And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.
God tells the young king Solomon to ask for whatever he wants. Before he asks, Solomon names two facts that shape his whole prayer: the people are God's, and they are too many to count.
Whose people they are
Solomon never calls Israel his own. One writer sees Solomon's whole outlook resting on that:
William KellyHe 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.
Kelly draws out what that changes for the man in charge:
William KellyHe did not regard the people as his people — his to govern, his to serve God in — but as God's people entrusted to him. This makes the work serious, and it searches the conscience. So he asked for wisdom, and he truly needed it. Had they been his own people, he might have had wisdom enough; but because they were God's people, he needed wisdom from God.
God's flock, not ours
The same distinction applies to anyone trusted with the care of God's people:
William KellyI repeat, it is God's flock, not yours. You are not to rule over it as if it belonged to you. If it were your own property, you would have certain rights... When you weigh this properly, it makes a wonderful change in the mind, tone and temper — a change in those who tend the flock, and in those they care for. For then they look to God... Claiming "my flock" or "yours" is the root of endless trouble. It is God's flock, and if the Lord charges someone to shepherd His flock, what a blessed trust!
A great people, and a very small king
Solomon sets the size of the nation against his own smallness:
W. W. FeredayThen he admitted that he was not equal to the heavy responsibilities he now carried. The Lord's people were a great people, marked out as His chosen. To guide and direct them rightly in their unique relation to God was beyond his power. "I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in." The spirit of the little child — humble, trusting and teachable — suits us all.
Another writer reads that same admission as the thing that opens the door to blessing:
H. L. RossierLast of all, there is his awareness of his own youth, his ignorance, his inability... Such a state of soul promises abundant blessing. It comes down to this: fear the Lord, be conscious of His grace, esteem others better than yourself, and count yourself as nothing.
Wisdom measured to the size of the task
Solomon's problem was a matter of numbers: a nation too large to count, and one young king. God answered in the same measure:
W. W. FeredaySolomon pleaded that Israel was "so great": how could he carry the responsibility of guiding such a nation? Now compare verses 20 and 29 of 1 Kings 4: "Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea"; "God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore." Wisdom according to the need!
What Solomon did not ask for
One writer notes what Solomon left out of his prayer, and what it cost him later:
Leslie M. GrantWhat 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... Did he not realize that he needed more than an understanding heart? He needed a submissive heart, obedient to the Word of God. Only that could have kept him from the evils he fell into.
Summary
- Whose — Solomon values Israel not as his own subjects, but as the people God chose. That one fact governs all he asks for.
- Trust — They are God's people entrusted to him. That makes the work serious, searches the conscience, and sends him to God for wisdom.
- Small — He measures a countless nation against himself and calls himself a little child. One writer says such a state of soul promises abundant blessing.
- Measure — The people were as many as the sand by the sea, and God gave breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore — wisdom matched to the need.
- Gap — Wisdom alone did not keep him. One writer notes he never asked for a heart submissive to God's Word, and that is where he later fell.