In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask for what I should give you.”
Parallel Translations
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In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask for what I should give you.”
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In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
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In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said: 'Ask what I shall give thee.'
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to 1 Kings 3:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Kings 9:2 Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
- James 1:5-6 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. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
- Numbers 12:6 He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.
- 2 Chronicles 1:7-12 That night, God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for what you want me to give you.” Solomon said to God, “You have shown great loving kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his place. Now, Yahweh God, let your promise to David my father be established; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of yours?” God said to Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, nor yet have you asked for long life; but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you had, and none after you will have.”
- John 14:13-14 Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
- Genesis 28:12-13 He dreamed and saw a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give the land you lie on to you and to your offspring.
- Mark 10:36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
- Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
- 1 Kings 11:9 Yahweh was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
- Matthew 2:19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
- Mark 10:38-51 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to him, “We are able.” Jesus said to them, “You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant toward James and John. Jesus summoned them, and said to them, “You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all. For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still, and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!” He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.”
- John 15:16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
- Job 33:14-15 For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumbering on the bed;
- Matthew 1:20 But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
- Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.
- Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.
- 1 John 5:14-15 This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Ki 3:5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon…
1Ki 3:5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
Ver. 5. In Gibeon the Lord appeared, &c.] Solomen worshippeth God by day: God appeareth to him by night. Well may we look to enjoy God, when we have served him. The night cannot but be happy whose day hath been holy. {a}
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Ask what I shall give thee.] And saith not God as much in effect to every faithful petitioner? {Mat 7:7 Jas 1:5 Isa 45:11}
{a} Dr Hall.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Quest. How could Solomon pray in his dream, or…
Quest. How could Solomon pray in his dream, or that prayer be acceptable to God, as this was, 1Ki 3:10?
Answ. The dreams of men are not such insignificant things as many imagine. That good dreams are oftentimes praiseworthy, and evil dreams blameworthy, is not only the opinion of the Jews and Christians, but of divers of the wiser and better heathens; and the reason hereof is evident, because men’s dreams are commonly the images of their minds and tempers, and do only reflect and represent, though but faintly and imperfectly, those very things which are most imprinted upon their hearts by their waking meditations and daily conversation; and therefore it is not unreasonable, that either the sinful dreams of evil-minded men should be imputed to them, and punished in them, or the virtuous dreams of good men be imputed to and rewarded in them: which was Solomon’s case; for his heart having been daily and constantly employed in passionate longings and prayers for the wisdom which here he begs, it was a natural and likely thing that his heart should, as it did, work that way even in his dreams. Although, to speak truly and strictly, Solomon’s prayer made in his dream would have been no way pleasing to God, nor profitable to himself, if it had not been the result of his daily and most serious practice; and though God signified his mind in a dream, yet it was Solomon’s waking prayers (which were shadowed by this dark representation) which God accepted and requited; and this acceptance of God was signified to him in an extraordinary manner, and by a Divine dream, which was one of those ways whereby God oft used to communicate his will to his prophets and people. So the whole business lies thus: Solomon dreamed that God bid him ask what he would, 1Ki 3:5, and that he did ask wisdom, 1Ki 3:6, &c., and that God accepted his desire, 1Ki 3:10, and gave him that gracious answer, 1Ki 3:11. &c. And all this was done in a dream, but with this difference; Solomon’s prayer was but imaginary, but God’s answer was real, though conveyed in a dream. And when he awoke, he knew by Divine inspiration that this was a dream sent from God to assure him that he would give him wisdom, and riches, and honour, and this with respect unto his frequent, constant, and fervent waking desires, which his dream of his prayers did sufficiently intimate. See Poole "1Ki 3:6".
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God said, i.e. he dreamed that God said so.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We have here an account of a gracious visit…
We have here an account of a gracious visit which God paid to Solomon, and the communion he had with God in it, which put a greater honour upon Solomon than all the wealth and power of his kingdom did.
I. The circumstances of this visit, Kg1 3:5. 1. The place. It was in Gibeon; that was the great high place, and should have been the only one, because there the tabernacle and the brazen altar were, Ch2 1:3. There Solomon offered his great sacrifices, and there God owned him more than in any other of the high places. The nearer we come to the rule in our worship the more reason we have to expect the tokens of God's presence. Where God records his name, there he will meet us and bless us. 2. The time. It was by night, the night after he had offered that generous sacrifice, Kg1 3:4. The more we abound in God's work the more comfort we may expect in him; if the day has been busy for him, the night will be easy in him. Silence and retirement befriend our communion with God. His kindest visits are often in the night, Psa 17:3. 3. The manner. It was in a dream, when he was asleep, his senses locked up, that God's access to his mind might be the more free and immediate. In this way God used to speak to the prophets (Num 12:6) and to private persons, for their own benefit, Job 33:15, Job 33:16. These divine dreams, no doubt, were plainly distinguishable from those in which there are divers vanities, Ecc 5:7.
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II. The gracious offer God made him of the favour he should choose, whatever it might be, Kg1 3:5. He saw the glory of God shine about him, and heard a voice saying, Ask what I shall give thee. Not that God was indebted to him for his sacrifices, but thus he would testify his acceptance of them, and signify to him what great mercy he had in store for him, if he were not wanting to himself. Thus he would try his inclinations and put an honour upon the prayer of faith. God, in like manner, condescends to us, and puts us in the ready way to be happy by assuring us that we shall have what we will for the asking, Joh 16:23; Jo1 5:14. What would we more? Ask, and it shall be given you.
III. The pious request Solomon hereupon made to God. He readily laid hold of this offer. Why do we neglect the like offer made to us, like Ahaz, who said, I will not ask? Isa 7:12. Solomon prayed in his sleep, God's grace assisting him; yet it was a lively prayer. What we are most in care about, and which makes the greatest impression upon us when we are awake, commonly affects us when we are asleep; and by our dreams, sometimes, we may know what our hearts are upon and how our pulse beats. Plutarch makes virtuous dreams one evidence of increase in virtue. Yet this must be attributed to a higher source. Solomon's making such an intelligent choice as this when he was asleep, and the powers of reason were least active, showed that it came purely from the grace of God, which wrought in him these gracious desires. If his reins thus instruct him in the night season, he must bless the Lord who gave him counsel, Psa 16:7. Now, in this prayer,
1. He acknowledges God's great goodness to his father David, Kg1 3:6. He speaks honourably of his father's piety, that he had walked before God in uprightness of heart, drawing a veil over his faults. It is to be hoped that those who praise their godly parents will imitate them. But he speaks more honourably of God's goodness to his father, the mercy he had shown to him while he lived, in giving him to be sincerely religious and then recompensing his sincerity and the great kindness he had kept for him, to be bestowed on the family when he was gone, in giving him a son to sit on his throne. Children should give God thanks for his mercies to their parents, for the sure mercies of David. God's favours are doubly sweet when we observe them transmitted to us through the hands of those that have gone before us. The way to get the entail perpetuated is to bless God that it has hitherto been preserved.
2. He owns his own insufficiency for the discharge of that great trust to which he is called, Kg1 3:7, Kg1 3:8. And here is a double plea to enforce his petition for wisdom: - (1.) That his place required it, as he was successor to David ("Thou hast made me king instead of David, who was a very wise and good man: Lord, give me wisdom, that I may keep up what he wrought, and carry on what he began") and as he was ruler over Israel: "Lord, give me wisdom to rule well; for they are a numerous people, that will not be managed without much care, and they are thy people, whom thou hast chosen, and therefore to be ruled for thee, and the more wisely they are ruled the more glory thou wilt have from them." (2.) That he wanted it. As one that had a humble sense of his own deficiency, he pleads, "Lord, I am but a little child (so he calls himself, a child in understanding, though his father called him a wise man, Kg1 2:9); I know not how to go out or come in as I should, nor to do so much as the common daily business of the government, much less what to do in a critical juncture." Note, Those who are employed in public stations ought to be very sensible of the weight and importance of their work and their own insufficiency for it, and then they are qualified for receiving divine instruction. Paul's question (Who is sufficient for these things?) is much like Solomon's here, Who is able to judge this thy so great a people? Kg1 3:9. Absalom, who was a wise man, trembles at the undertaking and suspects his own fitness for it. The more knowing and considerate men are the better acquainted they are with their own weakness and the more jealous of themselves.
3. He begs of God to give him wisdom (Kg1 3:9); Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart. He calls himself God's servant, pleased with that relation to God (Psa 116:16) and pleading it with him: "I am devoted to thee, and employed for thee; give me that which is requisite to the services in which I am employed." Thus his good father prayed, and thus he pleaded. Psa 119:125, I am thy servant, give me understanding. An understanding heart is God's gift, Pro 2:6. We must pray for it (Jam 1:5), and pray for it with application to our particular calling and the various occasions we have for it; as Solomon, Give me an understanding, not to please my own curiosity with, or puzzle my neighbours, but to judge thy people. That is the best knowledge which will be serviceable to us in doing our duty; and such that knowledge is which enables us to discern between good and bad, right and wrong, sin and duty, truth and falsehood, so as not to be imposed upon by false colours in judging either of others' actions or of our own.
4. The favourable answer God gave to his request. It was a pleasing prayer (Kg1 3:10): The speech pleased the Lord. God is well pleased with his own work in his people, the desires of his own kindling, the prayers of his Spirit's inditing. By this choice Solomon made it appear that he desired to be good more than great, and to serve God's honour more than to advance his own. Those are accepted of God who prefer spiritual blessings to temporal, and are more solicitous to be found in the way of their duty than in the way to preferment. But that was not all; it was a prevailing prayer, and prevailed for more than he asked. (1.) God gave him wisdom, Kg1 3:12. He fitted him for all that great work to which he had called him, gave him such a right understanding of the law which he was to judge by, and the cases he was to judge of, that he was unequalled for a clear head, a solid judgment, and a piercing eye. Such an insight, and such a foresight, never was prince so blessed with. (2.) He gave him riches and honour over and above into the bargain (Kg1 3:13), and it was promised that in these he should as much exceed his predecessors, his successors, and all his neighbours, as in wisdom. These also are God's gift, and, as far as is good for them, are promised to all that seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, Mat 6:33. Let young people learn to prefer grace to gold in all that they choose, because godliness has the promise of the life that now is, but the life that now is has not the promise of godliness. How completely blessed was Solomon, that had both wisdom and wealth! He that has wealth and power without wisdom and grace is in danger of doing hurt with them; he that has wisdom and grace without wealth and power is not capable of doing so much good with them as he that has both. Wisdom is good, is so much the better, with an inheritance, Ecc 7:11. But, if we make sure of wisdom and grace, these will either bring outward prosperity with them or sweeten the want of it. God promised Solomon riches and honour absolutely, but long life upon condition (Kg1 3:14). If thou wilt walk in my ways, as David did, then I will lengthen thy days. He failed in the condition; and therefore, though he had riches and honour, he did not live so long to enjoy them as in the course of nature he might have done. Length of days is wisdom's right-hand blessing, typical of eternal life; but it is in her left hand that riches and honour are, Pro 3:16. Let us see here, [1.] That the way to obtain spiritual blessings is to be importunate for them, to wrestle with God in prayer for them, as Solomon did for wisdom, asking that only, as the one thing needful. [2.] That the way to obtain temporal blessings is to be indifferent to them and to refer ourselves to God concerning them. Solomon had wisdom given him because he did ask it and wealth because he did not ask it.
5. The grateful return Solomon made for the visit God was pleased to pay him, Kg1 3:15. He awoke, we may suppose in a transport of joy, awoke, and his sleep was sweet to him, as the prophet speaks (Jer 31:26); being satisfied of God's favour, he was satisfied with it, and he began to think what he should render to the Lord. He had made his prayer at the high place at Gibeon, and there God had graciously met him; but he comes to Jerusalem to give thanks before the ark of the covenant, blaming himself, as it were, that he had not prayed there, the ark being the token of God's presence, and wondering that God had met him any where else. God's passing by our mistakes should persuade us to amend them. There he, (1.) Offered a great sacrifice to God. We must give God praise for his gifts in the promise, though not yet fully performed. David used to praise God's word, as well as his works (Psa 56:10, and particularly, Sa2 7:18), and Solomon trod in his steps. (2.) He made a great feast upon the sacrifice, that those about him might rejoice with him in the grace of God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a…
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night,.... This was not a common natural dream, but an extraordinary, divine, and supernatural one, a prophetic dream, a night vision, such as God used to speak in to his prophets; in which he had the full use of his reasoning powers, was under divine impressions, and in a spiritual frame of mind, and in the exercise of grace; it was not a mere dream that the Lord did appear to him, but he really did appear to him while sleeping and dreaming, by some display of his glory in some way or another:
and God said, ask what I shall give thee; he did not hereby dream that God said to him, but he really did say this; bid him ask what he would and it should be given him; he knew what he designed to give, but he would have it asked of him, as he will be inquired of by all his people to do that for them which he has intended and provided for them; and it is encouragement enough for them to ask, since he has promised to give.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a…
Verse 5. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream] This was the night after he had offered the sacrifices, (see 2Ch 1:7), and probably after he had earnestly prayed for wisdom; see Wisdom 7:7: Wherefore I prayed, and understanding was given me: I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. If this were the case, the dream might have been the consequence of his earnest prayer for wisdom: the images of those things which occupy the mind during the day are most likely to recur during the night; and this, indeed, is the origin of the greater part of our dreams. But this appears to have been supernatural.
