30. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone: 

Our text for today deals with Solomon’s enemies.  Up until this point, God had given Solomon rest but when he allowed his heart to be turned towards other gods, God raised up an adversary against him.   

Here is our text:

I Kings 11:14 Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. 15 Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army, who had gone up to bury the dead, had struck down all the men in Edom. 16 Joab and all the Israelites stayed there for six months, until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. 17 But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served his father. 18 They set out from Midian and went to Paran. Then taking men from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house and land and provided him with food. 19 Pharaoh was so pleased with Hadad that he gave him a sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, in marriage. 20 The sister of Tahpenes bore him a son named Genubath, whom Tahpenes brought up in the royal palace. There Genubath lived with Pharaoh’s own children. 21 While he was in Egypt, Hadad heard that David rested with his fathers and that Joab the commander of the army was also dead. Then Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, that I may return to my own country.” 22 “What have you lacked here that you want to go back to your own country?” Pharaoh asked. “Nothing,” Hadad replied, “but do let me go!” 23 And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24 He gathered men around him and became the leader of a band of rebels when David destroyed the forces [of Zobah]; the rebels went to Damascus, where they settled and took control. 25 Rezon was Israel’s adversary as long as Solomon lived, adding to the trouble caused by Hadad. So Rezon ruled in Aram and was hostile toward Israel.

Our text teaches us that Solomon’s enemies came from battles that David fought.   Hadad was a small boy when Joab killed the men of Edom and when he learned that both David and Joab were dead, he came back to be an enemy to Solomon. 

I look at the stories of the bible and my own life and I look at how God promised them a wonderful life if they just obeyed.   Oh…. How simplistic things could be if we just obey.   Wow…. Makes me want to do so much better.

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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28. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone: 

Welcome back from the weekend.  In our lesson today, we learn about Solomon’s weakness and the consequences for it.  What can the wisest man in the world struggle with?   Let’s explore the text.

 I Kings 11: 1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter–Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. 9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

Well, I think we have discovered that it is an age old weakness.   WOMEN…..      If you notice in the text, Solomon had 700 wives of royal birth which means they were the daughters of neighboring kings.   It is not surprising how Solomon maintained peace during his reign; he married the daughters of his enemies.  

God warned Solomon that he must not intermarry with them for they would turn his hearts towards other gods and the text says that in his old age, his heart turned after other gods.   The text actually says that God warned him twice and he ignored the warnings. 

You would think that Solomon would have made this error while he was young and inexperienced but the text says it is when he was old that he began building sanctuaries for other gods and allowing his wives to burn incense and offer sacrifices to their gods. 

For this great sin, God told Solomon that he would tear the kingdom from him but not in his life time for David’s sake but it would be carried out in the life of his son.   The name of this son will be Rehoboam.    The text also teaches that God will still allow Solomon’s son to have one tribe to honor the promise made to David that there would always be a descendant of David on the throne of Judah.

Wow….. how the story has changed, from a hungry, desperate for God and to do the right thing king to one who has allowed over 1000 women to turn his heart away from God.  Solomon’s heart was so hard that he ignored direct warnings from God.   Wow…. What happened to all that wisdom?    Whoooooooooo….  1000 women whispering in your ear….  What an influence.?

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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25. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone: 

Our chapter closes out with giving you a summary of Solomon’s splendor. 

Our text for today is as follows:

I Kings 10: 14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, 15 not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land. 16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred bekas of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. 18 Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. 19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. 20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. 21 All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. 22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons. 23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift–articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules. 26 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. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. 28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue–the royal merchants purchased them from Kue. 29 They imported a chariot from 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.

As you can see in our text, King Solomon was the richest and wisest man among all the kingdoms of the earth and the whole world sought audience with him to hear the wisdom God had placed in his heart.

Have a great weekend everyone and I look forward to continuing our study on Monday.

