1 Kings 3:1

And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(1) Pharaoh king of Egypt.—At this time it would appear, from the Egyptian records and traditions, that Egypt was weak and divided, and that what is called the twenty-first dynasty of the Tanite kings was ruling in Lower Egypt. This, and a corresponding abeyance (judging from the monuments) of Assyrian power, gave scope for the rise to sudden greatness and wealth of the Israelite kingdom under Solomon, and probably induced the Egyptian king of those days to consent to an alliance which, at other times, the greatness of the Pharaohs might have spumed. No fault is found with the alliance by the sacred historian, for the Egyptians were never looked upon with the same aversion as the strange women of the Canaanite races. As, moreover, it is not in any way connected with Solomon’s subsequent declension into idolatry, noticed in 1Kings 11:1-8, it is not unlikely that the new queen literally acted on the call of the Psalmist (Psalm 45:10) to “forget her own people and her father’s house.”

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 3:1. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh — As being a powerful neighbour. And took Pharaoh’s daughter — To wife, which was not unlawful, if she was first instructed in, and made a proselyte to, the Jewish religion, as, in all probability, she was. For Solomon was not yet fallen from God, but loved the Lord, and walked in the statutes of David, (1 Kings 3:3,) and therefore would not have married a gross idolater, which would have been directly contrary to God’s law, and most pernicious in its consequences. It is true he afterward loved many strange women, and the wives he married alienated his heart from Jehovah, and drew him in to worship strange gods: but the gods of the Egyptians are not reckoned among them, nor does it appear that Pharaoh’s daughter was one of the wives whose example or conversation had such a pernicious influence. On the contrary, it is likely she was a worshipper of the true God, and that Solomon’s taking her to wife was designed by God to be a type of Christ calling his church to himself and to the true religion, not only from among the Jews, but even out of the Gentile world. This, it is thought, plainly appears from the forty-fifth Psalm, and the book of Canticles. And brought her into the city of David — Into David’s palace there. Until he had made an end of building the house of the Lord — The temple designed for the worship and honour of God. And the wall of Jerusalem round about — Which, though in some sort built by David, yet Solomon is here said to build, either because he made it higher and stronger, in which sense Nebuchadnezzar is said to have built Babylon, (Daniel 4:30,) or because he built another wall besides the former, for after this time Jerusalem was encompassed with more walls than one.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-4 He that loved the Lord, should, for his sake, have fixed his love upon one of the Lord's people. Solomon was a wise man, a rich man, a great man; yet the brightest praise of him, is that which is the character of all the saints, even the poorest, He loved the Lord. Where God sows plentifully, he expects to reap accordingly; and those that truly love God and his worship, will not grudge the expenses of their religion. We must never think that wasted which is laid out in the service of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

What Pharaoh is meant is uncertain. It must have been a predecessor of Shishak (or Sheshonk), who invaded Judaea more than 40 years later 1 Kings 14:25; and probabilities are in favor, not of Psusennes II, the last king of Manetho's 21st dynasty, but of Psinaces, the predecessor of Psusennes. This, the Tanite dynasty, had become very weak, especially toward its close, from where we may conceive how gladly it would ally itself with the powerful house of David. The Jews were not forbidden to marry foreign wives, if they became proselytes. As Solomon is not blamed for this marriage either here or in 1 Kings 11, and as the idol temples which he allowed to be built 1 Kings 11:5-7 were in no case dedicated to Egyptian deities, it is to be presumed that his Egyptian wife adopted her husband's religion.

The city of David - The city, situated on the eastern hill, or true Zion, where the temple was afterward built, over against the city of the Jehusites (1 Kings 9:24; compare 2 Chronicles 8:11).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 3

1Ki 3:1. Solomon Marries Pharaoh's Daughter.

1. Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh—This was a royal title, equivalent to "sultan," and the personal name of this monarch is said to have been Vaphres. The formation, on equal terms, of this matrimonial alliance with the royal family of Egypt, shows the high consideration to which the Hebrew kingdom had now arisen. Rosellini has given, from the Egyptian monuments, what is supposed to be a portrait of this princess. She was received in the land of her adoption with great eclat; for the Song of Solomon and the forty-fifth Psalm are supposed to have been composed in honor of this occasion, although they may both have a higher typical reference to the introduction of the Gentiles into the church.

and brought her into the city of David—that is, Jerusalem. She was not admissible into the stronghold of Zion, the building where the ark was (De 23:7, 8). She seems to have been lodged at first in his mother's apartments (So 3:4; 8:2), as a suitable residence was not yet provided for her in the new palace (1Ki 7:8; 9:24; 2Ch 8:11).

