The Lord Gives Solomon Wisdom, 1-15

3:1 Solomon made an alliance by marriage with Pharaoh, king of Egypt; he married Pharaoh’s daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he could finish building his residence and the temple of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem. 3:2 Now the people were offering sacrifices at the high places, because in those days a temple had not yet been built to honor the LORD. 3:3 Solomon demonstrated his loyalty to the LORD by following the practices of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

Solomon made an alliance by marriage with Pharaoh, king of Egypt – From a human point of view, this alliance would enhance Solomon’s standing in the region.  But, from a religious standpoint, it was a violation of Deut 7:3.  His sin will be multiplied greatly, 1 Kings 11:1-6.

The City of David – Jerusalem (not Bethlehem), 2 Sam 5:7.

He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places – ‘High places’ were sites of worship that were elevated above their surrounding.

As always in Scripture, the Lord is to be worshiped by the means he himself has specified, rather than those of our own devising.

Solomon demonstrated his loyalty to the LORD by… – Lit., ‘Solomon loved the Lord by…’

3:4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for it had the most prominent of the high places. Solomon would offer up a thousand burnt sacrifices on the altar there. 3:5 One night in Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream. God said, “Tell me what I should give you.” 3:6 Solomon replied, “You demonstrated great loyalty to your servant, my father David, as he served you faithfully, properly, and sincerely. You have maintained this great loyalty to this day by allowing his son to sit on his throne. 3:7 Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in my father David’s place, even though I am only a young man and am inexperienced. 3:8 Your servant stands among your chosen people; they are a great nation that is too numerous to count or number. 3:9 So give your servant a discerning mind so he can make judicial decisions for your people and distinguish right from wrong. Otherwise no one is able to make judicial decisions for this great nation of yours.” 3:10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon made this request. 3:11 God said to him, “Because you asked for the ability to make wise judicial decisions, and not for long life, or riches, or vengeance on your enemies, 3:12 I grant your request, and give you a wise and discerning mind superior to that of anyone who has preceded or will succeed you.

The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream – The Lord would speak to Solomon on three more occasions, 1 Kings 6:11–13; 9:1–9; 11:11–13.

3:13 Furthermore, I am giving you what you did not request—riches and honor so that you will be the greatest king of your generation. 3:14 If you follow my instructions by obeying my rules and regulations, just as your father David did, then I will grant you long life.” 3:15 Solomon then woke up and realized it was a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, offered up burnt sacrifices, presented peace offerings, and held a feast for all his servants.

Solomon Demonstrates His Wisdom, 16-28

This account is omitted from 2 Chron 1.  It seems that:

‘While the writer of 1 Kg used secular events to illustrate Solomon’s greatness, the writer of the books of Ch used the building and furnishing of the temple to define Solomon’s greatness.’ (Apologetics Study Bible)

3:16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 3:17 One of the women said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was with me in the house. 3:18 Then three days after I had my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one else in the house except the two of us. 3:19 This woman’s child suffocated during the night when she rolled on top of him. 3:20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your servant was sleeping. She put him in her arms, and put her dead son in my arms. 3:21 I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there he was, dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby.” 3:22 The other woman said, “No! My son is alive; your son is dead!” But the first woman replied, “No, your son is dead; my son is alive.” Each presented her case before the king.

Curiously, Solomon is not named throughout vv1-28.  This prompts DeVries (who ascribes this story to a putative Deuteronomist redactor) to postulate that an anonymous story has been attached to Solomon to illustrate his wisdom.  (DeVries notes that a rather large number of similar stories from various cultures).

Following Seow, William Barnes (CBC) suggests that Solomon’s wisdom, as exemplified here, has both positive and negative aspects.  In Seow’s opinion:

‘Unfortunately, the judgment of the just king is questionable.

• He never interrogates the two women.
• He accepts at face value the complainant’s claim that there were no other witnesses.
• He does not point to the obvious gaps in her version of events and the purely circumstantial nature of her charge.
• He does not notice that she claimed to have been so sound asleep that she did not know that her infant had been taken from her and another placed in her bosom, and yet she is able to report on all that was happening that night.…
• Neither woman is required to take an oath or undergo some kind of test, as the law stipulates for disputes involving no witnesses (see Exod 22:10–11; Deut 19:15–18; Num 5:11–15).
• He does not visit the site of the crime.
• [He does not] send investigators to look for possible clues that may have been overlooked.
• Instead, he threatens the life of an innocent child, expecting the horrendous threat to provoke the responses he expects from his own stereotypes of the good mother and the deceptive woman.’

(Bulleting added)

Barnes concludes that even a divine gift, in human hands, is a two-edged sword, capable of being used both for good and evil.

We should not turn even the most righteous of the Bible’s characters (Jesus Christ alone excepted) into unimpeachable heroes (think of Abraham, Moses, David and Peter, to name but a few).

Two prostitutes – DeVries notes that some texts amend this to ‘inn-keepers’, but (he says) without good reason.  He elaborates on prostitution as a way of life in the ancient world:

‘Although prostitution is disdained and condemned, some OT passages are unabashed in reporting a resort to prostitutes. Both secular and cultic prostitution were widespread in the ancient Near East. From a moral and sociological point of view, there was nothing that was worthy of praise in this institution. Ancient prostitutes were generally slaves, daughters who had been sold by their own parents. Otherwise they were poor women who had never had an opportunity to marry, or who had lost their husbands. The normal expectation for a woman was to be married and live in her husband’s house, bearing his children. Women who had to support themselves by yielding to the lust of strangers, and whose children were destined to grow up as bastards and paupers, were wretched and altogether to be pitied.’

Prostitution was prohibited by law (Lev 19:29; Deut 23:18), but appears to have been widely tolerated.  Both Rahab (Josh 2) and Tamar (Gen 38) are presented as heroines.  But see also 1 Kings 22:38.

They are hereafter referred to as ‘women’ in this story.

3:23 The king said, “One says, ‘My son is alive; your son is dead,’ while the other says, ‘No, your son is dead; my son is alive.’ ” 3:24 The king ordered, “Get me a sword!” So they placed a sword before the king. 3:25 The king then said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other!” 3:26 The real mother spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!” But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!” 3:27 The king responded, “Give the first woman the living child; don’t kill him. She is the mother.” 3:28 When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected the king, for they realized that he possessed supernatural wisdom to make judicial decisions.

“Get me a sword!” – The king abruptly cuts into the back-and-forth between the two women.

DeVries comments on this ‘shock treatment’:

‘The king does not tentatively propose this test to the two women, for they might think that he were teasing, or that he were offering a mere abstract possibility. No, they must be confronted with an emergency situation. They must be made to believe that he really will kill the baby in order to satisfy them both. Only in such a dire situation will the true mother plead to save the baby.’