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1 Kings Chapter 3
Solomon's Prayer for Wisdom
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1Kings 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of
Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of
David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the
house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
Solomon's weakness and thorn in the flesh was women. Affinity means
that he agreed with kings of other nations to marry their daughters.
This was a political move that later brought him down later in life.
Marrying those of other nations was forbidden by the law of God
given to Moses for a good reason. It was because it could lead
Israel away from the real God to idols and false gods that other
nations served. Idolatry and false religion led eventually to child
sacrifice and other serious sins against God.
- Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the
LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
- 15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land,
and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their
gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
- 16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their
daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a
whoring after their gods.
Also in Deuteronomy:
- Deuteronomy 7:3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them;
thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter
shalt thou take unto thy son.
- 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they
may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled
against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
- 5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their
altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and
burn their graven images with fire.
- 6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD
thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above
all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Sacrificing live children to idols is what brings down many nations.
That is why the nation of Israel went into captivity to Babylon
later during the reign of Zedekiah. Do we not realize that abortion,
especially late term abortion and allowing babies to die after being
born alive, is a form of child sacrifice. Some nations today are
doing the same things. We need to stop and repent of this evil or we
will be wiped out. I'm not kidding. We will not get away with this
much longer.
As with all things. High places were used for worship of God or
worship of false gods and idols. Usually the high places was for
idolatry. The nation of Israel started out worshiping God at the
door of the tabernacle in the wilderness or at times near the Ark of
the Covenant. High places were used also before the temple was
built.
- 1Kings 3:3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes
of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high
places.
- 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was
the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer
upon that altar.
- 5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night:
and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
At this time though, Solomon still loved the Lord. Later though, the
mixture he is creating by marrying women of other nations became his
downfall later. That caused Israel to be divided again after
Solomon's death. David also married many women which was he weakness
only David didn't go so far as to tolerate the worship of idols. In
his later life he regretted many mistakes he made. It is not known
if Solomon got right with God in the end. I sometimes wonder about
it, hoping somehow he made things right.
- 1Kings 3:6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant
David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in
truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee;
and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given
him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
- 7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king
instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not
how to go out or come in.
- 8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou
hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for
multitude.
- 9 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?
- 10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked
this thing.
Solomon at this time was not into idolatry and evil. He knew that
what he needed was wisdom to rule the people. This is what he asked
God for and not riches or material things. This is one reason I would never
want to be president, governor or any public office that is over
other people. I would be terrified. It is a big responsibility to
govern other people. Why people war and fight to hold public office
really puzzles me. The only reason to desire this should only be to
help people, not exploit them.
- 1Kings 3:11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked
this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast
asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies;
but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;
- 12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have
given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none
like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto
thee.
- 13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked,
both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the
kings like unto thee all thy days.
- 14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and
my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen
thy days.
- 15 And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came
to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD,
and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and
made a feast to all his servants.
Gifts of this nature comes from God.
King Saul was once like this. He didn't have confidence and needed
God's strength but later his jealousy of David consumed him. This is
where we need to watch and pray that we do not enter temptation.
Whether it is jealousy, pride, lust of the flesh or some other sin,
we need to guard against it and walk in our first love for the Lord.
Solomon's Wisdom
- 1Kings 3:16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto
the king, and stood before him.
- 17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell
in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
- 18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was
delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together;
there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the
house.
- 19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she
overlaid it.
- 20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me,
while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her
dead child in my bosom.
- 21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck,
behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning,
behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
The other lady should have known this woman would recognize her own
son. In the days of "dna", there would have been proof of whose son it
was but now we can see the wisdom that God gave to Solomon was put to the
test.
- 1Kings 3:22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is
my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is
thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.
- 23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that
liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy
son is the dead, and my son is the living.
- 24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a
sword before the king.
- 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give
half to the one, and half to the other.
- 26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the
king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord,
give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other
said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
- 27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child,
and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
- 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had
judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of
God was in him, to do judgment.
The woman who had taken the live child and substituted her dead
one truly had a heart of evil that Solomon was able to bring out.
The real mother would give up her child rather than see it killed.
It shows us also that is safer to have a crib by our own beds rather
than sleep with a young baby. I'm a light sleeper and could sleep
with a baby but others may not be. I can hear when one of my kids get
up and go to the bathroom at night even though they are in a
separate room. Some though especially if they drink alcohol or
something that causes deep sleep may not be alert enough to sleep
with an infant. It is safer to have a new born close in the same
room but in a crib of some kind and get up and sit in a chair at
feeding time. This deviates from the point of the story a little but
I can't resist putting in an infant safety comment. -Dorna
1 Kings chapter 4
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