And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.
Solomon, the son of David and his successor, reigned in Jerusalem over all undivided Israel for forty years, in the period before the revolt under Jeroboam. His forty years is one of many forty-year reigns and forty-year periods in Israel's history, and together with the forty-year reigns of the other two kings it marks the first 120 years of the monarchy. The verse supplies a chronological datum that helps establish the dates and sequence of the kings of Israel and Judah, especially the point when the kingdom divided after Solomon's death. The corresponding account of this reign is found in the first nine chapters of 2 Chronicles.
The whole period with all Solomon did and his wisdom was recorded in three separate inspired books used for study in the schools of the prophets, written by Nathan the prophet, Ahijah the Shilonite, and Iddo the seer, with Nathan having also helped write the history of David. Together with the three books on David's forty-year reign they cover eighty years of the work of Israel's two greatest kings. The verse belongs to the wholly historical record of 1 Kings 3-21, a sad record full of important lessons that stands in the downward moral tendency from the time of David in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, though with times of reviving.
It closes the disastrous end of Solomon's reign: despite his exceptional wisdom and former devotion he became an idolater and apostate from God, teaching that even great wisdom and prosperity cannot keep a person from falling when he forgets the lessons of Israel's past. After Solomon the kingdom was divided, with the ten tribes taken from the house of Solomon's son and given to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, followed by rebellion and rupture of the kingdom. Jeroboam received the prophet's promise that if he walked before God as David did God would do for him as promised to David.
This history of the division is used to distinguish image worship from worshiping another god. The verse shows that whenever the people sought God, God wrought for them and through them abundantly. It shows the responsibility resting upon leaders of His people, where faithful kings and priests molded the people immensely while leaders who failed to lead in right ways caused the people to fail with them.
Solomon, the son of David and his successor, reigned in Jerusalem over all undivided Israel for forty years, in the period before the revolt under Jeroboam. His forty years is one of many forty-year reigns and forty-year periods in Israel's history, and together with the forty-year reigns of the other two kings it marks the first 120 years of the monarchy. The verse supplies a chronological datum that helps establish the dates and sequence of the kings of Israel and Judah, especially the point when the kingdom divided after Solomon's death. The corresponding account of this reign is found in the first nine chapters of 2 Chronicles.
The whole period with all Solomon did and his wisdom was recorded in three separate inspired books used for study in the schools of the prophets, written by Nathan the prophet, Ahijah the Shilonite, and Iddo the seer, with Nathan having also helped write the history of David. Together with the three books on David's forty-year reign they cover eighty years of the work of Israel's two greatest kings. The verse belongs to the wholly historical record of 1 Kings 3-21, a sad record full of important lessons that stands in the downward moral tendency from the time of David in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, though with times of reviving.
It closes the disastrous end of Solomon's reign: despite his exceptional wisdom and former devotion he became an idolater and apostate from God, teaching that even great wisdom and prosperity cannot keep a person from falling when he forgets the lessons of Israel's past. After Solomon the kingdom was divided, with the ten tribes taken from the house of Solomon's son and given to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, followed by rebellion and rupture of the kingdom. Jeroboam received the prophet's promise that if he walked before God as David did God would do for him as promised to David.
This history of the division is used to distinguish image worship from worshiping another god. The verse shows that whenever the people sought God, God wrought for them and through them abundantly. It shows the responsibility resting upon leaders of His people, where faithful kings and priests molded the people immensely while leaders who failed to lead in right ways caused the people to fail with them.