Law of Moses — 1 Kings 3

So Solomon takes the throne of Israel and marries the daughter of Pharaoh. He had early set men to work on his capital, building a palace, a city wall, and of course, the Temple. In the meantime, the royal quarters was still in the ancient citadel. So was the Ark of the Covenant. Without an appointed sacred place to worship, it was hard to demand that the people worship only at the altar of Jehovah.

There was a temporary altar in the citadel, but this Tent of Meeting was not properly laid out with all the officially sanctioned furnishings, and was not publicly accessible. It was very risky to come anywhere near the Ark in the first place. So it’s no surprise that the people sought out alternative sites to meet with their God. And because the rituals for Baal worship were so very similar, we should not be surprised things were a little mixed up. The narrative is not particularly condemnatory about this state of affairs.

Solomon, in his zeal for the Lord, chose the site at the top of Gibeon’s mountain, an ancient place of worship. Since pagan idolatry was flatly forbidden, any previous temples and shrines were gone. But such a commanding view evoked a spiritual awareness, and it was far better suited to the mass of burnt offerings Solomon wanted to execute in celebrating his coronation. The Lord wasn’t insulted by this choice. Instead, He met with Solomon in a dream to ask what kind of blessing the new king would seek.

Solomon’s answer was wisdom in itself. Let’s remind ourselves of the meaning of shalom. It is typically outlined as reasonable prosperity, safety from enemies, safety from plagues and natural disasters, and social stability. However, that last item is the key. Social stability arising from faithful adherence to the Law is the primary symptom of peace with God. Pursuing that is the best way to get the other blessings. So it was that Solomon essentially asked for that first, in that he begged for the wisdom to make it happen with such a great nation. By asking for the welfare of the Covenant, Solomon gained all the other goodies that humans typically sought.

God promised that Solomon’s moral wisdom would exceed that of any previous or succeeding king on this earth. Most Westerners misread the meaning of wisdom, as if it were something very nearly the same as intelligence and factual knowledge. But Solomon had requested to discern the difference between good and evil. This is the only proper understanding of what God gave him here. However, it would naturally offer a wealth of practical understanding of things.

Upon awaking, Solomon realized it was a dream. Obviously he put a lot of stock in that, because he came back to the citadel and offered more offerings on the makeshift altar in the courtyard before the Tent of Meeting. There was no doubt in his mind Who had spoken to him.

The text goes on to give an example of what Solomon’s wisdom could do. In the case of two harlots in a dispute over whose son had survived a bad night, Solomon knew what such women were like. He proposed a grisly solution: slicing the living son in half, dividing him between the two. The real mother was just barely mother enough to prefer the infant live at the cost of losing him. The other woman had nothing to lose, and so was clearly not his mother.

The case was celebrated as word got around the whole kingdom. Nobody doubted the wisdom of Solomon nor his fitness to be King.