We begin Sefer Divrei HaYamim II, which is the direct continuation of Divrei HaYamim I. As the commentary attributed to Rashi teaches us, the book of Divrei HaYamim was written primarily for the honor of David and the honor of the kingdom of David; therefore, the entire book deals exclusively with the kingdom of the House of David and makes no mention at all of the kingdom of Israel in Shomron. The book chronicles the era from Shlomo until the exile and the period of Cyrus.
Some of the events in the book we have already encountered in Sefer Melachim, while others are entirely new additions. As the Malbim explains, the author of the book (Ezra) did not set out primarily to repeat what we already know, but rather to reveal new insights beyond what we learned in Sefer Shmuel and Sefer Melachim - to provide details that supplement what was previously known.
וַיִּתְחַזֵּק שְׁלֹמֹה בֶן־דָּוִיד עַל־מַלְכוּתוֹ וַיהֹוָה אֱלֹהָיו עִמּוֹ וַיְגַדְּלֵהוּ לְמָעְלָה׃ - Shlomo the son of David strengthened himself over his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.
Shlomo strengthened himself over his kingdom, for until now - as the Malbim notes - he had leaned upon the strength and counsel of his father, whereas from this point forward he took firm hold of his kingdom on his own merits. Indeed, King David himself had instructed him: "I am going the way of all the earth; be strong" - meaning, seize the monarchy with strength.
"And magnified him exceedingly" - it has already been stated (Divrei HaYamim I 29:25), "And the Lord magnified Shlomo exceedingly in the sight of all Israel," which refers to greatness and exaltation in royal affairs, and therefore it states there "in the sight of all Israel" - meaning that in the eyes of all, he was considered great and esteemed. Why, then, is this repeated here? The Malbim explains: here the verse is speaking of the elevation of his soul in spiritual matters. "And the Lord his God was with him" - there it was the greatness of kingship before the eyes of all Israel, while here it is the greatness of his spiritual stature.
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁלֹמֹה לְכׇל־יִשְׂרָאֵל לְשָׂרֵי הָאֲלָפִים וְהַמֵּאוֹת וְלַשֹּׁפְטִים וּלְכֹל נָשִׂיא לְכׇל־יִשְׂרָאֵל רָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת׃ - And Shlomo spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers' houses.
Shlomo tells all of Israel and the entire assembly to go to the high place (bamah) in Givon, and as we will see in the next verse, that is where they go. The high place in Givon was the site where the copper altar made in the days of Moshe Rabbeinu was situated.
The Malbim notes that Scripture usually mentions the princes and the heads of the fathers' houses before the captains of thousands and hundreds, and he brings several examples of this. The reason is that a king's command typically begins with the tribal leaders and heads of fathers' houses, who in turn command the captains of thousands beneath them, until the command trickles down to the people. Here, however, because it was for the honor of God, Shlomo issued his directive to the captains of thousands directly - not through messengers and not via the tribal leaders, without any intermediaries - and only afterward did he summon the higher dignitaries to assemble as well.
וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁלֹמֹה וְכׇל־הַקָּהָל עִמּוֹ לַבָּמָה אֲשֶׁר בְּגִבְעוֹן כִּי־שָׁם הָיָה אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד־יְהֹוָה בַּמִּדְבָּר׃ - And Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness.
In I Kings 3:3-4 it is stated: "And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father; only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there." The Malbim explains there that he has already made his view known: after Solomon offered burnt offerings in Gibeon and lodged there overnight, he took the copper altar and the vessels of the Tent of Meeting from Gibeon and brought them to Jerusalem.
Here we must first review the history of the Mishkan. The permanent Mishkan stood in Shiloh for 369 years. In Shiloh, both the Ark and the Torah were present, and because of this, the site was considered truly like a Temple - therefore, private high places (bamot) were forbidden, and it was prohibited to sacrifice anywhere else (in Daf Yomi you will soon reach this in Masechet Megillah). After Shiloh was destroyed, the era of Nov and Gibeon began. Nov and Gibeon were not called a "Mishkan" but rather a "great high place" (bamah gedolah), and a great high place does not carry the formal status of a Mishkan to forbid smaller high places - meaning that during the era of Nov and Gibeon, the permission for private bamot returned, and people could still sacrifice on them. Once the permanent Temple was established, sacrificing on a bamah became completely forbidden, with no permission ever again.
Those fifty-seven years from the destruction of Shiloh until the building of the Beit HaMikdash were the era of Nov and Gibeon. And here, as Solomon is preparing to build the Temple, he takes the copper altar and the vessels of the Tent of Meeting from Gibeon and brings them up to Jerusalem. Indeed, as we see in I Kings: "And they brought up the Ark of the Lord, and the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent" - this implies that they were already in Jerusalem, and from there they brought them up to the Temple. And how were they already in Jerusalem? Because Solomon had taken them from Gibeon at the stage we are discussing here. That is why it does not say there that they brought them up from Gibeon.
