The Lord Makes Solomon Wise
(1 Kings 3.1-15)1 King Solomon, the son of David, was now in complete control of his kingdom, because the Lord God had blessed him and made him a powerful king.
2-5 At that time, the sacred tent that Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the desert was still kept at Gibeon, and in front of the tent was the bronze altar that Bezalel had made.
One day, Solomon told the people of Israel, the army commanders, the officials, and the family leaders, to go with him to the place of worship at Gibeon, even though his father King David had already moved the sacred chest from Kiriath-Jearim to the tent that he had set up for it in Jerusalem. Solomon and the others went to Gibeon to worship the Lord, 6 and there at the bronze altar, Solomon offered a thousand animals as sacrifices to please the Lord.
7 God appeared to Solomon that night in a dream and said, “Solomon, ask for anything you want, and I will give it to you.”
8 Solomon answered:
Lord God, you were always loyal to my father David, and now you have made me king of Israel. 9 I am supposed to rule these people, but there are as many of them as there are specks of dust on the ground. So keep the promise you made to my father 10 and make me wise. Give me the knowledge I'll need to be the king of this great nation of yours.
11 God replied:
Solomon, you could have asked me to make you rich or famous or to let you live a long time. Or you could have asked for your enemies to be destroyed. Instead, you asked for wisdom and knowledge to rule my people. 12 So I will make you wise and intelligent. But I will also make you richer and more famous than any king before or after you.
13 Solomon then left Gibeon and returned to Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel.
Solomon's Wealth
(1 Kings 10.26-29)14 Solomon had a force of 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses that he kept in Jerusalem and other towns.
15 While Solomon was king of Israel, there was silver and gold everywhere in Jerusalem, and cedar was as common as ordinary sycamore trees in the foothills.
16-17 Solomon's merchants bought his horses and chariots in the regions of Musri and Kue. They paid 600 pieces of silver for a chariot and 150 pieces of silver for a horse. They also sold horses and chariots to the Hittite and Syrian kings.
King Solomon Prays for Wisdom
(1 Kings 3.1-15)1 Solomon, the son of King David, took firm control of the kingdom of Israel, and the Lord his God blessed him and made him very powerful.
2 King Solomon gave an order to all the officers in charge of units of a thousand men and of a hundred men, all the government officials, all the heads of families, and all the rest of the people, 3 commanding them to go with him to the place of worship at Gibeon. They went there because that was where the Tent of the Lord's presence was located, which Moses, the Lord's servant, had made in the wilderness. ( 4 The Covenant Box, however, was in Jerusalem, kept in a tent which King David had set up when he brought the Box from Kiriath Jearim.) 5 The bronze altar which had been made by Bezalel, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur, was also in Gibeon in front of the Tent of the Lord's presence. King Solomon and all the people worshiped the Lord there. 6 In front of the Tent the king worshiped the Lord by offering sacrifices on the bronze altar; he had a thousand animals killed and burned whole on it.
7 That night God appeared to Solomon and asked, “What would you like me to give you?”
8 Solomon answered, “You always showed great love for my father David, and now you have let me succeed him as king. 9 O Lord God, fulfill the promise you made to my father. You have made me king over a people who are so many that they cannot be counted, 10 so give me the wisdom and knowledge I need to rule over them. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of yours?”
11 God replied to Solomon, “You have made the right choice. Instead of asking for wealth or treasure or fame or the death of your enemies or even for long life for yourself, you have asked for wisdom and knowledge so that you can rule my people, over whom I have made you king. 12 I will give you wisdom and knowledge. And in addition, I will give you more wealth, treasure, and fame than any king has ever had before or will ever have again.”
King Solomon's Power and Wealth
(1 Kings 10.26-29)13 So Solomon left the place of worship at Gibeon, where the Tent of the Lord's presence was, and returned to Jerusalem. There he ruled over Israel. 14 He built up a force of fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem, and the rest he stationed in various other cities. 15 During his reign silver and gold became as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah. 16 The king's agents controlled the export of horses from Musri and Cilicia, 17 and the export of chariots from Egypt. They supplied the Hittite and Syrian kings with horses and chariots, selling chariots for 600 pieces of silver each and horses for 150 each.