Gregory Nyssen, speaking of different kinds of dreams, observes that our organs and brain are not unlike a musical instrument; while the strings of such instruments have their proper degree of tension, they give, when touched, a harmonious sound, but as soon as they are relaxed or screwed down, they give no sound at all. During our waking hours, our senses, touched by our reason, produce the most harmonious concert; but as soon as we are asleep, the instrument is no longer capable of emitting any sound, unless it happen that the remembrance of what passed during the day returns and presents itself to the mind while we are asleep, and so forms a dream; just as the strings of an instrument continue to emit feeble sounds for some time after the musician has ceased to strike them. - See GREG. NYSS. De opificio hominis, cap. xii., p. 77. Oper. vol. i., edit. Morell., Par. 1638.
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This may account, in some measure, for common dreams: but even suppose we should not allow that Solomon had been the day before earnestly requesting the gift of wisdom from God, yet we might grant that such a dream as this might be produced by the immediate influence of God upon the soul. And if Solomon received his wisdom by immediate inspiration from heaven, this was the kind of dream that he had; a dream by which that wisdom was actually communicated. But probably we need not carry this matter so much into miracle: God might be the author of his extraordinary wisdom, as he was the author of his extraordinary riches. Some say, "He lay down as ignorant as other men, and yet arose in the morning wiser than all the children of men." I think this is as credible as that he lay down with a scanty revenue, and in the morning, when he arose, found his treasury full. In short, God's especial blessing brought him riches through the medium of his own care and industry; as the inspiration of the Almighty gave him understanding, while he gave his heart to seek and search out by his wisdom, concerning all things under the sun, Ec 1:13. God gave him the seeds of an extraordinary understanding, and, by much study and research, they grew up under the Divine blessing, and produced a plentiful harvest; but, alas! they did not continue to grow.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ki 3:5. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a…
1Ki 3:5. The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream — As he had done to Jacob at Bethel, Gen 28:13; and to others on different occasions, Gen 20:3; Gen 26:24. Sleep is like a state of death to the soul; wherein the senses are locked up, and the understanding and will deprived of the free exercise of their functions. And yet this is no impediment to God in communicating his will to mankind; for no doubt he has power, not only to awaken our intellectual faculties, but to advance them above their ordinary measure of perception, even while the body is asleep. Solomon had prayed the day before with great fervency, and desired of God the gift of wisdom: see Wis 7:7. In the night-time God appeared unto him in a dream, and bade him ask whatever he would. Solomon, having his mind still full of the desire of wisdom, asked and obtained it: so that the prayer or desire he uttered in his dream was but the consequence of the option he had made the day before, when he was awake. In a word, though we should allow that the soul of man, when the body is asleep, is in a state of rest and inactivity; yet we cannot but think that God can approach it many different ways; can move and actuate it just as he pleases; and, when he is inclined to make a discovery of any thing, can set such a lively representation of it before the understanding, as shall make a man not doubt of the reality of the vision. See Calmet and Dodd.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream -…
The Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream - Compare the marginal references and Gen 15:1; Gen 28:12; Gen 37:5.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain In a prophetic dream, or ecstasy. His mind had…
In a prophetic dream, or ecstasy. His mind had been so filled with the desire of wisdom, that the same thoughts recurred to him while he slept; and, as he had entertained them voluntarily before, he acquired fresh merit even during that time; as a man, who indulges sensual affections, becomes responsible for the accidents of the night. (St. Thomas Aquinas, [Summa Theologiae] 1. 2. q. 113. a. 2. and 2. 2. 9. 154. a. 5.) (St. Augustine, de Gen. ad lit. xii. 15.) (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a…
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream--It was probably at the close of this season, when his mind had been elevated into a high state of religious fervor by the protracted services. Solomon felt an intense desire, and he had offered an earnest petition, for the gift of wisdom. In sleep his thoughts ran upon the subject of his prayer, and he dreamed that God appeared to him and gave him the option of every thing in the world--that he asked wisdom, and that God granted his request (Kg1 3:9-12). His dream was but an imaginary repetition of his former desire, but God's grant of it was real.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. In a dream by night — This was…
5. In a dream by night — This was one mode of Divine revelation. See marginal reference. In such cases the soul was raised to a state of Divine ecstacy and illumination, and held conscious intercourse with God or angels; but when the natural, waking consciousness returned, the person knew it was a dream. See 1Ki_3:15.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5–15. God appears to Solomon in a dream at…
5–15. God appears to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon (2Ch_1:7-13)
5. In Gibeon] The narrative which follows shews that God accepted the sacrifice of the king, though from want of a proper temple, it was offered on the high place.
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in a dream] The frequent way in which God is said to have made known His will. Thus the angel of God spake unto Jacob in a dream (Gen_31:11), and Joseph speaks of Pharaoh’s dream (Gen_41:25) as sent from God. Hence it came to pass that men expected divine guidance through this channel. So Saul (1Sa_28:6; 1Sa_28:15) when he had inquired of the Lord, was distressed because he was not answered either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. It is to be noted that it is Jehovah (the Lord) that appears, but Elohim (God) who speaks to Solomon.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) The Lord appeared.—This direct communication to Solomon by…
(5) The Lord appeared.—This direct communication to Solomon by a dream—standing in contrast with the indirect knowledge of the Lord’s will by David through the prophets Nathan and Gad (2Sa_7:2-17; 2Sa_12:1-14; 2Sa_24:11-14), and by “enquiring of the Lord” through the priest (1Sa_23:9-12; 1Sa_30:7; 2Sa_2:1)—is perhaps the first indication of some temporary abeyance of the prophetic office, and (as appears still more clearly from the history of the consecration of the Temple), of a loss of leadership in the priesthood. At the same time it is to be noted that the vision of the Lord through dreams, being of a lower type than the waking vision, is mostly recorded as given to those outside the Covenant, as Abimelech (Gen_20:3-7), Laban (Gen_31:24), Pharaoh and his servants (Gen_40:5; Gen_41:1-8), the Midianite (Jdg_7:13), and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan_2:1; Dan_4:10-18); as belonging to the early stages of revelation, to Abraham (Gen_15:12), Jacob (Gen_28:12-15), and Joseph (Gen_37:5-10); and as marking the time of cessation of the regular succession of the prophets during the Captivity (Dan_2:19; Dan_7:1).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain In Glbeon the Lord appeared unto Solomon in a…
In Glbeon the Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream, (cf. Num_12:6. A vision is not necessarily implied (as in Gen_28:12; cf. Gen_15:12) though he may have seen some angelic form (angelus in Dei nomine ei apparuit loquens. Grotius) of course, only in his dream. Cf. Mat_1:20 Mat_2:12. Probably "appeared" is the equivalent of "revealed Himself." Bahr by night; and God said, Ask what I shall give thee (cf. Mat_7:7. This was the answer to the sacrifices. The night was probably that which followed the last day on which they were offered (ver. 15).)
Vers. 5-15. God"s Gifts and Solomon"s Choice.
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"And God said, Ask what I shall give thee," etc. "Happy Solomon!" we exclaim, as we read these words. He had all that earth could give already youth, wealth, prosperity, glory, greatness. He stood already on the top most pinnacle of human felicity. And now Heaven offers him his choice of blessings; now the treasure house of the infinite God is opened, and he is bidden to take what he will. Behold the favourite of Heaven! It is indeed true "there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee" (ver. 12). But stay! Solomon"s is not an exceptional case. If we have not his temporal advantages, we may share his spiritual blessings. For to us to all, that is, who, like Solomon, "love the Lord does the same voice speak, saying, "Ask what I shall give thee." Yes; He who spake to this new crowned king in the night visions hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, saying, "Ask, and it shall be given you." Let us consider
I LIKE SOLOMON, WE ARE COMMANDED TO ASK. It is not that we are permitted so to do: it is made a positive duty. If we do not ask, we sin. "Ask," "seek," "knock these are the injunctions of our Lord and Master. Asking is an essential part of our religion. "Prayer is the Christian"s vital breath.
II LIKE SOLOMON, WE HAVE BUT TO ASK, AND GOD WILL GIVE. Solomon was not a favourite of Heaven. God has no favourites that would argue imperfection in the Deity. "Every one that asketh receiveth," etc. "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord," etc. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God .... and it shall be given him." If we have not wisdom, blessing, pardon, peace, it is all for want of asking. God is "more ready to hear than we to pray." And observe here: we are commanded to ask, and God is sure to give, because He loves to give; it is His nature and property to give. Not only (as has been beautifully said) is "the greatest Being in the world the greatest giver." but it is an essential part of His perfections to give. We often say "It is more blessed to give than to receive," but God acts on this principle. It is the nature of man to take. The first lesson the child learns is to grasp. Covetousness, the desire to have, is a part of our being. It is a part of His being to desire to impart. He abhors a vacuum.
III LIKE AHAZ, MANY SAY, "I WILL NOT ASK." They will not believe in the wonderful charity of God. To some it seems too good to be true. But many have no room for God"s gifts. Their heart is full already. "No room for Him in the inn.
IV LIKE SOLOMON, LET US ASK THE BEST GIFTS. That is an instructive fable which tells how Hercules, on attaining manhood, went out into solitude, and sitting down there, deliberated long and anxiously with himself which of the two ways before him it were better to take the way of pleasure, or the way of virtue. Such a crisis, involving such a choice, happens in every life. Solomon must now make his choice, and it really lies between pleasure and duty, between temporal and eternal blessings. He may choose glory, wealth, renown in a word, earthly pleasure and prosperity or he may choose character, wisdom, goodness; in other words, heavenly and abiding treasure. We know which he chose. So each one of us has to choose in turn between the showy and the solid, between the higher and the lower, between God and Mammon. "Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side. Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified.
V IF, LIKE SOLOMON, WE CHOOSE THE BEST GIFTS, THE OTHER AND INFERIOR BLESSINGS ARE THROWN IN WITH THEM. Consider: God gave Solomon wisdom because he asked for it, and at the same time gave him wealth because he did not ask for it. His choice of the higher showed he was fit to be entrusted with the lower. The gifts men covet most, viz., "riches and honour," are of so little account with God that He adds them as a make weight. Just as when we buy a jewel the case is thrown in as part of the purchase, so those who choose the better part receive at the same time all that is necessary for them. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." And here again observe, that not only is it God"s nature to give, but to give "exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think." He is "wont to do more than either we desire or deserve." Thus the disciples asked for a form of prayer. (Luk_11:1) Our blessed Lord gave them their desire, and gave at the same time what they never dreamed of asking for some precious directions as to the spirit of prayer, as to perseverance in prayer, etc. (ib. vers. 5-18). The same idea is embodied in a stanza of Wordsworth"s " I knelt before Thy gracious throne, And asked for peace with suppliant knee; And peace was given; not peace alone, But love and joy and ecstasy.
It was in the night visions that God spoke to Solomon. It is in no dream, no vision, but in His own written word, He says to us, "Ask what I shall give thee. Which shall we imitate, Solomon or Ahaz? Shall we have all or none? But it may be said, Solomon"s wisdom did him no great service after all. His prayer did not keep him from falling. But why was this? It was just because he ceased to care for wisdom and piety, and ceased to ask for it. Learn, then, in conclusion
VI IF, LIKE SOLOMON, WE CEASE TO COVET THE BEST GIFTS, AND CARE ONLY FOR THE LOWER, WE SHALL CERTAINLY LOSE THE FORMER, AND MAY POSSIBLY LOSE BOTH. So that Solomon"s prayer may teach us this last lesson, that "men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Yes, it seems, as we think of the beginning and then of the end of this puissant prince it seems as if his father"s last words must have been prophetic thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever"; (1Ch_28:9) and Solomon"s fall solemnly echoes and emphasizes the words which follow O that he had laid them to heart!Take heed now (ver. 10).
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE Vers. 5-16. A wise prayer.
Gibeon, the scene of this incident, was one of the "high places" of the land. Worship in high places had been forbidden. Law against it not rigidly enforced until the place was chosen "where the Lord would cause his name to dwell." That Solomon"s act in sacrificing at Gibeon was not condemned is proved by his being favoured with this direct Divine communication. Every scene of real worship may become the scene of special Divine manifestation. "The Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream of the night." Whatever our theory of these dreams of the olden times, it was evidently an articulate and intelligible Divine communication that Solomon had, and his spirit was intensely active. His choice of wisdom rather than riches, etc., was an act of judgment, a decision of the will, and therefore indicative of moral character. The whole spirit of his prayer most honourable to him. The prayer is, in a sense, answered before it is presented. Every holy yearning of the pious soul contains within itself the pledge of its own fulfilment.
I THE NATURE OF TRUE WISDOM. A power of moral discernment. "An understanding heart to judge," etc. This was the virtue of Solomon"s prayer it craved a moral rather than mere circumstantial, or even intellectual, endowment. He had the wisdom of the man of science, the "minute philosopher". (see 1Ki_4:33) But higher wisdom was wanted for higher work for guiding and governing the people and this is what he prayed for. Little trace in Solomon of the pure, fervent spirit of devotion that glowed in his father David. The yearning of David"s heart was not so much for wisdom as for holiness. But Solomon has a lofty ideal of kingly rule before him, and this is how he seeks to realize it.
