SOLOMON PRAYS AT THE TABERNACLE IN GIBEON

1 KINGS 1–4

By the end of the second chapter of 1 Kings, the writer tells us that the kingdom and its capital city, Jerusalem, were “firmly established in Solomon’s hands” (1 Kings 2:46). Yet when Solomon went to worship, he traveled to Gibeon, the place where the Lord gave him his incredible wisdom (1 Kings 3:5–14; 2 Chron. 1:7–12). Here we will see that Solomon ruled from Jerusalem but worshiped the Lord in Gibeon for a reason.

At one level, it makes perfect sense. The Temple had not yet been built in Jerusalem, so the Israelites were using various high places like Gibeon for worship.16 During the early days of Samuel, the tabernacle was erected at Shiloh (1 Sam. 1:3). We find it at Nob during David’s early years (1 Sam. 21:1–9). But now this important structure had been moved to Gibeon, only a few miles north of Jerusalem. Thus the high place at Gibeon was deemed the “most important” because the tabernacle and the great altar were there (1 Kings 3:4; see also 2 Chron. 1:3) representing the Lord’s presence.17

While this begins to explain why Solomon traveled to Gibeon to pray and make sacrifices, it raises another question. David had moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6). Why had he not brought the tabernacle there also so that the ark and the tabernacle might be reunited? Part of the answer may lie in the fact that Gibeon, not Jerusalem, was designated as a Levitical city—one of forty-eight such cities staffed with priests (Josh. 21:8, 17). And of these Levitical cities, Gibeon had a very centralized location. It was in Benjamin, where the internal north/south and east/west roadways crossed one another, making travel to and from Gibeon more easily accomplished by those wishing to worship there.

The small Palestinian village of Jib lies on the northern edge of the ancient site of Gibeon.

But Israel’s early history may provide a more penetrating answer to the question of why David left the tabernacle in Gibeon rather than bringing it to Jerusalem. Looking back at the initial contact of Gibeon with Israel, we are reminded of the ruse employed by the Gibeonites to save themselves during Joshua’s conquest (Joshua 9). They knew that the Lord had given Israel permission to spare people who lived far away from Canaan (Deut. 20:10–15), so they wore old clothes and shoes to a meeting with Joshua, claiming that they had come from a distant land. Joshua and the elders believed them and granted them safety (Josh. 9:15). When the deception became known, Joshua was pledged to honor his word to them but also declared that the people of Gibeon would always be servants to the Lord’s altar, carrying water and cutting wood “at the place the LORD would choose” (Josh. 9:27).

Replica of the altar and tabernacle that Solomon visited at Gibeon.

The great pool at Gibeon.

Though the Gibeonites had lied, they had recognized the power of Israel’s God and were willing to cast their lot with the Lord, who not only rescued them but put them to work tending his holy altar. Some time during his reign, Saul had inflicted a horrible massacre upon the Gibeonites (2 Sam. 21:1–6), violating Joshua’s promise.18 King David had been faced with making amends for the atrocity. As Solomon received God’s blessing, the Lord apparently chose that the tabernacle and the great altar would remain in Gibeon to reward the Gibeonites for their faithfulness.

There were reasons Solomon prayed in the tabernacle in Gibeon. The Lord brought together many participants on the day Solomon went to Gibeon to pray and make sacrifices. There was Solomon, Israel’s king, who at the time seemed to sincerely approach the Lord with a desire to rule with discernment. There were the Israelite priests of the Levitical city, descendants of the same family as Moses and Aaron. There were the Gibeonites, non-Israelites who believed in Israel’s God, serving the Lord in his tabernacle by bringing water and cutting wood for his altar. And the Lord himself came to Solomon, bringing gifts of wisdom, peace, and hope.

Storage pits for the royal wine vessels at Gibeon.