Solomon loved the Lord. 1 Kings 3:3 Love begets love H. Drummond. It is a process of induction. Put a piece of iron in the presence of an electrified body, and that piece of iron for a time becomes electrified. It is changed into a temporary magnet in the mere presence of a permanent magnet, and as long as you leave the two side by side they are both magnets alike. Remain side by side with Christ who loved us, and you, too, will become a permanent, attractive force. This is the inevitable effect of love. ( H. Drummond. ) Love must be paid in kind "As water is cast into a pump, when the springs lie low, to bring up more water, so God sheddeth abroad His love into our hearts, that our love may rise up to Him again by way of gratitude and recompense." How idle is it. then, to hope to chide ourselves into loving God! The price of love is love; the origin of it is not found in law or in a sense of duty, but in love, or a return of gratitude. When the sun of eternal love melts the glaciers of the soul, then the rivers of affection flow; but if the rocks of ice could all be broken to shivers with hammers, not a drop of affection would stream forth. Only a sense of Divine love will ever create love to God in the heart. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) The Lord appeared again to Solomon in a dream. 1 Kings 3:5-15 Dreams indicate character Hugh Black, M. A. Tell me your dreams, and I will read the riddle of your life. Tell me your prayers, and I will write the history of a soul. Tell me your askings, and I will tell you your gettings. Tell me what you seek, and I will tell you what you are. I do not wish to know your possessions — only your wants. I do not care to know what you have — only what you have not, and desire to have; not your attainments, but what you have not yet attained and follow after. That Which comes to you in your victories by day and your dreams by night, the ideal you set before you, the things which you approve as excellent, what you seek after and have given your heart to, these are the measure of the man. In a truer sense than Shakespeare meant, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on." They have no price in the market, but they, and they alone, give worth and dignity to life. ( Hugh Black, M. A. ) The duty, nature, and blessings of prayer R. P. Buddicom, M. A. I. THE DUTY OF PRAYER. It is a fundamental law of our nature, on the mere supposition that there is a God in heaven, to ask His help. It is the plain, practical demonstration of our manifold obligations to God, of our own impotence, misery, and dependence; of Him as the source of all our hopes, and the one open, all-sufficient fountain of every blessing of peace and purity and power. II. THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 1. It must be the utterance and the feeling of earnestness and fervour, under the sense of helplessness, misery, and sin, under the persuasion that if God help us not, there is no store whence shall man help us. 2. True supplication, to which God hath linked a blessing, is patient, abiding, persevering. 3. Confidence in God is an essential element in gracious and acceptable prayer. It does no honour to Him to adopt us into His family, that we should be unwilling on the one hand, or afraid on the other, to lay our wants, our wishes, nay our sins, freely before Him. As we have a new and living way into the Holiest, by the blood of Jesus, we may be sure that our entrance thither must be acceptable unto God. III. THE BLESSINGS OF PRAYER. Answers shall be returned. When God said to Solomon, "Ask what I shall give thee," He never meant to mock the youthful monarch.s petition. The words of Truth Eternal are fully and for ever pledged. "Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Prayer, truly, fervently, and faithfully made, is like the bow of Jonathan, it never returns empty. ( R. P. Buddicom, M. A. ) Lonely communion in view of great duty H. O. Mackey. In Mrs. Crawford's recent story of the late Queen Victoria's life, she tells the following incident: After the stately and imposing Coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey, Her Majesty returned to her mother the Duchess of Kent. When they were quite alone she said, "I suppose, mamma, it must be true that I am Queen of England?" "Yes, love, you see that you are." "Well, then, I have a request to make. I want to be alone and undisturbed for one hour." She was left alone. How she spent that hour has never transpired. But surely we can guess. The young Queen was surely holding fellowship with the King of Kings, seeking His help for her overwhelming responsibilities. Before our Lord chose His twelve apostles "He went into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." How much more need have we to bring all our plans and purposes to Him? ( H. O. Mackey. ) A Prince at prayer Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, when in his camp before Werben, had been alone, at one time, in the cabinet of his pavilion some hours together, and none of his attendants at these seasons durst interrupt him. At length, however, a favourite of his having some important matter to tell him, came softly to the door, and, looking in, beheld the king very devoutly on his knees at prayer. Fearing to molest him in that exercise, he was about to withdraw his head, when the king espied him, and, bidding him come in, said, "Thou wondetest to see me in this posture, since I have so many thousands of subjects to pray for me; but I tell thee that no man has more need to pray for himself than he who, having to render an account of his actions to none but God, is, for that reason, more closely assaulted by the devil than all other men besides." Effectual prayer Homilist. The passage before us is the record of a dream which this great man had one night at Gibeon, a place celebrated in the Old Testament but not mentioned in the New, and whose geographical position cannot be determined with any certainty now. There are two things very noteworthy in this dream. 1. The blending of the human and Divine. There is much that you can trace to Solomon's own mind in the nocturnal vision recorded here.(1) It seemed to be according to the measure of his capacity. He was a large-minded man, and the dream is on a large scale. There is nothing mean or small about it. Solomon's great soul took within the ample range of its imagination the whole Jewish nation, the Eternal Ruler of the universe, the righteous providence of Heaven, and the everlasting principles of moral obligation.(2) It seemed to be also according to the moral state of his mind. The dream is thoroughly religious. As the religious sentiment had flooded his nature in the day, it worked his imagination in the night. It is generally thus Our dreams grow out of the waking thoughts that have most impressed us.(3) It seemed to be, moreover, according to the strongest desire of his heart. He felt that to take the place of his father David, and direct the destinies of Israel, he required that wisdom which God alone could bestow. So far, we see the human in this dream; but the Divine is manifestly here too. 2. The suggested conditions of successful prayer. The prayer of his dream was answered in his actual history. I. THAT EFFECTIVE PRAYER MUST BE DIVINELY AUTHORISED. At the beginning of the dream Solomon received an authority to pray. "And God said, Ask what I shall give thee." Such an authority is evidently a necessary condition Unless the Eternal gave us a warrant to address Him, our appeals would be impious and fruitless. Have we, the men of this age, a Divine authority for praying? If not, our appeals to Heaven are worse than idle breath. "Ask what I shall give thee." 1. This authority to call upon God in prayer agrees with our religious instincts. Prayer in some form or other is the natural cry of the soul the child in distress does not more naturally look to his fond parent for help, than the human soul in sore trouble and danger looks to the heavens for aid. Even men who in theory deny the existence of a God, urged by this instinct will cry to Him in danger. 