Poole on 1 Kings 3:1-4: Solomon and Pharaoh's Daughter

[1014 BC]  Verse 1:[1]  And (1 Kings 7:8; 9:24) Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the (2 Sam. 5:7) city of David, until he had made an end of building his (1 Kings 7:1) own house, and (1 Kings 6) the house of the LORD, and (1 Kings 9:15, 19) the wall of Jerusalem round about.

[With Pharaoh]  Whose name was Vaphres[2] (Serarius, Menochius).  This was pertaining to the confirmation of the kingdom,[3] because the King of Egypt was both neighboring, and very powerful (Menochius, similarly Lapide).

Made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, as being a powerful neighbour.

[For he took his daughter]  Question:  Whether Solomon sinned in this?  Response 1:  Some think that he did indeed sin (Hebrews and Theodoret and Procopius in Serarius).  Marriages with foreigners were prohibited to the Israelites, Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3 (Sanchez).  But that prohibition is to be restricted to the Canaanites, from whom was the greatest danger of perversion and idolatry (Lapide).  [To others this is not satisfying:]  1.  The Canaanites alone are mentioned there, because the speech appointed concerning them.  2.  All the Gentiles are excluded, and they are commanded to take wives only of their own nation, indeed, of their own tribe, Numbers 36:7 (Sanchez).  3.  The reason for, or cause of, the law is general, namely, so that men might not turn from God (Martyr, Sanchez).  Response 2:  Others deny that Solomon sinned (Lyra, Estius, Menochius, Hebrews in Munster, Grotius, Junius, Lapide, Serarius, Sanchez, Piscator).  They prove this, 1.  in that he is nowhere reproved on this account (Menochius).  2.  In that in the beginning of the kingdom he is highly commended (Estius), and is said to have loved God (Junius, Estius, Menochius).  3.  This appears out of Psalm 45, and out of the Canticle as entered among the sacred books (Grotius out of Junius).  Which things were not indeed written on this subject (for what is it to the Church that they should be celebrated even at this time?), yet they were written by David and Solomon, when, on this occasion, they had been lifted up to the contemplation of that heavenly marriage, and were occupied in the meditation of it (Malvenda out of Junius, similarly Lapide).  4.  He took her, having [previously] been made subject to the Law (Grotius, thus Junius, Piscator, Menochius, etc.).  Solomon made her to be instructed in the Law, although he afterwards receded from it (Menochius out of Hebrews).

Took Pharaoh’s daughter; upon what conditions is not here expressed; but it is probable she was first instructed in and proselyted to the Jewish religion; as may be gathered, 1.  Because he was not yet fallen from God, but loved the Lord, and walked in the statutes of David, 1 Kings 3:3; and therefore would never have married a gross idolater, which was so contrary to God’s law, and so pernicious in its consequences.  2.  Because he is no where reproved for this fact, as he is for loving many other strange women, 1 Kings 11:1.  3.  By comparing Psalm 45 and the Book of Canticles; whereby it plainly appears that this action had something extraordinary in it, and was designed by God to be a type of Christ, calling his church to himself, and to the true religion, not only out of the Jews, but even out of the Gentile world.

[Into the city of David]  Into the citadel built on mount Zion (Munster, thus Menochius).  There he had his palace, but it was too mean, than that it should contain such a queen (Junius, Malvenda).

Into the city of David; of which see 1 Kings 2:10; into David’s palace there.  The house of the Lord, that is, the temple appropriated to the worship and honour of God.  The wall of Jerusalem round about; which though in some sort built by David, 2 Samuel 5:9, yet Solomon is here said to build, either because he made it higher, and stronger, and more beautiful and glorious; in which or the like sense Nebuchadnezzar is said to have built Babylon, Daniel 4:30; or because he built another wall besides the former, for greater security; for after this time Jerusalem was encompassed with more walls than one.

Verse 2:[4]  (Lev. 17:3-5; Deut. 12:2, 4, 5; 1 Kings 22:43) Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.

[But yet the people were sacrificing in the high places]  These high places, so often mentioned, were groves or woods, planted on high hills.  The Gentiles were selecting such places, 1.  because they were closer to heaven; 2.  because dense and silent woods instill a certain dread of sacred rites.  The high places of the Hebrews were twofold:  1.  In which they were worshipping idols, concerning which Jeremiah 7:31; Ezekiel 6:3, 4; Hosea 10:8.  2.  In which they were sacrificing to the true God, as in Judges 6; 1 Samuel 9:19 (Lapide).  But yet, etc., that is to say, This only were they committing against the legitimate worship of God (Piscator).  ‎רַק, but yet, that is, they were offering sacrifices to God on altars previously constructed, and appointed for this (Vatablus).  He renders the reason why Solomon built the temple before his own house[5] (Sanchez).

