1 Ki. 3: Wise Acres

1 Kings 3:13 "Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings."

This doesn't start out so good for Solomon. He aligns himself with the king of Egypt, and hooks up with his daughter. It has been pretty consistent throughout mentions of the covenant that Egypt is known as Israel's enslavers. Marrying into other races has proven itself to be a stumbling block. So we'll see. I don't like this.

But then Solomon tries to show his devotion by offering a whopping 1000 sacrifices. Can you imagine? How well did the priests eat that...month?

So God comes at night in a dream and asks Solomon to ask for anything. And we'd all have our answers, but Solomon, simply, just wants to know how to do his job. He wasn't really in any sort of big-time leadership position, and here he was, now the king. A daunting job. He wants to just do his job right, which I find amazing. No where did he mention great wealth or long life, but God goes ahead and gives that to him anyway. Which makes me wonder...if we humble ourselves and ask for simple things, will God grant more amazing things that we wouldn't have even thought of?

Solomon gets to put his wisdom to test right away, as two prostitutes bring in a baby, each claiming to be his mother. Apparently one mother suffocated her infant during the night, and switched him with the other mother's. Which takes some kind of balls. Only the threat of death brings the true mother to light. As Solomon raises a sword to cut the baby in two, she relents from her plea, and would give up her son so that he would live. The other was rather cold about it. And this was amazing to those in Solomon's court. What a genius idea to solve a problem.