Collection 01 · Royal · Kingship & Majesty
Wisdom
Offered anything, the young king asked for a listening heart.
“Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.”
1 Kings 3:12 · King James Version, quoted verbatim
The Scene
God comes to Solomon at Gibeon and makes an open offer: ask what I shall give thee. A new king with a contested throne could have asked for a long reign, for wealth, for the death of his rivals. He asks instead for an understanding heart to judge a people too numerous to be numbered.
The restraint is the whole point — and it is what the answer rewards. What is given is not information but discernment: the capacity to hear two claims and know which one is true. Everything Solomon is later famous for is downstream of the one thing he thought to ask for.
- File
- One high-resolution portrait file, 300 DPI
- Sizing
- Clean at 8×10 and 11×14; holds at 16×20
- Delivery
- Instant digital download — no physical item ships
- License
- Personal use; the file may not be resold or redistributed
Source plate: Gustave Doré, Bible engravings (1866) — public domain, transformed under original creative direction. Treatment, composition, colour and typography by Watchman Forge. The display line is our own language; anything carrying a citation is quoted exactly.
Royal Register · Kingship & Majesty
