God needs us to ask Him for issues. However we have to have the correct coronary heart. Riches, honor, and energy are worldly pleasures. They can be utilized for God’s glory, however they actually deliver glory to us.
God had already given Solomon energy by giving him the throne, however it happy God that his best want was to make use of that energy properly. So, he granted his request, and since each king would need for honor and riches, God gave him that, too.
Making Sacrifices – 1 Kings 3:1-4 (2 Chronicles 1:1-6)
To start with of his reign, Solomon fashioned an alliance with the king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. 5 hundred years earlier than, the Israelites had been Egyptian slaves. Now they’ve their very own nation, with their very own king, and the 2 nations are working collectively. Solomon had not but constructed the Temple and even his personal home, so he and his new spouse lived within the metropolis of David till he completed constructing his palace.
Additionally, as a result of they hadn’t constructed the Temple but, the folks had been nonetheless sacrificing in numerous excessive locations. The Canaanites had worshipped within the highest locations they may as a result of they felt nearer to the gods. Israel demolished their worship websites after they settled within the land, then they repurposed these locations into worship websites for the Lord. This was solely partially what God had instructed them to do. They may slaughter and eat the meat in their very own cities if the Tabernacle or Temple was too far-off from the place they lived. However they had been supposed to supply burnt choices to God on the home of the Lord, which was the Tabernacle till the Temple was constructed (Deuteronomy 12).
Solomon beloved the Lord and adopted in David’s footsteps, though he apparently sacrificed and burned incense on among the excessive locations. However the highest non secular place was in Gibeon the place the Tabernacle was positioned, so Solomon gathered all Israel’s leaders there to make sacrifices in the beginning of his reign. Though the ark was in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 13, 15), the bronze altar, crafted by Bezalel, within the days of Moses, was within the courtyard of the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-11, 38:1-7). So, Solomon sacrificed one thousand burnt choices there in Gibeon.
Solomon’s Dream – 1 Kings 3:5-9 (2 Chronicles 1:7-10)
That evening, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and requested what he needed the Lord to offer him. This was no odd dream. Solomon was ready to answer God, and so they had a full dialog that Solomon was aware of. He answered God first with reward for a way form He had been to his father David, and the way he had prolonged that kindness to his son by giving him the throne. Then, he admitted that he was younger and inexperienced and that he wanted God’s assist if he was going to be a great chief for God’s folks. Within the final census we all know of, when David requested Joab to rely the combating age males, there have been 1,570,000, and this didn’t embrace the tribes of Benjamin or Levi, the older males, the ladies, or the youngsters. So, by the point Solomon took the throne on the age of 20, there have been in all probability over 4 million folks within the nation.
So, Solomon requested God to offer him an understanding coronary heart to manipulate the folks and discern between what was good and unhealthy. The phrase for “understanding” got here from their phrase for “hear,” and the phrases “good” and “unhealthy” had been the broadest sense of the phrases. So, Solomon was asking for a listening coronary heart so he would know the distinction between what was unhealthy, fallacious, and evil and what was good, higher, and greatest. He was principally asking God to inform him the correct solutions to each choice he would want to make as Israel’s ruler and provides him a coronary heart to listen to Him. That’s a fairly large request in case you actually give it some thought. However Solomon was humble sufficient to know that he couldn’t do that job with out God’s assist.