2. This authority to call upon God in prayer is encouraging to our hope as sinners. II. THAT EFFECTIVE PRAYER MUST BE EARNESTLY SPIRITUAL. By this we mean that spiritual interest must reign supreme, that spiritual motives must be predominant. It was so now with Solomon in his prayer. III. THAT EFFECTIVE PRAYER MUST BE THOROUGHLY UNSELFISH. What he prayed for was "an understanding heart"; and he prayed for that, not that it might serve his own interest, but in order, as he says, "to judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad." ( Homilist. ) The first thing to do C. S. Robinson, D. D. When into any Old Testament incident there can be pressed the whole significance of a New Testament precept, the study of both becomes a still more eager pursuit. Thus we know that God is the same in character, and the Gospel m the same in purpose, through all the ages. I. EVERY REVELATION OF DIVINE GRACE IS DEFINITELY CONDITIONED UPON PRAYER AS THE INSTRUMENT OF ITS ATTAINMENT. Evidently God is purposing to do him a great favour; but all that the voice says is that he is to "ask" before anything is to be granted. God says "ask," and Jesus says "seek." Only we ought to remember that we in an age of blessedness and light, we in these latter times of clearer revelation, have one supreme advantage over those who sought their help under the teaching of that former dispensation; this is no longer a dream-voice that we hear from heaven, but the intelligible living message from the lips of God's Son. II. REMINISCENCES OF PREVIOUS HELP ARE AN EXCELLENT ADVANTAGE IN PREPARATION FOR PRESENT PETITION. When we find so young a king referring to former histories in the household and the realm, it becomes clear that he kept his eyes open and his mind thoughtful while the story of Absalom and Mephibosheth in the old times was working itself out. III. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF REAL NEED IN CARRYING OUT THE LORD.S PURPOSES IS A FORCIBLE ARGUMENT FOR IMPORTUNITY IN SUPPLICATION. IV. A WEIGHTY RESPONSIBILITY IN DUTIES CONSTITUTES A MOTIVE FOR ASKING GOD TO INTERPOSE WITH HIS BENEDICTION OF HELP. A burden of care is His reason for seeking audience with his King. V. THE FIRST THING TO BE ASKED FOR IN GOD'S GRACE IS A NEW AND "UNDERSTANDING HEART." The idea here is a heart of discrimination, a power to discern conscientiously between right and wrong, and to pronounce unerringly for the right. VI. HE WILL QUICKLY SUCCEED IN LIFE WHO HAS THE TESTIMONY THAT HE PLEASES GOD. From these words any one could predict the future of this young king; for the Lord announced Himself his friend. VII. We may learn, once more, that A NEW HEART, WISE AND UNDERSTANDING, IS A BETTER BENEDICTION THAN ANY OTHER WHICH HUMAN WISHES COULD DESIRE. VIII. WITH THIS CHIEF BLESSING OF A NEW HEART SOUGHT AND GAINED, GOD GRANTS EVERYTHING ELSE THAT IS NEEDED. Solomon took occasion a long time afterwards to put this thought in among his Proverbs. IX. WITH PRESENT ANSWERS TO PRAYER ALWAYS COME ASSURANCES OF CONTINUED LOVE AND GRACE TO THE FAITHFUL FOR THE FUTURE. The great was right when once he exclaimed, " We must hold our empty vessel to the mouth of so large a fountain." And indeed, if God.s covenant engagements have so fine an indorsement that they will circulate as petitions, it would be well to use them literally and often. It was the lamented Humphrey who was said to have had the power of weaving together the Scripture promises so appropriately into his prayers that his exercises of devotion seemed like cloth of gold. ( C. S. Robinson, D. D. ) True aims and false aims H. Evans. The men whose names the world will not willingly let die are those who find in others. good their chiefest, greatest joy. The names of self-gratifiers, self-seekers die out. They lay hold for a time of the memories of men, but never of what is firmer, their respect. Selfishness never has imbibed life from the principle of immortality. The men who come up to the height of a great choice "Give me these that I may judge Thy people, that I may civilise, that I may educate, that I may evangelise, that I may bless my generation" — their names become the echo, ever sounding throughout the ages of the sacrifice they once chose to make for others. I. GOD DOES COME TO EVERY ONE SAYING, "CHOOSE WHAT I SHALL GIVE THEE." Goethe said that he admired the man who knew precisely what he aimed at in life. God wishes you at the commencement of your career to come up to the height of a great choice. You have all read Carlyle's description of the Sphinx sitting by the wayside propounding her riddles to every one that passed; and if the passer-by answered correctly it was well for him, but if he did not answer the riddle he was destroyed on the spot. I have watched young men and others, and I say that life comes to every man in this world with its riddle, and if he answers it aright it is well with him, but if he tries to go on neglecting the commandments of the Giver of life; if he tries to go on living in his own way, and not in God's way, life to him will be a thing of loss, and he will become an object to be wept over. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." One of the latest discoveries I have read of is a spy-glass by means of which a man can see the sunken ships in all quiet seas. Oh that I could put a glass in the hand of every young man that would enable him to see the wrecks of the last twelve months in this great population! It would wring a prayer from your heart this minute — the very prayer of young Solomon, "Give me therefore an understanding heart, that I may discern between good and bad." It must begin with the heart. "The pure in heart alone can see God"; and if you cannot see God in the world, you cannot see anything else in its true proportions. There are only two kinds of companions, and if you play and dally with the wicked companions woe be to you. One rotten apple affects the whole store, one putrid grape will spoil the sound cluster, one sinner destroyeth much good. Why should you read a bad book? You will be sorry for it, perhaps, in twenty years, as Angell James was. If you read a corrupt book, a bad book, you will hang up a picture in your mind that you can never turn to the wall, that you can never pull down. And why should you do it, with all the noble literature that is about you? It was a splendid motto for you, that saying of John Foster, "This soul of mine shall rule this body of mine, or else quit it; I will not be here a tenant unless I am a master." We are placed here naked as the giant of fable to wrestle with the rude elements of the world, to conquer in the midst of its varied probation; but remember this, no devil nor devil's child can ever cast you down without your own consent. II. If any one comes up to this choice, or chooses a right aim in life, it will be said of him, as it was here said of young Solomon, "AND THE SPEECH PLEASED THE LORD that Solomon had asked this thing." It was this thing in contrast to three other things that he had rejected. He rejected the false, and the false are here enumerated: "Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life." Then is that a wrong desire? Well, it is a nobler thing to act well your part than to be constantly thinking of living a long life. Religion is unquestionably favourable to length of days, but it is a very low aim of life to be constantly nursing yourself, and to be thinking of yourself. Life is not measured by length of days. Old Methuselah lived to 900 years, and never said a word worth putting down in the Bible. He lived for nine centuries and never did a single act worth reporting. He vegetated like a tree that was not living. Then it pleased the Lord, "Because thou didst neither ask riches for thyself." Then is it wrong for us to desire riches? As the great absorbing passion in life it is wrong. It pleased the Lord, "Neither hast thou asked the life of thine enemies." They say that it is the sweetest thing in life to have revenge upon an enemy. Another has said, "Revenge is mine, saith the Lord." And I thank heaven for that, or else public men would not live twelve months. Christianity is the only religion that teaches all men to give over their vengeance to the Lord. It is said that Leclair, the great critic, was one day going along the streets of Paris, and he trod on the foot of a young man; the young man at once raised his hand and struck him a blow in the face. Leclair turned round quietly, and said, "Sir, you will be sorry that you have done that, when you know that I am blind." He could have cut off his hand. II. THE REASONS ARE HERE ASSIGNED WHY IT PLEASED THE LORD that Solomon rejected the false and chose the true aim in life. 1. Because he chose what enabled him to be serviceable to others. Our great poet has told us that Heaven does with us as we do with torches, not light them for themselves. We are lit in order to be the light of the world, and it can be said of every other life that "the game is not worth the candle." 2. Again, it pleased the Lord because he chose to walk in the statutes of a good father, and so to encourage him in his last days in his faith in God's covenant. 