1 Kings 3:1-28 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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1 Kings 3:1 to 1 Kings 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 1 Kings 11:41, as the book of the acts of Solomon; (b) a number of narratives about this reign; (c) several Deuteronomic additions e.g. 1 Kings 3:6; 1 Kings 3:14, etc.: and (d) some very late passages, possibly originally explanatory notes. The history of Solomon's reign really extends from 1 Kings 3:1 to 1 Kings 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 1 Kings 2:35 and 1 Kings 2:46. The Chapter s also are somewhat differently arranged, and especially 1 Kings 4 and 1 Kings 5.

1 Kings 3:1. The verse describing Solomon's alliance with Pharaoh's daughter is misplaced. In the LXX it is combined with 1 Kings 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 Solomon's 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 1 Kings 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 (2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 18:22), or possibly as late as Josiah (2 Kings 23). The verse appears to be an explanatory gloss, for we find it repeated (1 Kings 15:14; 2 Kings 12:3, etc.). It is obviously not a contemporary judgment of Solomon's age. The high place used by Solomon was Gibeon. A tradition preserved in 2 Chronicles 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 (Joshua 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 (2 Samuel 2:1-3), and was the early sanctuary of the tribe of Judah (2 Samuel 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 (1 Kings 3:4) at Gibeon; when he returned to Jerusalem he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Ark (1 Kings 3:15). Some commentators see in 1 Kings 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. 1 Kings 9:1 f.). Solomon chose wisdom, and was promised riches and honour in addition, and 1 Kings 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 king's 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, 2 Samuel 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. 44- 62).

Related Commentaries of 1 Kings 3:1

1 Kings 3:1-28

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.

5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy,a 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.

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: I know not how to go out or come in.

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.

9 Give therefore thy servant an understandingb 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?

10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life;c neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: 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.

13 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.

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.

15 And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.

17 And 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.

18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.

19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it.

20 And 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 in my bosom.

21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.

22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.

23 Then 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.

24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearnedd 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.

27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.

28 And 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,e to do judgment.