficulty proposed, and the last instruction we derive from the fall of Solomon The sacred historian has not overlooked the cause of the vices of this prince. Solomon loved many strange women,and they turned away his heart from the Lord. 1Ki 11:1-3. We are here reminded of the wretched mission of Balaam. Commanded by powerful princes, allured by magnificent rewards, his eyes and his heart already devoured the presents which awaited his services. He ascended a mountain, he surveyed the camp of the Israelites, he invoked by turns the power of Gods Spirit, and the power of the devil. On finding all aid refused from prophecy, he had recourse to divination and enchantment. When just on the point of giving full effect to his detestable art, he felt himself counteracted by a sentiment of truth, and exclaimed, there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel. He temporized: yes, he found a way to supersede all the prodigies which God had done and accomplished for his people. This way was pleasure. It was, that they should no more attack the Israelites with open force, but with voluptuous delights; that they should no more send among them wizards and enchanters, but the women of Midian, to allure them to their sacrifices. Then this people, before invincible, I will deliver into your hands.
Of the success of this advice, my brethren, you cannot be ignorant. But why does not every Balaam fall by the sword of Israel. Num 31:8. Why were not the awful consequences of this counsel restricted to the unhappy culprits, whom the holy hands of Phinehas and Eleazar sacrificed to the wrath of heaven. David, Solomon, Samson, and you, my brethren, you may yet preserve at least one part of your innocence. Let us arm then against voluptuousness. Let us distrust enchanting pleasure. Let us fear it, not only when it presents its horrors; not only when it discovers the frightful objects which attend its train,adultery, incest, treason, apostasy, with murder and assassination: but let us fear it when clothed in the garb of innocency, when it sanctions the most decent freedoms, and assumes the pretext of religious sacrifices.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 3:1 to 1Ki 4:34. Early Days, Reign, and Wisdom of Solomon.The sources of this section are various, and the arrangement of the narrative in the LXX should be noticed. There are (a) a statistical account of Solomon s reign, referred to, apparently in 1Ki 11:41, as the book of the acts of Solomon; (b) a number of narratives about this reign; (c) several Deuteronomic additionse.g. 1Ki 3:6; 1Ki 3:14, etc.: and (d) some very late passages, possibly originally explanatory notes. The history of Solomons reign really extends from 1Ki 3:1 to 1Ki 11:43, and the sources throughout are practically the same, with a special one on the Temple. The LXX has a different arrangement and some long additions, which, however, are as a rule only repetitions from other parts of the section belonging to Solomon, Two of the longest are found after 1Ki 2:35 and 1Ki 2:46. The chapters also are somewhat differently arranged, and especially 1 Kings 4 and 1 Kings 5.
1Ki 3:1. The verse describing Solomons alliance with Pharaohs daughter is misplaced. In the LXX it is combined with 1Ki 9:16, the taking of Gezer by Pharaoh, and placed at the end of 1 Kings 4. According to the Tell el-Amarna tablets (p. 55) an Egyptian princess might not marry a foreigner. It is therefore supposed that Solomons father-in-law was a king, not of Egypt (Mizraim), but of Musri, in N. Arabia. But the tablets are at least four centuries earlier than Solomon.
The high-place worship alluded to in 1Ki 3:3 is acknowledged and deplored throughout the book, and it is confessed that it existed even under virtuous monarchs. The high places were the regular sanctuaries, and no attempt was made to abolish them till the time of Hezekiah (2Ki 18:4; 2Ki 18:22), or possibly as late as Josiah (2 Kings 23). The verse appears to be an explanatory gloss, for we find it repeated (1Ki 15:14, 2Ki 12:3, etc.). It is obviously not a contemporary judgment of Solomons age. The high place used by Solomon was Gibeon. A tradition preserved in 2Ch 1:3 placed the Mosaic Tabernacle there. But this is not borne out by what we read in the OT. Gibeon was a Hivite city (Jos 9:3 ff) which had made a treaty with Israel. Josephus (Ant. viii. 2) reads Hebron, with some plausibility, because Hebron was the ancient seat of the Davidic monarchy (2Sa 2:1-3), and was the early sanctuary of the tribe of Judah (2Sa 15:7). He also tells us that Solomon was fourteen years old at the time of his accession. Solomon made a great sacrifice of a thousand burnt offerings (1Ki 3:4) at Gibeon; when he returned to Jerusalem he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Ark (1Ki 3:15). Some commentators see in 1Ki 3:15 an addition made to correct the impression that Solomon neglected the lawful altar. But the two sacrifices are different. At Gibeon the victims were wholly consumed; at Jerusalem only a few burnt offerings were made, and the peace offerings formed a great sacrificial meal.