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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24. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone: 

Our text for today is as follows:

I Kings 10:1 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relation to the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. 2 Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan–with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones–she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. 4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed. 6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7 But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. 8 How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9 Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness.” 10 And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. 11 (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones. 12 The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.) 13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

In our lesson today, our text opens with “when she heard of the fame of Solomon.”  One of the first questions to ask is how did the Queen hear of Solomon’s fame. 

According to Ethiopian records,  The leader of her trade caravans, Tamrin, owned 73 ships and 787 camels, mules and asses, with which he journeyed as far as India. Having also traded with Israel, he brought gold, ebony and sapphires to Solomon, for use by his 700 carpenters and 800 masons who were building the great temple of Jerusalem. Tamrin told Sheba about the temple, and:

“how Solomon administered just judgement, and how he spake with authority, and how he decided rightly in all matters which he enquired into, and how he returned soft and gracious answers, and how there was nothing false about him…. Each morning, Tamrin related to the Queen about all the wisdom of Solomon, how he administered judgement … and how he made feasts, and how he taught wisdom, and how he directed his servants and all his affairs… and how no man defrauded another… for in his wisdom he knew those who had done wrong, and he chastised them, and made them afraid, and they did not repeat their evil deeds, but they lived in a state of peace.”

“And the Queen was struck dumb with wonder at the things that she heard… and she thought in her heart that she would go to him; and she wept by reason of the greatness of her pleasure in those things that Tamrin had told her…. When she pondered upon the long journey she thought that it was too far and too difficult to undertake. But she became very wishful and most desirous to go that she might hear his wisdom, and see his face, and embrace him, and petition his royalty.” (Makeda, Queen of Sheba by Torrey Philemon of Ancient Sites. Tracy Marks) http://www.windweaver.com/sheba/Sheba6.htm

When she arrives she tests him with hard questions.  The word for questions here in the original Hebrew is also riddles.   In the ancient world, one of the established ways to determine if one was wise is to use riddles.  On yesterday, I gave you a sample of from the Ethiopian legends of the riddles she could have possibly used. 

As you examine the text today, you will discover that she came concerning the name of his Lord.  This is a very important verse.   There were many different gods that people worshipped and the Queen was curious as to what was the NAME of the God that made Solomon wise.  The NAME…..   It wasn’t just enough to say God made him wise, she knew of many gods, she wanted to know the NAME of his GOD…..   THE NAME.. how powerful….

She came with gifts.  It was very customary in the ancient world that when you visited someone of nobility  and prestige that you brought them gifts and the text says that she brought a caravan of gifts.   Scholars estimate that she brought things that valued at multi-millions in her caravan.  The estimated journey time was over 1400 miles and would have taken almost 6 months to travel via camels and a caravan.  This is how desperate she was to hear the Wisdom of Solomon.

When the queen saw the wisdom…  Notice the text, wisdom was seen in the way he handled his estates, and his servants, and the business of the kingdom, the bible says she was overwhelmed.   She was already willing to risk her life by taking this dangerous trip over the Arabian desert from what she heard about Solomon, but when she visited him, the wisdom that she experienced far exceeded her expectations, until she said that the half has not been told. 

She also stated to Solomon that wisdom represented happiness for Happy were his servants,  and his officials that stood before him daily and then she broke out into a praise to his God.  She stated that his God must really love Israel for HIM to grant them such a king with such wisdom and she perceives to give him the gifts that she brought. 

Out text closes with saying that the King gave the Queen all that she desired besides what he had given her of his royal bounty and she returned home. 

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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23. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone: 

In today’s lesson, we will learn more of what extra-biblical accounts teach us about the Queen of Sheba.

Our text teaches us that she came to test him with hard questions.

