3:7 a little child. Actually Solomon was less than twenty years old when he became king. With the many external enemies of Israel and the complex internal intrigues surrounding him in Jerusalem, he surely needed divine wisdom, and God was pleased when this was his request. That such a young man could exhibit such wisdom was a great testimony to the reality of God and His choice of Solomon as king (I Kings 4:29-34). Despite Solomon’s later failures, God greatly used him, even to serve as human author of part of His Word.