1 Kings 3:12

12 behold, I do hereby do according to your word. I hereby give you a wise and discerning heart; there was no one like you before you, nor afterwards will one like you arise.

1 Kings 3:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 3:12

Behold, I have done according to thy words
Expressed in his request: he not only promised he would grant him it, but he had already done it, or at least had begun to do it:

lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart;
had greatly increased his wisdom and understanding in things political, things respecting civil government, and also in things natural, in the knowledge of the things of nature as appears from ( 1 Kings 4:33 ) ; and of the arts and sciences:

so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall
any arise like unto thee:
which some restrain to kings, and to the kings of Israel; that there were none of the kings before him, as Saul and David, like him for wisdom, nor any of the kings of Judah and Israel after him; but it may include all men of all nations in the world, since he is said to be wiser than all men; and some other nations, and particular men of other nations, famous for wisdom, are expressly mentioned as inferior to him, ( 1 Kings 4:30 1 Kings 4:31 ) ; but then this must be understood of men since the fall; for Adam, doubtless, had a larger stock of knowledge and understanding in his state of innocence than ever Solomon had; and it must be restrained to political and natural knowledge; for, as for divine knowledge, Kimchi excepts Moses; and we may well except the apostles of Christ for spiritual and evangelical knowledge; and as for our Lord, the antitype of Solomon, he is greater than him in all kind of knowledge, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge being hid in him, see ( Matthew 12:42 ) ( Colossians 2:3 ) .

1 Kings 3:12 In-Context

10 The word was good in the eyes of [the] Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 And God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing and you did not ask for yourself {a long life} and you did not ask riches for yourself and you did not ask for the life of your enemies, but you have asked for yourself {the ability to make wise judgments};
12 behold, I do hereby do according to your word. I hereby give you a wise and discerning heart; there was no one like you before you, nor afterwards will one like you arise.
13 Too, what you have not asked I give to you: both riches and honor, [so that] no man among the kings will be like you all of your days.
14 If you will walk in my ways by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David your father walked, then I will lengthen your days."
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.