1 Kings 3:3 kjv
And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
1 Kings 3:3 nkjv
And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
1 Kings 3:3 niv
Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
1 Kings 3:3 esv
Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.
1 Kings 3:3 nlt
Solomon loved the LORD and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship.
1 Kings 3 3 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Deut 6:5 | "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart..." | Command to love God completely |
| Matt 22:37 | "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart..." | Reinforces the greatest commandment |
| John 14:15 | "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." | Inseparable link between love and obedience |
| Deut 12:2-4 | "...you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way." | Prohibition against high place worship |
| Lev 17:3-5 | "...must bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting." | Mandate for centralized sacrifice |
| Josh 22:29 | "Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord..." | Warning against unauthorized worship |
| 2 Sam 7:12-16 | "I will raise up your offspring after you... I will establish his kingdom forever." | Davidic Covenant foundation |
| 1 Kgs 2:3 | "Keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and keeping His statutes..." | David's instruction to Solomon |
| 1 Kgs 11:4 | "For when Solomon was old... his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God..." | Solomon's later spiritual decline |
| 1 Kgs 11:6-8 | "Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord... building high places for all his foreign wives." | Solomon's later blatant idolatry on high places |
| 2 Kgs 23:13-14 | "The king also defiled the high places... that Solomon the king of Israel had built..." | Josiah destroying Solomon's high places |
| 1 Sam 15:22-23 | "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings... as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Obedience is better than sacrifice." | God prefers obedience over ritual |
| Jer 7:22-23 | "For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak... concerning burnt offerings... But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice’..." | Emphasizes obedience over ritual worship |
| Deut 4:2 | "You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it..." | Strict adherence to God's Law required |
| Ps 1:1-2 | "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked... but his delight is in the law of the Lord..." | The blessed path of obedience to God's law |
| 1 Kgs 15:14 | "But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was wholly true to the Lord all his days." | Even a good king like Asa had a problem with high places |
| 2 Kgs 14:4 | "But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on them." | Example of Amasiah's partial reform |
| 2 Kgs 16:4 | "He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills..." | Wicked Ahaz’s continued use of high places |
| 2 Chr 1:7-12 | "On that night God appeared to Solomon... ‘Ask what I shall give you.’" | God's initial favor and blessing on Solomon |
| Prov 4:26-27 | "Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left..." | Walk circumspectly, stay on God's path |
| Rom 13:10 | "Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." | Love is the spirit of the Law, but requires adherence to it. |
1 Kings 3 verses
1 Kings 3 3 Meaning
1 Kings 3:3 presents a nuanced and pivotal assessment of King Solomon's initial reign. It states that Solomon genuinely loved the Lord and sought to follow the ways of his father David, which inherently meant adherence to God's statutes. However, the verse immediately qualifies this positive assertion with a significant exception: Solomon engaged in a common but unauthorized practice of offering sacrifices and burning incense on "high places," locations that, while perhaps inherited from earlier Israelite practices, ran contrary to God's command for centralized worship at the designated sanctuary. This immediate juxtaposition highlights a critical flaw in his devotion, foreshadowing his later spiritual decline.
1 Kings 3 3 Context
1 Kings chapter 3 begins Solomon's reign, immediately following David's death and Solomon's consolidation of power. Verse 1 describes his marriage alliance with Pharaoh, a decision driven by political expediency, but one that introduces a foreign element potentially at odds with divine instruction. Verse 3, therefore, swiftly follows to establish the spiritual tone of his reign. It provides a theological evaluation of Solomon's early character and rule. Historically, the high places (בָּמוֹת, bamot) were elevated sites throughout Israel and Canaan. While some traditions involved pre-Mosaic, unauthorized, or localized Yahwistic worship on these sites, Mosaic law explicitly commanded their destruction and centralized worship at one specific place chosen by God (Deut 12:5). The narrative of Kings judges the reigns of subsequent kings heavily based on whether they removed these high places or allowed their people to worship there, making this deviation a recurring sign of spiritual compromise.
