The First Book of the Kings, commonly called the Third Book of the Kings
1 Kings 3
Chapter III · Vol. II, pp. 721–723
1 Solomon marrieth Pharaoh's daughter. 2 High places being in use, Solomon sacrificeth at Gibeon. 5 Solomon at Gibeon, in the choice which God gave him, preferring wisdom, obtaineth wisdom, riches, and honour. 16 His judgment between the two harlots maketh his wisdom renowned.
1 And Solomona made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into bthe city of David, until he had made an end of cbuilding his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
2 Onlyd the people sacrificed in high places, because there ewas no house built unto the name of the LORD until those days.1
d ch.15.14; 22.42. 2 Ki.12.3; 14.4; 15.4,35. ver.3,4. 2 Ch.33.17. Le.26.30.
1 It would seem from this and similar statements that the Lord had specially sanctioned the offering up of sacrifices in certain of the high-places in Palestine—such as Shiloh, Shechem, Bethel, Gibeah, and Gilgal. This was a provisional arrangement continued only until the temple was dedicated. 'The great high-place' at Gibeon was apparently the same round which the Israelites assembled when called together at Mizpeh. Gibeon and Mizpeh were within a very short distance of each other—the latter on the top of the hill, and the former in the plain at its base.—P.
3 And Solomon floved the LORD, walking in gthe statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
A.M. 2989. B.C. 1015.
f Ga.6.5. De.30.6;10.12. Mat.22.36,37. Ro.13.10. 2 Co.5.14. Jn.4.19. 2 Sa.12.24.
g ch.11.34;2.3. 1 Ch.28.8,9.
4 And the king went to hGibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: ia thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
h Jos.9.3,17. 2 Ch.1.3. 1 Ch.16.39;21.29.
i ch.8.63. 2 Ch.29.31-35;30.22-24. Lu.7.47.
5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon kin a dream by night: and God said, lAsk what I shall give thee.
6 And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thym servant David my father great mercy, accordingn 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, othou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father; and I am but a plittle child:2 I know not how to qgo out or come in.
o Ps.75.6,7. Da.2.21;4.25,32. ch.i.;2.46. 1 Ch.22.10;28.5;39.23.
p 1 Ch.29.1. Je.1.6. Mat.5.3;18.3,4.
2 'A little child,' not in years, for he might now be considered of mature age (Dr. Hales has demonstrated that he could not be under twenty), but he calls himself a child in knowledge and experience in the government of a great nation, such as the Jews had become under the wise and vigorous government of David. See ver. 8,9.—C.
q Nu.27.17. De.31.2. Jn.10.3,4,9.
8 And thy servant is in the midst of rthy people which thou hast chosen, a sgreat people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
9 Givet therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may udiscern 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 xfor thyself ylong life; 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:z lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart;3 so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
z ch.9.3;4.29-34;10.3-8. 1 Jn.5.14,15. Ec.1.16. Mat.7.7. Is.11.2-4. Jn.3.34;5.20. Col.2.3.
3 Solomon had asked (ver. 9) not wisdom in general, but the knowledge of the true science of government, and that was given him. If we find that in after-life he showed himself devoid of much practical wisdom in his personal conduct, it was because he was unfaithful to the condition now stipulated at ver. 14.—J.
13 And I have also agiven thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour; so that there shall not be4 any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
a 2 Ch.1.12. Mat.6.33. ch.iv.ix.x. Ep.3.20, with 2.20-23. Phi.2.8-11.
4 Or, hath not been.
14 And bif 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 cawoke; and, behold, it was a dream:5 and he came to Jerusalem, and stood dbefore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-offerings, and made ea feast to all his servants.
5 That dreams furnish one of the 'divers manners' in which God has communicated his will to men, no reader of the Bible can deny. But even independent of direct divine revelation, dreams afford sometimes a good index of real disposition and character—perhaps because the dreamer thinks and acts as he would do apart from the influence of observing eyes—and may often form valuable assistants in the work of self-observation and self-examination. He that speaks or acts wisely and mercifully in a dream, has reason to thank God—he that speaks foolishly or acts wickedly in a dream, has an intelligible call to self-condemnation, watchfulness, and prayer.—C.