The Malbim asks: If so, one must wonder, when did they bring the Tent up from Gibeon? It must be that it was immediately after Solomon offered the burnt offerings. For he saw that it was sinful to sacrifice on private bamot as long as the Tent of Meeting stood in its place, and it was also burdensome for him to travel up to Gibeon every time to sacrifice - a place distant from his seat in Jerusalem. Therefore, he brought it up to Jerusalem. Then, either he offered sacrifices in Jerusalem upon the copper altar, or the prohibition was lifted and bamot were permitted once the vessels of the Tent and the altar were removed from Gibeon, allowing him to sacrifice on high places.
For this purpose, Solomon gathered all the leaders - out of honor for the Tent of Meeting and its vessels, which he was now dismantling and bringing up to Jerusalem. That is why he offered a thousand burnt offerings there: just as he offered an abundance of burnt offerings at the dedication of the Temple, so too he offered an abundance of burnt offerings when he dismantled the Mishkan.
אֲבָל אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים הֶעֱלָה דָוִיד מִקִּרְיַת יְעָרִים בַּהֵכִין לוֹ דָּוִיד כִּי נָטָה־לוֹ אֹהֶל בִּירוּשָׁלִָם׃ - But the Ark of God had David brought up from Kiryat Ye'arim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.
"But the Ark of God had David brought up" - meaning, David had already brought up the Ark previously, and Solomon did not need to bring it up. What remained for Solomon to bring up? Only the vessels of the Tent of Meeting and the copper altar. "To the place that David had prepared for it" - referring to the place David had prepared to house the Ark, having pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.
And this is what King David meant when he said: How can I dwell in a house of cedar while the Ark dwells within curtains? This is what troubled David - I dwell in a house of cedar while the Ark is there in a "tent" that he pitched for it in Jerusalem, which is unfitting. The Holy One, Blessed be He, then sent the prophet Nathan to tell him that he would not be the one to build the Temple.
וּמִזְבַּח הַנְּחֹשֶׁת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה בְּצַלְאֵל בֶּן־אוּרִי בֶן־חוּר שָׁם לִפְנֵי מִשְׁכַּן יְהֹוָה וַיִּדְרְשֵׁהוּ שְׁלֹמֹה וְהַקָּהָל׃ - Moreover the copper altar, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the Tabernacle of the Lord; and Solomon and the congregation sought it.
The copper altar that Betzalel son of Uri son of Chur had made, Shlomo placed before the Mishkan of Hashem, after having brought it up from Giv'on. "And Shlomo and the congregation sought it" - meaning that he offered sacrifices upon it.
וַיַּעַל שְׁלֹמֹה שָׁם עַל־מִזְבַּח הַנְּחֹשֶׁת לִפְנֵי יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר לְאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וַיַּעַל עָלָיו עֹלוֹת אָלֶף׃ - And Shlomo went up there upon the copper altar before Hashem, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and offered a thousand burnt-offerings upon it.
"A thousand burnt-offerings" - Radak explains: a thousand olah-offerings, not all at once, but rather before his return to Yerushalayim; that is, over the course of time and not in a single instance.
בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא נִרְאָה אֱלֹהִים לִשְׁלֹמֹה וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ שְׁאַל מָה אֶתֶּן־לָךְ׃ - On that night, God appeared to Shlomo and said to him, "Ask what I shall give you."
"Ask what I shall give you" - choose and request whatever you wish Me to give you, and whatever you request, I will fulfill your petition.
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁלֹמֹה לֵאלֹהִים אַתָּה עָשִׂיתָ עִם־דָּוִיד אָבִי חֶסֶד גָּדוֹל וְהִמְלַכְתַּנִי תַּחְתָּיו׃ - And Shlomo said to God, "You have shown great kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his place."
In making me king from among all his other sons - in this itself, says the Metzudat David, lay a great kindness to David. Why? Because until then people slandered David, saying: he had relations with Batsheva, fathered a son through her, this was a forbidden union. And in making me king, You performed a great kindness with my father, proving that there was no sin here. For if there were a sin, how could one who is flawed be taken as king over Israel? Rather, it was certainly a great kindness to my father when You made me king in his place.
עַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים יֵאָמֵן דְּבָרְךָ עִם דָּוִיד אָבִי כִּי אַתָּה הִמְלַכְתַּנִי עַל־עַם רַב כַּעֲפַר הָאָרֶץ׃ - Now, Hashem God, may Your word to David my father be established, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
"May Your word be established [ye'amen]" - related to emunah (faithfulness), that Your word be verified and fulfilled. "For You have made me king" - meaning, since You have made me king over such a vast nation, as the commentary attributed to Rashi explains, I need strength and wisdom to go out before them and fight their wars, as it is written in Shmuel, "that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles." And since I now have the opportunity to ask what is in my heart, the request I will make is for wisdom, so that I may lead this nation. Especially let us not forget: at that time Shlomo was twelve years old - when they made him king, he was still very young in years.
עַתָּה חׇכְמָה וּמַדָּע תֶּן־לִי וְאֵצְאָה לִפְנֵי הָעָם־הַזֶּה וְאָבוֹאָה כִּי־מִי יִשְׁפֹּט אֶת־עַמְּךָ הַזֶּה הַגָּדוֹל׃ - Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?
This narrative is already recorded in I Melachim chapter 3. The Malbim explains: I have already noted many times that whenever this book repeats an account already found in earlier books, its intention is to supplement and explain something, and whatever contains no novel insight, it abridges. It has no interest in repeating what is already written in Sefer Melachim, only in adding and completing; if there is no novelty, it shortens it. Whoever wishes to know exactly what occurred should read Sefer Melachim. Therefore, there the text elaborates on Shlomo's words to Hashem, whereas here it records the request concisely. Whoever wishes may look there and see the rest of Shlomo's words, how he addresses and beseeches Hashem to grant him wisdom.
Moreover, there is an addition here that does not appear there: "Now, Hashem God, let Your word with David my father be confirmed." What does this teach? That if Hashem does not grant him a wise heart to hear judgment, the promise He made to David that Shlomo his son would reign in his place will not be fulfilled. Why? Because the very purpose of monarchy, the Malbim explains, is to administer justice and lead the nation with wisdom - that is the ultimate fruit of kingship. One must realize that we are not familiar with these concepts today, but in their times, the king was the judge. People would come before the king for judgment, as we see with the two women who came before Shlomo for him to judge between them. And if there is no justice and no wise leadership, he is not truly a king over the people, and Hashem's words would not be realized.
Therefore, "Now, Hashem God, let Your word with David my father be confirmed": You said that Shlomo your son will reign in your stead - verify Your word. And how? Grant me wisdom so that I may reign. This is the fulfillment of those words, one thing following naturally from another: in order for me to reign genuinely, You must grant me wisdom, and if You promised that I would reign, it is inherently implied that You must grant me wisdom. Without it, I am not a king over the nation, and the word of Hashem will not have been fulfilled.
Furthermore, what is written there - "Give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil" - Ezra phrases differently here: "Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people." Why? Because here he elaborates further: to attain an understanding heart, one requires what is mentioned here - wisdom and knowledge (chochmah and mada).
The Malbim explains: We have already explained in our commentary to Mishlei - and this has been discussed at length - the difference between chochmah and mada. Chochmah (wisdom) is knowing the proper paths of conduct in all matters categorized as good or evil; that is, whether a certain action is moral and good to do, or evil to do. And this is something that cannot be known, as has been noted many times, except through received tradition from Hashem. For regarding any given matter, one person or group may say that it is positive, just, and entirely logical, while another group will argue that it is the worst possible evil and strictly forbidden under any circumstances.
This does not apply merely to extreme examples; consider even concepts that seem governed by human reason. At a lecture delivered in Be'er Sheva, an attendee - who appeared educated, evidently a university student - asserted, "I accept the Ten Commandments." In other words, not the entire Torah, but the Ten Commandments. He was asked, "Do you accept all of the Ten Commandments?" He answered, "Yes." "Do you keep Shabbat?" He said, "No." He was told, "Yet that is written right there in the Ten Commandments." He was caught completely off guard. See how people speak in slogans without considering what is actually coming out of their mouths.
The speaker continued: "In the Ten Commandments, it is also written: 'Do not murder.'" The young man agreed, "Yes, of course, that I certainly accept." He was then asked: "Let me ask you a question, perhaps somewhat awkward in this setting, but if your girlfriend suddenly told you an accident happened and she is pregnant - what would you do?" He thought, and thought, and thought some more, and finally admitted: "You've got me." He realized where the question was leading, and that whatever he answered, he was trapped. What could he say? Keep the child? A seventeen-year-old girl having a baby and raising it - what would that do to her life? So what is the conventional, easy solution? Abortion. But just a moment ago, he claimed to accept "Do not murder" - how does that align? And he realized he had no answer.