1 Kings 3 3 Word analysis
- And Solomon loved (וַיֶּאֱהַב שְׁלֹמֹה, wayye'ehāv Shlomoh): "Loved" (ʾāhav) indicates genuine affection and commitment. This is a crucial positive assertion. Solomon, meaning "peaceful" or "peace," is the divinely appointed successor to David, yet his actions immediately show a complex character. The love of the Lord is a core demand of the covenant (Deut 6:5).
- the LORD (יהוה, YHWH): Refers to the covenant God of Israel. This suggests Solomon’s faith was directed toward the true God.
- walking (הָלַךְ, halak): A common biblical metaphor for conduct or lifestyle. To "walk" in God’s ways signifies adherence to His principles and commands (Ps 1:1-2).
- in the statutes (בְּחֻקֹּת, bəḥuqqot): Refers to divine decrees, established laws, or ordinances. David's statutes, though not explicitly enumerated as a distinct legal code, implied adherence to Mosaic Law and the faithful worship modeled by David.
- of David his father: Connects Solomon's rule to the legacy and fidelity of David, who was renowned for having "a heart after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22). This implies Solomon sought to uphold the righteous foundations of his father's reign.
- only (רַק, raq): This small Hebrew particle is immensely significant. It acts as a strong qualifier, essentially saying "nevertheless," "except for this," or "but." It signals a critical, problematic exception to the preceding positive statement, marking the exact point of spiritual compromise.
- he sacrificed and burned incense: These are acts of worship. Sacrifice and incense were prescribed elements of Israelite worship, but their location was paramount.
- on the high places (בַּבָּמוֹת, babbāmōt): Refers to elevated locations often used for pagan worship in Canaan. While sometimes used for legitimate Yahwistic worship before the Temple's construction (e.g., Samuel at Ramah, Saul at Gibeah), the consistent biblical narrative condemns their use as contrary to the Deuteronomic command for a single, centralized sanctuary. Their presence signals a syncretistic tendency and a deviation from pure worship, making them an ongoing spiritual issue throughout the period of the Kings.
1 Kings 3 3 Bonus section
The text specifically mentions the "high place" at Gibeon in 1 Kings 3:4, where Solomon famously goes to offer a thousand burnt offerings and subsequently receives his renowned wisdom (1 Kgs 3:5-15). This reinforces the verse's point: even in what appears to be a momentous spiritual act where God greatly blesses him, Solomon is simultaneously operating outside the full parameters of divine command for worship. This immediate paradox is key to understanding Solomon's reign – marked by extraordinary divine favor alongside persistent human failure and spiritual compromise. This initial use of the high places, even for Yahwistic worship, laid the groundwork for future allowance of outright pagan worship at these very locations under Solomon and later kings. The issue wasn't the high places per se, but that God had commanded their destruction and the centralization of all legitimate worship.
1 Kings 3 3 Commentary
1 Kings 3:3 masterfully presents Solomon as a king of both piety and compromise from the outset. His love for the Lord and intention to walk in David's statutes demonstrate a commendable starting point, acknowledging the spiritual foundation of his rule. However, the immediate "only" serves as a jarring qualification, revealing a fundamental spiritual inconsistency. While sacrifices on high places may have been a custom prior to the Temple's completion and were, in some cases, not explicitly condemned in previous narratives, this verse implicitly judges Solomon for maintaining a practice that contradicted the Mosaic ideal of centralized worship. This was not mere ritual error but an unfaithful approach to God's specific commands regarding holiness and exclusivity in worship. It reflects a dangerous blending of acceptable worship with cultural practices that fell short of God's perfect will. This subtle initial compromise sets a crucial precedent for Solomon's later, more egregious acts of apostasy detailed in 1 Kings 11, where he actively builds high places for his foreign wives' idolatrous worship. The verse highlights that even a love for God, if not coupled with strict obedience to His revealed will, can lead to dangerous spiritual decline.