building … the wall of Jerusalem round about—Although David had begun (Ps 51:18), it was, according to Josephus, reserved for Solomon to extend and complete the fortifications of the city. It has been questioned whether this marriage was in conformity with the law (see Ex 34:16; De 7:3; Ezr 10:1-10; Ne 13:26). But it is nowhere censured in Scripture, as are the connections Solomon formed with other foreigners (1Ki 11:1-3); whence it may be inferred that he had stipulated for her abandonment of idolatry, and conforming to the Jewish religion (Ps 45:10, 11).Solomon marrieth Pharaoh’s daughter: high places being in use, he goeth to Gibeon to sacrifice, 1 Kings 3:1-4. There the Lord appeareth to him; gives him a choice: he preferreth wisdom; obtaineth it, and also riches and honour, 1 Kings 3:5-15. His judgment between the two harlots, 1 Kings 3:16-28.

Made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, as being a powerful neighbour. Took Pharaoh’s daughter; upon what conditions is not here expressed; but it is probable she was first instructed in and proselyted to the Jewish religion; as may be gathered,

1. Because he was not yet fallen from God, but loved the Lord, and walked in the statutes of David, 1 Kings 3:3; and therefore would never have married a gross idolater, which was so contrary to God’s law, and so pernicious in its consequences.

2. Because he is no where reproved for this fact, as he is for loving many other strange women, 1 Kings 11:1.

3. By comparing Psa 45 and the Book of Canticles; whereby it plainly appears that this action had something extraordinary in it, and was designed by God to be a type of Christ, calling his church to himself, and to the true religion, not only out of the Jews, but even out of the Gentile world. The city of David; of which see 1 Kings 2:10; into David’s palace there. The house of the Lord, i.e. the temple appropriated to the worship and honour of God. The wall of Jerusalem round about; which though in some sort built by David, 2 Samuel 5:9, yet Solomon is here said to build, either because he made it higher, and stronger, and more beautiful and glorious; in which or the like sense Nebuchadnezzar is said to have built Babylon, Daniel 4:30; or because he built another wall besides the former, for greater security; for after this time Jerusalem was encompassed with more walls than one.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt,.... Pharaoh was a common name of the kings of Egypt, of whom no mention is made in Scripture from the times of Moses until this time; which may seem strange, when it is considered that that kingdom was a potent one, and near the land of Canaan; but it was governed by a race of kings in this period of time, of whom, as Diodorus Siculus (i) says, there is nothing worthy of relation. The name of this Pharaoh, according to Eupolemus (k), an Heathen writer, was Vaphres; for he says, that David contracted a friendship with this king, and he relates some letters which passed between him and Solomon, concerning sending him workmen for the building of the temple, which are still preserved; but Calvisius (l) thinks it was Sesostris; what this affinity was is next observed:

and took Pharaoh's daughter: that is, married her; who, according to Ben Gersom, was proselyted first to the Jewish religion; which is very probable, or otherwise it can hardly be thought Solomon would marry her; and as the forty fifth psalm, Psalm 45:1, and the book of Canticles, supposed to be written on that occasion, seem to confirm; to which may be added, that it does not appear she ever enticed or drew him into idolatry; for, of all the idols his wives drew him into the worship of, no mention is made of any Egyptian deities. The Jews say (m) Rome was built the same day Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, but without foundation: this was not Solomon's first wife; he was married to Naamah the Ammonitess before he was king, for he had Rehoboam by her a year before that for Solomon reigned only forty years, and Rehoboam, who succeeded him, was forty one years of age when he began to reign, 1 Kings 11:41;

and brought her into the city of David; the fort of Zion:

until he had made an end of building his own house: which was thirteen years in building, and now seems to have been begun, 1 Kings 7:1;

and the house of the Lord; the temple, which according: to the Jewish chronology (n), was begun building before his marriage of Pharaoh's daughter, and was seven years in building; and therefore this marriage must be in the fourth year of his reign; for then he began to build the temple, 1 Kings 6:37; and so it must be, since Shimei lived three years in Jerusalem before he was put to death, after which this marriage was, 1 Kings 2:37;

and the wall of Jerusalem round about; all which he built by raising a levy on the people, 1 Kings 9:15; and when these buildings were finished, he built a house for his wife, but in the mean while she dwelt in the city of David.

(i) Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 42. (k) Apud. Euseb. Praeparet. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30, 31, 32. (l) Chronolog. p. 191, 192. (m) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 56. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 21. 2.((n) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 15. p. 41.