It is remarkable that God speaks to Solomon not by prophets, but in dreams (cf. 1Ki 9:1 f.). Solomon chose wisdom, and was promised riches and honour in addition, and 1Ki 3:16-28 is given as an example of his wisdom. To the Hebrews wisdom did not mean philosophy so much as shrewdness). The young kings astuteness in the case of the two women would be particularly admired, especially as the duty of a king was to be accessible as a judge (cf. the widow of Tekoa and her alleged case submitted to David, 2Sa 14:4 ff.). The simple device by which the youthful Daniel procured the acquittal of Susanna is similar to the story of the judgment of Solomon (Sus. 4462).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
SOLOMON RECEIVES WISDOM FROM GOD
(vs.1-15)
However, early in Solomon’s reign he slipped into the snare of making a treaty with the king of Egypt. Israel had before escaped from the bondage of Egypt, a type of the world in its independence of God. Believers are warned not to be friends with the world (Jam 4:4), for such friendship is actually enmity against God. This friendship of Solomon then went farther still in his being married to a daughter of Pharaoh. Such laxity of conscience did not end there, however, as we shall see in chapter 11:1-8. Once we embark on a wrong course, we shall continue a downward slide unless the grace of God intervenes to lead us to seriously judge ourselves and return to the Lord.
Before the temple was built the people sacrificed at the high places. These were idolatrous shrines which people thought would be sanctified by introducing the worship of God there, but this is a mixture that cannot have God’s approval (v.2).
Yet Solomon was a believer. He loved the Lord and sought to walk in the ways of David, except for his worship in high places. He evidently thought, because he wanted to worship the Lord, that he should do it in the most prominent places, so because Gibeon had a great high place, he went there to offer 1000 burnt offerings (v.4), just as people today often think that the most beautiful church is where they ought to worship. In Solomon’s case, the Lord bore with this though. He did not approve it, for God did appreciate the desire of Solomon’s heart to be a worshiper.
Therefore He could appear to Solomon in a dream to give him the privilege of asking what he desired God to give him (v.5). We may well ask ourselves how we would respond to an opportunity like this. What do we desire more than anything else? This is a matter that should deeply exercise our hearts.
When God asked Solomon what he desired, Solomon was careful and considerate in his request, for he first, commendably, showed his appreciation of God’s great mercy to his father David, recognizing the integrity of his father, and appreciating the kindness of God now in making Solomon king. At the same time, he felt as a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in (v.7). It is a good sign that he felt his inadequacy for the task of ruling the great nation Israel, and that he confessed this before the Lord.
He asked then for an understanding heart to administer justice to the people, to discern between good and evil. 2 Chronicles tells us that his request also included “wisdom and knowledge.” God was pleased with Solomon’s request (v.10), specially since he did not ask for things totally selfish, such as long life, riches or the destruction of his enemies (v.11), but for wisdom to discern justice, thereby expressing a desire to see the people of Israel prosper.
Therefore God gave him a wise and understanding heart which would excel the wisdom of anyone before or after him. Besides this God promised to give him riches and honor greater than all the kings of his day (v.13). Then God added a conditional promise that, if Solomon walked in God’s ways, keeping His statutes and commandments, as David had, then God would lengthen his days.
Very likely Solomon thought that wisdom and knowledge would enable him to please God in all he did, but sadly, he failed miserably in keeping God’s commandments, for he married 700 wives and had 300 concubines who turned away his heart from the Lord, so that he eventually became an idol worshiper (ch.11:1-8). While his request was good, it was not good enough, for wisdom and knowledge is never enough to keep us walking with God. Solomon did not pray to be preserved from evil in his own life. Had he read Deu 17:14-20? If so, did he not realize he needed more than an understanding heart, but a submissive heart obedient to the Word of God? Only by this could he have been preserved from the evils into which he fell.
When Solomon awoke from his dream, he stood before the ark of the covenant and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, making a feast also for his servants. The proper place for offerings was before the ark rather than in high places. Thus Solomon showed his appreciation to God by giving Him honor and showing kindness to the people. If only Solomon had continued as he began, how much more refreshing would his history have been, and how much more honoring to God!
