30 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KINGS 3 This chapter relates the marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh's daughter, 1 Kings 3:1; his piety and devotion, 1 Kings 3:2; his prayer for wisdom and understanding, which was acceptable to God, who promised to grant his request, with an addition to it, 1 Kings 3:5; an instance and proof of the wisdom given him in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt,.... Pharaoh was a common name of the kings of Egypt, of whom no mention is made in Scripture from the times of Moses until this time; which may seem strange, when it is considered that that kingdom was a potent one, and near the land of Canaan; but it was governed by a race of kings in this...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
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, ver. 1. II. A general view of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Only the people sacrificed in high places,.... On the tops of their houses, on hills and mountains, and particularly at the high place in Gibeon, where the tabernacle was: because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord until those days; to which they were obliged to repair as afterwards, and there offer their sacrifices, as the Lord...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon loved the Lord,.... The worship of the Lord, as the Targum: and which he showed by walking in the statutes of David his father; in which his father walked, which were the statutes of the Lord, or which he exhorted him to walk in, and were the same, 1 Kings 2:3; only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places; besides that at...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there,.... About four or five miles from Jerusalem; [See comments on 1 Kings 2:28]; for that [was] the great high place; not that the place itself might be higher than others that were used; but here were the tabernacle of Moses, and the altar; so that it was a more dignified place, and more sacred because...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon said,.... In his dream; not that he dreamt he said, when he did not; but he really said, as follows: thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy; bestowed many favours and blessings upon him, both temporal and spiritual: according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father,.... Removed by death, in whose stead he reigned by the appointment of God, and through his overruling providence, notwithstanding the attempts made to prevent it, and therefore to God he ascribes it: and I [am but] a little child; not in age and stature, but in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thy servant [is] in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen,.... To be his special and peculiar people above all people on the earth; this is not to be understood locally, though Jerusalem, where his palace was, was in the middle of the land; but of the exercise of his office, he being placed over the people, and among them, and having...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people,.... Not an understanding of things spiritual, nor of things natural, though both were given him, but of things political, what related to the civil government, that he might be able to judge or rule the people of Israel in the best manner: that I may discern between good and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Understanding in the affairs of civil government; since he had respect not to his own private benefit and advantage, but the good of the people he governed, and the honour and glory of God, who had set him over them, they being his chosen people, and whose vicegerent he was.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God said unto him,.... Being yet in a dream: because thou hast asked this thing; wisdom for government: and hast not asked for thyself long life; which is naturally desired by men, and always reckoned a great temporal blessing, and especially to be wished for by a king living in great pomp and splendour: neither hast asked riches for thyself;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I have done according to thy words,.... Expressed in his request: he not only promised he would grant him it, but he had already done it, or at least had begun to do it: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; had greatly increased his wisdom and understanding in things political, things respecting civil government, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked,.... That is, intended to give him, and now promised it, and was about to bestow it on him: both riches and honour; the former through the presents and tribute of the nations about him, and his trading to foreign parts; and the latter chiefly through his wisdom, the fame of which was spread...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And if thou wilt walk in my ways,.... Prescribed and directed to in his word, to keep my statutes and my commandments; ceremonial, moral, and judicial: as thy father David did walk; which Solomon himself had observed, 1 Kings 3:6; and whose walk was worthy of his imitation: then I will lengthen thy days; the other promises of riches and honour are...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Solomon awoke, and, behold, [it was] a dream,.... Not that it was nothing but a dream, a natural one, a vain and empty one, but a divine and supernatural one, a dream of prophecy, as the Jews call it, or a prophetic dream; a true one, which had its fall accomplishment in him, the truth of which he perceived as soon as he awoke; for he found...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then came there two women [that] were harlots unto the king,.... The same day, as Abarbinel thinks, the night before which the Lord had appeared to Solomon; this came to pass through the providence of God, that there should be immediately an instance and proof of the wisdom and understanding the Lord had given to Solomon; these women, according to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the one woman said,.... Who was the plaintiff: O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; pointing to the defendant, who stood by her: and I was delivered of a child with her in the house; she being present at the delivery, and she only, as it should seem.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, the third day after I was delivered,.... Of a child, as before expressed: that this woman was delivered also; of another child; and being both of the same sex, both sons, as afterwards appears; and being so nearly of an age, it was difficult to distinguish them; and we [were] together; [there was] no stranger with us in the...