1. Wisdom is a practical quality; not merely theoretical; consists less in true ideas than in the ability to embody them in a real and living form; not knowledge or insight, but power to turn what is known and understood to highest account. In common affairs of life in matters of business, science, art how many clever theoretical men are there whose cleverness never takes a tangible, practical form! You can point to nothing that they have ever done as a worthy expression of their native capacity. Only in a qualified sense are such men "wise." How much more in the higher sphere of moral and religious life. Here also a science and an art, the ideal and the practical. Wisdom is the combination of the two. It is thought and it is life the science of spiritual truth and reality married to the divine art of living under the influence of what is real and true.
2. Wisdom deals with those eternal principles that underlie the surface appearances of life. The judgment of Solomon in the dispute between the two women about the child (verse 16 to end) is suggestive here. Its peculiarity is, that instead of trusting to appearances to decide the doubt, he leaves the decision to the deep instinct of the mother"s nature, i.e., his wisdom is seen in calling to its aid a principle profounder and less fallible than itself. Apply this to the higher conduct of life. We want something more reliable than our own observation or reason as a guide. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Lay hold on God. Walk by faith. Let there be a divine element in your life: "There is more wisdom in a whisper"d prayer Than in the ancient lore of all the schools.
How great the wisdom of him whose whole daily life is a heaven ascending prayer!
II THE DIVINE ORIGIN OF WISDOM. "Ask what I shall give thee." God is the infinite Fount of Wisdom, and He "gives" from His exhaustless fulness. "The Father of Lights." What a world of wonders is the book of Nature! What creative thought, constructive skill, wise adaptation are here! A world of profounder wonders is the Book of Truth. "O the depth of the riches," etc. But this is revelation; we have to think of impartation. God will give wisdom, "Ask what I shall give thee." "If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God," etc. All true light that guides man in any right path is His gift. Most of all those right thoughts, high aspirations, holy energies, which are the very life of men. Man can only disclose his mental riches. The philosopher cannot "give" the rustic wisdom, nor the father or teacher the child. God sheds the light of His Spirit into the soul. "If ye being evil," etc.
III THE ABUNDANT REWARD OF WISDOM. "And I have also given thee," etc. (ver. 13). God"s beneficence exceeds the expectations of His children. "Able to do exceeding abundantly," etc. (Eph_3:20) "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," etc.. W. (Mat_6:33)
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND Ver. 5. SERMON FOR CHILDREN. Waiting for God"s voice.
Little children are sometimes intended to do great things. God has a special place foreveryone to fill. Sometimes the child who is least thought of in the home or in the class is to have the noblest destiny. Two brothers once lived in the same tent. One was brave and manly, a great hunter, and a popular, generous man, but his younger and feebler brother, Jacob, became greater than he. In Jesse"s family at Bethlehem there were young men, tall, comely, and heroic, yet their shepherd brother, whom they despised, was chosen to be their king. Now in David"s own family God made His choice; and overlooking the beautiful Absalom, and the ambitious Adonijah, he selected Solomon, their youngest and gentlest brother, to be king over one of the richest kingdoms in the world, and to rule His own people in the time of their greatest prosperity. It may be that some lads here, who are little thought of, may become the leaders of a nation to a nobler life, the teachers of their age, to whom the world will gladly listen. But whatever sphere you have to fill, you will only be ready to fill it well when you begin, as Solomon began his reign, by listening to the voice of God. This was the most interesting part of Solomon"s life. He was now at his best. Ascending his father"s throne, he was conscious of his responsibility, and asked God to give him wisdom. (Jam_1:5, Jam_1:6) In youth our future is generally decided. If we go wrong then, it is not easy to be set right. An injury done to a living thing during its growing time is irreparable. The man who was crippled when he was a child, the tree blasted when it was a sapling, cannot by any subsequent care be made straight and whole. Solomon, however, started well going up to the ancient tabernacle in Gibeon, to offer sacrifice to the Lord.
Let us see what preparation Solomon had for the dream spoken of here. Many a child says, "I wish God would come to me, and tell me I might ask for whatever I liked. I often say my prayers, but God does not seem real to me. I never see Him or hear Him." You will not see Him as did Solomon, nor hear Him as did Samuel. But you may feel Him in your thoughts in the prompting to do right, or to speak the truth when doing this may get you into trouble; and in the relief and rest you know after telling God about the sorrow you have. (Quote part of Faber"s hymn: "Dear Jesus, ever at my side." Tell some story of a child who has found help, relief, and rest in prayer. This will bring the old story of Solomon near to the experience of children.)
Three things prepared Solomon for listening to God.
I SOLOMON HAD COME FROM WORSHIP. Describe the old tabernacle, now pitched on the top of the hill at Gibeon; the coming of the procession of nobles, soldiers, priests, etc., to the sacred festival; the offering of the thousand victims; the song of praise, the united prayers, etc. This worship prepared the young king for his dream. Children go to Sunday schools who are seldom found in God"s house. Trace the lads and girls leaving the senior classes to spend their Sundays in pleasure and sin their forced merriment, their aching hearts. Trying to forget God, they are not prepared to see Him as Solomon did. Contrast with this the day spent in worship. The children whose hearts are uplifted by songs of praise, who have been hearing of the love of God in Christ, who have been reminded of those who knew the Lord, are prepared to say, as Samuel said, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth!
II SOLOMON WAS ALONE WITH GOD. The crowd had dispersed. The shouts, and songs, and music were silent. The stars shone down on the camp, and in his own royal tent the young king had retired to rest. As he slept he dreamed, and a happy night followed a holy day. Dreams were often used by God in olden days. Give examples. These were overruled, but they were natural. A dream is the product of familiar thoughts. Boys don"t dream of protoplasm, of which they know nothing, but of cricket, lessons, companions, etc. The elements of a dream are in the mind before sleep; e.g. , the Midianitish soldier dreamt of a barley cake, which was his ordinary food; the Egyptian butler, of Pharaoh"s cup; the baker, of his white baskets of bake meats, etc. So Solomon had been thinking about his kingdom the greatness of his father, the overruling providence of God; he had been filled with a desire to rule wisely, had been fired with devotion during the day, and all these things re-appeared in his dream. If you have never had such dream, you have had quiet times when you were ill, or before going to rest, when God seemed real to you. Recall the first time when the old form of prayer had a new meaning, when God seemed close, and loving, and gracious. An example from child life may be readily found.
III SOLOMON WAS LISTENING TO GOD, who said, "Ask what I shall give thee." Sometimes children wish that the fairies, of whom they read, actually existed; that one, with her fair form and beautiful wand, would come and say, "Ask what I shall give thee." Many, like Cinderella, would exchange drudgery for glitter. God does not do this. If He did, many of us would ignorantly ask for foolish things. We do not know what we shall be doing or wanting even tomorrow. If you were going abroad and did not know for what country you were destined, nor even whether it was hot or cold, civilized or uncivilized, it would not be wise to provide things on the chance they might be useful. You might get weapons of defence for a country where they would not be wanted, and have to wear in the tropics clothing only suited to the polar seas. It would not be really kind for your father to say, "Now go into that shop, and get whatever you like." You would say, "No, thank you; as you know where I am going, and I don"t, I would rather trust you; though if you think it would be good, I should like this, or that." So we are taught to pray to our Heavenly Father. Give examples. Sometimes God does give us what we foolishly choose, as the father did to the prodigal, and then sorrow teaches us the folly of our self will The freedom to ask anything can only be given safely to those who are like Solomon. He had just given himself up to God as a living sacrifice, and had asked God to accept him and use him for His service; for it was this which he expressed by his offering of a thousand burnt sacrifices. (Rom_12:1) If you can say in your heart, "Lord, I want to become like Jesus Christ, and always to be obedient to Thy will! long to be earnest and humble, and pure, and loving, and to live altogether for Thee;" then He says, of all that will keep you toward that, "Ask and ye shall receive, and your joy shall be full.
Show the necessity of prayer to children; point out their special temptations to neglect it; and close by the story of Esther going into the king"s presence with trembling, only to see the golden sceptre extended, and to hear the gracious encouragement, "What is thy petition, and what is thy request? and it shall be done unto thee!" "When thou saidst, "Seek ye my face," my heart said unto Thee, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek. A.R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The Lord appeared again to Solomon in a dream.
1Ki_3:5-15
The Lord appeared again to Solomon in a dream.
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Dreams indicate character
Tell me your dreams, and I will read the riddle of your life. Tell me your prayers, and I will write the history of a soul. Tell me your askings, and I will tell you your gettings. Tell me what you seek, and I will tell you what you are. I do not wish to know your possessions--only your wants. I do not care to know what you have--only what you have not, and desire to have; not your attainments, but what you have not yet attained and follow after. That Which comes to you in your victories by day and your dreams by night, the ideal you set before you, the things which you approve as excellent, what you seek after and have given your heart to, these are the measure of the man. In a truer sense than Shakespeare meant, We are such stuff as dreams are made on. They have no price in the market, but they, and they alone, give worth and dignity to life. (Hugh Black, M. A.)
The duty, nature, and blessings of prayer
I. The duty of prayer. It is a fundamental law of our nature, on the mere supposition that there is a God in heaven, to ask His help. It is the plain, practical demonstration of our manifold obligations to God, of our own impotence, misery, and dependence; of Him as the source of all our hopes, and the one open, all-sufficient fountain of every blessing of peace and purity and power.
II. The nature of prayer.
1. It must be the utterance and the feeling of earnestness and fervour, under the sense of helplessness, misery, and sin, under the persuasion that if God help us not, there is no store whence shall man help us.
2. True supplication, to which God hath linked a blessing, is patient, abiding, persevering.
3. Confidence in God is an essential element in gracious and acceptable prayer. It does no honour to Him to adopt us into His family, that we should be unwilling on the one hand, or afraid on the other, to lay our wants, our wishes, nay our sins, freely before Him. As we have a new and living way into the Holiest, by the blood of Jesus, we may be sure that our entrance thither must be acceptable unto God.
III. The blessings of prayer. Answers shall be returned. When God said to Solomon, Ask what I shall give thee, He never meant to mock the youthful monarch.s petition. The words of Truth Eternal are fully and for ever pledged. Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Prayer, truly, fervently, and faithfully made, is like the bow of Jonathan, it never returns empty. (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)
Lonely communion in view of great duty
In Mrs. Crawfords recent story of the late Queen Victorias life, she tells the following incident: After the stately and imposing Coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, Her Majesty returned to her mother the Duchess of Kent. When they were quite alone she said, I suppose, mamma, it must be true that I am Queen of England? Yes, love, you see that you are. Well, then, I have a request to make. I want to be alone and undisturbed for one hour. She was left alone. How she spent that hour has never transpired. But surely we can guess. The young Queen was surely holding fellowship with the King of Kings, seeking His help for her overwhelming responsibilities. Before our Lord chose His twelve apostles He went into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. How much more need have we to bring all our plans and purposes to Him? (H. O. Mackey.)
A Prince at prayer
Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, when in his camp before Werben, had been alone, at one time, in the cabinet of his pavilion some hours together, and none of his attendants at these seasons durst interrupt him. At length, however, a favourite of his having some important matter to tell him, came softly to the door, and, looking in, beheld the king very devoutly on his knees at prayer. Fearing to molest him in that exercise, he was about to withdraw his head, when the king espied him, and, bidding him come in, said, Thou wondetest to see me in this posture, since I have so many thousands of subjects to pray for me; but I tell thee that no man has more need to pray for himself than he who, having to render an account of his actions to none but God, is, for that reason, more closely assaulted by the devil than all other men besides.
Effectual prayer
The passage before us is the record of a dream which this great man had one night at Gibeon, a place celebrated in the Old Testament but not mentioned in the New, and whose geographical position cannot be determined with any certainty now. There are two things very noteworthy in this dream.
1. The blending of the human and Divine. There is much that you can trace to Solomons own mind in the nocturnal vision recorded here.
(1) It seemed to be according to the measure of his capacity. He was a large-minded man, and the dream is on a large scale. There is nothing mean or small about it. Solomons great soul took within the ample range of its imagination the whole Jewish nation, the Eternal Ruler of the universe, the righteous providence of Heaven, and the everlasting principles of moral obligation.
(2) It seemed to be also according to the moral state of his mind. The dream is thoroughly religious. As the religious sentiment had flooded his nature in the day, it worked his imagination in the night. It is generally thus Our dreams grow out of the waking thoughts that have most impressed us.
(3) It seemed to be, moreover, according to the strongest desire of his heart. He felt that to take the place of his father David, and direct the destinies of Israel, he required that wisdom which God alone could bestow. So far, we see the human in this dream; but the Divine is manifestly here too.
2. The suggested conditions of successful prayer. The prayer of his dream was answered in his actual history.
I. That effective prayer must be Divinely authorised. At the beginning of the dream Solomon received an authority to pray. And God said, Ask what I shall give thee. Such an authority is evidently a necessary condition Unless the Eternal gave us a warrant to address Him, our appeals would be impious and fruitless. Have we, the men of this age, a Divine authority for praying? H not, our appeals to Heaven are worse than idle breath. Ask what I shall give thee.
1. This authority to call upon God in prayer agrees with our religious instincts. Prayer in some form or other is the natural cry of the soul Tile child in distress does not more naturally look to his fond parent for help, than the human soul in sore trouble and danger looks to the heavens for aid. Even men who in theory deny the existence of a God, urged by this instinct will cry to Him in danger.
2. This authority to call upon God in prayer is encouraging to our hope as sinners.
II. That effective prayer must be earnestly spiritual. By this we mean that spiritual interest must reign supreme, that spiritual motives must be predominant. It was so now with Solomon in his prayer.