A.M. 2989. B.C. 1015.
d Ex.40.3-20. 2 Sa.6.17. Le.i.iii. ver.4.
16 Thenf came there two women, that were gharlots,6 unto the king, and stood before him.7
f ver.12,28.
6 The Targum has 'victuallers,' or tavern-keepers. Not common harlots, but unmarried women who had been guilty of fornication. The Jews suppose they were not Israelites, but strangers, and so not subject to the law in De.23.17.—I.
7 Perhaps this difficult case was referred to the king, on account of its having proved too hard for the inferior judges to decide. Solomon in his wisdom adopted the only rational method of discovering the truth, by making an ingenious appeal to the self-denying tenderness of a mother. The murder of illegitimate infants by their mothers, to conceal their shame, so often occurring in this country, is not so much as intimated in any way in the Scriptures. Nor is it met with in ancient history. The practice, however, with the ancients, of exposing their children, whether spurious or not, might remove the temptation to take away their lives by secret murder.—I.
17 And the one woman said, hO 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 imidnight, 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.
i Job 24.15,17. Jn.3.20.
21 And when I rose in the morning kto 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, lDivide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.8
l Pr.25.3.
8 The profound knowledge of the human heart indicated by this judgment will readily be acknowledged. But its most important characteristic is the unlimited power of life and death which it indicates as resting in the mere will of the king. Were a British judge to issue such an order, he would be deposed as insane; or, were it carried into execution, would be held guilty of murder. How may we, then, vindicate the despotic authority assumed in principle by Solomon? We may in no wise vindicate despotism—for the divine rule was never despotic—but we can account for the assumption of Solomon, in the fact, that for centuries the land of Judea had, with few and brief exceptions, been constantly under military law—a state of things that necessarily supersedes divided authority, and intrusts, for the time, to one, a power above the ordinary forms of procedure,? and authorizes and requires of him, by the pressure of circumstances, extemporaneously as it were, both to make and administer the law.—C.
26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, (for her bowels myearned 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.
Notes
[Ver. 1. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh. Amongst the religious aberrations into which Solomon, through temptation of his wives, afterwards fell, no mention is made of the superstitions and idolatries of Egypt, 1 Ki. 11. 1-5; it is not improbable, therefore, that this daughter of Pharaoh may have been, at the time of her marriage, a proselyte to the Jewish religion. This alliance forms a striking example of the progress of events. The descendant of an Egyptian slave is now the son-in-law of the Egyptian king. Truly, neither pride nor despair were made for man. 'The rich and the poor meet together,' the Lord is the maker of them all. C.]
Ver. 3. [He sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. All sacrifices in high places were prohibited, Le. 26. 30, unless where the tabernacle of the Lord was located. The occasional exceptions in the cases of Samuel and others are only to be accounted for on the principle of necessity and mercy, which alone, as the spirit, can warrant any deviation from the letter of the law, Mat. 12. 4. In the case of Solomon such sacrificing is charged as a drawback upon his love, and we see from the history how it afterwards became a snare. C.]
Reflections.—Happy are the children who walk in the steps of their pious parents; and highly honoured are they to whose unfeigned faith and love God himself bears witness. How infinitely bountiful is God!—he even encourages us to ask his favours: and such as wait upon him in prayer and praise will find him speedy in his returns of blessing. Happy are they whose devout turn of mind, when awake, tinctures their very dreams with serious devotion. Godly children will always pay great regard to their parents' memory. None are so sensible of their own insufficiency as they who seriously ponder the weight of public offices: and hopeful is their administration who earnestly ask wisdom and direction from God. The disinterested prayer of faith is always acceptable to God: and when we seek first the kingdom of God, all things shall be added to us. He will give us exceeding abundantly above what we can ask or think: and quickly he gives opportunity for the exercise of the gifts which he bestows. How helpless and perilous is our infantile state! by the most marvellous providence we escape the dangers of it. How tender is the affection of a mother's breast! and monsters of brutality must they be who can neglect and destroy the fruit of their own womb. Magistrates, before whom such difficult causes come, have great need of their subjects' fervent prayers and of God's special direction. And the greater abilities men have, they are the more indebted to God who bestowed them. But alas! oftentimes the fear of detection and punishment from men is a greater restraint upon evil-doers than all the terrors of God's everlasting wrath.