Did Solomon Actually Pray for Wisdom? (Part 1)

If you dreamed that you robbed a bank, would you turn yourself in to the police? If you dreamed that you inherited $10,000 and gave all of it to your church, would you expect a receipt from the church or a reward from God for that? Are we either culpable or commendable for what our minds imagine while we are asleep? Do dreams always reflect our true self? Does what we do in a dream necessarily replicate what we would do in waking life, if presented with the same circumstances? Given some of my dreams, I certainly hope not. (I do not deny that what we fill our minds with while we are awake—for good or for evil—may well resurface in our sleep; but I strongly suspect that the experience of dreaming things that are quite out of keeping with our conscious experience, character, or cogitations is virtually universal.) The same, I suggest, applies to Solomon.

The parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 1:7–13 makes no mention of Solomon’s slumber; indeed, the language there (“God appeared to Solomon”) might lead us to assume that this was some sort of entirely conscious, waking encounter. But 1 Kings is more detailed and explicit. The writer bookends the entire interchange with bright red inclusio flags that are impossible to miss:

1 Kgs 3:5—“the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and said…”

1 Kgs 3:15—“then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream.”

What’s significant is not only the double-reference to the dream, but also the explicit statement that when it was over, Solomon woke up. The most logical, exegetical conclusion we can draw from that explicit statement is that, for the entire duration between verse 5 and verse 15, Solomon was sleeping. That Solomon was asleep and, therefore, not wakingly conscious or engaged seems exegetically indisputable; the text says it. To insist that because Solomon speaks, he must, therefore, be communicating consciously and intentionally as he would were he awake runs counter to the statements that bookend the experience. Even somnambulists are not consciously in control of their faculties; and they can certainly go places, do things, and say things they would not normally do while they were awake.

Puzzlingly, commentators routinely either ignore the references to Solomon’s somnolescence altogether (especially 3:15), or note it in passing but proceed to describe Solomon’s dream-prayer as though he were wide awake and his prayer was entirely conscious and intentional. Translations, likewise, routinely identify this passage as “Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom,” or some such heading—perpetuating the assumption that this was an entirely conscious exchange between Solomon and God, and privileging the impression that Solomon showed exceptional wisdom and humility in making the request. In short, the spotlight is immediately thrown on Solomon. Indeed, one is hard pressed to find an interpreter who does not credit Solomon as a model pray-er with remarkable perceptiveness and mature priorities—even though the text plainly says he was asleep.

That kind of solidarity among commentators rightly gives one pause. I teach my students to weigh very seriously any consensus in the commentary literature. But I also teach them that ultimate authority resides in the text itself, not in the commentators. Sometimes it’s like Spurgeon said: “Commentators are like sheep; they follow one another and they all go astray.” In fact, some of them (also like sheep) wander far afield from the text. Remarking on the circumstances leading up to Solomon’s dream (1 Kings 3:1–4), Robert Jamieson wrote, “Solomon felt an intense desire, and he had offered an earnest petition for the gift of wisdom”—he means in 3:3–4, but this assertion is entirely fabricated; the text says nothing about Solomon praying. Jamieson continues, “In sleep his thoughts ran upon the subject of his prayer, and he dreamed that God appeared to him. . . . His dream was but an imaginary repetition of his former desire; but God’s grant of it was real.” This is purely speculative at several points. We have no record of Solomon’s “former desire.” Prior to verse 5 the text says nothing about Solomon’s desires and makes no mention of his praying for wisdom or for anything else (nor does the prelude to the dream in 2 Chron 1:1–6).

The one question for which we have no definitive answer is this: Did Solomon’s dream-request represent his conscious, self-aware, waking thoughts and priorities? Would Solomon have made the same request if God had confronted him with this opportunity while he was awake? Without any textual statement to that effect, the most we can say is maybe. That’s an important point to acknowledge.

It’s puzzling, therefore, that so many are so certain that the obvious and only answer to those questions is yes. If that’s the case, then why would God choose to communicate with Solomon via a dream while he was asleep? God could have made this an entirely conscious encounter—through a prophet, an angel, a vision, or some other theophanic manifestation—in which Solomon was awake and aware, his words sentient and intentional. But he didn’t.

While I personally find my understanding of Solomon’s dream-prayer (which I will unfold and defend in this three-part blogpost) exegetically convincing, hermeneutically sound, and theologically significant, any interpretation of this passage relies to some degree on certain assumptions. While working through this passage and this post (beginning several years ago), one of my T3D colleagues differed pretty vigorously with my conclusion. His pushback helped sharpen my thinking and reshape some of my arguments. As far as I know, we still disagree. But in the following post I will try to address all the objections that have been raised or that I can think of. You’ll have to decide for yourself.

Go to Part 2.