3. It pleased the Lord because he chose God Himself as his portion rather than all His gifts. "And Solomon loved the Lord." Young men, trust the Lord, there is honour in the Lord. He will give you more than you ask, abundantly more. ( H. Evans. ) Solomon's choice J. MacNeill. The Gospel means, not that these old visions have vanished away, but that all that was true and substantial in them has simply been, as in a painting, made to stand out in greater vividness and nearness. The Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel stands before us, and says, literally, "Ask what I shall give thee." The thing to notice is, that Solomon showed that, humanly speaking, he was worthy of this chance, by the way in which he did not jump forward and eagerly ask for some temporal thing. Solomon showed his wisdom, his preparation for the great largess of bounty in which God came to him, in the way in which he did not use his imperative of asking upon God's imperative of offer. He seems to take a round-about road. He started off and said, "Thou hast showed unto Thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked before Thee in truth and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with Thee." Strange — is it not? — that when God comes to him with this great offer, the first thing that springs before his mind is the image and memory, the life and character, of his father. Now, I want you to reflect before you make up your minds — to do what Solomon did. It was human and heavenly wisdom combined that made him look back and see what his father did. Solomon does not indulge in great praise nor in great depreciation. David was a man that you could have overpraised. You could have talked of David as if there was never such a man. And if you were the other kind of temperament, you could have found other things in David that would lead you to run him down. Now, Solomon did neither the one nor the other. Now, we are not asked to do more than Solomon did. I neither ask you to praise your father or mother up to the skies, nor to run them down; but if you look at them fairly you can strike this average, and say what Solomon said. When I look to those who stand immediately behind me, and have been living longer than I have, I can see what Solomon saw in his father, that religion was either the best or the worst thing about them. The best thing about your father was his religion, or it was the worst. If he was a true and real follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, that was the best. You are not asked to say he was perfect, but to know and rate him according to that. It may be he was only a hedger or ditcher; he may not have been a great man at all. But what was he before God? Solomon had this great advantage, that when he looked back on his father, the light that shined from his father's record would guide him to a right decision. If it is not so, the very dimness and darkness that comes from ungodly parents should be a beacon light to put you right where they went wrong. Do not despise your father; do not despise your mother. They know what life means, and you have all that to learn yet. Solomon said, "I can see the best thing about my father was this, he rose and prospered in so far as he walked in truth and sincerity before God, and I will try to do like him there. It was religion that made him the man he was." Do not despise the religion your father had, the religion that your mother had. Depend upon it, it was the very best legacy they left you. Solomon continues: "Thou hast made me king," etc. There he looked into himself, and he passed an opinion upon himself and his powers and attainments, which is so uncommon among young people. This is where the greatness of Solomon comes out. Would God he had always remained at this point. Now, what is wrong with some of you up to this hour is the want of that humility. Be not highminded. Then Solomon looked round about him: he prospected a bit. Out in America and Canada, that great country where fortunes are made, so they say, and lost whether they say it or not, men go into certain regions prospecting. They are wanting to open a mine, and they see what a certain region is like. They tap here and there to see if they are going to make a fortune out of its rocks. So Solomon was prospecting the future. He felt life here and there, and touched its current, and he passed this verdict upon it: "I am in the midst of Thy people, which Thou hast chosen; a great people." And I think he meant, "Life as far as I can prospect it is going to mean for me hard work and plenty of it." Am I saying that you have mean ability? No, but with the best ability you will not necessarily get on. Young girl, you are sweet and fair to-day; you will grow up, marry, fall into ill-health; you will have children, maybe, and that will bring you more trouble, and by the time you are forty-five or fifty years of age you will be bent and weary to get away. Life, for a great many of us, means that. One by one the gorgeous dreams of south disappear; the rosy hopes go out into blackness; the bright expectations illumine the horizon, and then fade into the light of common day; and even if you were kings upon a throne, life would mean what I have said already. Now, will you settle yourself for the work? Life means business, toil, trouble, sweat of body and brain. Brace yourself for it; gird yourself for it. Be sure that is what is coming. Then, after looking back to his father and summing him up, and summing himself up, and saying, There is nothing in me; and, after summing up life and saying it means duty, it means hard work, and plenty of it, then he looked up. You see the process — backward, inward, outward, upward. He said, "Give me a wise and an understanding heart; build me up just where I am broken down; put the plaister on the weak place; put in Thine own great almighty arm just where I need nothing less than almightiness to under. gird me." "And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing." That is just another way of asking to be converted. The Old Testament phraseology and the New Testament phraseology run into one. It. is just the same as saying, "O God, save me from my foolishness and wrong opinions, direct my unwary feet. O God, be Thou my sufficiency, my help." Will you choose God to-day? ( J. MacNeill. ) The wisdom of Solomon Homiletic Quarterly. I. THE HONOUR OF THIS PRECOCIOUS WISDOM IS PERHAPS DUE MORE TO DAVID THAN TO SOLOMON HIMSELF. His understanding, his feelings, his desires are what they are; in one word, he is what he is only because he has the inestimable privilege of succeeding much a father as King David. His dominant thought, from which spontaneously springs his prayer, is that of the immensity of his task and his incapacity to perform it. He feels his profound need of God's help. He learns to rely upon it. He has recourse to it with confidence. What a help to find in the memory of a father, as a second conscience accompanying us through life! Like the Polish King Boleslaus, who carried about with him the portrait of his father, and for whom it was enough, in cases of difficulty or peril, to cast a glance upon the revered image and say, "Boleslaus, thy father sees thee!" to recover his wisdom and courage about to forsake him. II. A PROPER DISTRUST OF HIMSELF, VERY RARE AT HIS AGE AND IN HIS CIRCUMSTANCES (vers. 7-9). It was no trifling matter to be called upon to govern so important and unmanageable a nation as Israel. Generally speaking, men see the pleasures and privileges of power before they are made aware of its duties. An exalted position is always an object of envy and ambition. But at the age when one casts on life that long look of confidence and hope, which smooths down beforehand all its difficulties, and takes in only its bright and sunny aspects; at the age when one believes and hopes all things, how many others would have become intoxicated with pride and self-confidence! III. HIS WISE APPRECIATION OF EARTHLY BLESSINGS. To this offer of the Almighty, "Ask what I shall give thee," who would not expect to hear a young man, scarcely yet seated on the throne, reply by demanding what men most desire on earth — a long and happy life, unlimited and undisputed power, a glorious reign, and unbounded wealth? Not so, however; Solomon begins life by wisely putting all these things in their proper place. There before us success, wealth, the open fountain of all earthly felicities, a choice to make from among the prizes which the world temptingly offers its elect. Who, having communed with himself, would say, "Lord, give me the wisdom and grace I need to accomplish faithfully Thy work here below! That is the limit of my desires; I would it were also the limit of Thy gifts"? I fancy I hear, bursting forth from the silence of your hearts some such prayers as these: "Lord, raise me above my fellow-men; give me, in the profession I have chosen, such facilities as will secure for me undisputed success; make