1st Kings Chapter 3 verse 4 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - And the king went to Gibeon [Joshua 9:3; Joshua 10:2; Joshua 18:25; Joshua 21:17; 2 Samuel 21:1. Now known as El-Jib, a commanding eminence (as the name implies) some six miles north of Jerusalem. Strictly, it consists of two heights, on one of which, it is conjectured, the town stood, while the other was the high place. Solomon was accompanied to Gibeon by "all the congregation," including the captains, judges, governors, etc. (2 Chronicles 1:2, 3] to sacrifice there [This religious service was designed to inaugurate his reign (2 Chronicles 1:13), after the precedent of 1 Samuel 11:15; cf. 2 Samuel 6:2. His object was also to supplicate the Divine blessing on his undertakings. If his visit served at the same time as a farewell, or "honourable funeral to the tabernacle" (Wordsw.) this was an accident]; for that was the great high place [being the place of the tabernacle and brazen altar. In 1 Samuel 21:6 we find the tabernacle at Nob, though without the ark (1 Samuel 4:2). After the massacre of the priests it lost the ephod (1 Samuel 22:20; 1 Samuel 23:6). It could hardly remain in a spot stained by so much blood; but how or when it found its way to Gibeon, we do not know. See 1 Chronicles 16:37, 39; 2 Chronicles 1:3-6]: a thousand burnt offerings [such numbers were not infrequent at festivals. See on 1 Kings 8:62, and cf. 2 Chronicles 29:33, 34. Rawlinson reminds us that "Xerxes offered 1000 oxen at Troy" (Herod. 7:43).] did Solomon offer [not, of course, personally, as some (Ewald. e.g.) have sup. posed. He is said to have "offered" them, because he (together with the congregation, perhaps) provided them. The immense number alone shows that he cannot have offered in person. The festival probably lasted for seven or eight days,but even then a thousand victims can hardly have been offered whole (עֹלות) unless the altar was greatly enlarged, or additional temporary altars were erected. This latter supposition is not negatived by the next words. See on 1 Kings 8:63, 64.] upon that altar.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Gibeon.--The name itself, signifying "belonging to a hill," indicates its position on the central plateau of Israel, in the land of Benjamin, whence rise several round hills, on one of which the town stood. There was now reared the Tabernacle, with the brazen altar of sacrifice, to which the descendants of the old Gibeonites were attached as "hewers of wood and drawers of water" (Joshua 9:23). It was therefore naturally "the great high place."