Commentaria in II Paralipomenon
Solomon, having offered victims at Gabaon, asks wisdom of God, and obtains it together with the greatest wealth and glory, and a splendid array of horsemen and chariots.
Chapter 1
1. Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly. 2. And Solomon commanded all Israel, the captains, and the centurions, and the leaders, and the judges of all Israel, and the heads of the families, 3. and went with the whole multitude to the high place of Gabaon, where was the tabernacle of the covenant of God, which Moses the servant of God made in the wilderness. 4. But David had brought the ark of God from Cariathiarim, to the place which he had prepared for it, and where he had pitched a tabernacle for it, that is, in Jerusalem. 5. The brazen altar also, which Bezeleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of the Lord: and Solomon and all the church sought it. 6. And Solomon went up to the brazen altar, before the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord, and offered upon it a thousand victims. 7. And behold, that very night God appeared to him, saying: Ask what thou wilt, that I may give it thee. 8. And Solomon said to God: Thou hast shewed great mercy to David my father, and hast made me king in his place. 9. Now therefore, O Lord God, let thy word be fulfilled, which thou hast promised to David my father; for thou hast made me king over thy great people, which is as innumerable as the dust of the earth. 10. Give me wisdom and understanding, that I may go in and out before thy people: for who can worthily judge this thy people, which is so great? 11. And God said to Solomon: Because this hath pleased thy heart, and thou hast not asked riches, and wealth, and glory, nor the lives of them that hated thee, nor many days of life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king, 12. wisdom and knowledge are granted to thee: and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and glory, so that none of the kings before thee, nor after thee, shall be like thee. 13. So Solomon came from the high place of Gabaon to Jerusalem, before the tabernacle of the covenant, and reigned over Israel. 14. And he gathered to himself chariots and horsemen, and there were a thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen: and he placed them in the cities of the chariots, and with the king in Jerusalem. 15. And the king made silver and gold in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones, and cedars as plentiful as sycamores, which grow in the plains in great multitude. 16. And horses were brought to him out of Egypt, and from Coa, by the king’s merchants, who went and bought them at a price. 17. A chariot of four horses for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty: in like manner out of all the kingdoms of the Hethites, and from the kings of Syria, they were bought and brought.
I have explained this chapter as far as verse 13 in 3 Kings, chapter III; the rest in chapter X, verse 26. Verse 10. That I may go in and come out before thy people—that is, as king I may lead the people out and bring them back, wherever need is, as a shepherd leads his sheep out to pasture and in the evening brings them back to the fold. Verse 5. The brazen altar also—that is, the altar of holocausts, on which the victims were burned, which was therefore of brass; for the other altar, that of incense, on which incense was burned to God, was of gold. Verse 5. Sought—by going to Gabaon, where was the brazen altar, that he might offer on it a thousand victims. Before the tabernacle of the covenant.—The Hebrew has, before the tabernacle; the Septuagint, from the face of the tabernacle; for this was in Gabaon, and departing from it Solomon returned to Jerusalem.