Melachim Alef 3:14

14 And if thou wilt walk in My derakhim, to be shomer over My chukkot and My mitzvot, as Dovid Avicha did walk, then I will lengthen thy yamim.

Melachim Alef 3:14 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 3:14

And if thou wilt walk in my ways
Prescribed and directed to in his word, to keep my statutes and my commandments;
ceremonial, moral, and judicial: as thy father David did walk;
which Solomon himself had observed, ( 1 Kings 3:6 ) ; and whose walk was worthy of his imitation: then I will lengthen thy days;
the other promises of riches and honour are absolute, but this of long life conditional, depending upon his holy walk and conversation; and hence, because he failed in this the Jews observe he did not attain to long life, dying, as they suppose, at fifty two years of age; which is grounded on a wrong hypothesis, that he was but twelve years of age when he he began to reign, and he reigned forty years, as before observed.

Melachim Alef 3:14 In-Context

12 Hinei, I have done according to thy devarim; hinei, I have given thee a discerning lev chacham; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not requested, both osher, and kavod; so that there shall not be any among the Melachim like unto thee all thy yamim.

14 And if thou wilt walk in My derakhim, to be shomer over My chukkot and My mitzvot, as Dovid Avicha did walk, then I will lengthen thy yamim.

15 And Sh’lomo awoke; and, hinei, it was a chalom! And he returned to Yerushalayim, and stood before the Aron Brit Adonoi, and offered up olot, and offered shelamim, and made a mishteh (feast) for all his avadim.

16 Then came there two nashim, that were zonot (harlots, prostitutes) unto HaMelech, and stood before him.