July 2, 2025

1 Kings 3 (HCSB)
The Lord Appears to Solomon
3 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of
Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. Solomon
brought her to live in the city of David until he
finished building his palace, the Lord’s temple, and
the wall surrounding Jerusalem. 2 However, the
people were sacrificing on the high places, because
until that time a temple for the Lord’s name had not
been built. 3 Solomon loved the Lord by walking in
the statutes of his father David, but he also
sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because
it was the most famous high place. He offered 1,000
burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord
appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said,
“Ask. What should I give you?”
6 And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and
faithful love to Your servant, my father David,
because he walked before You in faithfulness,
righteousness, and integrity. You have continued
this great and faithful love for him by giving him a
son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
7 “Lord my God, You have now made Your servant
king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth
with no experience in leadership. 8 Your servant is
among Your people You have chosen, a people too
numerous to be numbered or counted. 9 So give
Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people
and to discern between good and evil. For who is
able to judge this great people of Yours?”
10 Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had
requested this. 11 So God said to him, “Because you
have requested this and did not ask for long life or
riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but
you asked discernment for yourself to understand
justice, 12 I will therefore do what you have asked. I
will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that
there has never been anyone like you before and
never will be again. 13 In addition, I will give you what
you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no
man in any kingdom will be your equal during your
entire life. 14 If you walk in My ways and keep My
statutes and commands just as your father David
did, I will give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a
dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark
of the Lord’s covenant, and offered burnt offerings
and fellowship offerings. Then he held a feast for all
his servants.
Solomon’s Wisdom
16 Then two women who were prostitutes came to
the king and stood before him. 17 One woman said,
“Please my lord, this woman and I live in the same
house, and I had a baby while she was in the house.
18 On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a
baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in
the house; just the two of us were there. 19 During the
night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.
20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my
son from my side while your servant was asleep.
She laid him at her breast, and she put her dead son
in my arms. 21 When I got up in the morning to nurse
my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning,
when I looked closely at him I realized that he was
not the son I gave birth to.”
22 “No,” the other woman said. “My son is the living
one; your son is the dead one.”
The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one;
my son is the living one.” So they argued before the
king.
23 The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my
son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that
woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is
alive.’” 24 The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So
they brought the sword to the king. 25 Solomon said,
“Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and
half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive spoke to the
king because she felt great compassion for her son.
“My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but
please don’t have him killed!”
But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours.
Cut him in two!”
27 The king responded, “Give the living baby to the
first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.”
28 All Israel heard about the judgment the king had
given, and they stood in awe of the king because
they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out
justice.

Don Steele
If David was a man after God’s own heart, then
Solomon was a man with a heart after God’s own
people. I always thought that Soloman asked God for
wisdom, but that isn’t what it says. He asked for “an
obedient heart to judge Your people and discern
between good and evil”. He didn’t just want the
knowledge in his head, he wanted to feel it in his heart.
That’s how we experience God. It is one thing to know
about God, but it is an entirely different thing to know
God with all your heart. When we do that, we have a
heart for God’s people. God gave Solomon
immeasurably more than he asked for. I am continually
blown away at God’s provisions. As we try to stay in
His will, just like with Solomon, He wants to give us
more than we ask for. Just don’t be surprised when
your wants change when you start aligning them with God's wants.