1 Kings 3:3-16; 4:21-343And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 4And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. 5In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. 6And Solomon 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; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. 8And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 10And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 12Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 13And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honor: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. 14And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. 15And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. 16Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. (1 Kings 3:3‑16)
21And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, 23Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. 24For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him. 25And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 26And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. 28Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge. 29And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. 32And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. 33And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. (1 Kings 4:21‑34)
You may sometime be asked the question, “Who was the wisest king?” The answer is Solomon, for God gave him special wisdom and said, “He was wiser than all men.” He was a younger son of king David, but was the one God said should rule after David.
So before his father died, Solomon was set upon his father’s mule, the trumpets were blown, and the people said, “God save king Solomon.” He was young at that time, but he was not proud because he had been chosen king. He said he was as “a little child who knew not how to go out or come in,” for he did not feel wise enough to rule over the strong nation of Israel.
He went to give sacrifices to God, for he wanted to honor Him, and that night God spoke to him in a dream and asked him,
“What shall I give thee?”
What do you think Solomon asked God to give him? great riches? or great honor? or long life? No, Solomon did not ask for any of those, but he asked God to make him wise so he would know how to rule God’s people. And God gave him the wisdom, and that is how he became the wisest of men. His was a good choice and pleased God, and He said he should also have riches and honor.
So Solomon knew how to judge matters rightly, and his care was for all the people. He set men to manage all things. All was so well done that everyone had a good home, and food for all. And all dwelt in safety, for there were no wars during his life, and they were not servants to others; instead other nations brought taxes and presents to Israel. So there was peace while Solomon was king, as God had said. The name Solomon means, “Peace”.
King Solomon had the great temple built in Jerusalem; he had many great houses made; his throne was of ivory overlaid with gold; he had great stables built for his many horses; and he had gardens, vineyards, and forests planted. He had many ships and merchants to bring material from other lands, until his riches were greater than any other king; we shall hear more of this later.
Besides Solomon’s wisdom for the nation, he had much knowledge of things of the earth and wrote of them. There have been many men who knew much of the habits of animals, birds, or fish, but Solomon knew about and wrote of them all, and of all kinds of trees and plants. These words have not been kept, but if they had, would surely have been worth our reading.
But we have his wise sayings, called Proverbs, in our Bibles, and also some of his songs. These writings show us what wisdom Solomon had, (although his buildings were destroyed long ago), and we shall hope to talk of those writings some time, for they are of interest to boys and girls as well as grown people.
Perhaps some boy would like to read of how many horses and chariots this king had (1 Kings 4:2626And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. (1 Kings 4:26) and 10:26). Notice what this wise man said is the beginning of knowledge:
ML 01/01/1939