At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”
God meets Solomon at the start of his reign and tells him to name what he wants. Commentators press two questions here. Why did God appear at a high place instead of at the ark? And why in a dream?
Gibeon and the Altar
The setting matters. The tabernacle and its bronze altar stood at Gibeon, so Solomon offered his thousand burnt offerings at the right altar.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWhen Saul destroyed the town of Nob, the tabernacle was moved to Gibeon. It stayed there until Solomon built the house of the LORD. The ark had been brought from Kiriath-jearim to the tent David had pitched for it in Jerusalem. But the tabernacle and the bronze altar that Bezalel had made remained at Gibeon. The high place at Gibeon means the high ground on which the tabernacle and the altar stood. At first that same spot had been a Canaanite place for the worship of idols. The temple was the one place for worship that God had chosen. As long as it was not standing, worship of Jehovah at the Gibeon high place was not sinful. Solomon and all the people with him gathered at Gibeon. They went to the bronze altar and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. He began with this act of worship, and it was the same night that God appeared to Solomon. The Lord drew near to him graciously as the result of the sacrifices on the bronze altar.
Grace to a Lesser Faith
Solomon went to the altar at Gibeon, not to the ark in Jerusalem. His faith fell short of his father's. That makes God's appearing the striking thing.
William KellyWith his father it was not so. In Gibeon, however, Jehovah appeared. And how great the grace of God! Solomon's faith is set here against his father's deeper and higher faith — yet in Gibeon Jehovah appears! What a God was He!
One writer reads the choice as a plain mistake. Solomon assumed the grandest place must be the right place to worship, "just as people today often think that the most beautiful church is where they ought to worship" (Leslie M. Grant).
Why a Dream
Rossier starts with Solomon's love for the Lord, and then with what a dream does to a person.
H. L. RossierSolomon went to Gibeon, but he loved the Lord, and the Lord always takes account of our affection for Him. There He appeared to him in a dream. In a dream a person cannot disguise the true state of his heart. Neither reason nor will is there to hold back what is inside. In a dream the soul is laid bare before the Lord. What then were the thoughts held in this young king's heart when God said to him, "Ask what I shall give you"?
This makes Solomon's answer proof rather than performance: "the genuineness of this feeling is all the clearer because he replies to God in a dream" (J. N. Darby).
The Offer and the Answer
What Solomon did with the offer matters as much as the offer itself.
C KnappGod appeared to him in the night with the wonderful message, "Ask what I shall give you." It was as though He placed all His resources at the disposal of faith. 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 a man in his position. The Lord shows His pleasure by giving him far more than all he asked or thought.
A Question That Searches
An open offer shows what a person wants most. Solomon could have named any of the obvious prizes.
A J PollockWhat an offer! What a test to this young man! Will he ask for long life, or riches, or success over his enemies? He greatly pleased the Lord. He might have been dazzled by the glory of his position. He might have held great ambitions and asked for things to match.
The Same Offer Still Open
The invitation was not sealed off in Solomon's night at Gibeon.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWhat grace this was, but it also searched his innermost soul. And this offer was not made only to Solomon. The One who appeared to Solomon and put this gracious question to him was later on earth, clothed as a servant, yet greater than Solomon in all his glory. He said: "Ask, and it will be given to you." And again He said: "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do." It is faith's privilege to hear Him speak like this to our hearts and to make use of His great offer.
Summary
- Worship first. Solomon began his reign at the altar with burnt offerings, and God drew near that same night as the result.
- Grace stoops. He came to Gibeon, not to the ark. God appeared anyway, though commentators call that a real shortfall in his faith.
- Sleep exposes. A dream strips away reason and will, so the answer God got was the man's true heart, not his managed one.
- God opens everything. "Ask what I shall give you" put all His resources at the disposal of faith. The answer came back larger than the asking.
- The test travels. The same question still searches every reader. The One who asked it later said, "Ask, and it will be given to you."