1 Kings 3

CHAPTERS 3 AND 4THEME: Solomon’s prayer for wisdom and God’s answerIn the chapters before us God appears to Solomon in a dream saying, “Ask what I shall give thee.” Solomon asks for wisdom to govern Israel. His unselfish request so pleases God that He promises him much more than he asked for. In addition to wisdom, He gives him riches and honor. Solomon’s decision in the cases of two mothers claiming one child demonstrates that God had truly given him a wise and understanding heart.

1 Kings 3:1

One of the first things Solomon did after he became king was to marry a daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. His marriage formed an alliance with Egypt. Solomon’s marriages with heathen women were terrible mistakes and finally became his undoing. Remember that Solomon was brought up in a court of women. He was not acquainted with life as was David, his father. I do not believe that Solomon ever had the spiritual capacity for God that David had nor the longing for God in his life. Solomon did, however, recognize his shortcomings. After he married Pharaoh’s daughter (and we only wish he had done this before), he went to the Lord and asked for wisdom. After David’s reign there was a period of relaxation. The people began to offer sacrifices in high places which was actually heathen, pagan worship. It was a return to idolatry.

1 Kings 3:3

SOLOMON’S SACRIFICE AND PRAYER FOR WISDOMSolomon was perfectly willing to offer sacrifices on heathen altarssomething that David never would have done. Although Solomon loved the Lord, he was not the kind of a man David was. Solomon was walking in the statutes of David, but he had that little flaw that we have already seen makes second-rate material.

1 Kings 3:5

The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. Again, I must repeat that God today is not appearing to men in dreams. If you have had a dream, do not try to say that the Lord appeared to you. Just remember what you had for supper, and you will find out why you had the dream. God speaks to us today in His Word. Solomon did not have all of God’s Word in his day, so God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Ask what you will. I will grant it to you.” What is Solomon going to ask for? He has the choice of asking for anything he wants. The fact that he is going to make a wise choice indicates that he had a certain amount of human wisdom before God gave him His wisdom. When the Lord told Solomon He would grant any wish, I think He recognized that Solomon had many deficiencies and was wholly and totally inadequate. But, my friend, who is adequate for these things? Who is adequate for living the Christian life? Not one of us. The fact of the matter is that we cannot live the Christian life, and God has never asked us to live it. He has asked that He might live that life through us. Now He is wanting to do something through Solomon. This king could have asked for riches or power. Instead, recognizing his deficiency, notice what he asks for.

1 Kings 3:6

Solomon realized that he was attempting to fill not the shoes but the throne of David. He recognized that he was totally inadequate for the job.

1 Kings 3:7

He considered himself “a little child” in experience. He felt incapable of governing this great nation. There are so many folk today attempting to serve God who do not seem to recognize their inadequacies. All of us are wholly inadequate to serve God. We should recognize that fact so that we are in a position where God can help us.

1 Kings 3:9

Solomon asked for an understanding heart to judge God’s people. I want to consider this for just a moment. We always say that Solomon prayed for wisdom. That is certainly true, but what kind of wisdom did he pray for? He prayed for political wisdom. He wanted the ability to be a statesman.

He wanted to know how to judge and rule over these people and make great national decisions. He did not pray for spiritual discernment. This is something that needs to be made very clear. In the books Solomon wrote, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, we will find wisdom that will guide us in this worldProverbs is a fine book to give to young men starting out on their own. Although in the Song of Solomon he does reveal spiritual discernment, in his old age his heathen wives turned away his heart from the Lord. Solomon did not pray for spiritual discernment.

Solomon prayed for political wisdom, and this God gave him throughout his life.

1 Kings 3:10

SOLOMON’S PRAYER IS ANSWEREDSolomon wanted to make wise decisions. In the sickening scene in every government today we see a group of men clamoring for positions. They want to be elected to an office. All of them are telling us how great they are and what marvelous abilities they have. They assure us that they are able to solve the problems. By now, friend, some of us have come to the conclusion that these boys are just kidding us.

They don’t have the solution and they don’t have the wisdom. If only some men would come on the scene and say, “I don’t have the wisdom; I recognize my inadequacies. But I am going to depend on God to lead and guide me.” Something like that would be so startling it would probably rock the world. That is what Solomon said, and God commended him for it. It was a great step.

1 Kings 3:12

Solomon does stand out as being a wise ruler. When you read the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, you will find human wisdom on the highest plane. I do not mean that these books are not inspired of God. It is obvious that God through Solomon is giving the highest of human wisdom, making it clear in both books that mere human wisdom is totally inadequate to meet the issues of life.

1 Kings 3:13

The standard, as we have indicated before, is David. That is a human standard and is not very high. But, frankly, few of the kings even came up to that standard.

1 Kings 3:15

The burnt offerings and peace offerings point to the Lord Jesus Christ. The burnt offering speaks of who He is. The peace offering speaks of the fact that He made peace by shedding His blood on the cross. Because of who He is, He is able to bring us into a right relationship with God. The shedding of His blood makes it possible to remove the guilt of our sins. In the last part of this chapter we have a demonstration of Solomon’s wisdom. He gives a clever solution to a real problem. There were two women. They were harlots, and they had one child between them. Each woman claimed the child as her own. They brought the matter to Solomon.

How would you solve the problem? How would you find out who the real mother was? I suppose today some scientific method of determining the mother would be pursued, but Solomon had no such recourse. Solomon said to the women, “Since both of you claim the child, we will cut the baby in half, and each of you may have half of the child.” The one who was not the mother, who had no love for the child and apparently had it in for the real mother, replied, “Sure, go ahead and cut the child in half.” The real mother, however, said, “Oh, no, no. Don’t do that. Give her the child.” Solomon knew that the woman who was willing to give up the child in order to save its life was the real mother.

1 Kings 3:28

This is only one example of the many wise decisions Solomon was able to make during his reign.