1 Kings 3:6

6 Solomon answered, "You always showed great love for my father David, your servant, and he was good, loyal, and honest in his relation with you. And you have continued to show him your great and constant love by giving him a son who today rules in his place.

1 Kings 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 3:6

And Solomon said
In his dream; not that he dreamt he said, when he did not; but he really said, as follows:

thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy;
bestowed many favours and blessings upon him, both temporal and spiritual:

according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and
in uprightness of heart with thee;
in the truth of doctrine and worship, according to the revealed will and word of God, and which he observed with great strictness, living soberly, righteously, and godly, though not without failings and imperfections, yet with great integrity and sincerity; and this holy walk of his was not the cause of God's showing mercy to him, nor was it in proportion to that, but what he was influenced to by the mercy that was shown him:

and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given
him a son to sit on his throne, as [it is] this day;
a son to be his successor, meaning himself; which was an additional favour to all the rest, and was in reserve, and now bestowed, as time had made to appear.

1 Kings 3:6 In-Context

4 On one occasion he went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices because that was where the most famous altar was. He had offered hundreds of burnt offerings there in the past.
5 That night the Lord appeared to him in a dream and asked him, "What would you like me to give you?"
6 Solomon answered, "You always showed great love for my father David, your servant, and he was good, loyal, and honest in his relation with you. And you have continued to show him your great and constant love by giving him a son who today rules in his place.
7 O Lord God, you have let me succeed my father as king, even though I am very young and don't know how to rule.
8 Here I am among the people you have chosen to be your own, a people who are so many that they cannot be counted.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.