Solomon son of David established himself firmly over his kingdom, for the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great. Then Solomon spoke to all Israel—To the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, to the judges and to all the leaders in Israel, the heads of families— and Solomon and the whole assembly went to the high place at Gibeon, for God's tent of meeting was there, which Moses the Lord 's servant had made in the wilderness. Now David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tentfor it in Jerusalem. But the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was in Gibeon in front of the tabernacle of the Lord ; so Solomon and the assembly inquired of him there. Solomon went up to the bronze altar before the Lord in the tent of meeting and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." Solomon answered God, "You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made meKing in his place. Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours? " God said to Solomon, "Since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth,possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have." Then Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting. And I have reigned over Israel.
Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. They imported a chariotfrom Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.
Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord . Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given to him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you. "
Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
"Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours? "
The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for — both wealth and honor—So that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life. " Then Solomon awoke—And I've realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.
Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One of them said, "Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.
"During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son — and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne. "
The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours. " But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine. " And so they argued before the king.
The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive. '" Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other."
The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him! " But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two! " Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother. " When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
Aziraphale looked around and saw a rainbow of colors from all the tropical flowers. It was warm but a soft warm. Not a burning sensation.
"Is this Heaven for angels? Why don't I remember getting burned alive by the Hellfire? Was it supposed to hurt?" He murmured to himself.
"Because you aren't dead you bloody idiot!" Crawly said and playfully whacked the angel upside the head.
"Ow."
"Oh come on! That didn't hurt! What is your skin made of paper?"
"No. When did you get to Isreal? Where are we?"
"I cam when I had a sinking sensation you were about to do something stupid and get yourself discorporated or worse permanently killed."
"I had it under control."
"Oh please! Don't lie. That's my job."
"I did. I was going to fight them off."
"Without your precious flaming sword?"
"Don't remind me of that."
"Why? It is a reminder you are a lover not a fighter and not to go literally picking fights with a duke of Hell and his stupid lacky."
"I didn't start anything. They showed up at the palace."
"Still shouldn't have tried to fight them though."
"Well, what was I supposed to do? Enlighten me Crawly. Please because I am practically begging you to tell me how to do my job as a Principality."
"Stop the sarcasm. It is unfitting on the tongues of angels."
"Oh, big words now! Anything else you want to lecture me on while you're at it? Like how poor David is probably having those demons-"
"David is about to die anyway. He will be fine. Don't worry about him."
"How do you know?"
"Because you told me."
"Oh right."
"Who you really should be worried about is Solomon."
"Why? Oh dear what did you do?"
"Me! I didn't do anything. I am discussing how Hell has tried to destroy anyone and everyone who could be possibly connected to the Christ boy in the genetics lines."
"Why would they possibly want to waste their time-"
"Because Satan is Satan who is kind an irractional fool who doesn't get how the world works. He's pissed at God because Earth is his domain. Or so he likes to think. But the thing is he isb't fully dumb. He knows the Christ is coming for a reason regardless for how much song and dance you do around it and won't tell me."
"Well you are a demon."
"Don't remind me."
"Why? It's a reminder we are on opposite sides."
"Considering the fact I saved your sorry arse-"
"Alright my dear. Relax. Take a breather."
"Demons don't take breathers."
"You should. You look stressed."
"As do you."
"Yes because I have a report due back to Heaven once David is dead and I have to keep an eye on this new king."
"Alright I'll take us back."
Crawly touched the angel's shoulder and felt him flinch at the touch.
"Relax. A demon's touch won't hurt you." He the snapped his fingers and felt the energy drain out of him again. He groaned when they landed near the palace.
"Well I suppose dear boy this is where we part ways-"
"Oh you really think I am going to leave you here when you just tried to go and get yourself tortured and killed. Where do you live now?"
Aziraphale sighed and the two walked together. He was never gonna be rid of this demon. When they arrived at his homely house made of clay on the outskirts of town Aziraphale turned to him with a stern look and said "You better not make me screw up my report."
"I won't. I will probably be asleep soon anyways."
"Alright then."
It was two stories. They were on the second story where Crawly found a window sill to sprawl accross and began to drifit off.
"If you snore I will discorporate you by pushing you out of that window."
"If you do I am taking you into discorporation with me angel I swear to Satan..."