1 Kings 3:14

In verse 14, as in all the books we are studying, the question of the king's responsibility comes up. "If you will walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days." Solomon could not meet this if. It led to his ruin and to the division of his kingdom.

God's gift of wisdom, riches and honour seemed to make the blessing of Israel secure. But God went on to say, "If you will walk in My ways, keeping My statutes." The priesthood had been in a secondary place since the breakdown of Eli and his sons. So everything depended on the faithfulness of the king. The "if" to Solomon in 1 Kings 3:14 was as fatal as the "if" to Israel in Exodus 19:5. Poor flesh can never be trusted, and Solomon's failure was truly catastrophic. Blessed be God, everything that men have lost by their unfaithfulness will be taken up by the Lord Jesus, God's faithful Second Man, on the principle of grace and on the ground of redemption. This makes all things sure for ever.

Therefore God gave him a wise and understanding heart which would excel the wisdom of anyone before or after him. Besides this God promised to give him riches and honour greater than all the kings of his day (v.13). Then God added a conditional promise that, if Solomon walked in God's ways, keeping His statutes and commandments, as David had, then God would lengthen his days.

All the training that David had was equally for Solomon, and God set David before him as the pattern for his walk. "If you will walk before Me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness," and so on (1 Kings 9:4). Because of David's sin, the sword would never depart from his house. Who would have held such a man up as a pattern to his son? God did, because in his darkest hours David always put his trust in Him. It is this faith that God calls "integrity of heart."

Very likely Solomon thought that wisdom and knowledge would enable him to please God in all he did. But sadly, he failed badly at keeping God's commandments. He married 700 wives and had 300 concubines who turned away his heart from the Lord, so that in the end he became an idol worshipper (ch.11:1-8). What he asked for was good, but it was not good enough. Wisdom and knowledge are never enough to keep us walking with God. Solomon did not pray that God would keep him from evil in his own life. Had he read Deuteronomy 17:14-20? If so, did he not realise that he needed more than an understanding heart? He needed a submissive heart, obedient to the Word of God. Only this could have kept him from the evils he fell into.

We must not always take the getting and enjoying of promised blessings as a mark of God's approval. Jacob told a lie to get the promised blessings. Solomon had asked God for wisdom, and to it God added riches and honour. But then he gets the promised riches and honour by disobedience, for he built up chariots and horses for himself, which God had forbidden. We need faith for the means as well as the end. That is, we must wait patiently for God Himself to make good to us the very blessings He promised.