1-kings 3:12

I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart - I have given thee a capacious mind, one capable of knowing much: make a proper use of thy powers, under the direction of my Spirit, and thou shalt excel in wisdom all that have gone before thee; neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. But, query, Was not all this conditional? If he should walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and commandments, 1 Kings 3:14. Was it not to depend upon his proper use of initiatory inspirations? Did he ever receive all this wisdom? Did not his unfaithfulness prevent the fulfillment of the Divine purpose? Instead of being the wisest of men, did he not become more brutish than any man? Did he not even lose the knowledge of his Creator, and worship the abominations of the Moabites, Zidonians, etc., etc.! And was not such idolatry a proof of the grossest stupidity? How few proofs does his life give that the gracious purpose of God was fulfilled in him! He received much; but he would have received much more, had he been faithful to the grace given. No character in the sacred writings disappoints us more than the character of Solomon.

None like thee before thee - That is, no king, either in Israel or among the nations, as the following verse explains.

A wise and an understanding heart - Solomon's wisdom seems to have been both moral and intellectual (see 1 Kings 4:29-34). But it was moral wisdom alone which he requested, and which was promised him. The terms translated "wise" and "understanding," both denote practical wisdom. (See Genesis 41:33, Genesis 41:39; Deuteronomy 4:6; Proverbs 1:2, etc.)

Neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee - i. e. in the knowledge of what was in man, and in the wisdom to direct men's goings, he was to be the wisest of "all" mere men. In such wisdom the world would know one only "greater than Solomon" Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31.