Solomon’s beginning a s king was excellent; he was strengthened in his kingdom, and God was with him and magnified him exceedingly. His first recorded act in this book (not the first in 1 Kings 2 and 3 which tell of judgment upon rebels, while the Chronicles give a record of God's grace) was going to Gibeon where the tabernacle still stood, with the congregation of Israel, and there offering a thousand burnt offerings upon the brazen altar.
We shall not find in Solomon the marks of a David: he was not the rejected one, despised and betrayed, and the object of the malignant hatred of the ruling powers, for Solomon is the reigning one, the man of power and glory. We notice too that Solomon does not at once, at least, gather the people to the ark at Jerusalem, but to the tent of meeting, the tabernacle at Gibeon. He goes where the people are. They are the object of blessing.
Solomon's request (verse 10) the night following his great offering upon the altar at Gibeon, commended himself to God; had he remained in the realization of dependence there indicated, had he continued as one subject to God for everything, and desiring nothing so much as to live in constant nearness to Him, how different his history would have been!
What Solomon did not ask for, God gave him, but he was ensnared by these blessings, not receiving and holding them as a steward of God's gifts,-but we shall talk of this further on. His wealth, and his power and wisdom, and not so much his piety, are told us in these chapters.