---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  1 Kings 3"
description: "CHAPTER 3   :-. SOLOMON MARRIES
PHARAOH"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/1-kings/3"
---

CHAPTER 3

. SOLOMON MARRIES
PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER.

**1. Solomon made affinity with
Pharaoh**—This was a royal title, equivalent to "sultan,"
and the personal name of this monarch is said to have been Vaphres.
The formation, on equal terms, of this matrimonial alliance with the
royal family of Egypt, shows the high consideration to which the
Hebrew kingdom had now arisen. Rosellini has given, from the Egyptian
monuments, what is supposed to be a portrait of this princess. She
was received in the land of her adoption with great eclat; for the
Song of Solomon and the forty-fifth Psalm are supposed to have been
composed in honor of this occasion, although they may both have a
higher typical reference to the introduction of the Gentiles into the
church.
**and brought her into the city
of David**—that is, Jerusalem. She was not admissible into the
stronghold of Zion, the building where the ark was ([Deuteronomy 23:7](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/23/7);
[Deuteronomy 23:8](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/23/8)). She seems to have been
lodged at first in his mother's apartments ([Song of Solomon 3:4](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/3/4);
[Song of Solomon 8:2](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/8/2)), as a suitable residence
was not yet provided for her in the new palace ([1 Kings 7:8](../../../kjv/1-kings/7/8);
[1 Kings 9:24](../../../kjv/1-kings/9/24); [2 Chronicles 8:11](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/8/11)).
**building . . . the wall of
Jerusalem round about**—Although David had begun ([2 Chronicles 8:11](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/8/11)), it was, according to JOSEPHUS,
reserved for Solomon to extend and complete the fortifications of the
city. It has been questioned whether this marriage was in conformity
with the law (see [Exodus 34:16](../../../kjv/exodus/34/16);
[Deuteronomy 7:3](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/7/3); [Ezra 10:1-10](../../../kjv/ezra/10/1-10);
[Nehemiah 13:26](../../../kjv/nehemiah/13/26)). But it is nowhere
censured in Scripture, as are the connections Solomon formed with
other foreigners ([Nehemiah 13:26](../../../kjv/nehemiah/13/26)); whence it may be inferred that he had stipulated for her
abandonment of idolatry, and conforming to the Jewish religion
([Psalms 45:10](../../../kjv/psalms/45/10); [Psalms 45:11](../../../kjv/psalms/45/11)).
[Psalms 45:11](../../../kjv/psalms/45/11). HIGH PLACES
BEING IN USE,
HE SACRIFICES
AT GIBEON.

**3. And Solomon loved the Lord**—This
declaration, illustrated by what follows, affords undoubted evidence
of the young king's piety; nor is the word "only," which
prefaces the statement, to be understood as introducing a qualifying
circumstance that reflected any degree of censure upon him. The
intention of the sacred historian is to describe the generally
prevailing mode of worship before the temple was built. The
**high places** were altars
erected on natural or artificial eminences, probably from the idea
that men were brought nearer to the Deity. They had been used by the
patriarchs, and had become so universal among the heathen that they
were almost identified with idolatry. They were prohibited in the law
([Leviticus 17:3](../../../kjv/leviticus/17/3); [Leviticus 17:4](../../../kjv/leviticus/17/4);
[Deuteronomy 12:13](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/12/13); [Deuteronomy 12:14](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/12/14);
[Jeremiah 7:31](../../../kjv/jeremiah/7/31); [Ezekiel 6:3](../../../kjv/ezekiel/6/3);
[Ezekiel 6:4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/6/4); [Hosea 10:8](../../../kjv/hosea/10/8)).
But, so long as the tabernacle was migratory and the means for the
national worship were merely provisional, the worship on those high
places was tolerated. Hence, as accounting for their continuance, it
is expressly stated ([1 Kings 3:2](../../../kjv/1-kings/3/2))
that God had not yet chosen a permanent and exclusive place for his
worship.

**4. the king went to Gibeon to
sacrifice there**—The old tabernacle and the brazen altar which
Moses had made in the wilderness were there ([1 Chronicles 16:39](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/16/39);
[1 Chronicles 21:29](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/21/29); [2 Chronicles 1:3-6](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/1/3-6)).
The royal progress was of public importance. It was a season of
national devotion. The king was accompanied by his principal nobility
([2 Chronicles 1:2](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/1/2)); and, as the occasion
was most probably one of the great annual festivals which lasted
seven days, the rank of the offerer and the succession of daily
oblations may help in part to account for the immense magnitude of
the sacrifices.

**5. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to
Solomon in a dream**—It was probably at the close of this season,
when his mind had been elevated into a high state of religious fervor
by the protracted services. Solomon felt an intense desire, and he
had offered an earnest petition, for the gift of wisdom. In sleep his
thoughts ran upon the subject of his prayer, and he dreamed that God
appeared to him and gave him the option of every thing in the
world—that he asked wisdom, and that God granted his request (). His dream was but an imaginary repetition of his former
desire, but God's grant of it was real.
. HE CHOOSES
WISDOM.

**6. Solomon said**—that is, had
dreamed that he said.

**7. I am but a little child**—not
in age, for he had reached manhood () and must have been at least twenty years old; but he was raw
and inexperienced in matters of government.

**10. the speech pleased the Lord**—It
was Solomon's waking prayers that God heard and requited, but the
acceptance was signified in this vision.

**15. behold, it was a dream**—The
vivid impression, the indelible recollection he had of this dream,
together with the new and increased energy communicated to his mind,
and the flow of worldly prosperity that rushed upon him, gave him
assurance that it came by divine inspiration and originated in the
grace of God. The wisdom, however, that was asked and obtained was
not so much of the heart as of the head—it was wisdom not for
himself personally, but for his office, such as would qualify him for
the administration of justice, the government of a kingdom, and for
the attainment of general scientific knowledge.
. HIS JUDGMENT
BETWEEN TWO
HARLOTS.

**16. Then came there two
women**—Eastern monarchs, who generally administer justice in
person, at least in all cases of difficulty, often appeal to the
principles of human nature when they are at a loss otherwise to find
a clue to the truth or see clearly their way through a mass of
conflicting testimony. The modern history of the East abounds with
anecdotes of judicial cases, in which the decision given was the
result of an experiment similar to this of Solomon upon the natural
feelings of the contending parties.

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