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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
‘Thou hast asked.’
1Ki_3:11
I. The prayer which Solomon offered is in many respects a model.—All prayers must have certain points in common, as the letters in some heavy mail with various contents yet resemble one another closely enough to be included in the one despatch. You will notice in this prayer Gratitude (6), Humility (7), Dependence (8), and Wisdom (9). ‘A little child,’ probably not more than twenty years of age, Solomon recognises in himself the fulfilment of God’s promise to David. ‘Thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.’ Let us train ourselves to detect the direct answers to our prayers; the plain accomplishment of God’s promises. Yet this great access of honour solemnised rather than elated Solomon. He was there however in no strength of his own. ‘Thou hast made me king in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast chosen.’ God loves to have us lay the burden as well as the praise at His feet.
II. Our chief attention, however, should be paid to that for which Solomon pleaded.—God’s words to him suggest other things for which he might have asked. Long life was a special boon in these wild and uncertain times, and Solomon had seen enough of violence in the home of his father to know how rare and how precious this was. For the splendid plans which he was forming for the future of himself and his people he might have asked for wealth. The son of a soldier, it might have been the life of his enemies that he craved. Let me live, let me prosper, let me prevail, these are three wishes which lie at the root of a good deal of prayer. They are foremost essentials in the gospel of getting on which is preached very generally now. But Solomon said: ‘Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this Thy so great a people?’ What did he ask for? Moral discernment. An echo here of the injunction ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.’ There are two sorts of kings—first, the warrior; second, the judge. David was the first. He would hardly have offered this prayer. The first conception of a king was very probably of the man who was successful in battle. But it is a harder thing to rule wisely than to fight victoriously. The making of a land is a more serious problem than the conquering of it. This was what Solomon had begun to see. It is what we need to see now. In England and in America alike we need not so much soldiers as statesmen. ‘And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.’
III. How did God show His approval?—He gave Solomon all he asked for, and added to this understanding heart what Solomon did not ask for, ‘riches and honour.’
But notice two points that we are apt to overlook.
(a) God gave him all this wonderful store of blessings just because he had known what to ask for. ‘To him that hath shall be given.’ The man who puts wisdom first and foremost can be trusted with wealth and success.
(b) And, again, He did not give it all unconditionally. ‘If thou wilt walk in My ways.’ For already there were shadows amid the sunshine, and an undertone of warning in the burst of praise. ‘Solomon took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David.’ ‘Solomon loved the Lord … only he sacrificed in high places.’
So there is ‘the little rift within the lute.’ No course of continuous progress was promised to Israel. ‘There was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.’ Not the most desirable answer to prayer after all. There is a note of finality in it which ‘by and by shall make the music mute.’ No true man wishes to be the wisest one that the world shall ever see.
Illustrations
(1) ‘ “Ask!” Cromwell says in one of his letters that “to be a seeker is to be of the best sect next to a finder.” The one leads to the other. Seeking is the path to finding.’
(2) ‘We may have felt perplexed to find out just how the wisdom for which Solomon is so famous manifested itself. He reigned forty years, and died at the age of sixty. The splendour of the dawning years of his reign is in sad contrast to the gloom of its close. But he showed his wisdom in asking for wisdom. He showed it in asking for the highest kind of blessing. He failed indeed, but it was because he did not listen to the warning “if” in God’s promise to him.’