1 Kgs 3:3-15 · Read 6 min · think and write 15 min
David and Bathsheba had a son, “and he called his name Solomon. The LORD loved him” (2 Sam 12:24); “and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah, for the LORD’s sake” (2 Sam 12:25). This is in David, Lesson 6.
When David was old, he said to Bathsheba: “Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place” (1 Kgs 1:30). “Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the Tent, and anointed Solomon. They blew the trumpet; and all the people said, ‘Long live King Solomon!’” (1 Kgs 1:39). Before he died, David told him: “You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man” (1 Kgs 2:2); this is in David’s Life. “Solomon sat on David his father’s throne; and his kingdom was firmly established” (1 Kgs 2:12).
“Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt” (1 Kgs 3:1). “However, the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for the LORD’s name” (1 Kgs 3:2).
This lesson reads one night at Gibeon.
3Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
4The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
5In Gibeon, the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask for what I should give you.”
6Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
7Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in.
8Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude.
9Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
10This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
11God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice,
12behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you.
13I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days.
14If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
15Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
Loved the LORD. “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places” (v. 3). There was not yet a house built for the LORD’s name (v. 2). He went to Gibeon, and “Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar” (v. 4).
Ask. “In Gibeon, the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask for what I should give you’” (v. 5).
David first. When Solomon spoke, he began with God’s kindness to his father David: “You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today” (v. 6).
A little child. “Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in” (v. 7). “Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude” (v. 8). “Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?” (v. 9). He speaks of the people as “your people which you have chosen” (v. 8).
It pleased the Lord. “This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing” (v. 10). God named what he had not asked for: he had “not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice” (v. 11).
Asked and not asked. “Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart” (v. 12); “I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor” (v. 13). And God said: “If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days” (v. 14).
He awoke. “Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants” (v. 15).
Later. What he asked for was “an understanding heart to judge your people” (v. 9). In the next lesson, two women come before the king and ask him to judge.
In the wilderness Moses had told the judges: “Hear cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is living with him” (Deut 1:16), “for the judgment is God’s” (Deut 1:17).
Readers can see this: that night at Gibeon, what Solomon asked for was “understanding to discern justice” (v. 11).
Perhaps you have recently taken on something you feel you cannot carry: a new position, a group of people to look after, a hard decision at home that is yours to make. Perhaps part of you is saying, ‘I am just a little child; I don’t know how to go out or come in.’
This lesson does not say that if you only ask for the right thing, God will give you riches and honor along with it; nor does it say that feeling you are not enough is the same as being humble. What it shows you is this: Solomon said out loud that he did not know, and asked God for “an understanding heart to judge your people” (v. 9); and “This request pleased the Lord” (v. 10). The New Testament also says: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (Jas 1:5).
This week: Think of one thing where you ‘don’t know how to go out or come in’. This week, write it down plainly, and ask God for understanding about it once a day.
Scripture: World English Bible.