JUDGMENT BETWEEN TWO MOTHERS
(vs.16-28)
The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are witnesses to the wisdom of Solomon, Proverbs being the best book on psychology in existence, and Ecclesiastes the best on philosophy. In this section we are given an example of Solomon’s wisdom in practice. Two women who were prostitutes came to Solomon to have him judge a controversy between them (v.1-16). The complainant stated her case first, claiming that after she had given birth to a child, the other woman had smothered her own child by lying on him at night, then had changed the babies while the first mother was sleeping. When she awoke in the morning, she said, she found the child dead, but in examining him, found this was not her child (vs.17-21).
The accused woman denied the accusation, claiming that the live child was actually hers (v.22). They had brought the babies with them, but there were no witnesses, though we should think that someone else must have seen the child that was born first. However, Solomon did not need other witnesses. He called for a sword (v.24), and commanded that the living child should be cut in half, with each mother having a half. Of course this would not be a satisfactory arrangement, but Solomon knew who he was dealing with. The actual mother of the child strongly protested, saying she would rather have the other woman take her child that to have the child killed. The other woman was agreeable to having the child divided, knowing that neither of them would have the child (v.26). It was not love for the child that moved her; but jealousy toward the other woman. Solomon knew that if she was dishonest enough to steal the child, her motives would be revealed by the test he gave her.
Solomon took advantage of the fact that God has implanted within a mother an instinct of deepest attachment to her own child, which is not likely to be found where there is no direct vital relationship. Thus, there remained not the slightest doubt that the first woman was the mother of the child, and the king gave orders that the child should be given to her (v.27).
A case of this kind was of course reported widely, so that all Israel was made aware of the wisdom of Solomon, and people realized it would but be easy for them to get away with wrong doing by deception. They recognized that it was God’s wisdom that was in Solomon (v.28).
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the {a} city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
(a) Which was Bethlehem.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Solomon’s attitudes 3:1-3
Should Solomon have married Pharaoh’s daughter? In view of 1Ki 11:1-2 and 2Ch 8:11 there is no way we can say yes. Furthermore, Solomon already had a wife when he married Pharaoh’s daughter (1Ki 14:21; cf. Gen 2:24). Why then did the writer not point out this sin here? He may have not done so because his purpose in this part of his history was to show the greatness of Solomon. In chapter 11 he emphasized Solomon’s failures. Here it is the fact that he could marry such a person as an Egyptian princess, that shows the social and political height to which God had elevated him. A descendant of former Egyptian slaves now became Pharaoh’s son-in-law!
"Under Solomon, the relationship between Egypt and Israel reached an apex with the marriage alliance between the two nations (1Ki 3:1)." [Note: James K. Hoffmeier, "Egypt As an Arm of Flesh: A Prophetic Response," in Israel’s Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison, p. 81.]
"This illustrates both the relative importance of Israel and the low estate to which Egypt had sunk: Pharaohs of the Empire did not give their daughters even to kings of Babylon or Mitanni!" [Note: John Bright, A History of Israel, p. 191.]
At this time Israel was stronger than Egypt.
"That this is the case is clear from his [Pharaoh Siamun’s, 978-959 B.C.] willingness to provide his own daughter as a wife for Solomon, a concession almost without parallel in Egyptian history since it was a candid admission to the world of Egypt’s weakness and conciliation. Normally Egyptian kings took foreign princesses but did not give up their own daughters to foreign kings." [Note: Eugene H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, p. 292. Cf. Alan Schulman, "Diplomatic Marriage in the Egyptian New Kingdom," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 38 (1979):190-91.]
There is much evidence of the immense influence and prestige that Solomon enjoyed in his day. [Note: See Alberto Green, "Israelite Influence at Shishak’s Court?" Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 233 (1979):59-62.] Solomon housed his bride in the City of David until he completed a special palace for her nearby (1Ki 7:8).