me rise promptly to that fame which appears to me from afar as the sweetest of all enjoyments." That is a young man's prayer, no doubt. "Lord, give me all the outward advantages of beauty, grace, wit, all that gratifies vanity." That is, the prayer of a woman who perhaps does not think herself worldly-minded. "Lord, be pleased to increase by successful undertakings the patrimony I have received of my ancestors; assure me an exalted and wealthy station; grant that I may provide for my children such positions as will enable them to move in the highest circles of society." That is perhaps the inward request of a man of deep convictions, and well known in the field of Christian activity. I dare not proceed! God is wise not to lead us into temptation by permitting us, as he did Solomon, to pray for the satisfaction of our earthly desires. ( Homiletic Quarterly. ) The highest order of wisdom Alex. Whyte, D. D. Solomonic books have some incomparably splendid passages on wisdom; and if Solomon had fallen, and repented, and risen again, and begun again, till he ended in living up to his own sermons on wisdom, what a glory, both in sacred letters and in a holy life, Solomon's name would have been. "Wisdom," says Sir Henry Taylor, one of the wisest writers in the English language, "is not the same with understanding, talents, capacity, ability, sagacity, sense, or prudence — not the same with any one of these; neither will all these taken together make it up. Wisdom is that exercise of the reason into which the heart enters — a structure of the understanding rising out of the moral and spiritual nature. It is for this cause that a high order of wisdom, that is, a highly intellectual wisdom, is still more rare than a high order of genius. When they reach the very highest order they are one; for each includes the other, and intellectual greatness is matched with moral strength." And then this fine essayist goes on to point out how Solomon's great intellectual gifts, coupled as they were in him with such an appetite for enjoyment, together became his shipwreck. And Bishop Butler, though he does not, like Sir Henry Taylor, name Solomon, surely had him in his eye when he penned that memorable and alarming passage about those men who go over the theory of wisdom and virtue in their thoughts, talk well, and paint fine pictures of it, till their minds are hardened in a contrary course, and till they become more and more insensible to all moral considerations. ( Alex. Whyte, D. D. ) On the youth of Solomon A. Allison, LL. B. It is not from the peculiar situation of Solomon that the beauty of this memorable instance of devotion arises. 1. The charm of it chiefly consists in its suitableness to the season of youth; in its correspondence to the character and dispositions which distinguish that important age; and which no length of acquaintance with the world prevents us from wishing to find in the young.(1) It is suited, in the first place, we think, to the opening of human life — to that interesting season, when nature in all its beauty first opens on the view, and when the wisdom and goodness of the Almighty fall on the heart, unmingled and unimpaired.(2) It is suited, in the next place, to the nature of youthful imagination; to that love of excellence and perfection which nothing mortal ever can realise, and which can find only in the truths of religion the objects of which it is in search.(3) It is suited still more, perhaps, to the tenderness of young affections; to that sensibility which every instance of goodness can move; and to that warm and generous temper which meets everywhere with the objects of its gratitude or love.(4) But, most of all, it is suited to the innocence of the youthful mind, to that sacred purity which can lift its unpolluted hands to Heaven; which guilt hath not yet torn from confidence and hope in God. The feelings of piety, however, are not only natural and becoming in youth; they are still more valuable, as tending to the formation of future character; as affording the best and noblest school in which the mind may be trained to whatever is great or good in human nature. 2. The piety which is formed in youth has a different character, and leads to very different effects. It comes not, then, to terrify or to alarm, but to afford every high and pleasing prospect in which the heart can indulge, — to withdraw the veil which covers the splendours of the eternal mind, — to open that futurity which awakens all their desires to behold, and, in the sublime occupations of which they feel already, as by some secret inspiration, the home and destiny of their souls. At such a period, religion is not a service of necessity, but of joy.(1) The first advantage of youthful piety is that it tends to establish that tone and character of thought which is allied to every virtuous purpose.(2) It is a second advantage of early piety, that it presents those views of man, and of the ends of his being, which call forth the best powers of our nature.(3) It is the last advantage of early piety, that it affords those views of the providence of God which can best give support and confidence to conduct. ( A. Allison, LL. B. ) Wisdom Carlyle. To look through the shows of things, into things themselves. ( Carlyle. ) Solomon's choice Monday Club Sermons. I. EVERY NEW OPPORTUNITY DEMANDS A PECULIAR CHOICE. "Good" and "bad" are not changeable terms, yet in every new personal or public responsibility the sacred words seem to be spoken, "Ask what I shall give thee." As king, Solomon must make a new choice, differing from any he had hitherto made. In civil life this law everywhere obtains. The responsibilities of the judiciary differ widely from those of the executive, and these in turn from the legislative. The same question comes to each; but each case must call forth a peculiar answer. So, likewise, consider the different factors of society. No two persons can make the same reply. Each day's duties differ from all that have preceded, hence every day we must give answer to Him who speaks. The importance of our choice is emphasised by our power for good or evil. II. EVERY CHOICE INVOLVES CHARACTER. We are known by what we choose. A defective choice means a defective character. The choice of Solomon was good as far as it went; but it had relation merely to his kingly work, and only incidentally to himself. In some respects Israel's wisest king was the saddest of all scriptural characters. Notwithstandin

Benson Commentary 1 Kings 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 1 Kings 3:1 . Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh — As being a powerful neighbour. And took Pharaoh’s daughter — To wife, which was not unlawful, if she was first instructed in, and made a proselyte to, the Jewish religion, as, in all probability, she was. For Solomon was not yet fallen from God, but loved the Lord, and walked in the statutes of David, ( 1 Kings 3:3 ,) and therefore would not have married a gross idolater, which would have been directly contrary to God’s law, and most pernicious in its consequences. It is true he afterward loved many strange women, and the wives he married alienated his heart from Jehovah, and drew him in to worship strange gods: but the gods of the Egyptians are not reckoned among them, nor does it appear that Pharaoh’s daughter was one of the wives whose example or conversation had such a pernicious influence. On the contrary, it is likely she was a worshipper of the true God, and that Solomon’s taking her to wife was designed by God to be a type of Christ calling his church to himself and to the true religion, not only from among the Jews, but even out of the Gentile world. This, it is thought, plainly appears from the forty-fifth Psalm, and the book of Canticles. And brought her into the city of David — Into David’s palace there. Until he had made an end of building the house of the Lord — The temple designed for the worship and honour of God. And the wall of Jerusalem round about — Which, though in some sort built by David, yet Solomon is here said to build, either because he made it higher and stronger, in which sense Nebuchadnezzar is said to have built Babylon, ( Daniel 4:30 ,) or because he built another wall besides the former, for after this time Jerusalem was encompassed with more walls than one. 1 Kings 3:2 Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days. 1 Kings 3:2 . Only the people sacrificed in high places — Which were groves, or other convenient places upon hills. In such places the patriarchs had been wont to offer up their worship, and sacrifices to God; and from them this custom was derived both to the Gentiles and the Jews; and in them the Gentiles sacrificed to idols, and the Hebrews to the true