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 determining a case between two harlots brought before him,...
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 mind, and in the exercise of grace; it was not a mere...
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 religion, ver. 2-4. III. A particular account of his...