What were these “hard questions?” Theologians throughout the ages have speculated on their nature, believing them to pertain to: peace and war, the meaning of life, evil, secrets of death and immortality, the relationship between spirit and body, sexuality, male/female differences, the role of women, the reliability of paternity as a basis for an economic system, the cycles of the moon and tides, and the name and nature of God. Whatever the questions, most sources refer to lengthy discussions occurring between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

According to Josephus, “upon the king’s kind reception of her, he both showed a great desire to please her, and easily comprehending in his mind the meaning of the curious questions she propounded to him, he resolved them.” Not only did Sheba ask Solomon philosophical questions; she also tested him with riddles. The Targum Sheni, Midrash Mischle, and Midrash Hachefez describe twenty two of her riddles:

“What is it? An enclosure with ten doors; when one is open, nine are shut, and when nine are open, one is shut,” Sheba asked Solomon. Solomon answered, “The enclosure is the womb, and the ten doors are the ten orifices of man, namely his eyes, his ears, his nostrils, his mouth, the apertures for discharge of excreta and urine, and the navel. When the child is still in its mother’s womb, the navel is open, but all the other apertures are shut, but when the child issues from the womb the navel is closed and the other orifices are open.”

In another riddle pertaining to the body, Sheba posed to Solomon, “Seven leave and nine enter; two pour out the draught and only one drinks.” How did Solomon respond? “Seven are the days of woman’s menstruation, nine the months of her pregnancy; her two breasts nourish the child, and one drinks.”

Other riddles concerned with common objects and materials. At one point, Sheba asked, “What when alive does not move, yet when its head cut off, moves?” Solomon’s answer: “the timber used to build a ship.”  Another riddle she proposed was: “It is many- headed. In a storm at sea it goes above us all, it raises a loud and bitter wailing and moaning; it bends its head like a reed, is the glory of the rich and the shame of the poor, it honors the dead and dishonors the living; it is a delight to the birds, but a sorrow to the fishes. What is it?” Solomon replied, “Flax, for it makes sails for ships that moan in the storm. It provides fine linen for the rich and rags for the poor, a burial shroud for the dead, and a rope for hanging the living. As seed it nourishes the birds, and as a net it traps the fish.”

Some of Sheba’s questions were related to Old Testament wisdom. For example, “The dead lived, the grave moved, and the dead prayed. What is it?” The answer: “The dead that lived and prayed was Jonah; the fish, the moving grave.” In one theological riddle, she asked: “What is the ugliest thing in the world, and what is the most beautiful? What is the most certain, and what is the most uncertain?” Solomon replied, “The ugliest thing…is the faithful turning unfaithful; the most beautiful is the repentant sinner. The most certain is death; the most uncertain, one’s share in the World to Come.”

In addition to riddles which required a verbal answer, Sheba tested Solomon’s ingenuity in action. Dressing five boys and girls identically, she asked him to detect their sex. When he handed them bowls of water for them to wash their hands, the girls, unlike the boys, rolled up their sleeves. Sheba also brought Solomon two flowers alike in appearance, but one was real while the other was artificial; he distinguished them by noting how bees swarmed to the flower with the genuine fragrance. Then, giving him a large emerald with a curved hole in the middle, she asked him to draw a thread through it; he sent for a silkworm, which crawled through the hole drawing with it a silken thread.

The Midrash Hachefez reports still another test of Solomon’s cleverness. Sheba presented Solomon with the sawn trunk of a cedar tree, the ends cut off so that they looked the same; she asked Solomon which end had been the root, and which the branches. Solomon ordered the tree stump to be placed in water. When one end sank while the other floated, he said to her, “The part which sank was the root, and that which floated on the surface was the end containing the branches.”

According to the Kebra Negast, the questions and tests were mutual; Solomon also challenged Sheba. Yet existing legends describe only a few of the artful strategies he used to outwit her. Determined to discover if the stories of her deformed foot were true, he arranged for a stream of water to flow onto the glass beside his throne (in the Quran, he had running water with fish swimming about it under clear glass), so that Sheba would lift her skirts as she approached him. When she did so, he noted the hair on her legs, and told her, “Thy beauty is the beauty of a woman, but they hair is masculine; hair is an ornament to a man, but it disfigures a woman.” He then invented a depilatory in order to acquaint her with his conceptions of womanhood.

