1 Kings 3:1,2 - Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter

3:1

We are now in Solomon’s reign proper. Solomon is an enigmatic figure. There are ways in which he is very good, but also ways in which he is a complete fool and very bad. We see something of both these sides of him in this chapter. He starts off by making an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married his daughter. Marriages were often arranged to cement alliances. Making alliances with Egypt was never a wise thing for Israel to do. Solomon brought his wife home, where he worked on the building of his palace, the temple of the Lord, and the walls of Jerusalem.

3:2

In Deuteronomy great emphasis is placed on the Israelites worshipping at the place that God chooses. Maybe Solomon should have given greater priority to the temple, rather than the palace. As it was, the people were sacrificing at the “high places”. The high places were a persistent snare to the nation. The “high places” could be definitively associated with pagan worship, or a secularised version of godly worship. The context in this chapter seems to indicate that they were used by Israel to make proper sacrifices, but at the wrong place.