The Israelites were offering sacrifices to Yahweh on the "high places" that the Ras Shamra tablets describe as open-air sanctuaries throughout the land. The Ras Shamra tables are important inscriptions that archaeologists discovered at the Canaanite site of Ugarit, just east of Cyprus on the Mediterranean coast. They contain much helpful information about Canaanite life and culture. These sacrificial sites were normally on hilltops. The Israelites evidently took them over from the Canaanites and converted them into centers of Yahweh worship. Before the giving of the Mosaic Law, worship on high places was not evil (cf. Gen 12:7-8; Gen 22:2-4; Gen 31:54). However, the Law forbade offering sacrifices at places other than those God approved, and especially at sites of Canaanite altars, after Israel built the temple in Jerusalem (Deu 12:1-21; 2Ch 7:12). Evidently at this time the people justified their disobedience on the ground that they did not have a permanent palace where Yahweh could dwell (i.e., a temple). Another possibility is that they did not consider worship at high places wrong until the king reunited the ark and a tabernacle in a central sanctuary (i.e., the temple; cf. 1Sa 9:11-25). [Note: Patterson and Austel, p. 44.]
The only deviation from the Law that the writer ascribed to Solomon at this early time in his reign was his worship at the high places (1Ki 3:3). Otherwise Solomon followed God faithfully, except for his polygamy.
"Silently, invisibly, like an incubating virus, sin was at work throughout Solomon’s reign and in the end broke out in violent, destructive force. Such is the nature of sin." [Note: Rice, p. 31.]
Love here (1Ki 3:3) does not express a feeling only but more fundamentally a commitment to Yahweh that manifests itself in obedience to His Word (cf. 1Jn 5:3). Solomon’s commitment, like David’s, accounted for much of the blessing that came on the king and through him to the people.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE BOY-KINGS WISDOM
1Ki 3:1-28
“An oracle is upon the lips of a king.”- Pro 16:10 (Hebrews).
“A king that sitteth on the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eye.”- Pro 20:8
“Chei fu Re, che chiese senno Accioche Re sufficiente fosse.” DANTE, Parad., 13:95.
“Deos ipsos precor ut mihi ad finem usque vitae quietam et intelligentem humani divinique juris mentem duint.”-TAC., Ann., 4:38.
IT would have thrown an interesting light on the character and development of Solomon, if we had been able to conjecture with any certainty what was his age when the death of David made him the unquestioned king. The pagan historian Eupolemos, quoted by Eusebius, says that he was twelve; Josephus asserts that he was fifteen. If Rehoboam was indeed as old as forty-one when he came to the throne, {1Ki 14:21} Solomon can hardly have been less than twenty at his accession, for in that case he must have been married before Davids death. {1Ki 11:42} But the reading “forty-one” in 1Ki 14:21 is altered by some into “twenty-one,” and we are left in complete uncertainty. Solomon is called “a child,” {1Ki 3:7} “young and tender”; {1Ch 29:1} but his acts show the full vigor and decision of a man.
The composite character of the Books of Kings leads to some disturbance of the order of events, and 1Ki 3:1-4 is perhaps inserted to explain Solomons sacrifice at the high place of Gibeon, where stood the brazen altar of the old Tabernacle. But no apology is needed for that act. The use of high places, even when they were consecrated to the worship of Jehovah, was regarded in later days as involving principles of danger, and became a grave offence in the eyes of all who took the Deuteronomic standpoint. But high places to Jehovah, as distinct from those dedicated to idols, were not condemned by the earlier prophets, and the resort to them was never regarded as blameworthy before the establishment of the central sanctuary.
After the frightful massacre of the descendants of Aaron at Nob, the old “Tabernacle of the congregation” and the great brazen altar of burnt offerings had been removed to Gibeon from a city defiled by the blood of priests, {1Sa 22:17-19} Gibeon stood on a commanding elevation within easy distance of Jerusalem, and was henceforth regarded as “the great high place,” until the Temple on Mount Zion was finished. Thither Solomon went in that imposing civil, religious, and military procession of which the tradition may be preserved in the name of Wady Suleiman still given to the adjoining valley. There, with Oriental magnificence, like Xerxes at Troy, he offered what the Greeks called a chiliombc, that is a tenfold hecatomb of burnt offerings. This “thousandfold holocaust,” as the Septuagint terms it, must have been a stately and long-continued function, and in approval of his sacrifice Jehovah granted a vision to the youthful king. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil, when all the beasts of the forest are His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills?” Thinkest thou,” He asked, in the words of the Psalmist, “that I will eat bulls flesh or drink the blood of goats?” No; but God always accepts a willing sacrifice in accordance with the purpose and sincerity of the giver. In reward for the pure intention of the king He appeared to Solomon in a dream, and said, “Ask what I shall give thee.”