III. That effective prayer must be thoroughly unselfish. What he prayed for was an understanding heart; and he prayed for that, not that it might serve his own interest, but in order, as he says, to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad. (Homilist.)
The first thing to do
When into any Old Testament incident there can be pressed the whole significance of a New Testament precept, the study of both becomes a still more eager pursuit. Thus we know that God is the same in character, and the Gospel m the same in purpose, through all the ages.
I. Every revelation of Divine Grace is definitely conditioned upon prayer as the instrument of its attainment. Evidently God is purposing to do him a great favour; but all that the voice says is that he is to ask before anything is to be granted. God says ask, and Jesus says seek. Only we ought to remember that we in an age of blessedness and light, we in these latter times of clearer revelation, have one supreme advantage over those who sought their help under the teaching of that former dispensation; this is no longer a dream-voice that we hear from heaven, but the intelligible living message from the lips of Gods Son.
II. Reminiscences of previous help are an excellent advantage in preparation for present petition. When we find so young a king referring to former histories in the household and the realm, it becomes clear that he kept his eyes open and his mind thoughtful while the story of Absalom and Mephibosheth in the old times was working itself out.
III. The consciousness of real need in carrying out the Lord.s purposes is a forcible argument for importunity in supplication.
IV. A weighty responsibility in duties constitutes a motive for asking God to interpose with his benediction of help. A burden of care is His reason for seeking audience with his King.
V. The first thing to be asked for in Gods grace is a new and understanding heart. The idea here is a heart of discrimination, a power to discern conscientiously between right and wrong, and to pronounce unerringly for the right.
VI. He will quickly succeed in life who has the testimony that he pleases God. From these words any one could predict the future of this young king; for the Lord announced Himself his friend.
VII. We may learn, once more, that a new heart, wise and understanding, is a better benediction than any other which human wishes could desire.
VIII. With this chief blessing of a new heart sought and gained, God grants everything else that is needed. Solomon took occasion a long time afterwards to put this thought in among his Proverbs.
IX. With present answers to prayer always come assurances of continued love and grace to the faithful for the future. The great Augustine was right when once he exclaimed, We must hold our empty vessel to the mouth of so large a fountain. And indeed, if God.s covenant engagements have so fine an indorsement that they will circulate as petitions, it would be well to use them literally and often. It was the lamented Humphrey who was said to have had the power of weaving together the Scripture promises so appropriately into his prayers that his exercises of devotion seemed like cloth of gold. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
True aims and false aims
The men whose names the world will not willingly let die are those who find in others good their chiefest, greatest joy. The names of self-gratifiers, self-seekers die out. They lay hold for a time of the memories of men, but never of what is firmer, their respect. Selfishness never has imbibed life from the principle of immortality. The men who come up to the height of a great choice Give me these that I may judge Thy people, that I may civilise, that I may educate, that I may evangelise, that I may bless my generation--their names become the echo, ever sounding throughout the ages of the sacrifice they once chose to make for others.
I. God does come to every one saying, choose what I shall give thee. Goethe said that he admired the man who knew precisely what he aimed at in life. God wishes you at the commencement of your career to come up to the height of a great choice. You have all read Carlyles description of the Sphinx sitting by the wayside propounding her riddles to every one that passed; and if the passer-by answered correctly it was well for him, but if he did not answer the riddle he was destroyed on the spot. I have watched young men and others, and I say that life comes to every man in this world with its riddle, and if he answers it aright it is well with him, but if he tries to go on neglecting the commandments of the Giver of life; if he tries to go on living in his own way, and not in Gods way, life to him will be a thing of loss, and he will become an object to be wept over. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. One of the latest discoveries I have read of is a spy-glass by means of which a man can see the sunken ships in all quiet seas. Oh that I could put a glass in the hand of every young man that would enable him to see the wrecks of the last twelve months in this great population! It would wring a prayer from your heart this minute--the very prayer of young Solomon, Give me therefore an understanding heart, that I may discern between good and bad. It must begin with the heart. The pure in heart alone can see God; and if you cannot see God in the world, you cannot see anything else in its true proportions. There are only two kinds of companions, and if you play and dally with the wicked companions woe be to you. One rotten apple affects the whole store, one putrid grape will spoil the sound cluster, one sinner destroyeth much good. Why should you read a bad book? You will be sorry for it, perhaps, in twenty years, as Angell James was. If you read a corrupt book, a bad book, you will hang up a picture in your mind that you can never turn to the wall, that you can never pull down. And why should you do it, with all the noble literature that is about you? It was a splendid motto for you, that saying of John Foster, This soul of mine shall rule this body of mine, or else quit it; I will not be here a tenant unless I am a master. We are placed here naked as the giant of fable to wrestle with the rude elements of the world, to conquer in the midst of its varied probation; but remember this, no devil nor devils child can ever cast you down without your own consent.
II. If any one comes up to this choice, or chooses a right aim in life, it will be said of him, as it was here said of young Solomon, and the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. It was this thing in contrast to three other things that he had rejected. He rejected the false, and the false are here enumerated: Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life. Then is that a wrong desire? Well, it is a nobler thing to act well your part than to be constantly thinking of living a long life. Religion is unquestionably favourable to length of days, but it is a very low aim of life to be constantly nursing yourself, and to be thinking of yourself. Life is not measured by length of days. Old Methuselah lived to 900 years, and never said a word worth putting down in the Bible. He lived for nine centuries and never did a single act worth reporting. He vegetated like a tree that was not living. Then it pleased the Lord, Because thou didst neither ask riches for thyself. Then is it wrong for us to desire riches? As the great absorbing passion in life it is wrong. It pleased the Lord, Neither hast thou asked the life of thine enemies. They say that it is the sweetest thing in life to have revenge upon an enemy. Another has said, Revenge is mine, saith the Lord. And I thank heaven for that, or else public men would not live twelve months. Christianity is the only religion that teaches all men to give over their vengeance to the Lord. It is said that Leclair, the great critic, was one day going along the streets of Paris, and he trod on the foot of a young man; the young man at once raised his hand and struck him a blow in the face. Leclair turned round quietly, and said, Sir, you will be sorry that you have done that, when you know that I am blind. He could have cut off his hand.
II. The reasons are here assigned why it pleased the Lord that Solomon rejected the false and chose the true aim in life.
1. Because he chose what enabled him to be serviceable to others. Our great poet has told us that Heaven does with us as we do with torches, not light them for themselves. We are lit in order to be the light of the world, and it can be said of every other life that the game is not worth the candle.
2. Again, it pleased the Lord because he chose to walk in the statutes of a good father, and so to encourage him in his last days in his faith in Gods covenant.
3. It pleased the Lord because he chose God Himself as his portion rather than all His gifts. And Solomon loved the Lord. Young men, trust the Lord, there is honour in the Lord. He will give you more than you ask, abundantly more. (H. Evans.)
Solomons choice
The Gospel means, not that these old visions have vanished away, but that all that was true and substantial in them has simply been, as in a painting, made to stand out in greater vividness and nearness. The Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel stands before us, and says, literally, Ask what I shall give thee. The thing to notice is, that Solomon showed that, humanly speaking, he was worthy of this chance, by the way in which he did not jump forward and eagerly ask for some temporal thing. Solomon showed his wisdom, his preparation for the great largess of bounty in which God came to him, in the way in which he did not use his imperative of asking upon Gods imperative of offer. He seems to take a round-about road. He started off and said, Thou hast showed 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. Strange--is it not?--that when God comes to him with this great offer, the first thing that springs before his mind is the image and memory, the life and character, of his father. Now, I want you to reflect before you make up your minds--to do what Solomon did. It was human and heavenly wisdom combined that made him look back and see what his father did. Solomon does not indulge in great praise nor in great depreciation. David was a man that you could have overpraised. You could have talked of David as if there was never such a man. And if you were the other kind of temperament, you could have found other things in David that would lead you to run him down. Now, Solomon did neither the one nor the other. Now, we are not asked to do more than Solomon did. I neither ask you to praise your father or mother up to the skies, nor to run them down; but if you look at them fairly you can strike this average, and say what Solomon said. When I look to those who stand immediately behind me, and have been living longer than I have, I can see what Solomon saw in his father, that religion was either the best or the worst thing about them. The best thing about your father was his religion, or it was the worst. If he was a true and real follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, that was the best. You are not asked to say he was perfect, but to know and rate him according to that. It may be he was only a hedger or ditcher; he may not have been a great man at all. But what was he before God? Solomon had this great advantage, that when he looked back on his father, the light that shined from his fathers record would guide him to a right decision. If it is not so, the very dimness and darkness that comes from ungodly parents should be a beacon light to put you right where they went wrong. Do not despise your father; do not despise your mother. They know what life means, and you have all that to learn yet. Solomon said, I can see the best thing about my father was this, he rose and prospered in so far as he walked in truth and sincerity before God, and I will try to do like him there. It was religion that made him the man he was. Do not despise the religion your father had, the religion that your mother had. Depend upon it, it was the very best legacy they left you. Solomon continues: Thou hast made me king, etc. There he looked into himself, and he passed an opinion upon himself and his powers and attainments, which is so uncommon among young people. This is where the greatness of Solomon comes out. Would God he had always remained at this point. Now, what is wrong with some of you up to this hour is the want of that humility. Be not highminded. Then Solomon looked round about him: he prospected a bit. Out in America and Canada, that great country where fortunes are made, so they say, and lost whether they say it or not, men go into certain regions prospecting. They are wanting to open a mine, and they see what a certain region is like. They tap here and there to see if they are going to make a fortune out of its rocks. So Solomon was prospecting the future. He felt life here and there, and touched its current, and he passed this verdict upon it: I am in the midst of Thy people, which Thou hast chosen; a great people. And I think he meant, Life as far as I can prospect it is going to mean for me hard work and plenty of it. Am I saying that you have mean ability? No, but with the best ability you will not necessarily get on. Young girl, you are sweet and fair to-day; you will grow up, marry, fall into ill-health; you will have children, maybe, and that will bring you more trouble, and by the time you are forty-five or fifty years of age you will be bent and weary to get away. Life, for a great many of us, means that. One by one the gorgeous dreams of south disappear; the rosy hopes go out into blackness; the bright expectations illumine the horizon, and then fade into the light of common day; and even if you were kings upon a throne, life would mean what I have said already. Now, will you settle yourself for the work? Life means business, toil, trouble, sweat of body and brain. Brace yourself for it; gird yourself for it. Be sure that is what is coming. Then, after looking back to his father and summing him up, and summing himself up, and saying, There is nothing in me; and, after summing up life and saying it means duty, it means hard work, and plenty of it, then he looked up. You see the process--backward, inward, outward, upward. He said, Give me a wise and an understanding heart; build me up just where I am broken down; put the plaister on the weak place; put in Thine own great almighty arm just where I need nothing less than almightiness to under gird me. And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. That is just another way of asking to be converted. The Old Testament phraseology and the New Testament phraseology run into one. It is just the same as saying, O God, save me from my foolishness and wrong opinions, direct my unwary feet. O God, be Thou my sufficiency, my help. Will you choose God to-day? (J. MacNeill.)
The wisdom of Solomon
I. The honour of this precocious wisdom is perhaps due more to David than to Solomon himself. His understanding, his feelings, his desires are what they are; in one word, he is what he is only because he has the inestimable privilege of succeeding much a father as King David. His dominant thought, from which spontaneously springs his prayer, is that of the immensity of his task and his incapacity to perform it. He feels his profound need of Gods help. He learns to rely upon it. He has recourse to it with confidence. What a help to find in the memory of a father, as a second conscience accompanying us through life! Like the Polish King Boleslaus, who carried about with him the portrait of his father, and for whom it was enough, in cases of difficulty or peril, to cast a glance upon the revered image and say, Boleslaus, thy father sees thee! to recover his wisdom and courage about to forsake him.
II. A proper distrust of himself, very rare at his age and in his circumstances (verses 7-9). It was no trifling matter to be called upon to govern so important and unmanageable a nation as Israel. Generally speaking, men see the pleasures and privileges of power before they are made aware of its duties. An exalted position is always an object of envy and ambition. But at the age when one casts on life that long look of confidence and hope, which smooths down beforehand all its difficulties, and takes in only its bright and sunny aspects; at the age when one believes and hopes all things, how many others would have become intoxicated with pride and self-confidence!
III. His wise appreciation of earthly blessings. To this offer of the Almighty, Ask what I shall give thee, who would not expect to hear a young man, scarcely yet seated on the throne, reply by demanding what men most desire on earth--a long and happy life, unlimited and undisputed power, a glorious reign, and unbounded wealth? Not so, however; Solomon begins life by wisely putting all these things in their proper place. There before us success, wealth, the open fountain of all earthly felicities, a choice to make from among the prizes which the world temptingly offers its elect. Who, having communed with himself, would say, Lord, give me the wisdom and grace I need to accomplish faithfully Thy work here below! That is the limit of my desires; I would it were also the limit of Thy gifts? I fancy I hear, bursting forth from the silence of your hearts some such prayers as these: Lord, raise me above my fellow-men; give me, in the profession I have chosen, such facilities as will secure for me undisputed success; make me rise promptly to that fame which appears to me from afar as the sweetest of all enjoyments. That is a young mans prayer, no doubt. Lord, give me all the outward advantages of beauty, grace, wit, all that gratifies vanity. That is, the prayer of a woman who perhaps does not think herself worldly-minded. Lord, be pleased to increase by successful undertakings the patrimony I have received of my ancestors; assure me an exalted and wealthy station; grant that I may provide for my children such positions as will enable them to move in the highest circles of society. That is perhaps the inward request of a man of deep convictions, and well known in the field of Christian activity. I dare not proceed! God is wise not to lead us into temptation by permitting us, as he did Solomon, to pray for the satisfaction of our earthly desires. (Homiletic Quarterly.)
