Why does Solomon ask for an understanding heart when the Lord offers him a gift?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He says God has made him king in David’s place, yet he is but a child who does not know how to go out and come in among an immense chosen people. He asks for understanding so he can judge them and distinguish good from evil. The Lord is pleased with this request and gives him a wise and understanding heart.

Chapter breakdown

Solomon’s kingdom is established in his hand. He makes affinity with Pharao, king of Egypt, taking his daughter and bringing her into the city of David until he finishes building his own house, the Lord’s house and the wall around Jerusalem. The people still sacrifice in high places, because no temple has yet been built to the Lord’s name.

Challoner’s separate note calls the high places altars where people worshipped the Lord, but not according to the law’s ordinance, which allowed sacrifice only at God’s temple. It says Gabaon was chief among them because the tabernacle of the testimony was there, having been moved from Silo to Nobe and from Nobe to Gabaon.

Solomon loves the Lord and walks in his father David’s precepts, with the stated exception that he sacrifices in high places and burns incense. He goes to Gabaon, the great high place, and offers a thousand victims for holocausts on its altar.

The Lord appears to Solomon in a dream by night and tells him to ask what he wishes to be given. Solomon recalls the great mercy shown to his father David as David walked before God in truth, justice and an upright heart. That mercy has been kept for David by giving him a son on his throne that day. Solomon says the Lord has made him king instead of David, but he is only a child and does not know how to go out and come in. He is among God’s chosen people, so immense they cannot be numbered or counted. He asks for an understanding heart to judge them and discern good and evil, asking who can judge so numerous a people.

The request pleases the Lord. He tells Solomon that because he has asked for wisdom to discern judgment, rather than long life, riches or his enemies’ lives, he has given him a wise and understanding heart: no one has been like him before, and no one like him will arise after. He also gives the unasked-for riches and glory, so no one has been like Solomon among the kings in all days before him. Longer life has a stated condition: Solomon must walk in God’s ways and keep his precepts and commandments as his father did.

Solomon wakes and perceives that it was a dream. He comes to Jerusalem, stands before the Lord’s ark of the covenant, offers holocausts and victims of peace offerings, and makes a great feast for all his servants.

Two women who are harlots come and stand before the king. One says they lived in one house and she gave birth with the other woman in the chamber. The other gave birth on the third day after her; only the two of them were in the house. She says the other woman’s child died at night because the woman lay over him in her sleep. In the middle of the night, that woman took the speaker’s child from beside her while she slept, held him in her own bosom and put her dead child in the speaker’s bosom. When the speaker rose in the morning to nurse her child, she found him dead; looking more closely in clear daylight, she saw he was not the child she had borne.

The other woman denies the account, saying the speaker’s child is dead and her own alive. The first says the other lies: her own child lives and the other’s is dead. They dispute in this way before the king. Solomon repeats their opposing claims about which child is alive and which is dead.

Solomon orders a sword brought, and it is brought before him. He commands that the living child be divided in two, half given to each woman. The woman whose child is alive is moved for her child and begs the king to give the child alive to the other woman rather than kill it. The other says it should belong to neither of them and should be divided.

Solomon answers that the living child must be given to the woman who asked for it to be spared, and must not be killed, because she is its mother. All Israel hears his judgment and fears the king, seeing that God’s wisdom is in him to judge.

The story inside

Solomon’s request and the judgment that follows give two connected accounts of wisdom. At Gabaon he asks for understanding because of the task of judging an immense people and his own stated inability. The Lord’s answer names what he asked for, what he did not ask for, the gifts given and the condition attached to longer life. Back in Jerusalem, two women present opposing claims about a living child. Solomon repeats their claims, asks for a sword and orders the child divided. Their different replies are followed by his command to spare the child and give it to its mother. Israel’s response links this judgment to God’s wisdom in him. The account records these words and actions without adding Solomon’s unspoken plan or a claim that every such dispute can be decided the same way.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Solomon explains his request through the responsibility he has been given. He names David, his own inability and the immense chosen people before asking for an understanding heart to judge and discern good and evil. The Lord’s stated reason for being pleased is that he asked for wisdom rather than long life, riches or his enemies’ lives.
2
The gifts do not all have the same wording. Wisdom is described as unmatched before and after Solomon; riches and glory are compared with kings in all days before him. Longer life is promised if he keeps God’s ways, precepts and commandments. Retaining these limits prevents a broader promise than the source gives.
3
The women’s different replies come before the decision. The mother asks that her child live even if he is given to the other woman; the other accepts division. Solomon then orders the child spared and identifies its mother. The final verse names Israel’s recognition of God’s wisdom rather than a general psychological rule about every mother.