In reality, there is a secular answer to this question: simply, it is not murder. They have scrubbed it from the definition of murder. If you have trash, you throw it out; and the woman "terminates" the pregnancy, and that is all. Nothing happened, everything is fine, she might need psychological counseling, but all is well - cleansed in a laundry of euphemisms. In other words, one cannot determine on his own what is good and what is evil; this must be received from a prophet, from Hashem - what is moral and what is immoral.
Even Hitler, may his name and memory be blotted out, claimed that he was moral: because in the struggle for survival among species in the world, according to Darwin's theory, the strong survive and rule, and there is only one nation that stubbornly refuses to follow nature - they have been weak for thousands of years and yet they continue to survive. According to nature, in his view, the race must be refined: the weak must be sifted out, and if they do not understand on their own - that is what the gas chambers are for. In other words, he arranged an ideology to encompass the atrocities he committed, and behold, he claimed to be moral, while the "immoral" ones are those who insist on continuing to survive even though they are naturally weak. After all, this is Darwin's theory: when a lion chases a herd, which gazelle will be caught? The sick one, which cannot run. Nature weeds out the weak and allows the strong to survive. Thus, according to his twisted logic, the Jews must be weeded out and the Aryan race must rule the world.
In short: one cannot determine morality on one's own, unless we have received it from Hashem. And often there are things that might sound immoral to human ears. A person who encounters them in the Torah, especially someone with superficial, lay thinking ("daas baalei batim"), might say: How can the Torah say such a thing? That is immoral! "If a bird's nest happens to be before you on the road or on the ground... you shall surely send away the mother and take the young for yourself" - there are people to whom this command seems appalling. Similarly, when a person commits a transgression for which the Torah prescribes the death penalty - to some people, this seems barbaric. But do you determine what is moral? Morality is set like a plumb line: "I am Hashem your God" - a plumb line descended from Heaven. To check whether you are upright or not, you must align yourself against this plumb line of "Anochi." If you align with it, you are upright; if not, something within you is crooked. For morality is received from Hashem: the One Who created man is the One Who gives him the foundations of morality.
This, then, is the definition of chochmah: the ways of conduct that are categorized as good or bad, which we have received from Hashem. We accept this wisdom even if we do not fully understand it, yet we are commanded to study it in order to delve into it, reflect upon it, and align our intellect with it. And if one succeeds in reaching a true comprehension of the ways of wisdom - this is called mada. That is to say, those very principles that I accepted as an axiom - because Hashem so commanded and declared what is moral and what is immoral - once I delve into them and bring myself to completely identify with them, this is termed mada. Mada is clear knowledge, complete internalization of the matter, like things perceived through the physical senses, becoming akin to sensory certainty and a first principle in one's mind.
The Malbim explains: in order for a person to be able to judge, he must know the laws of justice - what is deemed right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil. He must judge according to the laws of morality, and morality, as we have stated, cannot be derived on one's own, but only received from Hashem. This does not mean that each individual must receive personal revelation from Hashem; we have already received it in the Torah. The Torah establishes the foundations of morality, defining what is moral and what is not. Therefore, Shlomo requested "chochmah" - this is the first requirement.
And the second thing, says the Malbim: to judge, one must discern truth from falsehood. It may be that there is no moral dilemma at all, but rather a question of who is telling the truth and who is lying - as in the judgment of the two women who came before Shlomo, where the dispute was over the living child, "Divide it," and so forth; one must identify who is lying and who is speaking the truth. This depends on investigation and analytical perception, and this is mada - an expression denoting knowledge and deep observation of a matter, probing it to understand it thoroughly.
Therefore Shlomo requested: in order to go out and come in before the people, I need chochmah and mada. Chochmah - to know what is justice and what is injustice, what is good and what is evil, which are the paths of morality; and mada - to discern what is truth and what is falsehood, so as to successfully uncover who is lying and who is telling the truth.
Chapter 1 opens the book of Divrei HaYamim B with Shlomo strengthening his hold over his kingdom - both in the majesty of his rule in the sight of all Israel and in his personal spiritual greatness. He gathers all the leaders of the nation to the high place at Giv'on, not through intermediaries but by direct summons, in honor of the Tent of Meeting and its vessels that he would bring up from there to Jerusalem, offering there a thousand burnt-offerings, just as he would offer abundantly at the dedication of the Beit HaMikdash. On that night, the Holy One, blessed be He, appeared to him and said, "Ask what I shall give you." Shlomo gives thanks for the great kindness shown to his father David in establishing his own reign, and prays that Hashem's promise to David be fulfilled - for if he is not granted the wisdom to judge, the monarchy is not a true monarchy, since the ultimate purpose of kingship is justice and wise leadership. His plea was for "chochmah and mada": chochmah - the paths of morality, knowing what is good and what is evil, which man cannot determine on his own but must receive from Hashem; and mada - deep discernment and investigation to distinguish between truth and falsehood.