Commentaria in III Regum
7. AND I AM A LITTLE CHILD,—as if to say: I am very young, raw and inexperienced, and therefore like a boy, unfit of myself for so great a burden, namely the government of so great a people of Israel: for Solomon was at this time twenty years old, as I said above: whence, explaining, he adds:
AND KNOW NOT HOW TO GO OUT AND COME IN.—It is a phrase signifying all the actions of a man, as if to say: I know not how I ought to bear myself in the administration of so great a kingdom. Whence 2 Paralipomenon 1: “that I may go in and out before thy people,” as its king and shepherd. The Chaldee translates: I know not how to go out or come in. He alludes to the boy (which he called himself) who, taught by his mother, learns to go out and come into the house.
9. GIVE THEREFORE TO THY SERVANT AN UNDERSTANDING HEART—that is, receiving instruction, so that it may draw in instruction, namely a prudent, understanding and wise heart: in the Hebrew it is, a hearing heart, that it may hear and receive wisdom. Whence 2 Paralipomenon 1:10, explaining this, he says: “Give me wisdom and understanding.” And here in verse 11, God answering him says: “Thou hast asked for thyself wisdom,” etc.
Furthermore Solomon, asking wisdom here, properly asks prudence, by which he may be able to rule wisely both himself and the whole people, that is, to order prudently all his actions, both private and public, according to the law and will of God. Whence Wisdom chapter 9, verses 4 and 10, explaining this petition of his for wisdom, he says: “Give me wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne, etc., that she may be with me, and may labour with me, that I may know what is acceptable with thee.” He adds the reason in verse 17, saying: “And who shall know thy thought, except thou give wisdom, and send thy holy spirit from above?” See what was said there. For wisdom in the Sapiential books chiefly signifies the practical or ethical, which teaches us to live wisely, that is justly and holily, and which is accordingly called in Wisdom 10 “the knowledge of the holy ones,” and in Luke 1 “the wisdom of the just.” God, however, who surpasses the prayers and wishes of His own, granted Solomon far wider wisdom, as I shall now say.
12. I HAVE GIVEN THEE A WISE (that is, mind) AND UNDERSTANDING HEART (the Chaldee, and considering; the Septuagint, and skilled) SO THAT THERE HATH BEEN NO ONE LIKE THEE BEFORE THEE, NOR SHALL ARISE AFTER THEE.—In 2 Paralipomenon 1:12 it is said, “Wisdom and knowledge are given to thee.”
By which first understand Ethics and Politics, for governing both himself and the people: this also Solomon chiefly asked.
Second, Physics, Medicine, Logic, Rhetoric, Poetics, Mathematics, Architecture (for he needed this for building the temple) and all the natural sciences and arts. For these are called wisdom by the Hebrews, as is plain from Exodus 31:3.
For of these he himself says, Wisdom 7:17:
“For he hath given me the true knowledge of things that are, so as to know the disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the elements, the beginning, and ending, and midst of the times, the alterations of their courses, and the changes of seasons, the revolutions of the year, and the dispositions of the stars, the natures of living creatures, and rage of wild beasts, the force of winds, and reasonings of men, the diversities of plants, and the virtues of roots, and all such things as are hid, and not foreseen, I have learned: for wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me.”
Third, supernatural wisdom and prudence in the mysteries of faith, and even the gift of prophecy. That Solomon was an eminent Theologian is plain from his Proverbs and Wisdom: that he was also a Prophet is plain from Proverbs chapter 30, verse 1. See what was said there. The knowledge of all these, infused by God, Solomon received this night, and that in a very intense degree, so that he could not forget them. So Abulensis, Serarius, Pineda, Salianus and others. Josephus adds that Solomon learned from God exorcisms for conjuring and expelling demons, and many other things, which Origen mentions, treatise 35 on Matthew; Justin, Dialogue On the Truth of the Christian Religion; Epiphanius, in the heresy of the Ebionites. See Baronius in the year of Christ 56, and Sixtus Senensis in the Bibliotheca, under the word Solomon. Whence some think that a grace gratuitously given was imparted to Solomon for composing exorcisms by which the demon might be driven out. Josephus added that Solomon composed incantations for driving away diseases, which is magical: but Josephus by incantations perhaps meant prayers, which the common people afterwards superstitiously turned into incantations or magical charms.
The Rabbis add, or rather fable, that Solomon knew the chattering of birds, the barking of dogs, and understood the voices and talk of the other beasts. But who can understand the voices of brutes, which lack reason and understanding? In vain, therefore.