Test your recall

How does Solomon explain his need for understanding, and which replies in the child’s case come before his decision to spare the child and give it to its mother?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 34956–34969
3 Kings Chapter 3 Solomon marrieth Pharao’s daughter. He sacrificeth in Gabaon: in the choice which God gave him he preferreth wisdom. His wise judgment between the two harlots. 3:1. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon, and he made affinity with Pharao, the king of Egypt: for he took his daughter, and brought her into the city of David: until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 3:2. But yet the people sacrificed in the high places: for there was no temple built to the name of the Lord until that day.
Lines 34971–34976
High places.... That is, altars where they worshipped the Lord, but not according to the ordinance of the law; which allowed of no other places for sacrifice but the temple of God. Among these high places that of Gabaon was the chiefest, because there was the tabernacle of the testimony, which had been removed from Silo to Nobe and from Nobe to Gabaon.
Lines 34978–34983
3:3. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the precepts of David, his father; only he sacrificed in the high places, and burnt incense. 3:4. He went therefore to Gabaon, to sacrifice there: for that was the great high place: a thousand victims for holocausts, did Solomon offer upon that altar, in Gabaon.
Lines 34985–35003
3:5. And the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, saying: Ask what thou wilt that I should give thee. 3:6. And Solomon said: Thou hast shewed great mercy to thy servant David, my father, even as he walked before thee in truth, and justice, and an upright heart with thee: and thou hast kept thy great mercy for him, and hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 3:7. And now, O Lord God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David, my father: and I am but a child, and know not how to go out and come in; 3:8. And thy servant is in the midst of the people which thou hast chosen, an immense people, which cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 3:9. Give therefore to thy servant an understanding heart, to judge thy people, and discern between good and evil. For who shall be able to judge this people, thy people, which is so numerous?
Lines 35005–35021
3:10. And the word was pleasing to the Lord, that Solomon had asked such a thing. 3:11. And the Lord said to Solomon: Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life nor riches, nor the lives of thy enemies, but hast asked for thyself wisdom to discern judgment; 3:12. Behold I have done for thee according to thy words, and have given thee a wise and understanding heart, in so much that there hath been no one like thee before thee, nor shall arise after thee. 3:13. Yea, and the things also which thou didst not ask, I have given thee; to wit, riches and glory: so that no one hath been like thee among the kings in all days heretofore. 3:14. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, and keep my precepts and my commandments, as thy father walked, I will lengthen thy days.
Lines 35023–35026
3:15. And Solomon awaked, and perceived that it was a dream: and when he was come to Jerusalem, he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered holocausts, and sacrificed victims of peace offerings, and made a great feast for all his servants.
Lines 35028–35048
3:16. Then there came two women that were harlots, to the king, and stood before him. 3:17. And one of them said: I beseech thee, my lord, I and this woman dwelt in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the chamber. 3:18. And the third day after I was delivered, she also was delivered; and we were together, and no other person with us in the house; only we two. 3:19. And this woman’s child died in the night: for in her sleep she overlaid him. 3:20. And rising in the dead time of the night, she took my child from my side, while I, thy handmaid, was asleep, and laid it in her bosom: and laid her dead child in my bosom. 3:21. And when I arose in the morning, to give my child suck, behold it was dead: but considering him more diligently, when it was clear day, I found that it was not mine which I bore.
Lines 35050–35057
3:22. And the other woman answered: It is not so as thou sayest, but thy child is dead, and mine is alive. On the contrary, she said; Thou liest: for my child liveth, and thy child is dead. And in this manner they strove before the king. 3:23. Then said the king: The one saith, My child is alive, and thy child is dead. And the other answereth: Nay; but thy child is dead, and mine liveth.
Lines 35059–35068
3:24. The king therefore said: Bring me a sword. And when they had brought a sword before the king, 3:25. Divide, said he, the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other. 3:26. But the woman, whose child was alive, said to the king; (for her bowels were moved upon her child) I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not kill it. But the other said: Let it be neither mine nor thine; but divide it.
Lines 35070–35075
3:27. The king answered, and said: Give the living child to this woman, and let it not be killed; for she is the mother thereof. 3:28. And all Israel heard the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, seeing that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment.