1 Kings 3:1

CHAPTER III

Solomon marries Pharaoh's daughter, 1, 2.

He serves God, and offers a thousand burnt-offerings upon one

altar, at Gibeon, 3, 4.

God appears to him in a dream at Gibeon; and asks what he shall

give him, 5.

He asks wisdom; with which God is well pleased, and promises to

give him not only that, but also riches and honour; and, if

obedient, long life, 6-14.

He comes back to Jerusalem; and offers burnt-offerings and

peace-offerings, and makes a feast for his servants, 15.

His judgment between the two harlots, 16-27.

He rises in the esteem of the people, 28.

NOTES ON CHAP. III

Verse 1 Kings 3:1. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh] This was no doubt a political measure in order to strengthen his kingdom, and on the same ground he continued his alliance with the king of Tyre; and these were among the most powerful of his neighbours. But should political considerations prevail over express laws of God? God had strictly forbidden his people to form alliances with heathenish women, lest they should lead their hearts away from him into idolatry. Let us hear the law: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son; for they will turn away thy son from following me, c. Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3. Now Solomon acted in direct opposition to these laws; and perhaps in this alliance were sown those seeds of apostacy from God and goodness in which he so long lived, and in which he so awfully died.

Those who are, at all hazards, his determinate apologists, assume,

1. That Pharaoh's daughter must have been a proselyte to the Jewish religion, else Solomon would not have married her.

2. That God was not displeased with this match.

3. That the book of Canticles, which is supposed to have been his epithalamium, would not have found a place in the sacred canon had the spouse, whom it all along celebrates, been at that time an idolatress.

4. That it is certain we nowhere in Scripture find Solomon blamed for this match. See Dodd.

Now to all this I answer,

1. We have no evidence that the daughter of Pharaoh was a proselyte, no more than that her father was a true believer. It is no more likely that he sought a proselyte here than that he sought them among the Moabites, Hittites, c., from whom he took many wives.

2. If God's law be positively against such matches, he could not possibly be pleased with this breach of it in Solomon but his law is positively against them, therefore he was not pleased.

3. That the book of Canticles being found in the sacred canon is, according to some critics, neither a proof that the marriage pleased God, nor that the book was written by Divine inspiration; much less that it celebrates the love between Christ and his Church, or is at all profitable for doctrine, for reproof, or for edification in righteousness.

4. That Solomon is most expressly reproved in Scripture for this very match, is to me very evident from the following passages: DID NOT SOLOMON, king of Israel, SIN by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin; Nehemiah 13:26. Now it is certain that Pharaoh's daughter was an outlandish woman; and although it be not expressly said that Pharaoh's daughter is here intended, yet there is all reasonable evidence that she is included; and, indeed, the words seem to intimate that she is especially referred to. In 1 Kings 3:3 it is said, Solomon LOVED THE LORD, walking in the statutes of David; and Nehemiah says, Did not Solomon, king of Israel, SIN BY THESE THINGS, who WAS BELOVED of HIS GOD; referring, most probably, to this early part of Solomon's history. But supposing that this is not sufficient evidence that this match is spoken against in Scripture, let us turn to 1 Kings 11:1, of this book, where the cause of Solomon's apostasy is assigned; and there we read, But King Solomon loved many STRANGE WOMEN, TOGETHER WITH THE DAUGHTER OF PHARAOH, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in unto them; neither shall they come in unto you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: SOLOMON CLAVE UNTO THESE IN LOVE. Here the marriage with Pharaoh's daughter is classed most positively with the most exceptionable of his matrimonial and concubinal alliances: as it no doubt had its predisposing share in an apostacy the most unprecedented and disgraceful.

Should I even be singular, I cannot help thinking that the reign of Solomon began rather inauspiciously: even a brother's blood must be shed to cause him to sit securely on his throne, and a most reprehensible alliance, the forerunner of many others of a similar nature, was formed for the same purpose. But we must ever be careful to distinguish between what God has commanded to be done, and what was done through the vile passions and foolish jealousies of men. Solomon had many advantages, and no man ever made a worse use of them.