1 Kings 3

1 Kings 3 is the third chapter of 1 Kings. In 1 Kings 2, David dies and Solomon secures his hold on the throne. This chapter recounts how Solomon's reign then began.

Outline

• Verses 1–3: Solomon marries the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and brings her into the city of David. Because no temple has yet been built, the people sacrifice at the high places. Solomon, too, loves the LORD, yet he sacrifices and burns incense at the high places.
• Verses 4–9: Solomon offers a thousand burnt offerings at the high place of Gibeon. That night the LORD appears to him in a dream and invites him to ask what He should give him. Solomon humbly calls himself "a little child" and asks for an understanding heart to judge the people.
• Verses 10–15: God promises him a wise and understanding heart and, in addition, the riches and honor he did not ask for. He also promises to lengthen Solomon's days if he walks as David did. When Solomon awakes from the dream, he offers burnt offerings and peace offerings before the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem and holds a feast.
• Verses 16–28: Two harlots quarrel over a living child. When the king orders that the child be divided with a sword, one woman pleads that the child be kept alive and given to the other, while the other says to divide it. The king rules that the first woman is the mother, and all Israel, hearing of the judgment, fears the king.

Key Verses

Quotations follow the King James Version.

• 1 Kings 3:5 "Ask what I shall give thee" — God's question, which drives the chapter.
• 1 Kings 3:9 "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart" — the heart of Solomon's prayer, frequently cited as a model of prayer for wisdom.
• 1 Kings 3:28 "The wisdom of God was in him" — this verse makes clear that the judgment episode is evidence that the earlier promise had been fulfilled.

People and Places

• Solomon: son of David and the third king of Israel.
• Pharaoh's daughter: an Egyptian princess who became Solomon's wife. The text does not give her name.
• The two women: the text calls them only "harlots" and does not name them.
• City of David: the citadel district within Jerusalem that David captured.
• Gibeon: a town northwest of Jerusalem where there was a great high place.
• High place: a site of sacrifice located on elevated ground.

Points for Reflection

• Interpretations differ on the word "only" in verse 3. Some read it as the author of Kings expressing regret over sacrifice at the high places; others regard the practice as unavoidable because the temple had not yet been built.
• Some interpreters read the marriage to Pharaoh's daughter as foreshadowing the account of Solomon's foreign wives in chapter 11.
• A parallel to verses 4–15 appears in 2 Chronicles 1. Second Chronicles states that the tabernacle of the congregation was at Gibeon. The judgment story does not appear in Chronicles.
• Parts of the chapter are also read in connection with the New Testament. The prayer for wisdom is read together with James 1:5–6. The pattern in which Solomon asks for what he ought to ask and the rest is added to him is often read together with Matthew 6:24–34.

In the Korean Church

• On the basis of verse 4, some churches practice the "thousand burnt offerings" (ilcheon beonje), in which worship, prayer, or financial offerings are made a thousand times. Critics within the church, however, argue that the text speaks only of offering many burnt sacrifices and that turning it into an offering drive departs from the meaning of the passage.
• "The Judgment of Solomon" in verses 16–28 is a story frequently used in Sunday school to teach about wisdom.