TEXT [Commentary]
B. Solomon’s Proper Priorities (1 Kgs 3:1–4:34 [3:1–5:14])
1. Solomon asks for wisdom (3:1-15)
1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of the LORD and the wall around the city. 2 At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the LORD had not yet been built.
3 Solomon loved the LORD and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. 4 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. 5 That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
6 Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.
7 “Now, O LORD my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. 8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! 9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. 11 So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—12 I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! 13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! 14 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, where he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he invited all his officials to a great banquet.
NOTES
3:1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh. Wiseman (1993:82) suggests that Siam¯un (978–959 BC) or his successor Psusenes II (959–945 BC) of the 21st Dynasty was the pharaoh in question. Cf. Kitchen (1996:280-283, 465), who notes that such a marriage of an Egyptian princess to a foreign potentate would have been unthinkable in the New Kingdom or Empire period a few centuries earlier, but these were “humbler days.”
City of David. Heb., ’ir dawid [TH5892/1732, ZH6551/1858]. It sat on the eastern hill of Jerusalem, directly south of the modern Dome of the Rock and walled Old City (cf. note on David’s tomb in 2:10). I had the privilege of digging there in 1982 under Yigal Shiloh. This hill, still heavily populated, stretched south of the Ophel, down to the Hinnom valley (see the map in Meyers 1998:254).
3:2 At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship. This is a sore point with the editor of Kings, who will evaluate both the kings of the north and the south concerning the issue of the “high places” (see “One Place of Worship” under “Major Themes” in the Introduction). On the term bamoth, for “local places of worship,” see next note.
3:3 except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. The Kings editor in essence makes a concession here (using raq [TH7535, ZH8370], “only”) in reference to offerings given at the local shrines. This is the one exception to Solomon’s “love” for Yahweh, as indicated by his otherwise faithful obedience to David’s decrees. In both 3:2 and 3:3, the NLT’s periphrastic reference to the “local places of worship” is a translation of the term bamoth [TH1116, ZH1195], the so-called “high places.” However, Cogan (2001:184) prefers the more neutral translation “shrines,” noting that some of the bamoth were located in valleys (cf. Jer 32:35) or in cities (cf. 2 Kgs 23:8). See the helpful excursus found in Wiseman (1993:82-83).
3:4 Gibeon. This is probably the modern village of el-Jib, some 6 miles (10 km) northwest of Jerusalem; some have suggested that Gibeon had been King Saul’s capital (Cogan 2001:185). The Gibeonites had tricked Joshua into making a covenant of protection with them (Josh 9). Saul, however, had tried to wipe them out, and David had to sanction royal vengeance against Saul’s family to put an end to a famine sent by Yahweh (2 Sam 21:1-14).
3:5 the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream. Dreams and night visions are a valid method of divine revelation in the OT (cf. the list found in Cogan 2001:186), as they were generally in the ancient Near East (Seow 1999:39). While Jeremiah condemned the dreams of the false prophets (Jer 23:25), and Num 12:6-8 contrasts the dreams and visions of prophets with the direct word given “face to face” to Moses, we have no reason to doubt the veracity of the present dream of Solomon. See the ironic confirmation found in 9:2 in a prophecy of condemnation specified as the “second time” Yahweh appeared to Solomon (the first time having taken place in Gibeon). Concerning the uniqueness of Yahweh speaking directly to a king, see the note on 9:2.
What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you! This is a folkloristic (i.e., popular storytelling) touch (a feature also observed in ch 20), very appropriate for this outsized personality known for great wisdom, achievements, and appetites (cf. note on 3:10). By identifying folkloristic elements, we are not questioning the historicity of the narrative but recognizing that the narrator employs literary motifs, exaggerative touches, and entertaining tropes as he draws his audience into his account of their history.
3:6 You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David. Twice, the rich term khesed [TH2617, ZH2876] is found in this verse, with both occurrences amplified by the term gadol [TH1419, ZH1524] (great). The term khesed is hard to define succinctly, with the traditional “loving-kindness” or “mercy” as too vague in meaning, and the more focused renderings of “covenantal loyalty” or “joint obligation” too constricting (cf. HALOT 336-337). The NLT phrase “faithful love,” used for both occurrences of khesed in this verse, conveys accurately both nuances typical of the term: love and mercy on the one hand, and faithfulness and loyalty (to a covenantal relationship) on the other.
