1 Kings 3
3
Solomon Asks for Wisdom
1Solomon made a peace treaty with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David. This was when Solomon was still building his palace, the Temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2The Temple to honor the Lord had not yet been finished, so people were still making animal sacrifices on altars at the high places. 3Solomon showed that he loved the Lord by obeying everything his father David told him to do, except that Solomon continued to go to the high places to offer sacrifices and to burn incense.
4King Solomon went to Gibeon to offer a sacrifice because that was the most important high place. He offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5While Solomon was at Gibeon, the Lord came to him at night in a dream. God said, “Solomon, ask me what you want me to give you.”
6Solomon answered, “You were very kind and loyal to your servant, my father David. He was faithful to you and lived a good, honest life. And you showed him the greatest kindness when you let his son take his place as king. 7Lord my God, you have made me the king in my father’s place, but I am like a small child. I don’t have the wisdom I need to do what I must do. 8I am your servant here among your chosen people. There are so many that they cannot be counted. 9So I ask you to give me the wisdom to rule and judge them well and to help me know the difference between right and wrong. Without such great wisdom, it would be impossible to rule this great nation.”
10The Lord was happy that Solomon asked for wisdom. 11So God said to him, “You did not ask for long life and riches for yourself. You did not ask for the death of your enemies. You asked for the wisdom to listen and make the right decisions. 12So I will give you what you asked for. I will make you wise and intelligent. I will make you wiser than anyone who ever lived or ever will live. 13And I will also give you what you did not ask for. You will have riches and honor all your life. There will be no other king in the world as great as you. 14And I will give you a long life if you follow me and obey my laws and commands as your father David did.”
15Solomon woke up and knew that God had spoken to him in the dream. Then Solomon went to Jerusalem and stood before the Box of the Lord’s Agreement. He offered a burnt offering and fellowship offerings to the Lord and then gave a party for all of his officials.
Proof of Solomon’s Wisdom
16One day two prostitutes came to Solomon and stood before the king. 17One of the women said, “Sir, this woman and I live in the same house. We were both pregnant and ready to give birth to our babies. I had my baby while she was there with me. 18Three days later she also gave birth to her baby. There was no one else in the house with us, just the two of us. 19One night while this woman was asleep with her baby, the baby died. 20That night while I was asleep, she took my son from my bed and carried him to her bed. Then she put the dead baby in my bed. 21In the morning I woke up and was about to feed the baby when I saw he was dead. When I looked at him more closely, I saw that he was not my baby.”
22But the other woman said, “No! The dead baby is yours, and the one still alive is mine!”
But the first woman said, “No, you are wrong! The dead baby is yours! The one that is still alive is mine.” So the two women argued in front of the king.
23Then King Solomon said, “Each of you says that the living baby is your own and that the dead baby belongs to the other woman.” 24Then King Solomon sent his servant to get a sword. 25He told the servant, “Cut the living baby in two and give one half of the baby to each woman.”
26The second woman said, “Yes, cut him in two. Then neither of us will have him.” But the first woman, the real mother, loved her son and said to the king, “Please, sir, don’t kill the baby! Give him to her.”
27Then King Solomon said, “Stop, don’t kill the baby. Give him to this woman. She is the real mother.”
28The people of Israel respected the king when they heard about this decision. They saw he had the wisdom of God#3:28 the wisdom of God Or “very great wisdom.” to make the right decisions.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
1 Kings 3
3
Solomon’s Rule Consolidated
1Now Solomon became a son-in-law to Pharaoh king of Egypt [and formed an alliance] by #3:1 Pharaoh gave the Canaanite city of Gezer to his daughter as a dowry. Located on a major trade route it was strategically important to the economies of both Egypt and Israel (see 9:16).taking Pharaoh’s daughter [in marriage]. He brought her to the #3:1 This was on the south side of the eastern ridge of Jerusalem.City of David [where she remained temporarily] until he had finished building his own house (palace) and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. 2But [in the meantime] the people were still sacrificing [to God] on the high places (hilltops) [as the pagans did to their idols], for there was no [permanent] house yet built for the #3:2 See note Deut 12:5.Name of the Lord.
3Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking [at first] in the statutes of David his father, except [for the fact that] he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places [ignoring the law that required all sacrifices to be offered at the tabernacle]. [Lev 17:3, 4] 4The king went to Gibeon [near Jerusalem, where the tabernacle and the bronze altar stood] to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask [Me] what I shall give you.”
Solomon’s Prayer
6Then Solomon said, “You have shown Your servant David my father great lovingkindness, because he walked before You in faithfulness and righteousness and with uprightness of heart toward You; and You have kept for him this great lovingkindness, in that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today. 7So now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of David my father; and as for me, I am but a little boy [#3:7 Solomon was already a father (see 11:42; 14:21).in wisdom and experience]; I do not know how to go out or come in [that is, how to conduct business as a king]. 8Your servant is among Your people whom You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart [with which] to judge Your people, so that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge and rule this great people of Yours?” [James 1:5]
God’s Answer
10Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself a long life nor for wealth, nor for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to recognize justice, 12behold, I have done as you asked. I have given you a wise and discerning heart (mind), so that no one before you was your equal, nor shall anyone equal to you arise after you. 13I have also given you what you have not asked, both wealth and honor, so that there will not be anyone equal to you among the kings, for all your days. 14If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments, as your father David #3:14 Lit walked.did, then I will lengthen your days.”
15Then Solomon awoke, and he realized that it was a dream. He came [back] to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and he prepared a feast for all his servants. [2 Sam 6:17]
Solomon Wisely Judges
16Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17And the one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18And on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were [alone] together; no one else was with us in the house, just we two. 19Now this woman’s son died during the night, because she lay on him [and smothered him]. 20So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from [his place] beside me while your maidservant was asleep, and laid him on her bosom, and laid her dead son on my bosom. 21When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead. But when I examined him carefully in the morning, behold, it was not my son, the one whom I had borne.” 22Then the other woman said, “No! For my son is the one who is living, and your son is the dead one.” But the first woman said, “No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.” [This is how] they were speaking before the king.
23Then the king said, “This woman says, ‘This is my son, the one who is alive, and your son is the dead one’; and the other woman says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the one who is alive.’ ” 24Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25Then the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one [woman] and half to the other.” 26Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply moved over her son, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; cut him!” 27Then the king said, “Give the first woman [who is pleading for his life] the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” 28When all [the people of] Israel heard about the judgment which the king had made, they [were in awe and reverently] feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was within him to administer justice.
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