The back story concerning our reading for today is as
follows:
Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh King of Egypt, and
married Pharaoh’s daughter: Marriage to fellow royalty was a common political
strategy in the ancient world, and continues to the modern age. It was not only
because royalty wanted to marry other royalty, but also because conflict
between nations was then avoided for the sake of family ties.
This was not Solomon’s first marriage. 1 Kings 14:21 tells
us that his son Rehoboam came to the throne when he was 41 years old, and 1
Kings 11:42 tells us that Solomon reigned 40 years. This means that Rehoboam
was born to his mother, a wife of Solomon named Naamah the Amonitess, before he
came to the throne and before he married this daughter of Pharaoh.
Solomon’s multiple marriages, and marriages to foreign
women, would cause great disaster in his life. Later in the Book of Nehemiah,
Nehemiah was angry and frustrated because the people of Israel married with the
pagan nations around them. In rebuking the guilty, Nehemiah remembered
Solomon’s bad example: So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of
them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “You shall
not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for
your sons or yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things?
Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God;
and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him
to sin. Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing
against our God by marrying pagan women?” (Nehemiah 13:25-27).
The foreign wives made Solomon more than a bad example –
they ruined his spiritual life. But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as
well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites,
Sidonians, and Hittites; from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the
children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you.
Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to
these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred
concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon
was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was
not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David (1 Kings
11:1-4).
1 Kings 11:4 says this only happened when Solomon was old,
but the pattern was set with this first marriage to the Egyptian princess. It
perhaps made political sense, but not spiritual sense. “Such arranged marriages
were a common confirmation of international treaties, but this one was the
beginning of Solomon’s spiritual downfall”
2 Samuel 3:3 tells us that David married the daughter of a
foreign king: Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur. Marrying a
foreign woman was not against the Law of Moses – if she became a convert to the
God of Israel. What did not ruin David did ruin Solomon.[2]
1 Kings 3:4-15—
As King Solomon begins his rule over Israel, he asks the Lord for an understanding
heart. He could have asked for anything and received it, yet as he begins his
reign as king he asks the Lord for discretion and discernment. See how the Lord
responds in verse 13, “I will give you
what you have not asked for.” See Jesus’ promise in Luke 12:31
The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream: This remarkable
visitation from God happened in a dream. This is one of the more significant
dreams in the Bible.
Ask! What
shall I give you. This was an amazing promise. God
seemed to offer Solomon whatever he wanted. This wasn’t only because Solomon
sacrificed 1,000 animals; it was because his heart was surrendered to God, and
God wanted to work something in Solomon through this offer and his response.
The natural reaction to reading this promise of God to
Solomon is to wish we had such a promise. We do have them.
Ask, and
it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened
to you. (Matthew 7:7)
If you
abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it
shall be done for you. (John 15:7)
Now this
is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His
will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14)
You have
shown great mercy Before responding to God’s offer
and asking for something, Solomon remembered God’s faithfulness to both David
and now to Solomon himself.
But I am a
little child Solomon was not really the age of a
child. He came to God in great humility, especially considering the job in
front of him.
“The statement is actually Solomon’s poetic way of
expressing his inadequacies as he faced the awesome tasks of leadership.”
Solomon didn’t have the false humility that said, “I can’t
do this, so I won’t even try.” His attitude was, “The job is so much bigger
than me; I must rely on God.”
Give to
Your servant an understanding heart.
Solomon asked for more than great knowledge; he wanted understanding, and he wanted
it in his heart, not merely in his head. Actually, the ancient Hebrew word
translated understanding is literally, “hearing.” Solomon wanted a hearing
heart, one that would listen to God.
In Ephesians 1:18, the Apostle Paul prayed for Christians, asking
that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.
To judge
Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. Solomon already understood that a key component of
leadership is wise and just discernment. Many leaders do not have this discernment
or the courage to use it.
Prayers for a New Year–O Lord
Christ, our Savior dear, Be Thou ever near us. Grant us now a glad new year.
Amen. Jesus hear us!
[1] Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Schnorr von Carolsfeld, woodcuts copyright © WELS Permission to use these copyrighted items is limited to personal and congregational use.
[3] Prayers for a New Year, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
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