God. But this custom was expressly forbidden by God to his people, except in some extraordinary cases, and they were commanded to offer their sacrifices and other oblations only in the place which the Lord should choose, and where his tabernacle, altar, and ark should be, Leviticus 17:3-5 ; Deuteronomy 12:10-14 . It is, therefore, here mentioned as an exception to Solomon’s integrity and glory, and the happiness of his reign, and as a blemish to his government, that he permitted and practised what was thus so expressly forbidden. Possibly he permitted it because he thought it better to allow of an error in a circumstance, than occasion a neglect of God’s worship altogether, which he apprehended would follow upon a severe prohibition of that practice. For the people’s hearts were generally and constantly set upon these high places, as appears from the following history; and they were not willing to submit to the trouble and charge which the bringing their sacrifices to one place would cause, nor, indeed, would they yield to it until the temple was built: and, as that was speedily to be done, Solomon seems to have thought it more advisable to delay enforcing obedience to God’s law in this point for the present, than by force to drive them to it. These, however, and all other prudential considerations, ought to have given place to the will and wisdom of God. Because there was no house built to the name of the Lord — For his service, and to the honour, and praise, and glory of his name; that is, of his majesty, and all his perfections, which were to be adored and manifested there. But this reason for their sacrificing in high places was not sufficient; because there was a tabernacle, to which they were as much confined as they were afterward to the temple. 1 Kings 3:3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 1 Kings 3:3 . And Solomon loved — Or, Yet he loved, the Lord — Although he miscarried in the matter of high places, yet, in the general, his heart was right with God. Walking in the statutes — According to the statutes or commands of God, which are here called the statutes of David; not only because they were diligently practised by David, but also because the observation of them was so earnestly pressed upon Solomon, and fortified with David’s authority and command. 1 Kings 3:4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. 1 Kings 3:4 . The king went to Gibeon — Because the tabernacle was there, and the great brazen altar which Moses made. For after Shiloh was destroyed, they were carried to Nob; and the priests being there slain by Saul, they were removed to Gibeon, 2 Chronicles 1:3-6 . That was the great high place — The most eminent and frequented; and, possibly, was a high and raised ground. A thousand burnt-offerings did Solomon offer — This undoubtedly includes the peace-offerings which were killed and dressed for the entertainment of the guests who were invited to the sacrifices; for it can hardly be supposed that so many were wholly consumed on the altar at one time of sacrificing. 1 Kings 3:5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. 1 Kings 3:5 . The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream — As he had done to Jacob at Bethel, Genesis 28:13 ; and to others on different occasions, Genesis 20:3 ; Genesis 26:24 . Sleep is like a state of death to the soul; wherein the senses are locked up, and the understanding and will deprived of the free exercise of their functions. And yet this is no impediment to God in communicating his will to mankind; for no doubt he has power, not only to awaken our intellectual faculties, but to advance them above their ordinary measure of perception, even while the body is asleep. Solomon had prayed the day before with great fervency, and desired of God the gift of wisdom: see Wis 7:7 . In the night-time God appeared unto him in a dream, and bade him ask whatever he would. Solomon, having his mind still full of the desire of wisdom, asked and obtained it: so that the prayer or desire he uttered in his dream was but the consequence of the option he had made the day before, when he was awake. In a word, though we should allow that the soul of man, when the body is asleep, is in a state of rest and inactivity; yet we cannot but think that God can approach it many different ways; can move and actuate it just as he pleases; and, when he is inclined to make a discovery of any thing, can set such a lively representation of it before the understanding, as shall make a man not doubt of the reality of the vision. See Calmet and Dodd. 1 Kings 3:6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 1 Kings 3:6-8 . According as he walked before thee in truth — In the true worship of God, in the profession, belief, practice, and defence of the true religion. So truth here contains all duties to God, as righteousness doth his duties to men, and uprightness the right manner of performing both sorts of duties. In uprightness of heart with thee — That is, in thy judgment, to whom he appealed as the witness of his integrity. I am but a child — So he was in years: not above twenty years old, and withal (which he principally intends) he was raw and inexperienced as a child in state affairs. How to go out, &c. — To govern my people, and manage affairs. Thy servant is in the midst of thy people — Is set over them to rule and guide them. A metaphor from the overseer of divers workmen, who usually is in the midst of them, that he may the better observe how each of them discharges his office. Which thou hast chosen — Thy peculiar people, whom thou takest special care of, and therefore wilt expect a more punctual account of my government of them. 1 Kings 3:7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. 1 Kings 3:8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 1 Kings 3:9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 1 Kings 3:9 . Give to thy servant an understanding heart — Whereby I may both clearly discern, and faithfully perform all the parts of my duty: for both these are spoken of in Scripture as the effects of a good understanding; and he that lives in the neglect of his duties, or the practice of wickedness, is called a fool, and one void of understanding. To judge thy people — Or govern, as that word is often used. That I may discern between good and bad — Namely, in causes and controversies among thy people; that I may not, through mistake, or prejudice, or passion, give wrong sentences, and call evil good, or good evil. Absalom, that was a fool, wished himself a judge: Solomon, that was a wise man, trembles at the undertaking. The more knowing and considerate men are, the more jealous they are of themselves. 1 Kings 3:10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 1 Kings 3:10 . The speech pleased the Lord — For it manifested a disinterested mind and a public spirit, that desired, above all things, the honour of God and the good of his people, and to direct his conduct aright and to do justice. 1 Kings 3:11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 1 Kings 3:11-12 . Nor hast asked the life of thine enemies — That God would take away their lives, or put it into his power to destroy them. Behold I have done according to thy word — I have granted, and do at this present grant thy desire. And accordingly at this time God did infuse into him a far higher degree of wisdom than he had before possessed; and that not only to govern his people, and to know and do the several duties which he owed to God and them, but also the knowledge of divers arts and sciences, and of things human and divine, as appears from 1 Kings 4:29-34 ; and that in a far greater measure and proportion, than with the best natural understanding he could have attained by the most diligent study, if he had been employed therein from a child. So that there was none like thee before thee — Either no king, or rather no man. For in these respects he is preferred, ( 1 Kings 4:31 ,) not only before all kings, but before all men. No mere man, it appears, since the fall of Adam, ever equalled him in universal knowledge, especially in the art of well governing his people. But, it may be asked, did not the apostles excel him? Not in natural and political knowledge, but only in the knowledge of the mysteries of faith, which were more freely and more fully imparted in these latter times; the ignorance whereof was no disparagement to Solomon’s wisdom, because they were not discoverable by any creature without that divine revelation which God saw fit not to afford in Solomon’s time. 1 Kings 3:12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 1 Kings 3:13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. 