The Jews recognized three modes of Divine communication-by dreams, by Urim, and by prophets. The highest and most immediate illumination was the prophetic. The revelation by means of the primitive Urim and Thummim, the oracle and jeweled breast-plate of the high priest, was the poorest, the most elementary, the most liable to abuse. It was analogous to the method used by the Egyptian chief priests, who wore round their necks a sapphire ornament called Thmei, or “truth,” for purposes of divination. After the death of David the Urim and Thummim fell into such absolute desuetude, as a survival of primitive times, that we do not read of its being consulted again in a single instance. It is not so much as mentioned during the five centuries of the history of the kings, and we do not hear of it afterwards. Solomon never once inquired of the priests as David did repeatedly in the reign of Solomon the voice of prophecy, too, was silent, until disasters began to cloud its close. Times of material prosperity and autocratic splendor are unfavorable to the prophets function, and sometimes, as in the days of Ahab, the prophets themselves “philippised” in Jehovahs name. But revelation by dreams occurs in all ages. In his prophecy of the great future, Joel says, “Your old men shall see visions, your young men shall dream dreams.” It is true that dreams must always have a subjective element, yet, as Aristotle says, “The visions of the noble are better than those of common men.” The dreams of night are reflections of the thoughts of day. “Solomon worships God by day; God appears to Solomon by night. Well may we look to enjoy God, when we have served him.” Full of the thoughts inspired by an intense devotion, and a yearning desire to rule aright, the sleeping soul of Solomon became bright with eyes, and in his dream he made a worthy answer to the appeal of God.
“Ask what I shall give thee!” That blessed and most loving offer is made to every human soul. To the meanest of us all God flings open the treasuries of heaven. The reason why we fatally lose them is because we are blinded by the glamour of temptation, and snatch instead at glittering bubbles or Dead Sea fruits. We fail to attain the best gifts, because so few of us earnestly desire them, and so many disbelieve the offer that is made of them. Yet there is no living soul to which God has not given the choice of good and evil. “He hath set fire and water before thee: stretch forth thy hand unto whether thou wilt. Before man is life and death; and whether him liketh shall be given him.” (Sir 15:16-17) Even when our choice is not evil it is often desperately frivolous, and it is only too late that we rue the folly of having rejected the better and chosen the worse.
“Damsels of Time the hypocritic days,
Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes,
And marching single in an endless file,
Bring diadems and fagots in their hands.
To each they offer gifts after his will, –
Bread, kingdoms, stars, and sky that holds them all.
I, in my pleached garden, watched the pomp,
Forgot my morning wishes; hastily
Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day
Turned and departed silent. I, too late,
Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.”
But Solomon made the wise choice. In his dream he thanked God for His mercifully fulfilled promise to David his father, and with the touchingly humble confession, “I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in,” he begged for an understanding heart to judge between right and wrong in guiding his great and countless people.
God was pleased with the noble, unselfish request. The youthful king might have besought the boon of “many days,” which was so highly valued before Christ had brought life and immortality to light; or for riches, or for victory over his enemies. Instead of this he had asked for “understanding, to discern judgment,” and the lesser gifts were freely accorded him. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” {Mat 6:33} God promised him that he should be a king of unprecedented greatness. He freely gave him riches and honor, and, conditionally on his continued faithfulness, a long life. The condition was broken, and Solomon was not more than sixty years old when he was called before the God whom he forsook.
“And Solomon awoke, and behold it was a dream.” But he knew well that it was also more than a dream, and that “God giveth to His beloved even sleeping.”
In reverential gratitude he offered a second sacrifice of burnt offerings before the ark on Mount Zion, and added to them peace offerings, with which he made a great feast to all his servants. Twice again did God appear to Solomon; but the second time it was to warn, and the third time to condemn.
