1 Kings 10 · a question people ask
Was Solomon's wealth a blessing, or the start of his fall?
At Gibeon God promised Solomon riches: "I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days" (3:13). Here "King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom" (10:23). Moses' law had said of a king, "Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses" (Deuteronomy 17:16), and "He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold" (Deuteronomy 17:17). This chapter tells of horses brought as tribute (10:25) and "brought out of Egypt" (10:28), of "one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen" (10:26), of silver "as common as stones" (10:27), and of gold (10:14). Chapter 10 itself makes no comment on any of it. The next chapter says, "When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods" (11:4). Christians read chapter 10 in two main ways. Both agree that the riches were God's gift (3:13), that chapter 10 gives no verdict of its own, and that 1 Kings says the LORD was angry with Solomon "because his heart was turned away from the LORD" (11:9).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The promise of 3:13, kept in full
Those who read it this way note that God said he had given Solomon riches and honor "so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days" (3:13), and that this chapter says he "exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom" (10:23). The chapter gives the credit to God: Solomon's wisdom was the wisdom "which God had put in his heart" (10:24), and the queen blessed the LORD for him (10:9). On this reading chapter 10 shows God's gift at its height, and the turn comes where 1 Kings names it, with his wives: "His wives turned his heart away" (11:3).
1 Kings 3:13 · 1 Kings 10:23-24 · 1 Kings 10:9 · 1 Kings 11:3
A gift, with the law's warning beside it
Those who read it this way set 10:26-28 beside Deuteronomy 17:16-17, noting that this chapter counts horses "brought out of Egypt" (10:28), silver (10:27) and gold (10:14), things that law names for a king (Deuteronomy 17:16-17), beside "one thousand four hundred chariots" (10:26), and that the next verse begins, "Now King Solomon loved many foreign women" (11:1), where Deuteronomy 17:17 had said, "He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away". The LORD had told Solomon, "if you will walk before me as David your father walked… and will keep my statutes and my ordinances" (9:4). On this reading chapter 10 shows the gift and, beside it, a king already gathering what Deuteronomy 17 told a king not to multiply, just before 11:4.
1 Kings 10:26-28 · Deuteronomy 17:16-17 · 1 Kings 10:14 · 1 Kings 11:1 · 1 Kings 9:4
The verses
“I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days.”
“So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.”
“Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because the LORD has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.” He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.”
“Year after year, every man brought his tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules. Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. He kept them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland. The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt. The king’s merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price.”