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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
F I R S T K I N G S
CHAP. III.
Solomon’s reign looked bloody in the foregoing chapter, but the
necessary acts of justice must not be called cruelty; in this chapter
it appears with another face. We must not think the worse of God’s
mercy to his subjects for his judgments on rebels. We have here,
I. Solomon’s marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter,
II. A general view of his religion,
III. A particular account of his prayer to God for wisdom, and the
answer to that prayer,
IV. A particular instance of his wisdom in deciding the controversy
between the two harlots,
And very great he looks here, both at the altar and on the bench, and
therefore on the bench because at the altar.
| Solomon Marries Pharaoh’s Daughter. | B. C. 1014. |
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1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and
took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David,
until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house
of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
2 Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was
no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.
3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David
his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
4 And 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.
We are here told concerning Solomon,
I. Something that was unquestionably good, for which he is to be
praised and in which he is to be imitated.
1. He loved the Lord,
v. 3.
Particular notice was taken of God’s love to him,
He had his name from it: Jedidiah–beloved of the Lord. And here
we find he returned that love, as John, the beloved disciple, was most
full of love. Solomon was a wise man, a rich man; yet the brightest
encomium of him is that which is the character of all the saints, even
the poorest, He loved the Lord, so the Chaldee; all that love
God love his worship, love to hear from him and speak to him, and so to
have communion with him.
2. He walked in the statutes of David his father, that is, in
the statutes that David gave him,
(his dying father’s charge was sacred, and as a law to him), or in
God’s statutes, which David his father walked in before him; he kept
close to God’s ordinances, carefully observed them and diligently
attended them. Those that trulylove God will make conscience of
walking in his statutes.
3. He was very free and generous in what he did for the honour of God.
When he offered sacrifice he offered like a king, in some proportion to
his great wealth, a thousand burnt-offerings,
v. 4.
Where God sows plentifully he expects to reap accordingly; and those
that truly love God and his worship will not grudge the expenses of
their religion. We may be tempted to say, To what purpose is this
waste? Might not these cattle have been given to the poor? But we
must never think that wasted which is laid out in the service of God.
It seems strange how so many beasts should be burnt upon one altar in
one feast, though it continued seven days; but the fire on the altar is
supposed to be more quick and devouring than common fire, for it
represented that fierce and mighty wrath of God which fell upon the
sacrifices, that the offerers might escape. Our God is a consuming
fire. Bishop Patrick quotes it as a tradition of the Jews that the
smoke of the sacrifices ascended directly in a straight pillar, and was
not scattered, otherwise it would have choked those that attended, when
so many sacrifices were offered as were here.
II. Here is something concerning which it may be doubted whether it was
good or no.
1. His marrying Pharaoh’s daughter,
v. 1.
We will suppose she was proselyted, otherwise the marriage would not
have been lawful; yet, if so, surely it was not advisable. He that
loved the Lord should, for his sake, have fixed his love upon
one of the Lord’s people. Unequal matches of the sons of God with the
daughters of men have often been of pernicious consequence; yet some
think that he did this with the advice of his friends, that she was a
sincere convert (for the gods of the Egyptians are not reckoned among
the strange gods which his strange wives drew him in to the worship of,
and that the book of
and the
were penned on this occasion, by which these nuptials were made typical
of the mystical espousals of the church to Christ, especially the
Gentile church.
2. His worshipping in the high places, and thereby tempting the people
to do so too,
Abraham built his altars on mountains
and worshipped in a grove,
Thence the custom was derived, and was proper, till the divine law
confined them to one place,
David kept to the ark, and did not care for the high places, but
Solomon, though in other things he walked in the statutes of his
father, in this came short of him. He showed thereby a great zeal
for sacrificing, but to obey would have been better. This was an
irregularity. Though there was as yet no house built, there was a tent
pitched, to the name of the Lord, and the ark ought to have been the
centre of their unity. It was so by divine institution; from it the
high places separated; yet while they worshipped God only, and in other
things according to the rule, he graciously overlooked their weakness,
and accepted their services; and it is owned that Solomon loved the
Lord, though he burnt incense in the high places, and let
not men be more severe than God is.
| God’s Appearance to Solomon. | B. C. 1014. |
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5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night:
and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
6 And 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.
7 And 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.
8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou
hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted
for multitude.
9 Give 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?
10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this
thing.
11 And 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;
12 Behold, 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.
13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked,
both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the
kings like unto thee all thy days.
14 And 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.
15 And 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.
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,
v. 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,
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,
v. 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,
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
and to private persons, for their own benefit,
These divine dreams, no doubt, were plainly distinguishable from those
in which there are divers vanities,
II. The gracious offer God made him of the favour he should choose,
whatever it might be,
v. 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,
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. vii. 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,
Ps. xvi. 7.
Now, in this prayer,
1. He acknowledges God’s great goodness to his father David,
v. 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,
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,
ch. ii. 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?
v. 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
(v. 9);
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart. He calls
himself God’s servant, pleased with that relation to God
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.
I am thy servant, give me understanding. An understanding heart
is God’s gift,
We must pray for it
(James i. 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
(v. 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,
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
(v. 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,
Matt. vi. 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,
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
(v. 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,
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,
He awoke, we may suppose in a transport of joy, awoke, and his sleep
was sweet to him, as the prophet speaks
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
and particularly,
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.
| The Wisdom of Solomon. | B. C. 1014. |
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16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the
king, and stood before him.
17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in
one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was
delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were
together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we
two in the house.
19 And this woman’s child died in the night; because she
overlaid it.
20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me,
while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid
her dead child in my bosom.
21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck,
behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning,
behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son,
and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is
thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the
king.
23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that
liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but
thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.
24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a
sword before the king.
25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give
half to the one, and half to the other.
26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the
king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my
lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the
other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child,
and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
28 And 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 judgment.
An instance is here given of Solomon’s wisdom, to show that the grant
lately made him had a real effect upon him. The proof is fetched, not
from the mysteries of state and the policies of the council-board,
though there no doubt he excelled, but from the trial and determination
of a cause between party and party, which princes, though they devolve
them upon their judges, must not think it below them to take cognizance
of. Observe,
I. The case opened, not by lawyers, but by the parties themselves,
though they were women, which made it the easier to such a piercing eye
as Solomon had to discern between right and wrong by their own showing.
These two women were harlots, kept a public house, and their children,
some think, were born of fornication, because here is no mention of
their husbands. It is probable the cause had been heard in the inferior
courts, before it was brought before Solomon, and had been found
special, the judges being unable to determine it, that Solomon’s wisdom
in deciding it at last might be the more taken notice of. These two
women, who lived in a house together, were each of them delivered of a
son within three days of one another,
They were so poor that they had no servant or nurse to be with them, so
slighted, because harlots, that they had no friend or relation to
accompany them. One of them overlaid her child, and, in the night,
exchanged it with the other
(v. 19, 20),
who was soon aware of the cheat put upon her, and appealed to public
justice to be righted,
See,
1. What anxiety is caused by little children, how uncertain their lives
are, and to how many dangers they are continually exposed. The age of
infancy is the valley of the shadow of death; and the lamp of life,
when first lighted, is easily blown out. It is a wonder of mercy that
so few perish in the perils of nursing.
2. How much better it was in those times with children born in
fornication than commonly it is now. harlots then loved their
children, nursed them, and were loth to part with them; whereas now
they are often sent to a distance, abandoned, or killed. But thus is
was foretold that in the last days perilous times should come,
when people should be without natural affection,
II. The difficulty of the case. The question was, Who was the mother of
this living child, which was brought into court, to be finally adjudged
either to the one or to the other? Both mothers were vehement in their
claim, and showed a deep concern about it. Both were peremptory in
their asseverations: “It is mine,” says one. “Nay, it is mine,” says
the other. Neither will own the dead child, though it would be cheaper
to bury that than to maintain the other: but it is the living one they
strive for. The living child is therefore the parent’s joy because it
is their hope; and may not the dead children be so? See
Now the difficulty of the case was that there was no evidence on either
side. The neighbours, though it is probable that some of them were
present at the birth and circumcision of the children, yet had not
taken so much notice of them as to be able to distinguish them. To put
the parties to the rack would have been barbarous; not she who had
justice on her side, but she who was most hardy, would have had the
judgment in her favour. Little stress is to be laid on extorted
evidence. Judges and juries have need of wisdom to find out truth when
it thus lies hid.
III. The determination of it. Solomon, having patiently heard what both
sides had to say, sums up the evidence,
And now the whole court is in expectation what course Solomon’s wisdom
will take to find out the truth. One knows not what to say to it;
another, perhaps, would determine it by lot. Solomon calls for a sword,
and gives orders to divide the living child between the two contenders.
Now,
1. This seemed a ridiculous decision of the case, and a brutal cutting
of the knot which he could not untie. “Is this,” think the sages of the
law, “the wisdom of Solomon?” little dreaming what he aimed at in it.
The hearts of kings, such kings, are unsearchable,
Prov. xxv. 3.
There was a law concerning the dividing of a living ox and a dead one.
but that did not reach this case. But,
2. It proved an effectual discovery of the truth. Some think that
Solomon did himself discern it, before he made this experiment, by the
countenances of the women and their way of speaking: but by this he
gave satisfaction to all the company, and silenced the pretender. To
find out the true mother, he could not try which the child loved best,
and must therefore try which loved the child best; both pretended to a
motherly affection, but their sincerity will be tried when the child is
in danger.
(1.) She that knew the child was not her own, but in contending for it
stood upon a point of honour, was well content to have it divided. She
that had overlaid her own child cared not what became of this, so that
the true mother might not have it: Let it be neither mine nor thine,
but divide it. By this it appeared that she knew her own title to
be bad, and feared Solomon would find it so, though she little
suspected she was betraying herself, but thought Solomon in good
earnest. If she had been the true mother she would not have forfeited
her interest in the child by agreeing so readily to this bloody
decision. But,
(2.) She that knew the child was her own, rather than the child should
be butchered, gives it up to her adversary. How feelingly does she cry
out, O, my lord! give her the living child,
v. 26.
“Let me see it hers, rather than not see it at all.” By this tenderness
towards the child it appeared that she was not the careless mother that
had overlaid the dead child, but was the true mother of the living one,
that could not endure to see its death, having compassion on the son of
her womb. “The case is plain,” says Solomon; “what need of witnesses?
Give her the living child; for you all see, by this undissembled
compassion, she is the mother of it.” Let parents show their
love to their children by taking care of them, especially by taking
care of their souls, and, with a holy violence, snatching them as
brands out of the burning. Those are most likely to have the comfort
of children that do their duty to them. Satan pretends to the heart of
man, but by this it appears that he is only a pretender, that he would
be content to divide with God, whereas the rightful sovereign of the
heart will have all or none.
IV. We are told what a great reputation Solomon got among his people by
this and other instances of his wisdom, which would have a great
influence upon the ease of his government: They feared the king
(v. 28),
highly reverenced him, durst not in any thing oppose him, and were
afraid of doing an unjust thing; for they knew, if ever it came before
him, he would certainly discover it, for they saw that the wisdom of
God was in him, that is, that wisdom with which God had promised to
endue him. This made his face to shine,
Eccl. viii. 1.
This strengthened him,
Eccl. vii. 19.
This was better to him than weapons of war,
Eccl. ix. 18.
For this he was both feared and loved.
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