Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

I will lengthen thy days - The promise here was only conditional. As the condition was not observed 1 Kings 11:1-8, the right to the promise was forfeited, and it was not fulfilled. Solomon can scarcely have been more than fifty-nine or sixty at his death.

The Biblical Illustrator

1 Kings 3:14

I will lengthen thy days.

Long life

I get a good deal of comfort out of that promise, “with long life will I satisfy thee.” I don’t think that means a short life down here--seventy years, eighty years, ninety years, or one hundred years. Do you think that any man living would be satisfied if he could live to be one hundred years old, and then have to die? Not by a good deal. Suppose Adam had lived until to-day, and had to die tonight; would he be satisfied? Not a bit of it! Not if he had lived a million years, and then had to die. You know we are all the time coming to the end of things here--the end of the week, the end of the month, the end of the year, the end of schooldays. It is the end, end, end all the time. But, thank God, He is going to satisfy us with long life; no end to it, an endless life. Life is very sweet. It would be a pretty dark world if death were eternal, and when our loved ones die we were to be eternally separated from them. Thank God, it is not so; we shall be reunited. It is just moving out of this house into a better one; stepping up higher and living on and on for ever. (D. L. Moody.)

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

And if — This caution God gives him, lest his wisdom should make him proud, careless, or presumptuous.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

1 Kings 3:14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

Ver. 14. And if thou wilt walk in my ways.] It hath been before observed that God’s promises are with a condition, which is as an oar in a boat or stern of a ship, and turneth the promise another way.

As thy father David did walk.] Examples are the best lectures, and virtue the best example.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

If thou wilt walk in my ways: this caution God gives him, lest his great wisdom should make him proud, or careless, or presumptuous, as if he were out of all danger; and to oblige him to more care and circumspection to avoid the snares and mischiefs to which so much prosperity and glory would probably expose him; and withal, to justify himself in case he should afterwards alter the course of his providence towards Solomon; and that when men are surprised with Solomon’s dreadful fall, they might know it was no surprisal to God, but that he did foresee it, and would overrule it to his own glory one way or other.

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

“And if you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

What was more, if he would continually walk in YHWH’s ways and keep His statutes and His commandments, thus remaining faithful to the covenant, he would also have length of days and live to a mature old age. For ‘keep my statutes’ see Leviticus 19:19; Leviticus 20:8; Leviticus 20:22. For ‘keep my commandments’ see Leviticus 26:3. For walking before God and keeping His statutes and commandments see especially 1 Kings 2:3; 1 Kings 6:12; 1 Kings 8:58; 1 Kings 9:4; Joshua 22:5; Leviticus 18:3-4; Leviticus 26:3; Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 8:6; Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 11:22; Deuteronomy 26:17; Deuteronomy 30:16; Judges 2:22; and compare Genesis 17:1; Genesis 24:40; Genesis 26:5; Genesis 48:15; Exodus 15:26; Exodus 18:20; Leviticus 26:21-41; Deuteronomy 6:1-2; etc. Thus the citations conform with various Biblical books.

1 Kings 3:15

‘And Solomon awoke, and, behold, it was a dream, and he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of YHWH, and offered up burnt-offerings, and offered peace-offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.’

Then Solomon awoke and recognised that he had received a supernatural dream confirming the covenant and his own acceptability to YHWH as king within it (1 Kings 3:14), and in consequence he came to Jerusalem, to the Sacred Tent where the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH was to be found, and standing before it (although it would, of course, be unseen behind its curtain), dedicated himself and his people to YHWH, and offered up on the altar there burnt offerings and peace offerings, the former being for dedication, the latter being in respect of wellbeing, peace with God and thanksgiving. The burnt offerings were for dedication and atonement (Leviticus 1), and would be fully consumed, but the peace-offerings were for acceptability, well-being, thanksgiving and atonement, and meat from them could be consumed at a feast (Leviticus 7:11-21). Consequently Solomon made a feast to all his servants, and it may presumably be assumed that at that feast he communicated to his servants all that YHWH had said to him, thus making them one with him in it and assuring them that he had received the divine seal to his kingship.

The move to Jerusalem for this purpose was necessary because that was where the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, containing the two tablets of ‘commandments’, was to be found. It was emphasising how much the covenant was to be seen as involved in what had been said.

One vital lesson that all of us can draw from the above narrative is the necessity of ensuring that when we make choices in our lives, we do so with the prosperity and blessing of the Kingly Rule of God in mind.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

14.If thou wilt walk in my ways — So the Divine promises were largely conditional.

Then I will lengthen thy days — But this wise king, whose reign began so auspiciously, failed to meet the conditions of long-continued prosperity. “No character in the sacred writings,” says Dr. Clarke, “disappoints us more than the character of Solomon.”

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Days. But this he forfeited. (Menochius)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

as = according as.

thy father David. Compare 1 Kings 15:5.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) I will lengthen.—In this promise only one point, “length of days,” is conditional; and it was not fulfilled. For though Solomon’s age at the time of death is not given, yet, as his reign is given as lasting forty years, it could hardly have exceeded sixty. (Josephus, indeed, with his usual tendency to amplification, extends the reign to eighty years, and makes Solomon die in extreme old age.) The rest received an extraordinary fulfilment. The greatness of Solomon’s kingdom stands out remarkable in its sudden and unique development, the fruit of David’s long career of conquest and improvement, destined to wither at once at Solomon’s death. Then, for the first and last time, did the monarchy assume something of the character of an empire, unequalled in peaceful prosperity of wealth and power, and in splendour of civilisation.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

if thou

2:3,4; 1 Chronicles 22:12,13; 28:9; 2 Chronicles 7:17-19; Psalms 132:12; Zechariah 3:7

as thy

3; 9:4,5; 15:5; 2 Chronicles 17:3,4; 29:2; 34:2; Acts 13:22

I will lengthen

Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15; Psalms 21:4; 91:16; Proverbs 3:2,16; 1 Timothy 4:8