14 And if you go on in my ways, keeping my laws and my orders as your father David did, I will give you a long life.
For they will give you increase of days, years of life, and peace.
With long life will he be rewarded; and I will let him see my salvation.
Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and never in all his life went against his orders, but only in the question of Uriah the Hittite.
And Solomon said, Great was your mercy to David my father, as his life before you was true and upright and his heart was true to you; and you have kept for him this greatest mercy, a son to take his place this day.
For the training of the body is of profit for a little, but religion is of profit in every way, giving hope for the life which now is, and for that which is to come.
And having put him on one side, he made David their king, to whom he gave witness, saying, I have taken David, the son of Jesse, a man dear to my heart, who will do all my pleasure.
If your children keep my word, and the teachings which I will give them, their children will be rulers of your kingdom for ever.
He made request to you for life, and you gave it to him, long life for ever and ever.
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done.
And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he went in the early ways of his father, not turning to the Baals, But turning to the God of his father and keeping his laws, and not doing as Israel did.
And as for you, if you will go on your way before me as David your father did, doing whatever I have given you orders to do and keeping my laws and my decisions: Then I will make strong the seat of your kingdom, as I gave my word to David your father, saying, You will never be without a man to be ruler in Israel. But if you are turned away from me, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods, giving them worship:
And you, Solomon my son, get knowledge of the God of your father, and be his servant with a true heart and with a strong desire, for the Lord is the searcher of all hearts, and has knowledge of all the designs of men's thoughts; if you make search for him, he will be near you; but if you are turned away from him, he will give you up for ever.
Only may the Lord give you wisdom, and knowledge of his orders for Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. And all will go well for you, if you take care to keep the laws and the rules which the Lord gave to Moses for Israel: be strong and take heart; have no fear and do not be troubled.
As for you, if you will go on your way before me, as David your father did, uprightly and with a true heart, doing what I have given you orders to do, keeping my laws and my decisions; Then I will make the seat of your rule over Israel certain for ever, as I gave my word to David your father, saying, You will never be without a man to be king in Israel.
And Solomon, in his love for the Lord, kept the laws of David his father; but he made offerings and let them go up in smoke on the high places.
And keep the orders of the Lord your God, walking in his ways, keeping his laws and his orders and his rules and his words, as they are recorded in the law of Moses; so that you may do well in all you do and wherever you go, So that the Lord may give effect to what he said of me, If your children give attention to their ways, living uprightly before me with all their heart and their soul, you will never be without a man to be king in Israel.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Kings 3
Commentary on 1 Kings 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
Solomon's reign looked bloody in the foregoing chapter, but the necessary acts of justice must not be called cruelty; in this chapter it appears with another face. We must not think the worse of God's mercy to his subjects for his judgments on rebels. We have here,
1Ki 3:1-4
We are here told concerning Solomon,
1Ki 3:5-15
We have here an account of a gracious visit which God paid to Solomon, and the communion he had with God in it, which put a greater honour upon Solomon than all the wealth and power of his kingdom did.
1Ki 3:16-28
An instance is here given of Solomon's wisdom, to show that the grant lately made him had a real effect upon him. The proof is fetched, not from the mysteries of state and the policies of the council-board, though there no doubt he excelled, but from the trial and determination of a cause between party and party, which princes, though they devolve them upon their judges, must not think it below them to take cognizance of. Observe,