The highest order of wisdom
Solomonic books have some incomparably splendid passages on wisdom; and if Solomon had fallen, and repented, and risen again, and begun again, till he ended in living up to his own sermons on wisdom, what a glory, both in sacred letters and in a holy life, Solomons name would have been. Wisdom, says Sir Henry Taylor, one of the wisest writers in the English language, is not the same with understanding, talents, capacity, ability, sagacity, sense, or prudence--not the same with any one of these; neither will all these taken together make it up. Wisdom is that exercise of the reason into which the heart enters--a structure of the understanding rising out of the moral and spiritual nature. It is for this cause that a high order of wisdom, that is, a highly intellectual wisdom, is still more rare than a high order of genius. When they reach the very highest order they are one; for each includes the other, and intellectual greatness is matched with moral strength. And then this fine essayist goes on to point out how Solomons great intellectual gifts, coupled as they were in him with such an appetite for enjoyment, together became his shipwreck. And Bishop Butler, though he does not, like Sir Henry Taylor, name Solomon, surely had him in his eye when he penned that memorable and alarming passage about those men who go over the theory of wisdom and virtue in their thoughts, talk well, and paint fine pictures of it, till their minds are hardened in a contrary course, and till they become more and more insensible to all moral considerations. (Alex. Whyte, D. D.)
On the youth of Solomon
It is not from the peculiar situation of Solomon that the beauty of this memorable instance of devotion arises.
1. The charm of it chiefly consists in its suitableness to the season of youth; in its correspondence to the character and dispositions which distinguish that important age; and which no length of acquaintance with the world prevents us from wishing to find in the young.
(1) It is suited, in the first place, we think, to the opening of human life--to that interesting season, when nature in all its beauty first opens on the view, and when the wisdom and goodness of the Almighty fall on the heart, unmingled and unimpaired.
(2) It is suited, in the next place, to the nature of youthful imagination; to that love of excellence and perfection which nothing mortal ever can realise, and which can find only in the truths of religion the objects of which it is in search.
(3) It is suited still more, perhaps, to the tenderness of young affections; to that sensibility which every instance of goodness can move; and to that warm and generous temper which meets everywhere with the objects of its gratitude or love.
(4) But, most of all, it is suited to the innocence of the youthful mind, to that sacred purity which can lift its unpolluted hands to Heaven; which guilt hath not yet torn from confidence and hope in God. The feelings of piety, however, are not only natural and becoming in youth; they are still more valuable, as tending to the formation of future character; as affording the best and noblest school in which the mind may be trained to whatever is great or good in human nature.
2. The piety which is formed in youth has a different character, and leads to very different effects. It comes not, then, to terrify or to alarm, but to afford every high and pleasing prospect in which the heart can indulge,--to withdraw the veil which covers the splendours of the eternal mind,--to open that futurity which awakens all their desires to behold, and, in the sublime occupations of which they feel already, as by some secret inspiration, the home and destiny of their souls. At such a period, religion is not a service of necessity, but of joy.
(1) The first advantage of youthful piety is that it tends to establish that tone and character of thought which is allied to every virtuous purpose.
(2) It is a second advantage of early piety, that it presents those views of man, and of the ends of his being, which call forth the best powers of our nature.
(3) It is the last advantage of early piety, that it affords those views of the providence of God which can best give support and confidence to conduct. (A. Allison, LL. B.)
Wisdom
To look through the shows of things, into things themselves. (Carlyle.)
Solomons choice
I. Every new opportunity demands a peculiar choice. Good and bad are not changeable terms, yet in every new personal or public responsibility the sacred words seem to be spoken, Ask what I shall give thee. As king, Solomon must make a new choice, differing from any he had hitherto made. In civil life this law everywhere obtains. The responsibilities of the judiciary differ widely from those of the executive, and these in turn from the legislative. The same question comes to each; but each case must call forth a peculiar answer. So, likewise, consider the different factors of society. No two persons can make the same reply. Each days duties differ from all that have preceded, hence every day we must give answer to Him who speaks. The importance of our choice is emphasised by our power for good or evil.
II. Every choice involves character. We are known by what we choose. A defective choice means a defective character. The choice of Solomon was good as far as it went; but it had relation merely to his kingly work, and only incidentally to himself. In some respects Israels wisest king was the saddest of all scriptural characters. Notwithstanding his visions from God, his history is largely secular. At the beginning of the Homeric age in Greece, this greater than Homer made Palestine the centre of art and the treasury of wisdom. The mines of the known earth were delved for their riches to adorn the Temple, to whose beauty every forest contributed. He symbolised in these visible splendours the invisible God, only at last to become a worshipper of idols. The incense that floated in the clouds from the Temple in Jerusalem was mingled over Olivet with that from the altars of Phenicia and Moab, and above all with that of Moloch--the altar of human sacrifices--and all under his reign. His dream depicts him as praying for right dealings towards and among the people; and yet his later years inflicted an unbearable tyranny on that same people.
III. The highest choice is wisdom. His choice marked a new epoch. Before his time all kingly power was marked by standing armies, by riches and pomp. Each ruler was thought to need a long life to ensure the success of his plans; but here was a strange request. Under his reign was demonstrated for the first time the power of the brain in the conquests of nations and men. His was the golden age of Jewish literature, himself the founder. If intellectual power could save an empire, the trial was being made, but worms were eating at the roots. All nations owned his intellectual greatness--wiser than their wisest men. Phenicia, proud mother of letters, was dumb in his presence. Tyre spread her purple over his throne. India minted him her gold. We speak of our Linnaeus; but Solomon, the first great botanist, spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon to the moss that springs out of the wall. We boast of our Cuvier; yet Israels wise king, the first great naturalist, spake of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. Upon his wise words Aristotle based all that was best of Grecian philosophy. The Wordsworth of Jewish poets, he laid all nature at our feet. Wisdom, however, means more than knowledge. Many a learned man is not wise. Knowledge is the apprehension of facts or relations; wisdom denotes the use of the best means for attaining the best ends. Wisdom is never shown in choosing what is always to remain exterior to self.
IV. The highest wisdom is evidenced in most common thugs. The wisest men use the simplest speech. The smallest children speak largest words. Simplicity of construction is the secret of the best invention. Gods mightiest forces are uncomplicated. The rattling shuttles of a mill are a wonder; but more wonderful still that noiseless, shuttleless weaving of the lily, whose fashioning none of us has ever seen. There is no book so full of thoughts for practical everyday life as the Book of Proverbs, yet that very simplicity is Divine.
V. Unsought blessings are given the truly wise. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Solomons choice
I. God regards with special favour those who honour Him. It is idle to speculate as to whether Solomon would not have received the same blessings if he had not sacrificed and prayed. The fact was, that sacrifice and prayer were the immediate antecedents of the blessings, and are represented as having direct relation to them. Such a fact is sufficient answer to all philosophical objections to prayer, and an emphatic rebuke to those who say it is nonsense to insist that God has any pleasure in our worship and formal expressions of homage.
II. With proper regard to Gods will we may pray for special blessings. It was not presumption for Solomon to take God at His word. It would have been unpardonable unbelief had he replied to His offer of good that he could not presume to make mention of what was uppermost in his heart. God never trifles. His offers are never to be regarded as only general evidence of a willingness to do us good, but as real invitations that we make known our requests. There is proof enough that our Father is pleased to gratify the wishes of His children, and it is no pleasure to Him that they pray only in vague and indefinite generalities. The very idea of the relationship forbids such prayer; the idea of prayer itself is opposed to such expressions of desire.
III. We may make the experience of others a plea for good to be granted to ourselves. Solomon made mention of Davids life and reign as having been pleasing to God, and of Gods great mercy to him, and urged this as proof that a purpose to be upright may become a ground of hope since He who does not change will grant favour always when the required conditions are fulfilled. The faithfulness of God is the real stimulus to prayer.
IV. Blessings incomplete in their nature may be pressed as an argument in prayer for their completion. In Davids dying charge to his son he reminded him of Gods declaration to himself: If thy children take heed, etc. Solomon made this declaration the basis of his plea with God in this interview. A large part of Christian work is in progress, the execution of plans which require time and persistent toil. We need not fear lest God will weary of co-operation in such work.
V. Consciousness, and even confession of inability to perform duty may become a further warrant for help from God when the duty is clearly assigned by Him. The same conviction oppresses many a Christian whom God has called to do work in the different departments of His service. This should not cause him to faint or despair or retire, but should rouse him to greater confidence in prayer while he resolves to stand in the place assigned him.
VI. God does not content Himself with granting simply what we ask when we have the spirit He approves. His answer to Solomons prayer was: Behold, I have done according to thy words.
VII. Thanksgiving for answer to prayer should be prominent and in the most positive form of expression. (J. Eells, D. D.)
The story of a right choice
Significant the familiar lines of Lowell--
Once, to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God.s new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand and the sheep upon the right
And the choice goes by for ever.twixt that darkness and that light.
And not once only, but many times does such choice come. For to live is to choose. Life is but a series of choices. Though just as the current of the river, notwithstanding refluent ripples, carries with it in one main direction the multitudinous drops of water which go to make the river, so in life one main and dominating choice gives impulse and direction to the ten thousand lesser choices with which the days are filled. I am appalled at this power of choice. I do not think any one in the least thoughtful can help being. I was looking through the glass sides of a beehive. All was orderly and unclashing; none of the pain and disturbance of errant and rebellious wills; each bee doing just as each bee should, just the thing each was designed to do. And I asked myself, Why did not God make men thus? Why did God put men among the crowding dangers of the retributive results of their bad choices? There are only two answers to such questions: God has not made men thus; if God had made men thus men would not be men. No; real and shadowing is the fact of choice. Our Scripture tells the story of a right choice.
I. What such right choice involves.
1. Purpose of inward worth. Solomon prayed that he might have an understanding heart. He wanted the real gold, not tinsel. That is a great and constant trouble, that men are so willing to seem to be rather than to be. Here is the precise reason for the defalcations which too often and so sadly startle the community.
2. Such true choice involves recognition of duty. Duty is the child of relation; is that which is due because of the relations in which one is set Godward, manward. The true choice involves recognition of the duties springing out of the relations in which one is bound.
3. Such true choice involves determination to practise along the line of duty; that I may judge this people. As long as Solomon did this, how great and wise! But when he practised otherwise, how sad his fall l
4. Such true choice involves dependence on God. Give, therefore, Thy servant an understanding heart. Solomon felt himself insufficient. He must have and hang on God.
II. In what such right choice results.
1. In pleasing God (verse 10).
2. In Divine ratification (verse 12).
3. In external prosperity (verse 13).
4. In internal prosperity. Solomon, conscious of pleasing God, must have had peace and joy. (W. Hoyt.)
Solomons choice
1. The address which God made to Solomon, when He said, Ask what I shall give thee, He does in effect make to each of us, especially to the young. By erecting a throne of grace in heaven, opening the way to it, inviting us to come to Him with our requests, and promising to grant our petitions when they are agreeable to His will, He does in effect say to each of us, Ask what I shall give thee.
2. Though we are not, like Solomon, kings; and therefore need not, as he did, qualifications requisite for that office; yet we all need spiritual wisdom and understanding, and may therefore all imitate his example in making our choice. Every parent, also, has reason to adopt the prayer of Solomon. Professors of religion have reason to imitate the example of Solomon.
3. That God is pleased with those who make the choice and sincerely offer up the prayer of Solomon.
(1) Because it is the effect of His grace. We are told that the Lord rejoices in His works, and with reason does Be rejoice in them; for they are all very good. If He rejoices in them, He must, of course, be pleased with them. But to induce persons to make the choice and offer up the prayer of Solomon, is always His work, the effect of His grace.
(2) He is pleased with it, because it indicates opinions and feelings similar to His own. In the opinion of Jehovah, spiritual wisdom, that wisdom of which the fear of God is the beginning, is the principal thing, the one thing needful, to creatures such as we are. Now those who make the choice which Solomon made, estimate objects according to their real value; that is, according to their value in the estimation of God. Their opinions and feelings in this respect correspond with His; and since all beings are necessarily pleased with those who resemble them, God cannot but be pleased with those who resemble Him in this respect.
(3) God is pleased with those who thus pray for a wise and understanding heart, because such prayers are indicative of humility.
(4) God is pleased with such characters, because their conduct evinces that they are actuated by a benevolent concern for His glory, and for the happiness of their fellow-creatures.
(5) God is pleased with those who imitate the examples of Solomon, because it actually and greatly tends to promote His glory.
4. All who make his choice, and adopt his prayer, shall certainly be favoured with a wise and understanding heart. That God will gratify the desires of those who thus pray for wisdom, is evident from His express promises. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (E. Payson, D. D.)
A wise choice
There are around the city of Chester high walls, on the top of which runs a much-frequented path which is reached by a flight of steps. It is said by the people of the place that whatever you wish for when standing on these stairs you will get it in a years time, and so they are called the wishing stairs. What would each of us now wish for if we were on these steps? What is it exactly that I most desire? we are often at a loss to know. It was not so with Solomon. He did not find it difficult to answer when asked what he most wanted.