Geneva Study Bible

And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the {a} city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.

(a) Which was Bethlehem.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. Pharaoh king of Egypt] This is the first notice since the Exodus of any connexion of Israel with Egypt. It is impossible to decide with certainty which Pharaoh it was whose daughter Solomon took to wife. The 22nd Egyptian dynasty commenced with Sheshonk I. (the Shishak of the Bible), about b.c. 990. This monarch did much to advance the Egyptian power, which under the previous Tanite sovereigns of the 21st dynasty had sunk very low. We shall find Shishak (1 Kings 11:40) receiving Jeroboam when he fled from Solomon. The wife of Solomon must therefore have been a daughter of a king in the previous dynasty, the kings of which would be likely to welcome an alliance with so powerful a monarch. The last of these was Psusennes 2, but as he is said by Manetho to have reigned only fourteen years, it seems more probable that the princess whom Solomon married was the daughter of Psinaces who preceded Psusennes. Pharaoh is used in the Bible as the royal title of the Egyptian kings, and not as the proper name of any single person.

This wife of Solomon probably embraced Judaism, as we find no reproach against him for this marriage, nor is any Egyptian deity mentioned among those for whom Solomon at a later time built high places (1 Kings 11:1-8) when strange women turned away his heart after other gods.

into the city of David] This was the eastern portion of the hill of Zion on which the temple was afterwards built. Solomon considered this too sacred a place for his own dwelling, because thither the ark of the Lord had come (2 Chronicles 8:11).

his own house] This was outside the city of David, and from 1 Kings 7:8 we can see that the house for Pharaoh’s daughter was close to the king’s own house, and built after the same fashion and of like grandeur. The time which Solomon took about building his own house was thirteen years (cf. 1 Kings 7:1), during this period the Egyptian wife continued to dwell in the city of David. The marriage song of the 5th Psalm is referred by the oldest interpreters to this marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh’s daughter.

Ch. 1 Kings 3:1-4. Solomon marries Pharaoh’s daughter. Sacrifices still offered on the high places. Solomon’s sacrifice at Gibeon (2 Chronicles 1:3)

At the beginning of this Chapter the LXX. inserts a long passage which has nothing to correspond to it in the Hebrew. It speaks of Solomon’s wisdom, the number of the people, the presents of those who were tributary to Solomon, the provisions for his table, the names of his chief ministers, and contains a notice of his horses and chariots. Some portions of this passage are drawn from Chapter 4. and some from 2 Chronicles 9:25-26. The verses of Chapter 4. which are introduced here are omitted by the LXX. in that place. See notes there.

