Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Solomon, having offered victims at Gibeon, asks God for wisdom and obtains it together with the greatest riches and glory, and a grand array of horsemen and chariots.
Vulgate Text: 2 Paralipomenon 1:1-17
1. Solomon the son of David was therefore strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him on high. 2. And Solomon gave orders to all Israel, to the tribunes, and centurions, and captains, and judges of all Israel, and the heads of families, 3. and he went with all the multitude to the High Place of Gibeon, where was the tabernacle of the covenant of God, which Moses the servant of God had made in the wilderness. 4. But David had brought up the Ark of God from Kiriath-jearim, to the place which he had prepared for it, and where he had pitched a tabernacle for it, that is, in Jerusalem. 5. The bronze altar also, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of the Lord; and Solomon and all the assembly sought it. 6. And Solomon went up to the bronze altar, before the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord, and offered upon it a thousand victims. 7. And behold, that very night God appeared to him, saying: Ask what you wish, that I may give it to you. 8. And Solomon said to God: You have shown great mercy to David my father, and have made me king in his place. 9. Now therefore, O Lord God, let Your word be fulfilled, which You promised to David my father; for You have made me king over Your people, who are as innumerable as the dust of the earth. 10. Give me wisdom and understanding, that I may go in and go out before Your people; for who can worthily judge this Your people, who is so great? 11. And God said to Solomon: Because this has pleased your heart above all else, and you have not asked for riches, and wealth, and glory, nor the lives of those who hate you, nor even many days of life; but you have asked for wisdom and knowledge, that you may judge My people, over whom I have made you king, 12. wisdom and knowledge are given to you; and I will give you riches, and wealth, and glory, so that none among the kings either before you or after you shall have been like you. 13. Then Solomon came from the high place of Gibeon to Jerusalem, before the tabernacle of the covenant, and reigned over Israel. 14. And he gathered to himself chariots and horsemen, and he had one thousand four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he placed them in the cities of the chariots, and with the king in Jerusalem. 15. And the king made silver and gold in Jerusalem as plentiful as stones, and cedars as plentiful as sycamores, which grow in the plains in great abundance. 16. And horses were brought for him from Egypt, and from Koa, by the merchants of the king, who went and bought them at a price. 17. A chariot of horses for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; similarly from all the kingdoms of the Hittites and from the kings of Syria, purchases were made.
I have explained this chapter up to verse 43 in 3 Kings chapter III; the rest, however, in chapter X, verse 26.
Verse 5: The Bronze Altar
5. THE BRONZE ALTAR ALSO — that is, the altar of holocausts, on which victims were burned, which was therefore made of bronze; for the other altar of incense, on which incense was offered to God, was golden. HE SOUGHT IT — by going to Gibeon, where the bronze altar was, in order to offer a thousand victims upon it.
Verse 10: That I May Go In and Go Out
10. THAT I MAY GO IN AND GO OUT BEFORE THE PEOPLE — that as king I may lead and bring back the people wherever need be, just as a shepherd leads out his sheep to pasture and in the evening leads them back to the fold.
Verse 11: Before the Tabernacle of the Covenant
11. BEFORE THE TABERNACLE OF THE COVENANT. — The Hebrew has, from before the tabernacle; the Septuagint, from the face of the tabernacle. For this was in Gibeon, from which Solomon departed to return to Jerusalem.