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Solomon’s Rule Consolidated

Now Solomon became a son-in-law to Pharaoh king of Egypt [and formed an alliance] by [a]taking Pharaoh’s daughter [in marriage]. He brought her to the [b]City of David [where she remained temporarily] until he had finished building his own house (palace) and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. But [in the meantime] the people were still sacrificing [to God] on the high places (hilltops) [as the pagans did to their idols], for there was no [permanent] house yet built for the [c]Name of the Lord.

Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking [at first] in the statutes of David his father, except [for the fact that] he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places [ignoring the law that required all sacrifices to be offered at the tabernacle].(A) The king went to Gibeon [near Jerusalem, where the tabernacle and the bronze altar stood] to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask [Me] what I shall give you.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 3:1 Pharaoh gave the Canaanite city of Gezer to his daughter as a dowry. Located on a major trade route it was strategically important to the economies of both Egypt and Israel (see 9:16).
  2. 1 Kings 3:1 This was on the south side of the eastern ridge of Jerusalem.
  3. 1 Kings 3:2 See note Deut 12:5.

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