During Sheba’s six month visit with Solomon, she conversed with him daily. The Kebra Negast informs us that “the Queen used to go to Solomon and return continually, and hearken unto his wisdom, and keep it in her heart. And Solomon used to go and visit her, and answer all the questions which she put to him… and he informed her concerning every matter that she wished to enquire about.” Frequently, they roamed Jerusalem together, as she questioned him and watched him at work. 

Whether Sheba was an adoring adolescent in search of a wise hero, or a confident, powerful young woman who journeyed to Jerusalem to challenge Solomon, she was impressed with his wisdom, compassion, justice and wealth. I Kings tells us:

“And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the food of his table, and the attendance of his ministers…she said to the King, `It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it; thou hast wisdom and prosperity exceeding the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men…that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.’”

Josephus also states that she was surprised to learn that the flattering reports she had heard about Solomon were true, “that she was amazed at the wisdom of Solomon…. She was in the greatest admiration imaginable, insomuch that she was not able to contain the surprise she was in, but openly confessed how wonderfully she was affected.”   

The above came from the following website:  The article name is Makeda, Queen of Sheba by Torrey Philemon of Ancient Sites. (Tracy Marks)

http://www.windweaver.com/sheba/Sheba6.htm

Now, that we know some history about the Queen of Sheba, on tomorrow, we will study the account as revealed in I kings.

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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22. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

Sorry I missed last Friday and Monday but I am back on track today.

We just started studying the Queen of Sheba and her visit to King Solomon.

I thought today, that we could travel back in history and discover what details we can find about her.

The Queen of Sheba is considered to be historically the Queen of Ethiopian.  In Genesis 10, there is a genealogy listed which is referred to as  the “Table of nations”.  It is called this because after the earth is destroyed by water, the only people that survive to re-populate are Noah and his descendants, therefore the new world has its origin from the descendants of Noah, and this table gives us the names of those which descended from Noah and the birth of the new nations.    In this table we learn that Noah had a son by the name of Ham, whose has a son by the name of Cush who has a son by the name of Raamah who has a son named Sheba. 

Cush is an ancient word that refers to the land of Ethiopia.   So Sheba was placed in the land of Ethiopia.  She was called Makeda to the Ethiopians. 

The  imperial family of Ethiopia claims its origin directly from the offspring of the Queen of Sheba by King Solomon.

An ancient compilation of Ethiopian legends, Kebra Negast (’the Glory of Kings’), is dated to seven hundred years ago and relates a history of Makeda and her descendants. In this account King Solomon is said to have seduced the Queen of Sheba and sired her son, Menelik I, who would become the first Emperor of Ethiopia.

The narrative given in the Kebra Negast - which has no parallel in the Hebrew Biblical story - is that King Solomon invited the Queen of Sheba to a banquet, serving spicy food to induce her thirst, and inviting her to stay in his palace overnight. The Queen asked him to swear that he would not take her by force. He accepted upon the condition that she, in turn, would not take anything from his house by force. The Queen assured that she would not, slightly offended by the implication that she, a rich and powerful monarch, would engage in stealing. However, as she woke up in the middle of the night, she was very thirsty. Just as she reached for a jar of water placed close to her bed, King Solomon appeared, warning her that she was breaking her oath, water being the most valuable of all material possessions. Thus, while quenching her thirst, she set the king free from his promise and they spent the night together.

The tradition that the Biblical Queen of Sheba was a ruler of Ethiopia who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem, in ancient Israel, is supported by the first century C.E. Roman (of Jewish origin) historian Flavius Josephus, who identified Solomon’s visitor as a “Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia”.   (Wikepedia)

According to Ethiopian History, Power and riches could not satisfy Sheba’s soul, for she possessed an ardent hunger for truth and wisdom. Before her visit to Solomon, she says to her people:

“I desire wisdom and my heart seeketh to find understanding. I am smitten with the love of wisdom…. for wisdom is far better than treasure of gold and silver… It is sweeter than honey, and it maketh one to rejoice more than wine, and it illumineth more than the sun…. It is a source of joy for the heart, and a bright and shining light for the eyes, and a giver of speed to the feet, and a shield for the breast, and a helmet for the head… It makes the ears to hear and hearts to understand.”