In the parallel account given by the chronicler, Solomon says, “Give me now wisdom and knowledge,” and God replies, “Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee.” There is a wide difference between the two things. Knowledge may come while wisdom still lingers, and wisdom may exist in Divine abundance where knowledge is but scant and superficial. The wise may be as ignorant as St. Antony, or St. Francis of Assisi; the masters of those who know may show as little “wisdom for a mans self” as Abelard, or as Francis Bacon. “Among the Jews one set of terms does service to express both intellectual and moral wisdom. The wise man means the righteous man; the fool is one who is godless. Intellectual terms that describe knowledge are also moral terms describing life.” No doubt in the ultimate senses of the words there can be no true knowledge, as there can be no perfect wisdom, without goodness. This was a truth with which Solomon himself became deeply impressed. “The fear of the Lord,” he said, “is the beginning of wisdom but fools despise knowledge and understanding.” The lineaments of “a fool” are drawn in the Book of Proverbs and they bear the impress of moral baseness and moral aberrations.
To Solomon both boons were given, “wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.” Of his many forms of intellectual eminence I will speak later on. What he longed for most was evidently moral insight and practical sagacity. He felt that “through justice shall the throne be established.”
1. Practical wisdom was eminently needed for the office of a judge. Judgeship was a main function of Eastern royalty, and rulers were called Shophe-tim or judges. The reality of the gift which Solomon had received from God was speedily to be tested. Two harlots came before him. One had overlaid her child in the night, and stealing the living child of the other she put her dead child in its place. There was no evidence to be had. It was simply the bare word of one disreputable woman against the bare word of the other. With instant decision, and a flash of insight into the springs of human actions, Solomon gave the apparently childish order to cut the children in two, and divide them between the claimants. The people laughed and the delinquent accepted the horrible decision; but the mother of the living child yearned for her babe, and she cried out, “O my lord, give, her the living babe, and no wise slay it.” “Give her the living babe, and in no wise slay it,” murmured the king to himself, repeating the mothers words; and then he burst out with the triumphant verdict, “Give her the living child! She is the mother thereof!”
The story has several parallels. It is said by Diodorus Siculus that when three youths came before Ariopharnes, King of Thrace, each claiming to be the only son of the King of the Cimmerians, he ordered them each to hurl a javelin at their fathers corpse. Two obeyed, one refused, and Ariopharnes at once proclaimed him to be the true son. Similarly an Indian story tells that a woman, before she bathed, left her child on the bank of the pool, and a female demon carried it off. The goddess, before whom each claimed the child, ordered them to pull it in two between them, and consigned it to the mother who shuddered at the test. A judgment similarly founded on filial instinct is attributed to the Emperor Claudius. A mother refused to acknowledge her son; and as there were no proofs Claudius ordered her to marry the youth, whereupon she was obliged to acknowledge that he was her son.
Modern critics, wise after the event, express themselves very slightingly of the amount of intelligence required for the decision; but the people saw the value of the presence of mind and rapid intuition which settled the question by bringing an individual dilemma under the immediate arbitrament of a general law. They rejoiced to recognize the practical wisdom which God had given to their young king. The word Chokhmah, which is represented by one large section of Jewish literature, implied the practical intelligence derived from insight or experience, the power to govern oneself and others. Its conclusions were expressed chiefly in a gnomic form, and they pass through various stages in the Sapiential Books of the Old Testament. The chief books of the Chokhmah are the Books of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, followed by such books as “Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus.” On the Divine side Wisdom is the Spirit of God, regarded by man under the form of Providence; {#/RAPC Wis 1:4; Wis 1:7; Wis 7:7; Wis 7:22; Wis 9:17} and on the human side it is trustworthy knowledge of the things that are (id. 7:17). It is, in fact, “a knowledge of Divine and human things, and of their causes”. {#/RAPC 4Ma 2:16} This branch of wisdom could be repeatedly shown by Solomon at the city gate and in the hall of judgment.
2. His varied intellectual wisdom created deeper astonishment. He spake, we are told, “of trees from the cedar which is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts and fowl and of creeping things and of fishes.” This knowledge has been misunderstood and exaggerated by later tradition. It is expanded in the Book of Wisdom (Wis 8:17) into a perfect knowledge of cosmogony, astronomy, the alterations of solstices, the cycles of years, the natures of wild beasts, the forces of spirits, the reasonings of men, the diversities of plants. Solomon became to Eastern legend
“The warrior-sage, whose restless mind
Through natures mazes wandered unconfined,
Who every bird, and beast, and insect knew,
And spake of every plant that quaffs the dew.”
