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I. THE PERMISSION GRANTED TO SOLOMON. "Ask what I shall give thee." Granted:

1. By whom? God (Elohim), the Giver par excellence, of whom David had said, "All things come of thee" (1 Chronicles 29:14); "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord" (Psalm 33:5); and whom a New Testament writer describes as "the Father of lights," etc. (James 1:5, 17). The invitation here accorded to Solomon, after the manner of Oriental monarchs (Esther 5:6; Esther 9:12; Matthew 14:7), was and is pre-eminently after the manner of the King of kings (Matthew 7:7; James 1:5). Christ extends the same to his followers: "If ye shall ask anything in my Name, I will do it" (John 14:14; cf. 16:23, 24).

2. When? "In that night;" i.e. after the day in which Solomon had been offering sacrifice - not without significance. God is not likely to appear at night, at least in grace, to them who have been unmindful of him throughout the day.

3. How? In a dream-vision (1 Kings 3:5), which, however, warrants not the deduction that the incident had no solid basis of reality, and that here is only the record of a dream. Even were this correct, it would not be without value as showing the current and tenor of Solomon's thoughts and feelings during the preceding day. Men seldom have pleasant dreams of God upon their midnight couches who have not had him in their thoughts all their waking hours. Yet that in Solomon's dream were a veritable manifestation of God to his soul, and a bona fide transaction of asking and answering, of giving and receiving, is proved by the fact that Solomon obtained what he asked.

4. Why? To prove what was in Solomon's heart, to test whether the ceremonies of the preceding day had been the outcome and expression of a genuinely devout soul, to ascertain whether he had ascended the throne with a clear grasp of the situation, whether he knew what he most required for the successful execution of his kingly office. So God still tests his people and men in general by extending to them a similar permission to that he gave Solomon (Matthew 7:7), and by occasionally in his providence bringing them into situations where they must choose, as Solomon was invited to do, what they shall have as their chief good.

II. THE REQUEST PREFERRED BY SOLOMON. "Give me now wisdom and knowledge."

1. The purport of this request. If "wisdom "and" knowledge" are to be distinguished, which is doubtful, the former will be the general and the latter the particular, the former the principle the latter the application, the former the root the latter the fruit (cf. Proverbs 8:12; Ephesians 1:17); "wisdom," the soul's capacity for seeing truth and discerning its adaptations to the particular exigencies of life; "knowledge," that truth as apprehended and possessed by the soul. Solomon craved the spirit of wisdom, that with clear and single vision he might "see" God's will concerning himself in every situation in his future career, and the faculty of apprehension that he might always know what that will required him to do. No prayer could have been more appropriate in his lips at the important juncture in life at which he stood. No prayer could better befit any one at any juncture. The prime necessities of the soul are - an eye to see and light to see with, a capacity to find out and comprehend God's will concerning itself (Psalm 143:8). The Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds, through the ignorance that is in them (Ephesians 4:18). God's people go astray mostly through defect of knowledge (Isaiah 5:13; 1 Corinthians 15:34).

2. The reason of this request. Solomon, conscious of inexperience and inability to discharge the duties of the kingly office, felt he could not rightly "go out and come in before" or "adequately judge" so great a people as Israel. A hopeful sign for Solomon it was that he knew and was willing to confess his want of wisdom and knowledge. As the first step towards holiness is to acknowledge sin, so the first genuine movement in the direction of self-improvement of any kind is the admission of defect. Solomon confessed himself a little child, who knew not how to go out or come in (1 Kings 1:7), and Tennyson in similar language depicts the natural condition of the race -

"Behold, we know not anything;
So runs my dream; but what am I?
An infant crying in the night,
An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry."

(In Memoriam,' 54.) It is doubtful, however, if that expresses the mood of any but the loftier spirits. When souls begin to cry for light they are no longer absolutely blind, but have become conscious of and are pained by the darkness.

3. The plea of this request. Not that he was a great man's son, and indeed a great man himself, at least in social position, or that his youth had been virtuously spent, and that he was even then piously inclined; but that God had graciously covenanted with David his father, promising to be a father to David's son, and to establish David's throne for ever (2 Samuel 7:12-16). So with no plea but that of grace, and no argument but that of God's covenant with men on the ground of Christ's sacrifice, need suppliants on any errand approach the throne of God.

III. THE ANSWER RETURNED TO SOLOMON. "Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee," etc.

1. What Solomon had asked was obtained. So God still gives to them that ask him for the higher blessings of his grace - gives unconditionally, freely, and exactly as men ask. So Christ says to his disciples," All things whatsoever ye desire in prayer, believing, ye shall receive ' (Matthew 21:22). And even when they ask temporal or material blessings not inconsistent with their higher good, these are not withheld (Psalm 84:11). See the case of the blind men of Jericho who were cured (Matthew 20:34).

2. What Solomon had not asked was superadded. He had not asked wealth, fame, power, or long life; and just because he had asked none of these things, lo! all these things were added. So Christ says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things [food, raiment, etc.] will be added" - thrown into the bargain (Matthew 6:33); and Paul adds that "God is able to do for us exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20, 21). Learn:

1. The liberty God's people have in prayer.

2. The superiority of wisdom, i.e. of heavenly wisdom (James 3:17), over all earthly things (Proverbs 4:7).

3. The reality of answers to prayer.

4. The profit of sometimes limiting our requests at God's throne. - W.

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KJV: In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee.

WEB: In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you."