Statue of Pharaoh in the British Museum, London

The wedding season will soon be upon us and with it the giving of linens and cookware. This week during my devotional times I read about a rather shocking wedding gift.

Way back in the day, when Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, they received a unique present from the father of the bride. Check it out:

Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife (1 Kings 9:16 & 17).

We hear of lavish weddings and unbelievable gifts, but nothing along these lines. While not overly romantic, a burned out city filled with dead people, Pharaoh apparently thought it appropriate.

Often Bible truth is stranger than fiction. Quite a father-in-law for Solomon – perhaps sending him a message to remember the might of Egypt, or to remember to treat his daughter well?