Now, Jehovah Elohim, let thy word unto David my father be firm; for thou hast made me king over a people numerous as the dust of the earth.
God made Solomon an open offer: "Ask what I shall give you." Solomon answers first with a reason, not a request. He points back to a promise God made to his father David, and forward to a nation too large to count.
Before Solomon asks for anything, he puts the whole weight of his prayer on his father David.
Just as Moses and Joshua together make up a picture of Christ at the start of the history, so do David and Solomon now, when God sets up the kingdom. So he lays all the stress upon David.
Solomon asks God to carry out what He said to David. Commentators read that as a window into the young king's heart.
He asked that the Lord's promise to David might be established, that is, the promise of David's seed reigning over Israel (v. 9). This desire for the fulfillment of God's word shows a heart dependent on God, which was especially true in Solomon's years.
Solomon did not invent his picture of the crowd he governs. God had used it long before, in a promise to Abraham.
More than this, God would increase Abram's descendants "as the dust of the earth" (v. 16). God's promise was absolute: it could not fail. At this time God only speaks of "the dust of the earth," for He means only an earthly people, primarily Israel, though later (Gen. 15:5) He tells Abram his seed would be as the stars of heaven.
So the crowd Solomon counts is itself proof that God keeps His word.
As the prayer goes on, Solomon calls Israel God's people, not his own. Commentators say that one word changes everything.
This was excellent. He did value the people; and he valued the people not because they were his people, but because they were God's people. It makes all the difference now.
The opposite habit shows itself fast in anyone who leads others.
Suppose that in the Church of God we regard any people as our people. Then we will always be jealous about them. We will always be afraid of their listening to anybody but ourselves. We will always be anxious to shape their opinions to fit our own, perhaps very narrow, minds. At any rate, no man — I care not how great — no man has all the gifts; and this is not God's order for His Church.
Solomon asked because the job was bigger than he was. The higher the position, the more visible the failure would be.
Solomon, knowing his responsibility, prays for wisdom to govern Israel rightly... He asked because he needed. God uses him and sets him in a position where we can, as it were, look through him as through a glass to the glories of the Messiah. Yet God also meets him as a man in his needs, and those needs grew greater because his position was so high. The lack of wisdom in an ordinary man might pass unnoticed, but folly found in a king would be like dead flies in the perfumer's ointment.
God's answer matched the exact size of the problem Solomon named.
Solomon pleaded that Israel was "so great": how could he carry the responsibility of guiding such a nation? Now compare two verses in 1 Kings 4. Verse 20 says, "Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea." Verse 29 says, "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore." Wisdom according to the need!
Solomon asked God to confirm the promise in his own day. Commentators follow that promise far past Solomon.
He promised David that he should never lack a man to sit upon his throne, but He added a condition: if David's children took heed to their ways. On the ground of responsibility all is lost. David's throne has long disappeared; his family also. Even so, David does not lack a man to sit upon his throne. Before His birth the angel said to His mother: "The Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32-33).
- Promise first — Solomon's prayer rests on God's word to David, not on his own standing. Asking God to keep His word is a mark of dependence.
- Promise visible — the crowd as numerous as the dust of the earth is God's word to Abraham coming true. That promise could not fail.
- Promise entrusted — Solomon calls Israel God's people, not his own. Those who treat people as their own turn jealous and narrow, and no one man holds all the gifts.
- Promise-sized need — he asked because he needed. God gave him breadth of mind as wide as the crowd he had to govern.
- Promise fulfilled — David's throne and family are long gone. The promise still stands in Christ, whose kingdom will have no end.
Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this thy great people?
At the start of his reign, God invites Solomon to ask for anything. The young king asks for one thing: wisdom to lead a people who are not his own.
Solomon prays as a man who has just measured the job against himself. Commentators tie the prayer to his place: the higher God lifted him, the more his weakness showed.
Solomon, knowing his responsibility, prays for wisdom to govern Israel rightly... He asked because he needed. God uses him and sets him in a position where we can look through him, as through a glass, to the glories of the Messiah. Yet He meets him as a man in his needs. Those needs grew all the greater because he was lifted so high. A lowly man's lack of wisdom might pass unnoticed. But folly found in a king would be like dead flies in the perfumer's ointment.
The clue to the whole prayer sits in two words: this people. Solomon speaks of them as belonging to God, and one writer treats that as the thing that makes the request so good — and so searching for anyone in a place of responsibility today.
He did value the people; and he valued the people not because they were his people, but because they were God's people. It makes all the difference now.
The same writer draws out why this drove Solomon to prayer at all. Wisdom of his own would have been enough for his own affairs.
He did not regard the people as his people, his to govern, his to serve God in, but God's people entrusted to him. This gives seriousness; and, further, it exercises conscience. So he asked for wisdom, for he surely needed it. Had it been his own people, he might have had wisdom enough; but, being God's people, he required wisdom from God.
The phrase describes the daily coming and going of a leader in front of those he leads. One commentator, writing on the parallel account, says where Solomon had to start. Not with speaking, but with listening.
Solomon stood before God with an undivided heart. He was seeking one thing only: to serve the Lord where He had placed him, as leader of the people. He asks the Lord for a heart that understands, because hearing is the door to discernment. All true service starts with hearing. Solomon did not know how to "go out or come in"; he could only learn this by listening. Anyone who does not begin by enrolling in the school of wisdom will never be a true servant.
Another writer hears an echo of David in these words, and adds a warning about the motive.
No doubt he remembered what Scripture said of David: "All Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them" (1 Sam. 18:16). This was a good testimony before others. Solomon was concerned about this, as we too ought to be. Yet he evidently did not see where David's good testimony came from. It grew out of a much deeper exercise of heart than concern about his testimony. Nor should we think first about how we affect others. Should we not first consider how we should please the Lord?
He asks for two things, and they are not the same.
Wisdom is what enables a person who has knowledge to use it in a way that is truly useful. It also keeps him from using it for what would be useless or harmful.
That difference stings when we read Solomon's later life next to this prayer. His knowledge grew vast. What did he do with it?
But Solomon is also responsible for the right use of the wisdom God gave him... He asked for wisdom and knowledge so that he might judge and rule God's people rightly. God approves of his request... But was this wealth of knowledge needed for the government of Israel according to the law? Was it a necessary part of that wisdom for which he prayed? Did he not waste that power, that wisdom with which he was so richly endowed?
God does not just grant the prayer. He adds what Solomon never asked for.
The young king prays for wisdom and knowledge so that he may care for the flock committed to him. It was a most remarkable prayer for someone in his position. The Lord shows His pleasure in it by giving him far more than all he asked or thought.
The same door stands open now, and the asking is not optional.
We may have this wisdom if we ask for it. Let us ask, and ask without wavering... as this is not natural to any of us, we must ask for it; we shall not get it if we do not ask; we must have dealings with God.
- Need — Solomon asked because he needed. The higher the place, the more visible the folly.
- Ownership — He asked for God's people, not his own; that one word changes the prayer, and it changes ours.
- Listening — He did not know how to go out and come in, so he asked for a hearing heart; service starts at the ear, not the mouth.
- Use — Knowledge tells you what is; wisdom tells you what to do with it. Solomon received both. Whether he used them well is the question his later life raises.
- Asking — God gave far beyond the request. That generosity still stands, but only to those who ask.