Only:  this particle is used here and verse 3, as an exception to Solomon’s integrity and glory, and as his infirmity, and a blemish to his government, that he himself both permitted and practiced this which was expressly forbidden, Leviticus 17:3, 4; Deuteronomy 12:13, 14, except in some extraordinary cases.  Possibly he permitted it because he thought it better to allow an error in a circumstance, than to occasion a neglect of the substance of God’s worship, which he apprehended would follow upon a severe prohibition of that practice, because the people’s hearts were generally and constantly set upon these high places, as appears from all the following history; and they were not willing to submit to so much trouble and charge as the bringing of all their sacrifices to one place would cause; nor would yield to it until the temple was built, which he knew would easily incline and oblige them to it; and that being speedily to be done, he might think it more advisable rather to delay the execution of that law of God for an approaching season, wherein he doubted not they would be sweetly and freely drawn to it, than at present to drive them to it by force; although these and all other prudential considerations should have given place to the will and wisdom of God.  In high places; which were groves, or other convenient places upon hills, in which the patriarchs used to offer up their worship and sacrifices to God; and from them this custom was derived both to the Gentiles and the Jews; and in them the Gentiles sacrificed to idols, Jeremiah 7:31; Ezekiel 6:3, 4; Hosea 10:8, the Hebrews to the true God.  Because there was no house; which reason was not sufficient, for there was a tabernacle, to which they were as much confined as to the temple, Deuteronomy 12, etc.  Unto the name of the Lord; either, 1.  To the Lord; the name of the Lord being oft put for the Lord himself, as Deuteronomy 28:58; Job 1:21; Psalm 7:17; 116:13; 135:1.  Or, 2.  To the honour, and praise, and service of God; to the glory of his name, that is, of his majesty, and all his perfections, which shall be adored and manifested there.

Verse 3:[6]  And Solomon (Deut. 6:5; 30:16, 20; Ps. 31:23; Rom. 8:28; 1 Cor. 8:3) loved the LORD, (1 Kings 3:6, 14) walking in the statutes of David his father:  only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.

[Solomon loved the Lord]  And he loved (Malvenda).  For he loved (Junius and Tremellius).  I would prefer, yet he loved; that is to say, although he was suffering the people to sacrifice in the high places, yet in the rest he was rightly worshipping Jehovah (Piscator).  He is said to have loved the Lord, both because he loved Him from the heart, and because he worshipped Him with sacrifices and other external offices of piety; for, to love is sometimes taken in the place of these (Sanchez).  The to love shows his internal worship; the to walk, etc., the external worship (Lyra).  He had not yet been corrupted, but was yet adhering to God (Martyr).

And, or, yet, although he mistook and miscarried himself in the matter of high places, yet in the general his heart was right with God, and he both loved him with inward affection, and walked with him in outward conversation and worship.  In the statutes of David, that is, according to the statutes or commands of God, which are here called the statutes of David, not only because they were so freely chosen, and heartily loved, and diligently practiced by David, but also because the observation of them was so earnestly pressed upon Solomon, and fortified with David’s authority and command:  see 1 Kings 2:2-4; 1 Chronicles 28:8, 9.

[With this excepted, that he was sacrificing in the high places]  Question:  Whether Solomon sinned in this?  Response 1:  Some think that he sinned (thus Sanchez and Sà[7] in Menochius, Tirinus).  The word ‎רַק/only indicates that Solomon did not perfectly imitate the ways of his father (Munster).  Even if the high places were tolerated, yet it did not belong to perfect men to sacrifice in them (Martyr).  That before the temple the high places were lawful, is denied by Theodoret, Procopius, Tostatus, and Ribera,[8] because Solomon was blamed on account of these (Serarius).  One place alone was determined for sacrifices, Leviticus 17; Deuteronomy 12:13, 14.  And, because the two tribes had erected an altar outside of that place, war was decreed against them, Joshua 22 (Sanchez).  And with this sin all the Kings of Israel and Judah are said to have sinned with the exceptions of David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, Ecclesiasticus 49:4.[9]  David did not tolerate the high places, and commanded the same to his son; whence it is here said that he walked in the statutes of David his father, with this excepted, that in the high places, etc.  Moreover, that this displeased God, even in Solomon, is even gathered from this, that to him going to various high places, and sacrificing in them, God never appeared, but only in Gibeon; that is, in the lawful place (Tirinus).  Response 2:  Yet others deny that he sinned, and judge the high places to have been lawful, not as if they were altogether pleasing to God, but as permitted by Him, until the temple was built (Lyra and Serarius and Hebrews in Lapide).  It does not appear (here), that this is an exception to the integrity of Solomon at this time; but, what was said of the people, the same was said of Solomon, namely, that, because the temple had not yet been built, sacrifices were made by him in two places; where the tabernacle was, that is, Gibeon, 2 Chronicles 1:3, and at Jerusalem, where the ark was, 1 Kings 8:1 (Grotius).  [Hence Junius and Tremellius translate it:]  Only in those high places was he sacrificing; that is to say, while he was loving God, and keeping the statutes of his father, he was consequently offering nowhere else, neither was he suffering others to offer elsewhere, than where David had sacrificed, namely, Gibeon and Jerusalem (Malvenda nearly out of Junius).  [But that translation does not please Piscator:]  In the Hebrew there is no relative pronoun, those;[10] neither does the article have ἀναφορικὴν/relative force; because no mention of certain high places preceded, but of high place indefinitely:  just as also here.  Neither is only to be constructed with in the high places; but with the verb, he sacrificed (Piscator).  In this passage Solomon is not taxed; for at that time it was lawful to him:  because he was not able to sacrifice on the Mosaic altar, which was in Gibeon (Vatablus).