SO THAT THERE HATH BEEN NO ONE LIKE THEE BEFORE THEE.—Solomon therefore surpassed in wisdom not only Trismegistus, Orpheus, Homer, Plato, Solon, Lycurgus, Aristotle and all the wise men of the Greeks, Egyptians, Chanaanites, etc., whose wisdom was acquired by study, whereas Solomon’s was immediately infused by God;
but also Abraham, Moses, David, Adam, at least after the fall. For although these excelled in certain things, as Abraham in eminent faith, Moses in receiving laws from God, David in composing psalms, yet Solomon surpassed them in the breadth of his wisdom, because he embraced it altogether in every part, and expressed Christ the Lord, and His wisdom, and His union with holy Church, to the life, in words as well as deeds.
NOR SHALL ARISE AFTER THEE.—Hence Abulensis rightly infers that Solomon was wiser not only than Adam and Moses, but also than the Prophets and Apostles, and excepts only Christ and his mother the Blessed Virgin, although Suarez doubts about her, volume 2, disputation 18, section 5. St. Jerome asserts the same on Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8: “Solomon,” he says, “was wiser than all the Apostles, as the divine voice promised to the Patriarchs of old, who also speaks confidently of himself: God taught me wisdom, and I have known the knowledge of the holy ones,” Wisdom chapter 7 [10:10]. Understand in natural and political matters, for in the mysteries of the faith and the Gospel Paul and the Apostles were wiser than Solomon. Lyranus, however, Dionysius and Pererius, book 5 on Genesis, question 3, hold that Solomon is here said to be wiser than all, but so that a few are excepted, namely the Apostles, etc. Others limit it here: “None like to thee,” namely among kings: but this is too narrow. Others, better, with Serarius: “None,” namely of those who became wise by human study and their own industry, “shall be like to thee,” who didst receive it infused by God: wherefore no comparison is made here with Adam, the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles, whose wisdom was infused by God. See Pineda, book 3 On Solomon, chapter 7, who adds that with wisdom the Holy Spirit was given to Solomon, that is greater grace and holiness: for this he chiefly asked in wisdom and with wisdom. Hear Remigius, who on Colossians chapter 2, verse 9: In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporeally, writes thus: “It dwells otherwise in each of the elect, otherwise in Christ: because to them the spirit is given by measure, but in him it dwells fully. For it dwelt in Solomon by wisdom, in Daniel by chastity, in the Prophets by holiness, in Moses by meekness; but in Christ by all virtue and innocence.”
13. YEA, AND THE THINGS ALSO WHICH THOU DIDST NOT ASK, I HAVE GIVEN (that is, I have decreed to give and will straightway give gradually) THEE, TO WIT, RICHES AND GLORY, SO THAT NO ONE HATH BEEN LIKE THEE AMONG THE KINGS IN ALL DAYS HERETOFORE.—Hence Abulensis thinks that Solomon surpassed in wealth and glory Nemrod, Ninus, Saul, David and the other earlier kings, but not the later ones who followed Solomon, such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Augustus. But Serarius and others better hold that Solomon is placed above all kings altogether, future as well as past, and surpassed them all in wealth and glory.
For 2 Paralipomenon 1:12 says clearly: “Wisdom and knowledge are given to thee: and I will give thee riches, and substance, and glory, so that none of the kings before thee nor after thee shall be like thee,” where from the Hebrew you may translate: And glory such as there was not among the kings before, and after thee shall not be so, that is, like thee.
Morally, learn here how great a good and gift of God wisdom is, and how it is to be preferred to all others, nay brings all the rest with it, and that it is obtained by prayer rather than by study. For the author and giver of wisdom is God, who is the Father of lights, James chapter 1, verses 5 and 17. See what was said there; and St. Augustine, Preface to book 1 On Christian Doctrine.
15. AND SOLOMON AWAKED, AND PERCEIVED THAT IT WAS A DREAM.—Vatablus and others explain, as if to say: Solomon, awaking, remembered his dream, or that he had dreamed of wisdom, namely that it was not a true thing but a fleeting, false and vanishing dream. But this cannot be said: for Solomon truly obtained wisdom here, as is plain from the words of Scripture in verse 12: “I have given thee,” it says, “a wise and understanding heart,” etc.; wherefore this sense directly opposes Holy Scripture, and destroys and overturns it.