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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Kings 3:4 - 3:4
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Solomon's Sacrifice and Dream at Gibeon (cf. 2Ch 1:1-13). - To implore the divine blessing upon his reign, Solomon offered to the Lord at Gibeon a great sacrifice - a thousand burnt-offerings; and, according to 2Ch 1:2, the representatives of the whole nation took part in this sacrificial festival. At that time the great or principal bamah was at Gibeon (the present el Jib; see at Jos 9:3), namely, the Mosaic tabernacle (2Ch 1:3), which is called הַבָּמָה, because the ark of the covenant, with which Jehovah had bound up His gracious presence, was not there now. “Upon that altar,” i.e., upon the altar of the great bamah at Gibeon, the brazen altar of burnt-offering in the tabernacle (2Ch 1:6).
1Ki 3:5-8
The one thing wanting in the place of sacrifice at Gibeon, viz., the ark of the covenant with the gracious presence of Jehovah, was supplied by the Lord in the case of this sacrifice by a direct revelation in a dream, which Solomon received in the night following the sacrifice. There is a connection between the question which God addressed to Solomon in the dream, “What shall I give thee?” and the object of the sacrifice, viz., to seek the help of God for his reign. Solomon commences his prayer in 1Ki 3:6 with an acknowledgment of the great favour which the Lord had shown to his father David, and had continued till now by raising his son to his throne (הַזֶּה כַּיֹּום, as it is this day: cf. 1Sa 22:8; Deu 8:18, etc.); and then, in 1Ki 3:7-9, in the consciousness of his incapacity for the right administration of government over so numerous a people, he asks the Lord for an obedient heart and for wisdom to rule His people. וְעַתָּה introduces the petition, the reasons assigned for which are, (1) his youth and inexperience, and (2) the greatness or multitude of the nation to be governed. I am, says he, קָטֹן נַעַר, i.e., an inexperienced youth (Solomon was only about twenty years old): “I know not to go out and in,” i.e., how to behave myself as king, or govern the people (for וָבֹא צֵאת compare the note on Num 27:17). At 1Ki 3:8 he describes the magnitude of the nation in words which recall to mind the divine promises in Gen 13:16 and Gen 32:13, to indicate how gloriously the Lord has fulfilled the promises which He made to the patriarchs.
1Ki 3:9
וְנָתַתָּ, therefore give. The prayer (commencing with וְעַתָּה in 1Ki 3:7) is appended in the form of an apodosis to the circumstantial clauses וגו וְאָנֹכִי and וגו וְעַבְדְּךָ, which contain the grounds of the petition. שֹׁמֵעַ לֵב, a hearing heart, i.e., a heart giving heed to the law and right of God, “to judge Thy people, (namely) to distinguish between good and evil (i.e., right and wrong).” “For who could judge this Thy numerous people,” sc. unless Thou gavest him intelligence? כָּבֵד, heavy in multitude: in the Chronicles this is explained by גָּדֹול.
1Ki 3:10-12
This prayer pleased God well. “Because thou hast asked this, and hast not asked for thyself long life, nor riches, nor the life (i.e., the destruction) of thy foes,” all of them good things, which the world seeks to obtain as the greatest prize, “but intelligence to hear judgment (i.e., to foster it, inasmuch as the administration of justice rests upon a conscientious hearing of the parties), behold I have done according to thy word” (i.e., fulfilled thy request: the perfect is used, inasmuch as the hearkening has already begun; for הִנֵּה in this connection compare Ewald, §307, e.), “and given thee a wise and understanding heart.” The words which follow, “so that there has been none like thee before thee,” etc., are not to be restricted to the kings of Israel, as Clericus supposes, but are to be understood quite universally as applying to all mankind (cf. 1Ki 5:9-11).
1Ki 3:13-14
In addition to this, according to the promise that to him who seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness all other things shall be added (Mat 6:33), God will also give him the earthly blessings, for which he has not asked, and that in great abundance, viz., riches and honour such as no king of the earth has had before him; and if he adhere faithfully to God's commandments, long life also (וְהַאֲרַכְתִּי, in this case I have lengthened). This last promise was not fulfilled, because Solomon did not observe the condition (cf. 1Ki 11:42).
1Ki 3:15
Then Solomon awoke, and behold it was a dream; i.e., a dream produced by God, a revelation by dream, or a divine appearance in a dream. חֲלֹום as in Num 12:6. - Solomon thanked the Lord again for this promise after his return to Jerusalem, by offering burnt-offerings and thank-offerings before the ark of the covenant, i.e., upon the altar at the tent erected for the ark upon Zion, and prepared a meal for all his servants (viz., his court-servants), i.e., a sacrificial meal of the שְׁלָמִים. - This sacrificial festival upon Zion is omitted in the Chronicles, as well as the following account in Num 12:16 -28; not, however, because in the chronicler's opinion no sacrifices had any legal validity but such as were offered upon the altar of the Mosaic tabernacle, as Thenius fancies, though without observing the account in 1Ch 21:26., which overthrows this assertion, but because this sacrificial festival had no essential significance in relation to Solomon's reign.