3:7 I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. Lit., “I am a little child, I do not know how to go out or come in.” The latter phrase is a common expression referring to lack of experience in military leadership (cf. Cogan 2001:1986). Probably the rationale for the choice of nagid [TH5057, ZH5592] or “king-designate” (see commentary on 1:5-27) up to this point was prior success in military leadership, and Solomon was indeed as a “little child” in this area. His humility here appears genuine, and his alternative proposal of seeking to demonstrate success in juridical “wisdom” to govern the people (cf. 3:9) is an appropriate substitute (3:10).
3:9 an understanding heart. Lit., “a listening heart” (leb shomea‘ [TH3820/8085, ZH4213/9048]). Practical wisdom is the key (see note on 2:9).
3:10 The LORD was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. Whatever Solomon’s faults, hubris was not one of them (at least at the outset of his reign). Imagine yourself in Solomon’s place, where you could apparently ask for anything (except for multiple wishes, of course). This is not the last time we will find Solomon involved with such extravagant opportunities (see next note).
3:11 death of your enemies. This stands in stark contrast to David’s last words back in 2:5-9, a juxtaposition that the narrator surely wishes the hearer/reader to notice. David’s vengefulness, although sadly understandable in light of Middle Eastern court intrigues, nonetheless left a bad taste in the reader’s mouth, and one is glad to be rid of such petty vendettas (and rid of Solomon’s relentless machinations to bring them about, as well).
3:13 No other king in all the world. This extravagant claim may well have been literally true for a while, for Solomon’s reign in the latter half of the tenth century BC largely took place during a time of both Mesopotamian and Egyptian weakness (cf. Bright 1981:212-214; Meyers 1998:245-246).
3:14 And if . . . I will give you a long life. The conditional nature of this last promise is striking, leading Wiseman (1993:86) to conclude that it did not come to pass (Sweeney 2007:80). As Cogan (2001:188) points out, “Length of days is not a gift given lightly; unlike riches, it is the reward for following YHWH’s commands” (cf. Deut 6:2; 11:9). Solomon’s proverbial 40-year reign (11:42), probably a round number, is surely meant to reassure the reader of his relatively long and generally successful life and reign.
3:15 a dream. The repetition of the term “dream” here is neither meant to diminish the veracity nor the applicability of the vision just described, but rather it acts as an inclusio with 3:5 above (an inclusio is a narrative device to signal by some sort of repetition the beginning and the end of a prose or poetic unit).
stood before the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. As Cogan (2001:188) points out, this verse is probably an attempt to correct any misunderstanding that Solomon was acting as a syncretist or worse (cf. 3:3). Presumably the Ark is in the tent David had previously erected in Jerusalem (cf. the first note on 1:50). In 8:1, below, we will read that the priests later removed the Ark from this location (in the “City of David” or “Zion”) and brought it into the newly constructed Temple.
COMMENTARY [Text]
The proverbial comment “be careful what you ask for” has a happy resolution here, as the next section will unforgettably illustrate. Solomon here is pictured as large-minded and truly concerned for the needs of his people. Maybe his insecurity (3:7) had something to do with it. Solomon recognized his lack of military experience for what it was—a clear deficiency, but by God’s grace not as crucial for governmental success as it was for his predecessors Saul and David. Solomon properly asked for discernment to govern the people, and Yahweh threw in wealth, fame, and a chance for long life as well. (For the mixed blessing such “wisdom” can bestow, however, see the commentary on the next section.)
King Solomon was a man of gargantuan appetites (cf. the 1,000 burnt offerings back in 3:4!), and despite all the wasteful extravagance this entailed, at least he was beyond the personal, small-minded agendas that asking for “long life” or “wealth” or the “death of your enemies” would represent. The king was called to be a servant or shepherd to the people, as the 18th-century Babylonian king Hammurapi famously proclaimed about himself in the prologue and epilogue to his well-known law code: “Hammurapi . . . the Shepherd . . . who causes justice to appear . . . that the strong might not oppress the weak, to guide properly the orphan and the widow” (ABD 3.40).