“…And as for a kingdom, it cannot stand without wisdom, and riches cannot be preserved without wisdom…. He who heapeth up gold and silver doeth so to no profit without wisdom, but he who heapeth up wisdom - no man can filch it from his heart… I will follow the footprints of wisdom and she shall protect me forever. I will seek asylum with her, and she shall be unto me power and strength.”

“Let us seek her, and we shall find her; let us love her, and she will not withdraw herself from us, let us pursue her, and we shall overtake her; let us ask, and we shall receive; and let us turn our hearts to her so that we may never forget her.” http://www.windweaver.com/sheba/Sheba4.htm

Tommorrow, we will begin with the actual encounter between the Queen and Solomon.

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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17. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone: 

In our study today, it is one of my all time favorites of the bible.  It is the infamous story of when the Queen of Sheba travels thousands of miles to meet the wisest man in the world, King Solomon.

In Ethiopian history, they tell the story that this is how the scriptures got into Ethiopia through this initial visit from the Queen of Sheba (which is Ethiopia).  In the New Testament, there is a story about the Ethiopian Eunuch that is outside the temple reading the book of Isaiah.  Philip the evangelist is sent to him and asks him do you know what you are reading.  The Ethiopian eunuch responds “how he can know without a teacher.”  Philip proceeds to explain the passage in Isaiah that he is reading and preaches Jesus through that text and the Ethiopian is saved and baptized. 

The point that I am trying to make with this story is that the Ethiopian already had the scriptures with him.  The story goes on to say that during this visit, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba slept together and he fathered a son.   Later on in history, Solomon sends the Ark of the Covenant back to Ethiopia and even to this date, the Ethiopians claim that they have the Ark of the Covenant with them to this day.

There is a part of the story that we will be reading that says that Solomon gave her a part of his bounty and they have taken that to mean that he fathered a child with her. 

Tomorrow, we will begin our journey of this wonderful story.

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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15. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

As we close out Chapter nine today, it gives us summary of some of Solomon’s other activities.

Here is the text:

I Kings 9:10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings–the temple of the LORD and the royal palace– 11 King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted. 12 But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. 13 “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, a name they have to this day. 14 Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold. 15 Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the desert, within his land, 19 as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses–whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled. 20 All the people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites), 21 that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites could not exterminate–these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day. 22 But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. 23 They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects–550 officials supervising the men who did the work. 24 After Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the supporting terraces. 25 Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense before the LORD along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations. 26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. 27 And Hiram sent his men–sailors who knew the sea–to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men. 28 They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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14. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone: 

Welcome back from the weekend.   In our text today, we hear the voice of God as he appears to Solomon a second temple.   If you recall, Solomon’s first appearance came when he took office as king and went to Gibeon to sacrifice.  He asked God for wisdom to rule his people and God’s response was because you did not ask for wealth or riches but knowledge to be a good king over his people, God made him the wisest and richest man in the world.  According to the scriptures there will never be another human that will compare to the wisdom or riches that God bestowed upon Solomon.

In today’s text, after Solomon finishes his prayer and dedication of the temple, God appears to him again.

Listen to the words of God…  I get so excited when I see visitations like this in the scriptures:

Here is the text:

I Kings 9:1 When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2 the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The LORD said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4 “As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 “But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them–that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.’ “

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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11. June 2010 by Bernice Davis.

Hello Everyone: 

Today our lesson deals with the dedication of the temple.  After Solomon prays he then offers sacrifices to God and with all the elders they officially dedicate the temple.

Here is the text:

I Kings 8:62 Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD. 63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the LORD. 64 On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings. 65 So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him–a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the LORD our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. 66 On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

How appropriate to close out the week with the final dedication of the temple.

As you can see with all the study on the building and dedication, the temple will become a central figure from this point on in the life of Israel.

Have a great weekend and I will see you in web land on Monday.

Stay encouraged everyone and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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