Pulpit Commentary

Ver 1. - And Solomon made affinity [Not "alliance" (as some have supposed) but relationship. Lit., made himself son-in-law] with Pharaoh king of Egypt [which of the Pharaohs this was, it is impossible to say with certainty. As, however, Shishak (1 Kings 11:40; 1 Kings 14:25) is undoubtedly the Sheshonk who succeeded to the throne of Egypt in the 26th year of Solomon (Poole), and who was the first king of the 22nd dynasty of Manetho, we may safely identify this Pharaoh with "a late king of the 21st (or Janite) dynasty." It has been assumed (Bunsen, Ewald, Brugsch, al.) that it was Psusennes II., the last king of that house, on the supposition that he reigned 35 years, (as stated by Eusebius), but according to Africanus, his reign was limited to 14 years. It is wiser to say, therefore, with Mr. Poole (Dict. Bib., "Pharaoh") that this Pharaoh "cannot yet be identified on Manetho's list." It is also impossible to decide whether the alliance was first sought by Solomon with a view to win over a powerful and dangerous neighbour (Thenius), to whose inroads his northern border was exposed, and especially to counteract the influence (1 Kings 11:21) of Hadad (Plumptre), or whether the marriage was proposed by Pharaoh because the 21st dynasty "had then become very weak" (Rawlinson) and its head desired "friendly relations with the kingdom of Israel, which had grown into a power to be dreaded" (Keil). But we may reasonably suppose that the alliance "must have been to most Israelites a very startling one" (Plumptre.) Egypt (Rahab, Psalm 89:10; Isaiah 51:9) was to every Israelite a name both of triumph and dread. The Pharaohs were their ancestral foes], and took Pharaoh's daughter [A marriage such as this was not without precedent (Genesis 41:45; Exodus 2:21; Numbers 12:1; Matthew 1:5; Ruth 4:13), nor was it condemned by the Law, which only forbade intermarriage with the nations of Canaan (Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3), and sanctioned the union of an Israelite with a captive taken in war (Deuteronomy 21:13; cf. 20:14). "At the same time, it was only when the foreign wives renounced idolatry, that such marriages were in accordance with the spirit of the law" (Keil). As Solomon at this period of his life faithfully observed the law, as he is never blamed for this marriage, and as there is no trace whatever of the introduction of Egyptian rites into Israel, it is a fair presumption that the Egyptian princess conformed to the religion of her adopted country], and brought her into the city of David [2 Chronicles 8:11 speaks of her dwelling in "the house of David," i.e., it would seem, the palace which David had occupied] until he had made an end [this hardly shows that he had begun to build, as Keil infers. He did not begin building the Temple until the fourth (1 Kings 6:1), nor his own house until the eleventh year (1 Kings 7:1) after his accession, and the marriage, though not at the very commencement of his reign, can hardly have been delayed to the eleventh year, and may have taken place before the death of Shimei] of building his own house [cf. 1 Kings 7:7] and the house of the Lord [cf. 1 Kings 6; 1 Kings 7:51] and the wall of Jerusalem round about. [Probably, he both strengthened and extended the city walls, as Josephus (Ant. 8:06.1) affirms. Acc. to the LXX. addition to ch. 12, it was on this task that Jeroboam was employed (1 Kings 11:27; cf. 9:15). David had fortified a part of the city (2 Samuel 5:9). 1 Kings 3:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Solomon's marriage and the religious state of the kingdom. - 1 Kings 3:1. When Solomon had well secured his possession of the throne (1 Kings 2:46), he entered into alliance with Pharaoh, by taking his daughter as his wife. This Pharaoh of Egypt is supposed by Winer, Ewald, and others to have been Psusennes, the last king of the twenty-first (Tanitic) dynasty, who reigned thirty-five years; since the first king of the twenty-second (Bubastic) dynasty, Sesonchis or Sheshonk, was certainly the Shishak who conquered Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign (1 Kings 14:25-26). The alliance by marriage with the royal family of Egypt presupposes that Egypt was desirous of cultivating friendly relations with the kingdom of Israel, which had grown into a power to be dreaded; although, as we know nothing more of the history of Egypt at that time than the mere names of the kings (as given by Manetho), it is impossible to determine what may have been the more precise grounds which led the reigning king of Egypt to seek the friendship of Israel. There is, at any rate, greater probability in this supposition than in that of Thenius, who conjectures that Solomon contracted this marriage because he saw the necessity of entering into a closer relationship with this powerful neighbour, who had a perfectly free access to Palestine. The conclusion of this marriage took place in the first year of Solomon's reign, though probably not at the very beginning of the reign, but not till after his buildings had been begun, as we may infer from the expression לבנות כּלּתו עד (until he had made an end of building). Moreover, Solomon had already married Naamah the Ammonitess before ascending the throne, and had had a son by her (compare 1 Kings 14:21 with 1 Kings 11:42-43). - Marriage with an Egyptian princess was not a transgression of the law, as it was only marriages with Canaanitish women that were expressly prohibited (Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3), whereas it was allowable to marry even foreign women taken in war (Deuteronomy 21:10.). At the same time, it was only when the foreign wives renounced idolatry and confessed their faith in Jehovah, that such marriages were in accordance with the spirit of the law. And we may assume that this was the case even with Pharaoh's daughter; because Solomon adhered so faithfully to the Lord during the first years of his reign, that he would not have tolerated any idolatry in his neighbourhood, and we cannot find any trace of Egyptian idolatry in Israel in the time of Solomon, and, lastly, the daughter of Pharaoh is expressly distinguished in 1 Kings 11:1 from the foreign wives who tempted Solomon to idolatry in his old age. The assertion of Seb. Schmidt and Thenius to the contrary rests upon a false interpretation of 1 Kings 11:1. - "And he brought her into the city of David, till he had finished the building of his palace," etc. Into the city of David: i.e., not into the palace in which his father had dwelt, as Thenius arbitrarily interprets it in opposition to 2 Chronicles 8:11, but into a house in the city of David or Jerusalem, from which he brought her up into the house appointed for her after the building of his own palace was finished (1 Kings 9:24). The building of the house of Jehovah is mentioned as well, because the sacred tent for the ark of the covenant was set up in the palace of David until the temple was finished, and the temple was not consecrated till after the completion of the building of the palace (see at 1 Kings 8:1). By the building of "the wall of Jerusalem" we are to understand a stronger fortification, and possibly also the extension of the city wall (see at 1 Kings 11:27).