World English Bible
- Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into David’s city until he had finished building his own house, the LORD’s house, and the wall around Jerusalem.
- However, the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was not yet a house built for the LORD’s name.
- Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, except that he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.
- The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
- In Gibeon, the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask for what I should give you.”
- Solomon said, “You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you. You have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
- Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king instead of David my father. I am just a little child. I don’t know how to go out or come in.
- Your servant is among your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered or counted for multitude.
- Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
- This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
- God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice,
- behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you.
- I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days.
- If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
- Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
- Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him.
- The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house.
- The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house.
- This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it.
- She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
- When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead; but when I had looked at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore.”
- The other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” The first one said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” They argued like this before the king.
- Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead one;’ and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’”
- The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king.
- The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.”
- Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.”
- Then the king answered, “Give the first woman the living child, and definitely do not kill him. She is his mother.”
- All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.
Date: 2025-11-12 • 1 Kings 3
“Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places” (New International Version).
The chapter opens with tension: devotion mixed with compromise. Solomon marries Pharaoh’s daughter—an impressive political move, yet one that will later pull his heart away (cf. Deut 7:3-4). He worships at Gibeon because the Mosaic tabernacle still stands there (2 Chr 1:3), while the ark rests in Jerusalem’s tent. The divided worship sites echo a divided heart.
• Archaeology notes
– Gibeon is likely modern el-Jib, six miles northwest of Jerusalem.
Excavations uncovered massive rock-cut wine cellars—fitting for a king
who will later write, “Wine that gladdens human hearts” (Ps
104:15).
– Jerusalem in Solomon’s day was still small—about nine acres—yet
spiritually central because of the ark.
Western readers sometimes miss that a “high place” (Hebrew bāmāh) was not automatically pagan. Until the temple stood, Israel often sacrificed at hilltop shrines. The danger was acculturation: Canaanite fertility rites could blend with Yahweh-worship. The narrator hints at the risk by inserting the uneasy word except.
Cross-reference: Deut 12:5-14; 1 Kings 11:1-8.
At Gibeon, Solomon offers 1,000 burnt offerings. Exhausted, he sleeps, and God comes in a dream: “Ask for whatever you want.” Here the Hebrew marvel shines. Solomon requests lēv shōmēaʿ—literally “a listening heart” (v. 9). Most English versions read “discerning” or “understanding,” but the root šāmaʿ means “to hear.” Wisdom, in Scripture, begins not with cleverness but with attentiveness to God and neighbor (cf. Prov 1:5; Jas 1:19).
The prayer pleases the Lord because Solomon asks not for self-advancement but for the capacity to judge justly. God grants:
The structure is a covenant echo: blessing tied to faithfulness (Deut 28). The dream thus serves as both gift and test.
Patristic voice: Augustine saw here a figure of Christ, in whom are “all the treasures of wisdom” (Col 2:3). Solomon’s listening heart foreshadows the perfect obedience of Jesus, who says, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me” (Jn 8:28).
The famous court case strips wisdom of abstraction. Two women—likely prostitutes, given they live alone and sleep with infants—appear before Solomon. Their occupation underscores social marginality. Torah protects such vulnerable people (Deut 24:17), and Solomon, as king, must do the same.
Literary artistry: The storyteller uses repetition (“This one says… that one says…”) to build tension, then introduces the sword as climax. The sword is never meant to strike; it reveals hearts (cf. Heb 4:12, “sharper than any double-edged sword”). The true mother would rather lose her child than see him die. Compassion, not biology, marks authentic parenthood.
Hebrew nuance: The word translated “bowels yearned” (v. 26, KJV) is rakhămîm—from the root for “womb,” often rendered “compassion.” Solomon identifies the mother by the echo of God’s maternal mercy (Isa 49:15).
Western readers might miss that ancient courts lacked forensic evidence. Wisdom had to surface truth through narrative, oath, or ordeal. Solomon’s “ordeal by compassion” is brilliantly humane.
Cross-reference: Exod 2:6 (“She had compassion on him”); 2 Sam 14 (Joab’s wise woman of Tekoa).
• Kingship under Torah: Deuteronomy 17 demanded each king write a
copy of the Law and read it daily. Solomon’s petition honors that
ideal.
• Fear of the Lord and wisdom: The chapter ties royal success to
covenant faithfulness, anticipating the wisdom books Solomon will later
inspire (Prov 1:7).
• Christ as greater Solomon: Jesus echoes this narrative when He says,
“Something greater than Solomon is here” (Matt 12:42). His kingdom
reveals perfect justice and overflowing grace.
Major interpreters:
– John Calvin stressed that true wisdom is the practical knowledge
of God’s will, not speculative brilliance.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer read the sword scene as a warning that godly
authority must first seek the welfare of the weakest, or it forfeits
legitimacy.
• Dreams as divine channels: In the ancient Near East, royal dreams
were considered binding oracles. Archaeological parallels include
Assyrian dream accounts where kings receive military strategy. Israel’s
faith purifies the genre: the content centers on moral governance, not
self-glory.
• 1,000 sacrifices: The number signals royal largesse but also covenant
zeal. In Phoenician records a “thousand-fold” offering marked treaty
ratification. Solomon publicly binds his throne to Yahweh’s favor.
Origen compared the two women to the visible and invisible church; the sword (Scripture) divides mere membership from true devotion. More recently, Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann highlights the text’s socio-economic edge: real wisdom always bends toward the powerless.
“Be Thou My Vision” (8th-century Irish). Its refrain, “Be Thou my wisdom,” parallels Solomon’s plea for a listening heart at the dawn of his reign.
Lord of heaven and earth,
You invited Solomon to ask, and he sought a listening heart.
Grant to us ears quick to hear Your Word and eyes clear to see the
needy.
Guard us from divided loyalties; unite our hearts to fear Your
name.
May the sword of Your Spirit expose every false motive,
that compassion and truth might flourish in our homes, churches, and
cities.
Through Jesus, the greater Solomon, we pray. Amen.