There is somewhat very interesting in this view of Solomon, on his entrance on his government. How beautiful is it to see magistrates first seeking grace and wisdom from the Lord, before that they take the reins of government into their hand. Is not the custom of our nation, in the election of chief magistrates in towns and cities, being preceded by prayer, to direct them in their choice; is it not taken from such scripture authority as this? I shall not offend, I hope, any of this character, (if peradventure any such should condescend to glance their eye on my Poor Man's Commentary) when I add, it is a sight indeed most lovely, when men really and truly seek counsel from God on those occasions. Oh! what a beautiful portrait of magistracy hath Job drawn, when he says, I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not I searched out. When Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, gives out of himself to the men that seek for him as for hidden treasure; then he is, and will be all this to his people. I would wish the Reader to peruse the whole passage. Job 29:5-17. It should seem that the ark being at Jerusalem, and the altar at Gibeon, was for the present intended for the greater benefit of the church. Our Jesus is both the Ark and the Altar: and he, blessed be his name, is in all places, and with all his people always, even unto the end of the world. Matthew 28:20.
2 Chronicles 1:1-6
1 And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the LORD his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.
2 Then Solomon spake unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every governor in all Israel, the chief of the fathers.
3 So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.
4 But the ark of God had David brought up from Kirjathjearim to the place which David had prepared for it: for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.
5 Moreover the brasen altar, that Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he puta before the tabernacle of the LORD: and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it.
6 And Solomon went up thither to the brasen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.