1 Kings 3:13-14 . I have given thee that which thou hast not asked — Or rather, I will give thee, as it is expressed in the parallel place, 2 Chronicles 1:12 ; I will as certainly give them as if I had already actually done it. For future things, which God is engaged to bring to pass, or foresees will take place, are often expressed in Scripture in the past time. So that there shall not be any among the kings — The succeeding kings of Israel, of whom he speaks. Or, hath not been, as it is in the Hebrew: and so it may be true of all the kings that then were or had been in the world, whereof none were like him in the things here mentioned, namely, riches and honour, or renown, as well as wisdom. All thy days — Whereby he signifies that these gifts of God were not transient, as they were in Saul, but such as should abide with him while he lived. And if thou wilt walk in my ways — This caution God gives him lest his great wisdom should make him proud, or careless, or presumptuous, as if he were out of all danger; and to oblige him to more care and circumspection, to avoid the snares and mischiefs to which so much prosperity and glory would probably expose him; and withal to justify himself, in case he should afterward alter the course of his providence toward Solomon. 1 Kings 3:14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. 1 Kings 3:15 And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. 1 Kings 3:15 . Behold, it was a dream — He perceived that it was a dream; not a vain dream, such as those wherewith men are commonly deluded, but a divine dream, assuring him of the things promised, which he knew, by a divine impression, after he was awaked, and by the vast alteration which he presently found within himself in point of wisdom and knowledge. And stood before the ark — Which was there in the city of David, ( 2 Samuel 6:17 ,) before which he presented himself in a way of holy adoration. And offered up burnt-offerings — Chiefly for the expiation of his and his people’s sin, through the blood of Christ, manifestly signified in these sacrifices. And peace-offerings — Solemnly to praise God for all his mercies, and especially for giving him quiet possession of the kingdom, and for his glorious appearance to him in the dream, and for the promise therein made to him, and the actual accomplishment of it. 1 Kings 3:16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. 1 Kings 3:16 . Two women that were harlots — Or, victuallers; for the Hebrew word signifies both. Yet that they were unmarried persons seems probable, both because there is no mention of any husbands, whose office it was, if there were any such, to contest for their wives; and because they lived a solitary life in one house. Unto the king — Probably they had presented their cause to the inferior courts, and as they could not determine it, they now bring it to the king as the supreme magistrate, and famous for wisdom. And stood there before him — Desiring and expecting his sentence in the case. 1 Kings 3:17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 1 Kings 3:18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 1 Kings 3:18-22 . On the third day — this woman was delivered also — So that the children could not be distinguished by their age. No stranger was with us in the house — Therefore there was no witness on either side; and although there might be some difference distinguishable by an exact observer between the features of the two children, yet it is not probable that was much attended to by the neighbours who might be present to assist either or both of them in their labour; as they were persons, it seems, of suspected fame. And the testimonies of the women were of equal credit, that is, of no credit at all. Because she overlaid it — And so smothered it: which she justly conjectures, because there were evidences of that kind of death, but no appearance of any other cause thereof. Thus they spake before the king — Both peremptorily and vehemently affirmed the same thing; oft repeating the same words. 1 Kings 3:19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. 1 Kings 3:20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 1 Kings 3:21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. 1 Kings 3:22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. 1 Kings 3:23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 1 Kings 3:24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 1 Kings 3:25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 1 Kings 3:25 . The king said — With seeming sincerity, though with a design far above the reach of the two women, or of the people present, who probably with horror expected the execution of his sentence. “Solomon knew at once that the only sign whereby to discover the true mother, would be her affection, and compassionate tenderness for her child; and therefore, in order to distinguish between the two, his business was to make trial of this. And if we suppose that, when he commanded the child to be divided, he spake with a sedate countenance and seeming earnestness, as the true mother’s petition to the king makes it apparent that he did; then we may suppose further, not only the two women, but all the people present, with dread and admiration expecting the execution of the thing; which when it ended in so just a decision, quite contrary to what they looked for, raised joy in every breast, and gave a more advantageous commendation to the judge. And yet Abarbinel, the Jewish commentator, thinks that all this was no great proof of Solomon’s extraordinary wisdom, nor could it beget that fear or reverence which the text (says 1 Kings 3:28 ) it procured to his person. His opinion, therefore, is, that Solomon made a discovery of the truth antecedent to this experiment; that by observing the countenance, the manner of speech, and all the motions of the women, he discerned the secret of their hearts, and penetrated to the bottom of the business; and that his commanding the child to be divided afterward was only to notify to the company what he before had discovered.” See Patrick and Calmet. 1 Kings 3:26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it . 1 Kings 3:27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. 1 Kings 3:27-28 . She is the mother — As is evident from her natural affection to the child, which she had rather have given away from her than destroyed. Wisdom of God — Divine wisdom, with which God had inspired him for the government of his people. 1 Kings 3:28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 1 Kings 3:1 And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. THE BOY-KING’S WISDOM 1 Kings 3:1-28 "An oracle is upon the lips of a king."- Proverbs 16:10 (Hebrews). "A king that sitteth on the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eye."- Proverbs 20:8 " Ch’ei fu Re, che chiese senno Accioche Re sufficiente fosse ." DANTE, Parad ., 13:95. " Deos ipsos precor ut mihi ad finem usque vitae quietam et intelligentem humani divinique juris mentem duint. "-TAC., Ann., 4:38. IT would have thrown an interesting light on the character and development of Solomon, if we had been able to conjecture with any certainty what was his age when the death of David made him the unquestioned king. The pagan historian Eupolemos, quoted by Eusebius, says that he was twelve; Josephus asserts that he was fifteen. If Rehoboam was indeed as old as forty-one when he came to the throne, {1Ki 14:21} Solomon can hardly have been less than twenty at his accession, for in that case he must have been married before David’s death. {1Ki 11:42} But the reading "forty-one" in 1 Kings 14:21 is altered by some into "twenty-one," and we are left in complete uncertainty. Solomon is called "a child," {1Ki 3:7} "young and tender"; {1Ch 29:1} but his acts show the full vigor and decision of a man. The composite character of the Books of Kings leads to some disturbance of the order of events, and 1 Kings 3:1-4 is perhaps inserted to explain Solomon’s sacrifice at the high place of Gibeon, where stood the brazen altar of the old Tabernacle. But no apology is needed for that act. The use of high places, even when they were consecrated to the worship of Jehovah, was regarded in later days as involving principles of danger, and became a grave offence in the eyes of all who took the Deuteronomic standpoint. But high places to Jehovah, as distinct from those dedicated to idols, were not condemned by the earlier prophets, and the resort to them was never regarded as blameworthy before the establishment of the central sanctuary. After the frightful massacre of the descendants of Aaron at Nob, the old "Tabernacle of the congregation" and the great brazen altar of burnt offerings had been removed to Gibeon from a city defiled by the blood of priests, {1Sa 22:17-19} Gibeon stood on a commanding elevation within easy distance of Jerusalem, and was henceforth regarded as "the great high place," until the Temple on Mount Zion was finished. Thither Solomon went in that imposing civil, religious, and military procession of which the tradition may be preserved in the name of Wady Suleiman still given to the adjoining valley. There, with Oriental magnificence, like Xerxes at Troy, he offered what the Greeks called a chiliombc , that is a tenfold hecatomb of burnt offerings. This "thousandfold holocaust," as the Septuagint terms it, must have been a stately and long-continued function, and in approval of his sacrifice Jehovah granted a vision to the youthful king. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil, when all the beasts of the forest are His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills?" Thinkest thou," He asked, in the words of the Psalmist, "that I will eat bull’s flesh or drink the blood of goats?" No; but God always accepts a willing sacrifice in accordance with the purpose and sincerity of the giver. In reward for the pure intention of the king He appeared to Solomon in a dream, and said, "Ask what I shall give thee." The Jews recognized three modes of Divine communication-by dreams, by Urim, and by prophets. The highest and most immediate illumination was the prophetic. The revelation by means of the primitive Urim and Thummim, the oracle and jeweled breast-plate of the high priest, was the poorest, the most elementary, the most liable to abuse. It was analogous to the method used by the Egyptian chief priests, who wore round their necks a sapphire ornament called Thmei, or "truth," for purposes of divination. After the death of David the Urim and Thummim fell into such absolute desuetude, as a survival of primitive times, that we do not read of its being consulted again in a single instance. It is not so much as mentioned during the five centuries of the history of the kings, and we do not hear of it afterwards. Solomon never once inquired of the priests as David did repeatedly in the reign of Solomon the voice of prophecy, too, was silent, until disasters began to cloud its close. Times of material prosperity and autocratic splendor are unfavorable to the prophet’s function, and sometimes, as in the days of Ahab, the prophets themselves "philippised" in Jehovah’s name. But revelation by dreams occurs in all ages. In his prophecy of the great future, Joel says, "Your old men shall see visions, your young men shall dream dreams." It is true that dreams must always have a subjective element, yet, as Aristotle says, "The visions of the noble are better than those of common men." The dreams of night are reflections of the thoughts of day. "Solomon worships God by day; God appears to Solomon by night. Well may we look to enjoy God, when we have served him." Full of the thoughts inspired by an intense devotion, and a yearning desire to rule aright, the sleeping soul of Solomon became bright with eyes, and in his dream he made a worthy answer to the appeal of God. "Ask what I shall give thee!" That blessed and most loving offer is made to every human soul. To the meanest of us all God flings open the treasuries of heaven. The reason why we fatally lose them is because we are blinded by the glamour of temptation, and snatch instead at glittering bubbles or Dead Sea fruits. We fail to attain the best gifts, because so few of us earnestly desire them, and so many disbelieve the offer that is made of them. Yet there is no living soul to which God has not given the choice of good and evil. "He hath set fire and water before thee: stretch forth thy hand unto whether thou wilt. Before man is life and death; and whether him liketh shall be given him." ( Sir 15:16-17 ) Even when our choice is not evil it is often desperately frivolous, and it is only too late that we rue the folly of having rejected the better and chosen the worse. "Damsels of Time the hypocritic days, Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes, And marching single in an endless file, Bring diadems and fagots in their hands. To each they offer gifts after his will, - Bread, kingdoms, stars, and sky that holds them all. I, in my pleached garden, watched the pomp, Forgot my morning wishes; hastily Took a few herbs and apples, and the Day Turned and departed silent. I, too late, Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn." But Solomon made the wise choice. In his dream he thanked God for His mercifully fulfilled promise to David his father, and with the touchingly humble confession, "I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in," he begged for an understanding heart to judge between right and wrong in guiding his great and countless people. God was pleased with the noble, unselfish request. The youthful king might have besought the boon of "many days," which was so highly valued before Christ had brought life and immortality to light; or for riches, or for victory over his enemies. Instead of this he had asked for "understanding, to discern judgment," and the lesser gifts were freely accorded him. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." {Mat 6:33} God promised him that he should be a king of unprecedented greatness. He freely gave him riches and honor, and, conditionally on his continued faithfulness, a long life. The condition was broken, and Solomon was not more than sixty years old when he was called before the God whom he forsook. "And Solomon awoke, and behold it was a dream." But he knew well that it was also more than a dream, and that "God giveth to His beloved even sleeping." In reverential gratitude he offered a second sacrifice of burnt offerings before the ark on Mount Zion, and added to them peace offerings, with which he made a great feast to all his servants. Twice again did God appear to Solomon; but the second time it was to warn, and the third time to condemn. In the parallel account given by the chronicler, Solomon says, "Give me now wisdom and knowledge," and God replies, "Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee." There is a wide difference between the two things. Knowledge may come while wisdom still lingers, and wisdom may exist in Divine abundance where knowledge is but scant and superficial. The wise may be as ignorant as St. Antony, or St. Francis of Assisi; the masters of those who know may show as little "wisdom for a man’s self" as Abelard, or as Francis Bacon. "Among the Jews one set of terms does service to express both intellectual and moral wisdom. The ‘wise’ man means the righteous man; the ‘fool’ is one who is godless. Intellectual terms that describe knowledge are also moral terms describing life." No doubt in the ultimate senses of the words there can be no true knowledge, as there can be no perfect wisdom, without goodness. This was a truth with which Solomon himself became deeply impressed. "The fear of the Lord," he said, "is the beginning of wisdom but fools despise knowledge and understanding." The lineaments of "a fool" are drawn in the Book of Proverbs and they bear the impress of moral baseness and moral aberrations. To Solomon both boons were given, "wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore." Of his many forms of intellectual eminence I will speak later on. What he longed for most was evidently moral insight and practical sagacity. He felt that "through justice shall the throne be established." 1. Practical wisdom was eminently needed for the office of a judge. Judgeship was a main function of Eastern royalty, and rulers were called Shophe-tim or judges. The reality of the gift which Solomon had received from God was speedily to be tested. Two harlots came before him. One had overlaid her child in the night, and stealing the living child of the other she put her dead child in its place. There was no evidence to be had. It was simply the bare word of one disreputable woman against the bare word of the other. With instant decision, and a flash of insight into the springs of human actions, Solomon gave the apparently childish order to cut the children in two, and divide them between the claimants. The people laughed and the delinquent accepted the horrible decision; but the mother of the living child yearned for her babe, and she cried out, "O my lord, give, her the living babe, and no wise slay it." "Give her the living babe, and in no wise slay it," murmured the king to himself, repeating the mother’s words; and then he burst out with the triumphant verdict, "Give her the living child! She is the mother thereof!" The story has several parallels. It is said by Diodorus Siculus that when three youths came before Ariopharnes, King of Thrace, each claiming to be the only son of the King of the Cimmerians, he