1 Kings 3:4

4 Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.

1 Kings 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 3:4

And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there
About four or five miles from Jerusalem; (See Gill on 1 Kings 2:28);

for that [was] the great high place;
not that the place itself might be higher than others that were used; but here were the tabernacle of Moses, and the altar; so that it was a more dignified place, and more sacred because of them:

a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar;
the brazen altar of burnt offerings there; not at one time, but on several days successively; though Jarchi says on one day; and which was a prodigious number, never was known the like, unless at the dedication of the temple, ( 1 Kings 8:63 1 Kings 8:64 ) .

1 Kings 3:4 In-Context

2 The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built.

3 And Solomon loved the LORD and walked in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

4 Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar there.

5 One night at Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “Ask, and I will give it to you!”

6 Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day.