1. Solomon prayed for an understanding heart, to discern good from evil, because he felt the responsibility of his position. He knew that without Gods guiding Spirit he could not rule so great a people. If we do not feel the same need of an understanding heart, may it not be because we refuse to look our responsibilities in the face? If for nothing else, we are all responsible to God for the management of the life He has given us. Then there are always other lives that depend upon us, more or lees. Poor Margaret Fuller, recording in her diary the birth of her child, expressed a feeling of responsibility with which many parents can sympathise: I am the mother of an immortal being? God be merciful to me a sinner! But what exactly is this understanding heart for which Solomon prayed? It is that wonderful thing which is so much spoken of in the Bible under the name of Wisdom. It is goodness or the fear of the Lord, the opposite of godless wickedness, which is folly.
2. Again, those who ask for and receive Gods Holy Spirit get also the highest kind of riches. They are content, and he who is most contented is the richest of men. Perhaps it may be said that nearly all people do desire an understanding heart, and that they need not be urged to make the choice. Yes, they desire it; but they cannot be said to choose it. They desire to be educated; but there are myriads of desires that never ripen into a choice, as there are a million blossoms and comparatively few apples. When those who desired to be educated saw that a choice would involve self-denial and drudgery, they preferred to put it off till to-morrow, or next week, or next year, and to take the consequences. A young man desires to be rich; but as soon as he finds that gaining wealth requires self-denial, painstaking, industry, and integrity, he does not choose riches. He chooses self-indulgence; he chooses pleasures. Men desire to have an honourable character and the happiness that comes from well-doing. They desire it; but whether they choose it or not, we can only tell when we sea how they act. In the same way many persons desire to obey Christ, and hope that one day they shall do so. But do they choose to have in them the mind of Christ or an understanding heart to discern between good and evil? It is easy to desire, it is difficult to choose, and this is the explanation of the religious sentiment which produces little or no result in life. (E. J. Hardy, M. A.)
I have given thee a wise and understanding heart.--
Acquisition of knowledge
I. That first steps in knowledge and in holiness must be taken by ourselves. Solomon gave his heart to seek and search out all things under heaven. When a choice of gifts was afterwards placed in his power by God, he had acquired intelligence enough by his previous industry to be enabled to choose aright, and to select wisdom. Like the youth told of in American story, we must fix our eyes upward, and scale the scarped rock slowly by cutting clefts for our hands and feet in its steep side, each foothold that we cut helping us to reach onward to cut another. To gain some knowledge helps us to acquire more; to learn to distinguish between the jewel truth and all the worthless spangles of falsehood, enables us to discern that pearl of great price which sooner or later God offers to every man.
II. That if we seek the highest good, God will in His bounty give us, as our need may require, lesser blessings also. (Homilist.)
The heart as organ of insight
The emphasis of current thought lies on light rather than on heat. A bright man is listed at a higher figure than a man with fervid impulses. Brain counts for a good deal more to-day than heart does. It will win more applause, and earn a larger salary. Emotion we are a little afraid of. We caution people not to let their feelings run away with them. We want to know that a conclusion has been reached in cold blood before we are disposed to assent to it, or to submit our own judgment to it. Convictions formed heatedly we are not supposed to publish till they have been reviewed and revised at a low temperature. Exuberance is in bad odour. Appeals to the heart are not thought to quite be in good taste. People are not disposed to surrender themselves to any influence or impression that they cannot intellectually construe. The current demand is for ideas. But the fact that our thinking is keen and alert is no indication that we reach, or have any relish for, the inward substance of the truth upon whose glittering surface our thoughts so jauntily divert themselves. This holds of religious truths exactly as much as of any other. If a preacher handles his matter with dexterity, and if in the process his own mind is quickened into any degree of activity, this activity of his will communicate itself to the machinery of his hearers minds, just as the movement of one cog-wheel communicates revolution to the companion wheel that it gears into. This movement of their intellectual gearing amuses them. They enjoy the sensation of feeling it go. The point is, that intellectual activity upon Christian themes is not Christianity, any more than working a flying trapeze m a church is godly exercise. An ox can devour the painting accidentally left upon the easel out in the pasture where he is grazing, but that does not help to make the ox aesthetic. The creature has dealt with the painting purely on the basis of his brutality; he has not chewed it with any reference to the spirit of beauty which the canvas incarnates. So it is the peculiar function of pure intellect to deal with the forms of truth, with the shell in which the truth is encased, without any necessary regard being had to the meat that is packed inside the shell; just as children can play with diamonds, and yet if you take away the diamonds and give them cheap beads, or even white beans, the probability is that they will go on with their play just as satisfiedly, because it is the shape and the glisten of the thing and not the quality of its interior substance that amuses them. That is the kind of thing pure intellect is; not to be trusted to prick through the cuticle of truth into its quick; brilliant as winter sunshine, but cold and surface-grazing as the frosty splendour of January; which has scintillant agility enough to whiten the hair without being competent to brush away the snow, eat through the ice, bore into the ground, unlock the fountains of fertility, fire the pulse of this ague-stricken old earth, warm it into springtime, and garnish it with summer life and loveliness. It is worth a great deal to have blood, and it is as essential to the intelligence as it is to the body. There has never been a thing said, more fundamental to the appreciation of the matter we have just now in hand, than what Solomon said three thousand years ago: The issues of life are out of the heart. Passion is axial. Power begins in heat. In the last analysis there is scarcely a terrestrial activity in either earth, sea, or air, that does not owe itself to the great sphere of material passion that we call the Sun. The throb of the sea, the currents of the air, the very coal on the hearth, that converts winter into summer, and turns evening into daytime, is every whir of it old sunshine, cosmic fire, preserved and translated into instant effect. God means something by all that. It is a Divine satire on cold-bloodedness, and it is the way Heaven takes to rebuke the notion that results in the intellectual, artistic, moral, and spiritual world can be hammered out by cold calculation. All the best thoughts in the world, into however solid and granitic a form they may eventually have become chilled and compacted, are ingots moulded from metal once molten, mayhap a thousand, two, five thousand years ago. Mans first language is music. Prose is poetry cooled down. Geology tells us that the world began hot; so every thought that has had a history began as a passion. You can manufacture in cold weather, but all creating is done under a high temperature. What is true of thought is just as true of art. Art is enthusiasm become shape. The grand cathedrals are old, petrified pulse-beats. The master paintings--and they are all religious--are holy medieval passion flung on to canvas. Art is imitative now rather than creative, because the thermometer is down. We can make waxwork with the mercury at zero, but we cannot grow flowers there. Moses built the tabernacle, and he patterned it from what he caught, up in the Mount. A man can be an acute theologian without having any juice. It is clear, then, that we are not criticising Christian truth; our censure is only upon intellectual dexterity considered as a means of dealing with it. Intellectual dexterity cannot deal with it. Intellectual dexterity does not know how to deal with it. Truth has a heart, and only heart can find it. What we understand by dogma to-day is what is left of some old holy vision, but with all the original heavenly light died out of it. It is truth s body, but in which the warm currents of truths blood no longer circulate. The theologian constructs his system of theology out of truths that have ceased to beat, very much as the botanist constructs his herbarium out of dead flowers. All the theology that is in the Church to-day is in the Epistles, but it is not there as theology. So all the bone-dust that is in our graveyards to-day was once in society, but it was not there as bone-dust, Intellect is not vision. The sum of the whole matter is this: that In the sphere of truth, in the domain of life, and in the higher ranges of religious discernment and of Christian appreciation and aspiration, pure calculating intellect is being worked for a great deal more than it is worth. It is heat that makes the world a live world, and not light. It is heart that composes the core of Christianity, and not head. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 1Ki_3:5. In Gibson the Lord appeared to Solomon—Probably during…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1Ki_3:5. In Gibson the Lord appeared to Solomon—Probably during this sacrificial festival.
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1Ki_3:7. A little child: נַעַר קָטּן a weak boy; but it is an error to suppose him only twelve years of age (as say the Rabbins, and after them Keil); for David called him a “man” (1Ki_2:9) before this incident, and after forty years’ reign he is called זַקִוִ “old” (1Ki_11:4); hence he must have been at least twenty years of age. But he felt himself a mere “child” in matters of royal responsibility and national government.
1Ki_3:9. An understanding heart לֵב שׁמֵעַ “a heart hearkening to the voice of God” (Keil); “obedient heart” (Luther); cordocile (Vulgate); literally, a hearing heart, not self-confident, but eager to learn.
1Ki_3:11. To discern judgment—Lit., to hear judgment; and Lange observes “a right sentence depends upon the hearing, i.e., the trial of the parties; and for this, understanding and judgment are most requisite for the judge” (comp. 2Sa_14:17).
1Ki_3:13. Not asked; both riches and honour: כָּבוֹדֹ honour is here promised as answering to “the life of thine enemies” (1Ki_3:11), and may therefore be regarded as a promise of military honour, victory over enemies, or the glory to be won by the bloodless triumphs of his far-famed wisdom.
1Ki_3:15. Behold, it was a dream—yet not a mere creation of the fancy, but a real incident, “a divine vision in a dream (Theodoreti). The sequel proved it to have been more than a dream.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_3:5-15
A DREAM OF WISDOM AND ITS REALITY
A PERIOD of special devotion is often succeeded by the brightest visions of God, and by rich endowments of supernatural grace. In ancient times a common mode of Divine revelation to man was by a dream (see Num_12:6; Mat_1:20; Mat_2:13; Mat_2:19, &c.) In such cases the soul was raised to a state of Divine ecstacy and illumination, and held conscious intercourse with God and heavenly intelligences; but when the soul woke to its natural condition of consciousness, the person knew it was a dream, though the reality of the Divine communication remained. So God appeared to Solomon in a dream; and the youthful king saw more with his eyes shut than ever they could see open—even Him who is Invisible! “Solomon worships God by day: God appears to him by night. Well may we look to enjoy God when we have served Him; the night cannot but be happy, whose day hath been holy.” The experience of Solomon during the night spent within the sacred city of Gibeon had a mighty influence upon his future conduct and destiny.
I. That wisdom is a Divine gift (1Ki_3:5; 1Ki_3:12).
1. The ordinary endowments of wisdom are from God (Jas_1:17). The gifts of genius may exist apart from the personal enjoyment of Divine grace. Tremendous is the responsibility of men who are endowed with superior talents, and great will be the punishment for their abuse. Bezaleel was “filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship”; but this does not imply that he possessed the highest gifts of grace. It is said of Othniel that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel” (Jdg_3:10); the power conferred being not necessarily connected with his piety, but referred to his superior tact in governing the people. Many of the sons of genius have not been children of the Spirit. Scotland’s most honoured bard was the slave of one of the lowest appetites, and fell a victim to its sinful indulgence. The highest poetic genius in England in modern times was obliged to banish himself, because of his vices, from the society of the honourable and virtuous. Gifts are often found where the graces are not. We must not undervalue gifts, for they come from God; but we must beware of being satisfied with them.
2. The unique wisdom of Solomon was from God. “Lo, I have given thee” (1Ki_3:12). It is the good pleasure of God to give wisdom to them that seek for it. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him” (Jas_1:5). Solomon’s wisdom was, to a certain extent, a supernatural gift, a signal dispensation of Divine favour, which must not be classed with natural acquirements, which are ordinarily obtained by dint of mental application alone. But while this much appears upon the face of the history, we must not suppose that all his knowledge was so special and supernatural an endowment as that he received it without any effort on his part. He doubtless studied and toiled like other men for his acquirements; but he was divinely and supernaturally assisted in a manner and to an extent which no other man ever enjoyed. We shall see further in chap. 1Ki_4:29-34 that Solomon’s wisdom comprehended natural science, political sagacity, and a deep insight into spiritual truth.—Whedon. As an acute philosopher, and a wise, judicious king, Solomon stood alone—“There was not like unto thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” Trapp observes, “He was not only wiser than Trismegist, Orpheus, Homer, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Lycurgus, Ptolemy; but also Abraham, Moses, David, yea, even Adam himself after the fall. He was the wisest mere man, take him for everything, as ever was; insomuch as he had all manner of knowledge, natural and supernatural, infused into him.” Solomon saw around him the materials out of which a great and prosperous kingdom could be made, if he only had discretion to use them; and his prayer indicated that this and all other special endowments were in the gift of God.
II. That wisdom is to be diligently sought in prayer.
1. Prayer for wisdom gratefully recognizes the Divine mercy in the blessings already enjoyed. “Thou hast showed unto thy servant David great mercy” (1Ki_3:6-7). A good child will remember his father’s excellencies, to imitate them, and draw a veil over his sins. Solomon refers to the goodness of God, not only to his father David, but also to himself as successor to the throne. Gratitude for past mercies is an excellent preparation for the reception of new benefactions. The search after the highest good should ever be pursued with a grateful remembrance of the good already possessed. God’s favours are doubly sweet when transmitted to us through the hands of those who have gone before us. The way to get the entail perpetuated is to bless God that it has hitherto been preserved.
2. Prayer for wisdom humbly recognizes personal incompetency. “I am but a little child” (1Ki_3:7). Solomon, with graceful modesty and humility, feels and acknowledges his youth and inexperience. His exact age at this time is not known; he was probably not more than twenty years of age. Youth, which, as a rule, places freedom in lawlessness, needs before all things to ask God daily for an obedient heart. Those who are employed in public stations ought to be very sensible of the weight and importance of their work and their own insufficiency for it; and then they are qualified for divine conduct and instruction. Absalom, who was a fool, wished himself a judge; Solomon, who was a wise man, trembles at the undertaking, and suspects his own fitness for it. “I know not how to go out or come in”—to sway this massy sceptre, to rule this great people. An allusion to captains or shepherds, or, as some think, to a little child, who learneth of his mother to go out and come into the house.—Trapp. It is an idiomatic expression denoting the whole official conduct of a ruler before his people (compare Num_27:17). The wisest men are most sensible of their own ignorance.