ordered them each to hurl a javelin at their father’s corpse. Two obeyed, one refused, and Ariopharnes at once proclaimed him to be the true son. Similarly an Indian story tells that a woman, before she bathed, left her child on the bank of the pool, and a female demon carried it off. The goddess, before whom each claimed the child, ordered them to pull it in two between them, and consigned it to the mother who shuddered at the test. A judgment similarly founded on filial instinct is attributed to the Emperor Claudius. A mother refused to acknowledge her son; and as there were no proofs Claudius ordered her to marry the youth, whereupon she was obliged to acknowledge that he was her son. Modern critics, wise after the event, express themselves very slightingly of the amount of intelligence required for the decision; but the people saw the value of the presence of mind and rapid intuition which settled the question by bringing an individual dilemma under the immediate arbitrament of a general law. They rejoiced to recognize the practical wisdom which God had given to their young king. The word Chokhmah , which is represented by one large section of Jewish literature, implied the practical intelligence derived from insight or experience, the power to govern oneself and others. Its conclusions were expressed chiefly in a gnomic form, and they pass through various stages in the Sapiential Books of the Old Testament. The chief books of the Chokhmah are the Books of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, followed by such books as "Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus." On the Divine side Wisdom is the Spirit of God, regarded by man under the form of Providence; {#/RAPC Wis 1:4; Wis 1:7; Wis 7:7; Wis 7:22; Wis 9:17} and on the human side it is trustworthy knowledge of the things that are ( id. 7:17). It is, in fact, "a knowledge of Divine and human things, and of their causes". {#/RAPC 4Ma 2:16} This branch of wisdom could be repeatedly shown by Solomon at the city gate and in the hall of judgment. 2. His varied intellectual wisdom created deeper astonishment. He spake, we are told, "of trees from the cedar which is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts and fowl and of creeping things and of fishes." This knowledge has been misunderstood and exaggerated by later tradition. It is expanded in the Book of Wisdom ( Wis 8:17 ) into a perfect knowledge of cosmogony, astronomy, the alterations of solstices, the cycles of years, the natures of wild beasts, the forces of spirits, the reasonings of men, the diversities of plants. Solomon became to Eastern legend "The warrior-sage, whose restless mind Through nature’s mazes wandered unconfined, Who every bird, and beast, and insect knew, And spake of every plant that quaffs the dew." His knowledge, however, does not seem to have been even empirically scientific. It consisted in the moral and religious illustration of truth by emblems derived from nature. He surpassed, we are told, the ethnic gnomic wisdom of all the children of the East-the Arabians and Chaldaeans and all the vaunted scientific and mystic wisdom of Egypt. Ethan and Heman were Levitic poets and musicians; Chalcol and Darda were "sons of the choir," i.e ., poets (Luther), or sacred singers; and all four were famed for wisdom; but Solomon excelled them all. Of his one thousand and five songs, the majority were probably secular. Only two psalms are even traditionally assigned to him. Of his three thousand proverbs not more than two hundred survive, even if all in the Book of Proverbs be his. Tradition adds that he was a master of "riddles" or "dark sayings," by which he won largely in fines from Hiram, whom he challenged for their solution, until the Tyrian king defeated him by the aid of a sharp youth named Abdemon. Specimens of these riddles with their answers may be found in the Book of Proverbs, {Pro 11:22; Pro 24:30-34; Pro 25:25; Pro 26:8; Pro 30:15} for the Hebrew word "proverb" ( Mashal ) probably means originally, an illustration. This book also contains various ambiguous hard sayings of which the skilful construction awoke admiration and stimulated thought. { E.g., Pro 6:10} The Queen of Sheba is said to have tested Solomon by riddles. The tradition gradually spread in the East that Solomon was also skilled in magic arts, that he knew the language of the birds, and possessed a seal which gave him mastery over the genii. In the Book of Wisdom he is made to say, "All such things as are either secret or manifest, them I know." Josephus attributes to him the formulae and spells of exorcism, and in Ecclesiastes 2:8 the words rendered "musical instruments" ( shiddah and shiddoth ; R.V, "concubines very many") were understood by the Rabbis to mean that he was the lord over male and female demons. 3. Far more precious than practical or intellectual ability is the gift of moral wisdom, which Solomon so greatly appreciated but so imperfectly attained. Yet he felt that "wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom." The world gives that name to many higher and lower manifestations of capacity and attainment, but wisdom is in Scripture the one law of all true life. In that magnificent outburst of Semitic poetry, the twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Job, after pointing out that there is such a thing as natural knowledge-that there is a vein for the silver, and ore of gold, and a place of sapphires, and reservoirs of subterranean fire-the writer asks: "But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?" After showing with marvelous power that it is beyond man’s unaided search-that the depths and the seas say, "It is not in us," and destruction and death have but heard the fame thereof with their ears - he adds with one great crash of concluding music "GOD understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." {Job 28:23; Job 28:28} And again we read, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." {Pro 1:7} The sated cynic of the Book of the Ecclesiastes, or one who had studied, not without dissatisfaction, his sad experience, adds, "Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." And in answer to the question "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?" St. James, the Lord’s brother, who had evidently been a deep student of the Sapiential literature, does not answer "He who understands all mysteries," or, "He who speaks with the tongue of men or of angels," but, "Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom." Men whom the world has deemed wise have often fallen into utter infatuation, as it is Written, "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness"; but heavenly wisdom may belong to the most ignorant and simple hearted. It is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, without partiality and without hypocrisy." We should observe, however, that the Chokhmah , or wisdom-literature of the Jews, while it incessantly exalts morality, and sometimes almost attains to a perception of the spiritual life, was neither prophetic nor priestly in its character. It bears the same relation to the teaching of the prophets on the one hand, and the priests on the other, as morality does to religion and to externalism. Its teaching is loftier and truer than the petty insistence of Pharisaism on meats and drinks and divers washings, in that it deals with the weightier matters of the law; but it does not attain to the passionate spirituality of the greater Hebrew seers. It cares next to nothing for ritual, and therefore rises above the developed Judaism of the post-exilic epoch. It is lofty and true inasmuch as it breathes the spirit of the Ten Commandments, but it has not learnt the freedom of love and the beatitudes of perfect union with God. In one word, it finds its culmination in Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus, rather than in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount and the Gospel of St. John. We cannot better conclude this chapter than with the eulogy of the son of Sirach: "Solomon reigned in a peaceable time and was honored; for God made all quiet round about him, that he might build a house in His name and prepare His sanctuary forever. How wise wast thou in thy youth, and as a flood, filled with understanding! Thy soul covered the whole earth, and thou filledst it with dark parables. Thy name went far unto the islands, and for thy peace thou wast beloved. The countries marveled at thee for thy songs, and proverbs, and parables, and interpretations. By the name of the Lord God, who is called the Lord God of Israel, thou didst gather gold as tin, and didst multiply silver as lead ( Sir 47:13-18 )." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.