His knowledge, however, does not seem to have been even empirically scientific. It consisted in the moral and religious illustration of truth by emblems derived from nature. He surpassed, we are told, the ethnic gnomic wisdom of all the children of the East-the Arabians and Chaldaeans and all the vaunted scientific and mystic wisdom of Egypt. Ethan and Heman were Levitic poets and musicians; Chalcol and Darda were “sons of the choir,” i.e., poets (Luther), or sacred singers; and all four were famed for wisdom; but Solomon excelled them all. Of his one thousand and five songs, the majority were probably secular. Only two psalms are even traditionally assigned to him. Of his three thousand proverbs not more than two hundred survive, even if all in the Book of Proverbs be his. Tradition adds that he was a master of “riddles” or “dark sayings,” by which he won largely in fines from Hiram, whom he challenged for their solution, until the Tyrian king defeated him by the aid of a sharp youth named Abdemon. Specimens of these riddles with their answers may be found in the Book of Proverbs, {Pro 11:22; Pro 24:30-34; Pro 25:25; Pro 26:8; Pro 30:15} for the Hebrew word “proverb” (Mashal) probably means originally, an illustration. This book also contains various ambiguous hard sayings of which the skilful construction awoke admiration and stimulated thought. {E.g., Pro 6:10} The Queen of Sheba is said to have tested Solomon by riddles. The tradition gradually spread in the East that Solomon was also skilled in magic arts, that he knew the language of the birds, and possessed a seal which gave him mastery over the genii. In the Book of Wisdom he is made to say, “All such things as are either secret or manifest, them I know.” Josephus attributes to him the formulae and spells of exorcism, and in Ecc 2:8 the words rendered “musical instruments” (shiddah and shiddoth; R.V, “concubines very many”) were understood by the Rabbis to mean that he was the lord over male and female demons.
3. Far more precious than practical or intellectual ability is the gift of moral wisdom, which Solomon so greatly appreciated but so imperfectly attained. Yet he felt that “wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom.” The world gives that name to many higher and lower manifestations of capacity and attainment, but wisdom is in Scripture the one law of all true life. In that magnificent outburst of Semitic poetry, the twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Job, after pointing out that there is such a thing as natural knowledge-that there is a vein for the silver, and ore of gold, and a place of sapphires, and reservoirs of subterranean fire-the writer asks: “But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?” After showing with marvelous power that it is beyond mans unaided search-that the depths and the seas say, “It is not in us,” and destruction and death have but heard the fame thereof with their ears – he adds with one great crash of concluding music “GOD understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” {Job 28:23; Job 28:28} And again we read, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” {Pro 1:7} The sated cynic of the Book of the Ecclesiastes, or one who had studied, not without dissatisfaction, his sad experience, adds, “Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” And in answer to the question “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?” St. James, the Lords brother, who had evidently been a deep student of the Sapiential literature, does not answer “He who understands all mysteries,” or, “He who speaks with the tongue of men or of angels,” but, “Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” Men whom the world has deemed wise have often fallen into utter infatuation, as it is Written, “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness”; but heavenly wisdom may belong to the most ignorant and simple hearted. It is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”
We should observe, however, that the Chokhmah, or wisdom-literature of the Jews, while it incessantly exalts morality, and sometimes almost attains to a perception of the spiritual life, was neither prophetic nor priestly in its character. It bears the same relation to the teaching of the prophets on the one hand, and the priests on the other, as morality does to religion and to externalism. Its teaching is loftier and truer than the petty insistence of Pharisaism on meats and drinks and divers washings, in that it deals with the weightier matters of the law; but it does not attain to the passionate spirituality of the greater Hebrew seers. It cares next to nothing for ritual, and therefore rises above the developed Judaism of the post-exilic epoch. It is lofty and true inasmuch as it breathes the spirit of the Ten Commandments, but it has not learnt the freedom of love and the beatitudes of perfect union with God. In one word, it finds its culmination in Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus, rather than in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount and the Gospel of St. John.
We cannot better conclude this chapter than with the eulogy of the son of Sirach: “Solomon reigned in a peaceable time and was honored; for God made all quiet round about him, that he might build a house in His name and prepare His sanctuary forever. How wise wast thou in thy youth, and as a flood, filled with understanding! Thy soul covered the whole earth, and thou filledst it with dark parables. Thy name went far unto the islands, and for thy peace thou wast beloved. The countries marveled at thee for thy songs, and proverbs, and parables, and interpretations. By the name of the Lord God, who is called the Lord God of Israel, thou didst gather gold as tin, and didst multiply silver as lead (Sir 47:13-18).”