3. Prayer for wisdom has special reference to the object for which it is to be practically exercised. “Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad” (1Ki_3:9). A monarch’s sagacity in the administration of justice was calculated to make the most marked impression upon the popular mind, and likely to be most generally talked about throughout the land. This quality also came more home to the personal concerns of his subjects than any other, and was for that reason alone the more carefully regarded. The administration of justice was, in all ancient monarchies, as it is now in the East, a most important part of the royal duties and functions; and there is no quality more highly prized than that keen discernment in the royal judge which detects the clue of real evidence amidst conflicting testimony, or that ready tact which devises a test of truth where the evidence affords no clue to any grounds of decision.—Kitto. The true wisdom for which we have to ask God does not consist in manifold and great knowledge, but in that which enables us to discern between good and bad, right and wrong, sin and duty, truth and falsehood, so as not to be misled in judging either of other’s actions or of our own (Job_28:28; Jas_3:17; Eph_5:17). This discernment is a fruit of our spiritual renewal (Rom_12:2).
III. That wisdom often includes inferior blessings (1Ki_3:13). The way to temporal blessings is to be indifferent to them. Solomon has wisdom because he asks for it, and wealth because he does not. God superadds riches and honour, and promises long life to enjoy them. A similar principle in the Divine government is enunciated by Christ—“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mat_6:33). The greater blessing includes all lesser ones. “So doth God love a good choice, that He recompenses it with over giving. Had Solomon made wealth his boon, he had failed both of riches and wisdom; now he asks the best, and speeds of all. They are in a fair way of happiness who can pray well.”—Bishop Hall. Riches and honour are then truly blessings when God bestows the wisdom and grace to improve them aright (Ecc_7:11).
IV. That the gift of wisdom is conditioned on personal obedience (1Ki_3:14). All the Divine promises are largely conditional. This wise king, whose reign began so auspiciously, failed to meet the conditions of long-continued prosperity. “No character in the sacred writings disappoints us more than the character of Solomon.” As the condition was not observed (1Ki_11:1-8), the right to the promise of lengthened days was forfeited, and it was not fulfilled. Solomon can scarcely have been more than fifty-nine or sixty at his death. Length of days is the blessing in the right hand of Wisdom—typical of eternal life; but in her left hand are riches and honour (Pro_3:16).
V. That the gift of wisdom should be devoutly and joyously acknowledged (1Ki_3:15).
1. In diligent attention to religious duties. “He came to Jerusalem, and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings.” Solomon determined to inaugurate his reign by a grand religious ceremonial at each of the two holy places which at this time divided between them the reverence of the Jews. Having completed the religious services at Gibeon, where was the Tabernacle of the congregation, and where he had received the Divine blessing, he proceeds now to Jerusalem. and sacrifices before the Ark of the Covenant, which was in Mount Zion (2Sa_6:12). This proceeding symbolized that coming hour when, under the greater than Solomon, all separation of tabernacle and ark would be for ever past, and the true worshippers would advance from a cultus that made locality a test, to find their great altar in the inner temple of the Spirit, and to worship the Father in spirit and in truth (Joh_4:21-24). We should give God praise for all his gilts, and for the promise of gifts not yet realized.
2. In promoting the happiness of others. “And made a feast to all his servants.” A great feast naturally followed on a large sacrifice of peace-offerings. In these the sacrificer always partook of the flesh of the victim, and he was commanded to call in to the feast the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (Deu_14:29). We best employ the gifts of God by using them to increase the joy of those around us.
LESSONS:—
1. The highest blessings are secured only by importunate prayer.
2. To possess true wisdom is to possess all the essentials of happiness.
THE DREAM OF SOLOMON
Solomon was a great man—great in everything he did. When he sinned, great in sin; when he worshipped, great in worship. Good and evil strangely met and battled in this man’s life. He had a majestic intellect, an intellect whose every thought contained the wealth of a proverb; but he had great animal propensities too. The sea of passion within him was deep and warm, heaved in resistless waves, and its surges often swamped his reason and his conscience.
The passage before us is the record of a dream which this great man had one night at Gibeon, a place celebrated in the Old Testament, but not mentioned in the New, and whose geographical position cannot be determined with any certainty now. There are two things very noteworthy in this dream.
1. The blending of the human and divine. There is much that you can trace to Solomon’s own mind in the nocturnal vision recorded here. It seemed to be according to the measure of his capacity. He was a large-minded man, and the dream is on a large scale. There is nothing mean or small about it. Pharaoh’s dream was very inferior to this. He was a narrow, material-minded man, and he dreamed of oxen and of corn. The dream of the Midianitish soldier was a still more contemptible thing. A poor, uncultivated, small-minded soldier dreamed that which was in accordance with his capacity, about a barley cake. Solomon’s great soul took within the ample range of its imagination the whole Jewish nation, the Eternal Ruler of the universe, the righteous providence of Heaven, and the everlasting principles of moral obligation. A small mind can never have large conceptions, either awake or asleep. The dimensions of a man’s ideas will always be measured by his capacity. Flower-pots cannot grow the cedars of Labanon—they require depth of soil and sweep of area. It seemed to be also according to the moral state of his mind. The previous day he had been engaged in religious services. His whole nature seemed on fire with devotion. In the fourth verse we are told that at Gibeon he sacrificed no less than a thousand burnt offerings. A thousand cattle he offered in sacrifice to God in one act of devotion. If the amount of his sacrifice measured the extent of his religious ardour, his religious feelings on this occasion must have reached the highest point of elevation. It was natural, therefore, on the night of that day the religious element should be predominant. The dream is thoroughly religious. As the religious sentiment had flooded his nature in the day, it worked his imagination in the night. It is generally thus. Our dreams grow out of the waking thoughts that have most impressed us. Imagination in the stillness of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon us, brings these thoughts together, constructs them into a fabric often grotesque, strange, and thrilling. It seemed to be, moreover, according to the strongest desire of his heart. He had just been appointed king of Israel; he was inexperienced—not more, perhaps, than twenty years of age. The responsibility of governing a great country pressed heavily on his young heart, and filled him with solicitude. He felt that to take the place of his father David, and direct the destinies of Israel, he required that wisdom which God alone could bestow. This he earnestly desires. Our mental faculties are the servants of our desires; desires are the spirit in the wheels of the mental machine.
So far, we see the human in this dream; but the divine is manifestly here, too. The coherency, truthfulness, and sublimity of the religious thoughts, and the propriety of the spirit and language of the prayer that was offered, and the fulfilment of the Divine answer given in the actual history of Solomon, all show that there was a presiding Divinity in the dream. The other thing noteworthy in this dream is—
2. The suggested conditions of successful prayer. The prayer of his dream was, as we have said, answered in his actual history. He did receive a wisdom for ruling, and abundance of riches, and a splendour of dominion that have never been rivalled by any monarch on the earth. Now, what are the conditions of successful prayer which the dream suggests?
I. That effective prayer must be divinely authorized. At the beginning of the dream Solomon received an authority to pray: “And God said, Ask what I shall give thee.” Such an authority is evidently a necessary condition. Unless the Eternal gave us a warrant to address Him, our appeals would be impious and fruitless. Hell prays, prays earnestly and continuously, but it prays without Divine authority, and the supplications rebound with the force of a crushing despair. An all-important question arises here: Have we, the men of this age, a Divine authority for praying? If not, our appeals to Heaven are worse than idle breath. What saith the oracle? Hear its declarations on the point (Deu_4:29-40; 2Ch_7:13-14; Jer_33:3; Isa_65:24; Mat_7:7-11). Here, then is sufficient authority. God says as truly to us now as he said to Solomon in his dream, “Ask what I shall give you.”
1. This authority to call upon God in prayer agrees with our religious instincts. Prayer in some form or other is the natural cry of the soul. The child in distress does not more naturally look to his fond parent for help, than the human soul in sore trouble and danger looks to the heavens for aid. The heathen mariners in that little vessel that was bearing Jonah to Tarshish, when the tempest lashed the sea into fury, and threatened their destruction, “cried every man unto his God.” Even men who in theory deny the existence of a God, urged by this instinct, will cry to Him in danger. There are many striking instances of this on record. Take one or two. Volney, the celebrated infidel, was once in a storm at sea. Whilst the vessel was reeling and plunging with the fury of the elements, there was no man on board more frantic with terror, and more earnest in prayer to that God whose existence he impiously denied, than this Volney. “Oh, my God, my God!” said he, “what shall I do?” One of his companions on board, struck with the inconsistency of this man’s appeal to heaven, said, “What! have you a God now?” To which he replied, “Oh, yes! oh, yes!” Voltaire, the brilliant Frenchman and the celebrated infidel, cried out, when the king of terrors confronted him, “Oh, Christ! oh, Jesus Christ!” Tom Paine, that bold, clever sceptic, who wrote the “Age of Reason,” cried out in his last hours, “O Lord, help mo! God, help me! Jesus Christ, help me! O Lord, help me!” &c. Yes, the instinct in the soul to call upon God when excited by imminent danger triumphs over the strongest logic and grandest theories of infidelity. It is to me no feeble collateral argument for the divinity of the Bible, that God does that which the soul in her most solemn mood craves for—authorizes prayer.
2. This authority to call upon God in prayer is encouraging to our hope as sinners. Oh! what should we, who are here involved in guilt, depravity, affliction, death, do were those heavens sealed above us, and there was no God to hear our prayer? Our condition would indeed be hopeless. But when we hear Him say to us, “Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee;” and again, “Ask what I shall give thee,” we feel that we may obtain His help to raise us to virtue, dignity, and immortal bliss. It is this truth that makes the thought of Him even tolerable to us. The thought that He created the universe, that He sustains all existence, that He is the righteous Governor of all worlds, would overwhelm us with terror unless we believed that He answered prayers. That He hears prayer is a truth that gives to every aspect of His character an attraction to us as sinners.
II. That effective prayer must be earnestly spiritual. By this we mean that spiritual interest must reign supreme, that spiritual motives must be predominant. It was so now with Solomon in his prayer. What a sense he had of the Invisible God! The grandeur of kingdoms and the splendour of material worlds seem to have had no place in his spirit now. The Great God is the one grand object, in all the reality of His being, before him. He recognized Him as the Author of all the distinguishing virtues which his father David possessed. “Thou hast showed,” &c. He speaks to God as a present, personal, conscious existence, seeing him, knowing and feeling what he said in prayer. What a sense he had of the importance of spiritual goodness in reference to his royal father in prayer! The idea of his temporal glory was lost in the thought of his spiritual excellence. “He walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee.” What a sense he had of the Divine goodness! He ascribed all that his father had to God. “Thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne.” Much as he loved his father, he traced all his father’s greatness to the goodness of God. What a sense he had of his own insignificance! “I am but a little child; I know not how to go out or come in.” Humility is essential to true prayer. No one can feel himself in the presence of the Infinite without being overwhelmed with a sense of his own insignificance. Egotistic thoughts can no more live in the breath of prayer, than flakes of snow in a summer sun. What a sense he had of his own responsibility! “Thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou hast chosen; a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.” All this shows how earnestly spiritual his prayer was; and this earnest spirituality is an essential condition of effective prayer. When we pray, materialism must vanish from our minds as a cloud, and spiritual realities must rise in all their commanding importance. He that prays must feel that he has to do with one who is the original fountain of all kinds of good. He that prays must have the deepest humility, must feel as Abraham felt when wrestling for Sodom, that he is but dust and ashes. He that prays must deeply realize his responsibility, both to man and his Maker. All this spiritual earnestness is an essential condition of effective prayer.
III. That effective prayer must be thoroughly unselfish. “What he prayed for was, “an understanding heart;” and he prayed for that, not that it might serve his own interest, but in order, as he says, “to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.” And this speech, we are told, “pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing,” &c. Mark, God answered his prayer; in fact, gave to him more than he sought, because he sought not the good for his own ends, but in order to enable him to serve others. What! it may be said, are we to forget self in prayer? Are we not to pray for spiritual and temporal good for ourselves? By all means. But seek the good for yourself, not mainly for the sake of yourself, but in order that thereby you may be qualified to serve your generation and your God. With this spirit Moses prayed, “Oh! this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book.” In this spirit Paul prayed, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” In this spirit Jesus prayed, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say, Father save me from this hour? but for this cause came I unto this hour.” Such are the conditions of effective prayer suggested in this dream. There are, of course, other conditions that are not here suggested, such as faith in the mediation of Jesus Christ, for all true prayer must be offered up in his name.
