1 Kings 3
3
Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom
1 # ch. 7:8; 9:16, 24; 2 Chr. 8:11 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into #See ch. 2:10 the city of David until he had finished #ch. 7:1 building his own house #See ch. 6 and the house of the Lord #ch. 9:15and the wall around Jerusalem. 2#ch. 22:43; [Deut. 12:2, 3]The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
3Solomon #Deut. 6:5; 30:16, 20; [Ps. 31:23] loved the Lord, #ver. 6, 14walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. 4And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, #2 Chr. 1:3, 6, 13; [1 Chr. 16:39; 21:29]for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5#For ver. 5-14, see 2 Chr. 1:7-12 At Gibeon #ch. 9:2; 11:9 the Lord appeared to Solomon #[Num. 12:6; Matt. 1:20; 2:13, 19]in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” 6And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because #ch. 2:4; 9:4; [Ps. 15:2] he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and #ch. 1:48have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. 7And now, O Lord my God, #[1 Chr. 28:5] you have made your servant king in place of David my father, #[1 Chr. 29:1] although I am but a little child. I do not know #Num. 27:17how to go out or come in. 8#Deut. 7:6 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, #Gen. 13:16; 15:5too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9#[Prov. 2:6, 9; James 1:5] Give your servant therefore an understanding mind #Ps. 72:1, 2 to govern your people, that I may #[2 Sam. 14:17; Isa. 7:15; Heb. 5:14]discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12behold, #[1 John 5:14, 15] I now do according to your word. Behold, #ch. 4:29-31; 5:12; 10:23, 24; Eccles. 1:16I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. 13#[Matt. 6:33] I give you also what you have not asked, #ch. 4:21-24; 10:23, 27; [Prov. 3:16]both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. 14And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, #ver. 6; ch. 15:5 as your father David walked, then #[Ps. 91:16; Prov. 3:2]I will lengthen your days.”
15And Solomon #Gen. 41:7awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
Solomon’s Wisdom
16Then two prostitutes came to the king #Num. 27:2and stood before him. 17The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. 18Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. 19And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” 22But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.
23Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” 24And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought 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 the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because #Gen. 43:30; Jer. 31:20; [Isa. 49:15]her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” 27Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” 28And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that #ver. 9, 11, 12; [Ezra 7:25]the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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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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