Verse 4:[11]  And (2 Chron. 1:3) the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; (1 Chron. 16:39; 2 Chron. 1:3) for that was the great high place:  a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

[Indeed, that was the greatest high place]  Not in size (Lyra, Tirinus), or the height of the place (Martyr), but in dignity (Tirinus, similarly Lyra); because the ordinary ministry was there (Martyr, thus Malvenda out of Junius), and the altar of continual burnt-offering, 1 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3, 5, 6 (Malvenda).  The altar surpassing all others was there, namely, that brazen altar made by Moses (Vatablus).  There was the greatest reverence for this high place, because the tabernacle of Moses was yet standing there (Menochius).

The great high place; the most eminent and frequented, because there was the tabernacle and the altar of Moses, 1 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3, 5, 6, which possibly were placed upon a high or raised ground.  A thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar; thereby showing his special respect to this above all other places, and by his example teaching and inviting all his people to do so.

[1] Hebrew: ‎וַיִּתְחַתֵּ֣ן שְׁלֹמֹ֔ה אֶת־פַּרְעֹ֖ה מֶ֣לֶךְ מִצְרָ֑יִם וַיִּקַּ֣ח אֶת־בַּת־פַּרְעֹ֗ה וַיְבִיאֶ֙הָ֙ אֶל־עִ֣יר דָּוִ֔ד עַ֣ד כַּלֹּת֗וֹ לִבְנ֤וֹת אֶת־בֵּיתוֹ֙ וְאֶת־בֵּ֣ית יְהוָ֔ה וְאֶת־חוֹמַ֥ת יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖ם סָבִֽיב׃

[2] Eupolemus in Eusebius’ Preparation for the Gospel 9:30-34.  Eupolemus was an ancient Jewish historian, perhaps of the second century BC.  Only a few fragments of his work have been preserved.  If, by this Vaphres, Pharaoh Apries is intended, Apries is much too late (sixth century BC).

[3] See 2 Kings 2:46.

[4] Hebrew:  ‎רַ֣ק הָעָ֔ם מְזַבְּחִ֖ים בַּבָּמ֑וֹת כִּ֠י לֹא־נִבְנָ֥ה בַ֙יִת֙ לְשֵׁ֣ם יְהוָ֔ה עַ֖ד הַיָּמִ֥ים הָהֵֽם׃ פ

[5] 1 Kings 6:36-7:1.

[6] Hebrew:  ‎וַיֶּאֱהַ֤ב שְׁלֹמֹה֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֔ה לָלֶ֕כֶת בְּחֻקּ֖וֹת דָּוִ֣ד אָבִ֑יו רַ֚ק בַּבָּמ֔וֹת ה֥וּא מְזַבֵּ֖חַ וּמַקְטִֽיר׃

[7] Emanuel Sà (1530-1596) was a Portuguese Jesuit.  He was appointed to serve as Interpreter of Sacred writings and Professor of Divinity at Rome.  In his Commentariis in Sacram Scripturam, Sà demonstrates his learning, and his commitment to the literal sense of Scripture.

[8] Francis Ribera (1537-1591) was a Spanish Jesuit scholar, most remembered for his commentary on Revelation in which he advances the Futurist scheme of interpretation.

[9] Ecclesiasticus 49:4:  “All, except David and Ezekias and Josias, were defective:  for they forsook the law of the most High, even the kings of Juda failed.”

[10] Hebrew:  ‎בַּבָּמוֹת, in the high places.

[11] Hebrew:  ‎וַיֵּ֙לֶךְ הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ גִּבְעֹ֙נָה֙ לִזְבֹּ֣חַ שָׁ֔ם כִּ֥י הִ֖יא הַבָּמָ֣ה הַגְּדוֹלָ֑ה אֶ֤לֶף עֹלוֹת֙ יַעֲלֶ֣ה שְׁלֹמֹ֔ה עַ֖ל הַמִּזְבֵּ֥חַ הַהֽוּא׃