In conclusion, do you ask why prayer is not answered now as in olden times? We read of wondrous things it did in ancient times, in the generations of old. Abraham prays, and the storm of fire and brimstone is borne up for a time on the breath of his intercession. Moses prays, and now we see the earth opening her mouth, and swallowing up religious impostors, and now the sea dividing and making a highway for the chosen race. The disciples pray in the upper room at Jerusalem, and the day of Pentecost comes showering blessings on the ages. In fact, the Old and New Testaments are full of the triumphs of prayer—prayer creating the rain and the drought; prayer clearing the mountains, and dividing the seas; prayer scattering armies, and awakening the dead to life; prayer destroying the power of the burning fiery furnace, and sealing up the mouths of lions; prayer opening prison doors, and healing all manner of diseases. Nor have we been left in later times without striking examples of its power.—Homilist.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_3:5. Sleep is like a state of death to the soul, wherein the senses are locked up, and the understanding and will deprived of the free exercise of their functions. And yet this is no impediment to God in communicating His will to mankind; for He has power not only to awaken our intellectual faculties, but to advance them above their ordinary measure of perception, even while the body is asleep (Job_33:14). God can approach the soul in many different ways when the body is in a state of rest and inactivity, can move and actuate it as He pleases; and when He is inclined to make a discovery of anything, can set such a lively representation of it before the understanding as shall prevent a man’s doubting the reality of the vision (see Calmet). In the particular phase of sleep known in Scripture as “dream” or “vision,” it may be that the mind was sometimes in possession of all its powers, and that only the body slumbered. That which engages us most when we are awake will even in sleep still be our employment.
God well knew what Solomon needed, but He bade him ask.
1. To show how negligent men are in praying for what is spiritual.
2. That He would only bestow His gifts in the ordinance of prayer.
3. That great personages might have an example of what they should ask of God above all others.
“Ask what I shall give thee.”
1. A test-word, for as man wishes and prays, so docs he show of whose spirit he is the child (Psa_139:23).
2. A word of warning, for we not only may, but we should also ask for all which we have most at heart (Psa_37:4).—Lange.
1Ki_3:5-15. The prayer of Solomon.
1. Its contents (1Ki_3:6-9).
2. Its answer (1Ki_3:10-14). A dream like Solomon’s does not happen when the day just past has been spent in revel and riot, in gross or in refined sin.—Lange.
1Ki_3:9. Solomon’s choice of wisdom. And now occurred one of those prophetic dreams which had already been the means of Divine communication in the time of Samuel Thrice in Solomon’s life (at the three epochs of his rise, of his climax, of his fall) is such a warning recorded. This was the first. It was the choice offered to the youthful king on the threshold of life—the choice so often imagined in fiction, and actually presented in real life. “Ask what I shall give thee.” The answer is the ideal answer of such a prince, burdened with the responsibility of his position. He remembered the high antecedents of his predecessor; he remembered his own youth and weakness; he remembered the vastness of his charge; he made the demand for the gift which he, of all the heroes of the ancient church, was the first to claim; he showed his wisdom by asking for wisdom; he became wise because he had set his heart upon it. This was to him the special aspect through which the Divine spirit was to be approached and grasped, and made to bear on the wants of men; not the highest, not the choice of David, not the choice of Isaiah, but still the choice of Solomon.—Stanley.
As it appears eventually that Solomon did some foolish and some mistaken things, it becomes a matter of interest to know wherein lay that wisdom with which he was supernaturally endowed. God giveth to him that hath. It was the previous possession of wisdom which qualified him for more. His wisdom is evinced by nothing more than his choice of wisdom beyond all other blessings, when the fruition of his wishes was offered to him in the vision at Gibeon. The terms of his request indicate the nature of the wisdom he required. That Divine wisdom in spiritual things, that heart religion which the Jews sometimes denoted by this name, is not intended. With that he was not preeminently gifted; not more gifted, certainly, than his father David, hardly so much gifted. The wisdom which he craved was that of which he had already enough to be able to appreciate the value of its increase—practical wisdom, sagacity, clearness of judgment and intellect in the administration of justice and in the conduct of public affairs, with an aptitude for the acquisition and use of the higher branches of philosophical knowledge, natural and moral, which constituted the learning of his age. In the latter he excelled the most famous men of his time.—Kitto.
The terms translated “wise” and “understanding,” both denote practical wisdom (see Gen_41:33-39; Deu_4:6; Pro_1:2, &c.).
1Ki_3:11-14. The granting of Solomon’s prayer teaches and assures us—
1. That God grants more than they request, over and above praying and understanding, to those who call upon Him with earnestness and for spiritual gifts (Eph_3:20; Mat_6:33).
2. That God gives to him upon whom He confers an office—that is, to one who does not rush into an office or calling, but is called thereto by God—the necessary understanding if he humbly seek it. “Where there is wisdom there comes, indeed, also gold and silver (Pro_3:16), but not the reverse.—Lange.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain 1 Kings
1 Kings
A YOUNG MAN’S WISE CHOICE OF WISDOM
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1Ki 3:5 - 1Ki 3:15.
The new king was apparently some nineteen or twenty years old on his accession. He stepped at once out of seclusion and idleness to bear the whole weight of the kingdom. The glories of David’s reign, his brother Adonijah’s pretensions to the crown, the smouldering hostility of Saul’s old partisans, made his position difficult and his throne unsteady. No doubt, ‘the weight of too much dignity’ pressed on the youth, and this dream found a point of origin in his waking thoughts. God does not thus reveal Himself to men who seek Him not; and the offer in the vision is but the repetition of what Solomon felt in many a waking moment of meditation that God was saying to him, and the choice he makes in it is the choice that he had already made. He who seeks wisdom first is already wise.
I. Note the wide possibilities opened by the divine offer. Our narrative brings that gracious offer into connection with Solomon’s lavish sacrifice before the Tabernacle at Gibeon. ‘God loveth a cheerful giver’ and because these thousand burnt offerings meant devotion and thankfulness, therefore He who lets no man be the poorer for what he gives to Him, and is honoured most, not by our givings to, but by our takings from Him, comes in the quiet night, and puts the key of all His treasures into the young king’s hands. In a very real sense this divine voice is but the putting into words of the fact as to every young life. The all but boundless possibilities before every young man and woman give solemnity to their position, which they too often do not recognise till youth is past. The future lies blank before them, ready to receive what they choose to write on its page. Once written, it is indelible. They are still free from the limitations of habit and associations. They have still the capacity and the opportunity of choice. There are limits, of course, but still it is scarcely exaggeration to say that a man may become almost anything he likes, if he strongly wills it when young, and sticks to his resolve. When the liquid iron flows from the blast furnace, it may be run into any mould; but it soon cools and hardens, and obstinately keeps its shape, in spite of hammers.
If young men and women could but see the possibilities of their youth, and the issues that hang on early choice, as clearly as they will see them some day, there would be fewer wasted mornings of life and fewer gloomy sunsets. But the misery is that so many do not choose at all, but just let things slide, and allow themselves to be moulded by whatever influence happens to be strongest. For one man who goes wrong by deliberate choice, with open eyes, there are twenty who simply drift. Unfortunately, there is more evil than good in the world; and if a lad takes his colour from his surroundings, the chances are terribly against his coming to anything high, noble, or pure. This world is no place for a man who cannot say ‘No.’ If we are like the weeds in a stream, and let it decide which way we shall point, we shall be sure to point downwards. It would do much to secure the choice of the Good, if there were a clear recognition by all young persons of the fact that they have the choice to make, and are really making it unconsciously. If they could be brought, like Solomon, to put their ruling wish into plain words, many who are not ashamed to yield to unworthy desires would be ashamed to speak them out baldly. Let each ask himself, ‘Suppose that I had to say out what I want most, dare I avow before my own conscience, to say nothing of God, what it is?
Looked at from a somewhat different point of view, God’s offer to Solomon presupposes God’s knowledge and approval of his wishes. He does not give blank cheques to those whom He cannot trust to fill them up rightly. When James and John tried to commit Jesus to a blind promise ‘that Thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall ask of Thee,’ their answer was a question as to what they wished. ‘Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.’ God loves us too well to let us have carte blanche unless our wills run parallel with His. He is a foolish and cruel father who promises compliance with all his child’s unknown wishes. Not such is our Father’s loving discipline. It is to those who ‘abide in Christ,’ and have Him abiding in them, moulding their longings and prayers, that the great promise is sealed: ‘Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’
II. Note next the wise choice of wisdom. ‘Had not Solomon been wise before, he had not known the worth of wisdom. The dunghill cocks of this world cannot know the price of this pearl; those that have it know that all other excellencies are but trash and rubbish unto it.’ Solomon’s prayer shows the temper with which he entered on his reign. There is no exultation; his serious and clear-eyed spirit sees in rule a heavy task. He contrasts his inexperienced rawness with the ‘truth and righteousness’ and veteran maturity of his great predecessor, and trembles to think that he, a mere lad, sits on David’s throne. But he pleads with God that He has made him king, and implies that therefore God is bound to fit him for his office. That is the boldness permitted to faith,-to remind God of His own past acts, which pledge Him to give what He has put us into circumstances to need. With beautiful humility, Solomon dwells on his youth and inexperience, and on the vastness of the charge laid on him. All these considerations are the motives for his choice of a gift, and also pleas with God to grant his request.
He asks for the practical wisdom needed for ruling in these old days, when the king was judge as well as ruler and captain. Was this the highest gift that he could have asked or received? Surely the deep longings of his father for communion with God were yet better. No doubt the ‘wisdom’ of the Book of Proverbs is religion and morality as well as true thinking, but the ‘understanding heart to judge Thy people’ which Solomon asked and received is narrower and more secular in its meaning. There is no sign in his biography that he ever had the deep inward devotion of his father. After the poet-psalmist came the prosaic and keen-sighted shrewd man of affairs. The one breathed his ardent soul into psalms, which feed devotion to-day; the other crystallised his discernment in ‘three thousand proverbs,’ and, though his ‘songs were one thousand and five’ they touched a lower range, both of poetry and religious feeling, than his father’s, as may be expressed by calling them ‘songs,’ not ‘psalms.’
But though the request is not the highest, it may well be taken as a pattern by the young. Note the view of his position from which it rises. To Solomon dignity meant duty; and his crown was not a toy, but a task. The responsibilities, not the enjoyments, of his station were uppermost in his mind. That is the only right view to take. Youth is meant to be enthusiastic, and to feed its aspirations on noble ideals, and if, instead of that, it does as too many do, especially in countries where wealth abounds, namely, regards life as a garden of delights, or sometimes as a sty where young men may wallow in ‘pleasures,’ then farewell to all hopes of high achievements or of an honourable career. Youthful ideals will fade fast enough; but alas for the life which had none to begin with! Note the sense of insufficiency for his task. Youth is prone to be over-confident, and to think that it can do better than its fathers, who were as confident in their time. There is a false humility which flattens the spirit and keeps from plain duty; and there is a true lowliness which feels that the task must be attempted, though the heart may shrink, and which impels to prayer for fitness not its own. He who tells God his consciousness of impotence, and asks Him to supply His strength to its weakness and His wisdom to its inexperience, will never shirk work because it is too great, nor ever fail to find power according to his need.
III. Note God’s answer. Solomon gets his wish, and much which he had not asked besides. The divine answer is in two parts. First, the reasons for the large gift; and second, the details of the gift. His not wishing material good was the very reason why he obtained it. That is not always so; for often enough a man whose whole nature is sharpened to one point, in the intensity of his desire to make money, will succeed. But what then? He will be none the better, but the poorer, for his wealth. But this is always true,-that the people who do not make worldly good their first object are the people who can be most safely trusted with it, and who get most enjoyment out of it. Whether in the precise form of the gift to Solomon or not, outward good does attend a life which sets duty before pleasure, and desires most to be able to do it. All earthly good is exalted by being put second, and degraded as well as corrupted by being put first. The water lapped up in the palm, as the soldier marches, is sweeter than the abundant draughts swilled down by self-indulgence. ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, . . . and all these things shall be added unto you.’
Note the largeness of the gift. When God is pleased with a man’s prayers, He gives more than was asked, and so teaches us to be ashamed of the smallness of our expectations, and widens our desires by His overlapping bestowments. First, He gives the wisdom asked. Dependence on God, rising from the sense of our own ignorance, has a wonderful power of bringing illumination, even as to small matters of practical duty. Solomon asked it, to guide him in his judicial decisions; and the first case to which it was applied, when received, was a miserable quarrel between two disreputable women. A devout heart, purged from self-conceit, is often gifted with a piercing wisdom before which the crafty shrewdness of the world is abashed. We cannot be ‘wise as serpents’ unless we are ‘harmless as doves.’ The world may think such ‘wisdom’ folly, but she will be ‘justified of her children.’ Is the saying of James’s Epistle a reminiscence of Solomon’s dream, ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, . . . and it shall be given him’?
Then follows the grant of the unasked goods,-riches, honour, and length of days. Surely we hear an echo of these promises in that magnificent description of Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs: ‘Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour’ These and similar gifts may or may not follow our choice of divine wisdom as our truest good If we have really chosen it, we shall regard them as make-weights, to be thankfully received and rightly used, but not as indispensable. If we pursue wisdom for the sake of getting these, we shall lose both it and them. If we have set our desires most earnestly on the most worthy things, which are God’s love and a character hallowed by His grace, we shall be rich indeed, whether what the world calls wealth be ours or no; and our days will be long enough if in them we have been prepared for the fuller wisdom and undying life of heaven.
Solomon realised his youthful aspirations. The only way to be sure of getting what we wish, is to wish what God desires to give,-even Himself,-and to ask it of Him. Solomon, like many a young man, outgrew his early ‘dream.’ Was he happier or wiser when he was a worn-out voluptuary, smiling with cynical scorn at his young self, or when, with generous enthusiasm, he felt the solemnity of life and the awfulness of duty, and asked God to help his insufficiency? Was not the dream truer and more real than the waking hours of profligacy and unreal ‘enjoyment’?
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.